Article archive / July 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 11. Source pages: 1, 5.
At the regular meeting of the state psychology board last Friday, June 27, Dr. Tom Hannie asked the members to explain the basis for a comment they made during a presentation to the La. Psychological Association in June. At the presentation, the Chair, Dr. Rita Culross, told attendees and presented a slide, that, “Contrary to recent rumors, disciplinary panels can only be made up of Board members – the Governor CANNOT appoint a replacement.”
The Times had interviewed Hannie for a news and analysis article last month and quoted him to say that appointing a substitute was “A piece of cake.”
On Friday Dr. Hannie asked the board members to reconcile their statement, with sections of the law that appear to contradict their public statement made to the psychologists in their June presentation.
He described to the members portions of the law that indicate that the governor makes temporary appointments when needed, and asked for an explanation. However, Hannie said that all they would tell him was that they could not disclose to him the reason for the statement, or why their statements appear to run counter to the law.
After the Friday meeting the Times asked Dr. Hannie what had happened. He said, “I asked them basically, why that statement was put up on the board. I would like an explanation of why they said that.”
He asked them to explain and they said, “ ‘Well, we can’t do that and we’ve checked several times, over time, four or five times, and we can’t do that.’ ”
The Times asked if the board members explained why?
“Attorney-client privilege,” Hannie noted. “That’s what they said. I asked them if they could show me where in the law it says that, and they said, ‘No. Because of attorney-client privilege.’ No matter how I asked them or what I asked them, eventually it got back to that,” Hannie said.
“I asked them to show me where in the law, that the governor can’t appoint someone, and they said they can’t give that information, because of attorney-client privilege.”
“At some point, Phil [Dr. Phil Griffin] said it had to be four regular board members. But that doesn’t explain why you can’t appoint somebody,” Hannie said.
Dr. Hannie also told the Times that he asked them what happened now if two members had to recuse themselves. “They said they would be in trouble, and they have it on their list to look into that the situation.”
The Times had interviewed Dr. Hannie for a news and analysis article last month and quoted him in the article regarding the ease of replacing a person who had recused themselves, if needed. The news article outlined the issues that have surfaced and the involvement of the psychology board in regarding the recent election. The psychology board submitted a request to the Board of Ethics, voicing issues that
reflected part of a series of complaints by the second-place candidate, Dr. Joe Comaty, including matters of recusals.
According to R.S. 37: 2359, the licensing law for psychology, and the section on disciplinary actions, “Proceedings for disciplinary action or for the denial or withholding of a license under the authority of this Section shall be conducted in compliance with the Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq.”
According to the Procedure Act, the section on recusals (R.S. 49:960B) notes, “Upon the disqualification of a member of an agency, the governor immediately shall appoint a member pro tem to sit in place of the disqualified member in that proceeding.
Attorney-client privilege typically binds the attorney, not the client, the Times legal consultant explained. Public meetings and open records laws direct all decisions to be available to the public, other than those that fall under specific exceptions. In this case, it is not clear what the exception would be. Dr.Culross and Ms.Parker declined to be interviewed by the Times.
Dr. Tom Hannie (above) asked the psychology board to explain a statement they made at a recent presentation, but they said it was protected under attorney- client privilege.
Dr. Rita Culross spoke at Louisiana Psychological Association. She said the governor could not appoint a replacement. Sections of the law say that he can. However the board later refused to explain the rationale behind their views and statement.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.