PSC chief: Letter didn’t violate rules

• Advocate staff and wire reports
• Published: Apr 11, 2008 - Page: 18A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The Public Service Commission’s chairman sent letters on agency stationery asking 235 motor carriers regulated by the agency to give a golfing partner a chance to sell them tracking devices for their fleets.

PSC Chairman Jay Blossman of Mandeville said Thursday that the stationery he used to write the letter was scratch paper. It had been printed with errors, specifically the phone number, and rather than throw out the stationery, Blossman said he and his staff use it for non-official purposes.

He said one of his non-classified office workers in Mandeville helped him and the friend he was helping paid the postage. “I read the statute and I didn’t see where I did anything wrong,” Blossman said.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission reported Jay Blossman’s letters, sent Feb. 22, to the state inspector general as a possible abuse of public office.

“Mr. Blossman’s disregard for public resources and the office that he holds brings the integrity of the PSC into question and undermines Louisiana’s recent efforts to rehabilitate our state’s reputation for cronyism and ‘good old boy’ networking,” commission president Rafael Goyeneche III wrote.

Blossman said he has no financial interest in Nicholas Larussa’s company and wasn’t encouraging anyone to buy from him, just to make an appointment if he called.

The PSC regulates public utilities and various intrastate transportation businesses, including household movers, limousine and tour bus companies, waste haulers and some towing services.  The commission sets fines and makes rules that affect the industry.

Larussa, 23, a recent graduate of Louisiana State University whose sister baby-sits Blossman’s children, is a salesman for Acadian Monitoring Services, a division of Lafayette-based Acadian Ambulance. It is among several companies offering global positioning system technology to track vehicle movement and performance.

Blossman’s letter identified Larussa as a friend and said Larussa would call. “I would appreciate it if you would take the time to meet with him,” it said. “This technology could be a great asset to your company.”

Blossman said he got an agency list of motor carrier companies and had a staffer in his district office print letters to companies in Larussa’s sales region.

Larussa stamped and mailed the letters, Blossman said.

Tyron Picard, executive vice president of Acadian Ambulance, said he did not approve of the letters, but investigated and feels the company did nothing improper. Larussa has been on the job only a few months, and didn’t fully understand government dealings.

“I’m willing to chalk that up to youthful inexperience and aggressiveness on his part that he has probably learned a good lesson on,” Picard said