November 5, 2014 Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board (LALB) Meeting Highlights
 

CLICK HERE to View LALB Financial Statements @ Time of Meeting

Upon finding out that Brant Thompson, son of Louisiana State Senator Francis
 Thompson (D-Delhi), succeeded in obtaining a bond payment for his alleged losses entailing
 deceased auctioneer Bruce Miller, Judy Fasola expresses her frustrations with the LALB.  Those frustrations entail
Ms. Fasola asserting that she was victimized by notoriously-problematic auctioneer Ken Buhler and his father, Mac. 
Specifically, Ms. Fasola was frustrated that LALB attorney Anna Dow, after having her jump through all of the hoops to file
a bond claim, reversed course and refused to file a claim for her.  During her presentation, Ms. Fasola managed
to catch the LALB members in one contradiction after another as evidenced by the historical
 LALB video excerpts merged into the above video clip.

Mark Brister, whose license was suspended indefinitely on 9/10/13 for the alleged auctioning
of stolen merchandise, applied for license reinstatement.  The above LALB hearing entailed
 numerous auction statute violations.  The LALB indicated to Mr. Brister the terms upon which his auction
license could be reinstated.  Brister (@ 10:56 mark of video):
  "Actually, word travels faster from Baton Rouge to West Monroe and back thanks to high-speed internet.
  I don't understand that, but it does.  People in West Monroe knew two weeks ahead that my license had been suspended
before I even knew it.  Sending me emails saying it's all on the internet." 
11:24 - 14:10 LALB Attorney Anna Dow grills Brister on lawsuits and his filing for bankruptcy days before the hearing. 
Once Mr. Brister admits that he filed bankruptcy days before the hearing to avoid a Sheriff Sale on
his building, Ms. Dow hammers him on not being truthful earlier in his testimony when she relayed, "Mr. Brister, if there's
a Sheriff's Sale date established, you've been sued by somebody!"  

LAPA Vice President Robert Burns and LAPA President Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips
 express their dismay at the differing treatment afforded Brant Thompson, as the son of State
 Sen. Francis Thompson, vis-a-vis the treatment afforded Ms. Judy Fasola referenced above.

 
LALB Chairman James Sims introduces his proposal to videotape LALB hearings.

 
Discussion of issuing in-state licenses between meetings wherein
Chairman Steinkamp states, "We have five Board Members and,
since nobody seems to want to join our Board....I wonder why?"
and Executive Director Sandy Edmonds seeks guidance in the event
the Board may not be able to convene a quorum.

LAPA Vice President Robert Burns makes it emphatically clear that he
expects LALB records to be centrally located in the LALB office.  He further indicates that, if an episode
repeats itself wherein he seeks an auctioneer's records as he did for Marlo Schmidt,
and he doesn't receive relevant records, he intends to file suit for withholding the records.
To reference the letter he received from Ms. Dow while serving as a sitting LALB member, CLICK HERE.
Note:  The investigator Ms. Dow tried to cram down the Board's throat (@ $70/hour!), W. T. Asmussen,
never performed the first hour of service for the LALB after Burns confronted Ms. Dow about the
circumstances under which he was hired (i.e. no solicitation for bids!).  Soon thereafter, Ms. Steele
resumed his investigative work for the LALB at $25/hour!!!

CLICK HERE to return to the chronological master listing of LALB videos.