By Patrick Roberts
JONESBORO, La. (KNOE 8 News) – Controversial Jonesboro Mayor Leslie Thompson (D) claims the financial problems highlighted by the Legislative Auditor in a scathing 2011 report were primarily the responsibility of employees remaining from previous administrations.
When asked if the employees were simply incompetent, Thompson said, "At one time I thought maybe that was putting it too bluntly, breaking it down to a level that maybe it shouldn't be put that way.
"But we did have folks who had been here for years before I got here, and because they had been here, and working in a certain capacity, I assumed they could do those jobs," he added.
In an exclusive interview with KNOE 8 News, Thompson denied any intentional wrongdoing related to a series of findings put forward by the Auditor, including allegations that the town lacked documentation for 172 expenditures totaling $385,122, among a number of others.
Thompson said he has full documentation on where the money was spent and what it was spent on – but he refused to give KNOE copies of the documents, saying he preferred to speak with his lawyer first.
"It's a laughable matter. It really is almost a joke. If it weren't so serious I'd be laughing right now," he said.
"If I was guilty of what they said that I was, all of these folks, these conspirators, I believe that by now I would be in jail."
Those "conspirators" include political enemies he believes are trying to capitalize on the appearance of impropriety – including "judges" he didn't name who signed off on a search warrant related to the Jackson Parish Sheriff's Office's raid on Jonesboro town hall.
Thompson is now using town money to challenge whether the search warrant for the raid was valid – costing, he estimated, about $150 per hour in attorney fees.
He also claimed the sheriff and the district attorney are targeting him and may themselves be acting inappropriately.
"It is their intent to take me out of office," he said.
Thompson also said a tax lien of about $25,000 related to payroll taxes, recently filed by the IRS, had been paid using a CD worth about $75,000 that the town cashed out a few weeks ago.
Thompson said the rest would be used to pay additional outstanding payroll taxes owed to the state.
