Most of the people in East Baton Rouge Parish, and certainly most of the folks in the outlying parishes, were pretty well aware that during the eight years Sharon Weston Broome was its mayor-president, city-parish government was much akin to a smash-and-grab operation. Now, there’s an investigation afoot by state and federal authorities likely to prove just how bad things were.

WAFB-TV had a story Tuesday summarizing some of what’s been found…

The WAFB I-TEAM has confirmed from multiple sources that state and federal investigators have been working together for months to look into how money was spent inside former East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s administration.

The sweeping probe involves multiple people who worked for the Broome administration, our sources said. The former Mayor-President is not part of the current investigation, but people who were once in her close inner circle are, our sources added.

Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told the WAFB I-TEAM investigators with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office are working with federal agents in the ongoing probe.

A grand jury could decide soon if any charges are warranted against any of the individuals involved, our sources said.

At the center of the investigation is a department that operated in the executive branch of the City-Parish government. That department, the Office of Community Development (OCD), provides housing opportunities for people in East Baton Rouge Parish with low to moderate incomes.

Sources familiar with the investigation say the possible misuse of public money is one of the biggest issues, pointing to money that is either unaccounted for or paid to contractors without any records.

Sources said money was free flowing at OCD and was spelled out in a city-parish audit in January of 2024. That audit stated there was no documentation for the reimbursement of $639,858 for draws on two contracts. One example included $279,456 in missing documentation for a reimbursement. A second example involved missing documentation for 15 different transactions associated with a reimbursement of $360,402.

The audit also said duplicate payments totaling $21,850 for one contract were paid to a developer twice.

Councilman Aaron Moak said both he and his colleagues had heard the feds were looking into how money was spent for months. He welcomed the investigation.

“It needs to be fully investigated and prosecuted to the extent of what the infraction was,” Moak said. “I fully believe that. If they can prove it was done purposely and intentfully… then it needs to be prosecuted all the way.”

One thing we like about this is the Attorney General’s office is involved. For way too long, the feds were the only people really doing anything about local government corruption in Louisiana, because primary jurisdiction for this stuff always resides with the district attorney and, as often as not, the DA is part of the courthouse gang engaging in all the corruption.

That isn’t the case with Hillar Moore in East Baton Rouge Parish, at least so far as we’ve ever seen. But getting Moore to go after even the most obviously corrupt people in town, like for example Tasha Clark Amar at the Council on Aging when she was actively trying to bilk senior citizens out of their money rather than serving them meals, not to mention turning her taxpayer-funded agency into a get-out-the-vote operation for sleazeball Democrat politicians, has proven to be a fool’s errand. Moore is terrified that if he started probing slimeballs of a certain demographic, that demographic would come out of the woodwork to defeat him at the next election.

Which might be correct, and the result might be that Baton Rouge would be saddled with a Soros communist under whose watch the city’s already-staggering crime rate would devolve into open chaos. The problem is that if he isn’t going to do his job, there isn’t a lot of effective difference.

And where corruption is concerned, the lack of interest from the local prosecutorial authority means Broome is out of office and the damage is done by the time anything is being done to address it.

Anyway, a January 2024 internal audit uncovered the sizable discrepancies in question – and it looks very clearly like we had some fairly serious misuse of funds going on. It’s a year and a half later and we’re just now getting to the point where a grand jury will begin to see this stuff.

Sharon Broome isn’t a target yet. We have no idea whether that will change. This stuff clearly happened on her watch, though, and in the likely event that people go down for the corruption being uncovered by this probe you’d expect that’ll be the end of whatever political career she’d have left. It wasn’t all that long ago – 2023, in fact, that you had Democrat influencers inside and outside Louisiana talking her up as a gubernatorial candidate with “crossover” appeal to succeed John Bel Edwards. You’ll never hear any of that again.

• Systemic Problems Identified: The audit found a lack of proper policies, including no evidence of project application evaluations, absent monitoring in 2022, and approvals for cost increases without justification. Some awards exceeded developer requests by large margins (e.g., one by $800,000 and another by $72,070). Payments were made before contracts existed, and duplicate invoices were reimbursed.
• Specific Project: Central Road Rehabilitation: This project, awarded to developer Jason Hughes of Hughes Consultant Group LLC, aimed to renovate three small homes. Initially budgeted at $148,000 in 2021, it was amended to $220,000 in February 2022 but ultimately cost nearly $500,000. Hughes received developer fees of $135,000—exceeding the city-parish’s 10-17% limit and reaching 28% of the amended $450,000 contract (originally capped at $33,000). Hughes blamed cost escalations on COVID-related inflation and claimed overpayments were due to city-parish errors. He still owns the properties, has rented two, and asserts he is owed an additional $220,000. Federal authorities have contacted him about the fees.
• Another Project: Housing for Heroes: This $6 million development in Scotlandville, intended for veteran housing, was approved nearly four years ago but remains frozen. It was subject to federal grand jury subpoenas in 2024, though the current status of that aspect is unclear.
• Involved Parties: Key figures include former Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Courtney Scott and OCD Director Tasha Saunders, neither of whom responded to requests for comment. Broome has defended her administration, stating it funded thousands of housing units ethically and legally. She noted rejecting requests from Hughes, which led to his criticism during her 2024 campaign.
• Findings and Broader Implications: The audit and probe underscore concerns about oversight failures, potentially violating federal laws on grant management. Broome emphasized her commitment to transparency but acknowledged the challenges of pandemic-era funding.
• Current Status: The federal probe continues, with current mayor-president Sid Edwards’ administration complying with inquiries. No resolutions or charges have been announced, but the issues highlight risks in rapid grant distribution during emergencies.

How far does this go? Hopefully they’ll scrub every dime the city-parish has spent in the past 10 years looking for graft and thievery. Absolutely nobody thinks city-parish government in Baton Rouge is a tight ship, and one of the things the St. George incorporation saga made pretty clear was that the governing class in this city has long been raking in tax dollars from the middle class to spend on itself, under the guise of “helping” the dependent and working classes – and those programs have been conspicuously, if not even suspiciously, ineffective at making things any better.

And a good rule of thumb, when gobs of government money is spent attempting to achieve a result which is most definitely not achieved, is to assume a lot of that money is being stolen.

We hate to root for people going to jail. But after what Broome and her cronies put this place through, when the city’s decline was as obvious as the massive amount of money being set on fire supposedly to halt that decline, we don’t have any choice.

Let’s get this grand jury going and see if the indictments can go all the way to the top.