By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell new bureau
SLIDELL – After serving for 33 years in the United States military and achieving the rank of general, Carl Ernst is still on a mission, even at the age of 72.
“I like real work,” he said. “And I don’t like to see bad behavior by anyone.”
After moving to the North Shore in 2003 with his wife of 49 years, Ernst was living in Lacombe in the seemingly quiet neighborhood of Lacombe Harbor.
His neighbor was a businessman named Rick Franzo, a native of New York who was ready to get involved in local politics in 2011 when he and several other neighbors learned about a waste transfer station that was scheduled to be built at the intersection of Hwy. 434 and Interstate 12 in Lacombe.
That led to Franzo recruiting the neighbors, including Ernst, and forming Concerned Citizens of Lacombe. The grass roots organization fought parish government and several businessmen, winning the battle and forcing the waste transfer station to relocate far off the main highway.
Fast forward five years and Ernst is a key man in the group that has become Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany (CCST). Listed officially as an “advisor to the board” he brings a wealth of experience from the military, time served as a U.S. Army inspector general, and a passion for his parish to ensure “good government”
“I’m not a board member or officer with CCST and I like it that way,” he said. “I’m just an advisor. I like to work through people and even though I’m sure I could be a point man on some of these issues, I would rather work behind the scenes.”
Ernst has managed to stay “behind the scenes,” but just barely. At most important CCST meetings, and many crucial conferences with public officials, Ernst sits at the table waiting for the time to put in his two cents. It’s a voice of experience that has given CCST an additional level of credibility as it has become the most important watchdog group over public government in St. Tammany Parish.
The group won the waste transfer station battle and has since gone on to play a key role in the removal and conviction of parish Coroner Dr. Peter Galvan, the resignation and current criminal charges against parish D.A. Walter Reed, and many other issues that bring to light any allegations of wrongdoing by public officials.
On another front, CCST is working on two key issues, hoping for more change in St. Tammany. Term limits and the need for an inspector general in the parish are key topics Ernst would like to see action on.
The St. Tammany Parish Council voted earlier this year to reject the idea of allowing voters to decide whether there should be term limits for council members, even though the parish president has them. After more pressure on the matter, the council voted in August to reconsider the idea at its September meeting.
“The fact the Parish Council will not allow the public to vote on term limits shows an arrogance of power,” Ernst said. “The more entrenched they are in office, the more arrogant they become.”
Ernst made a number of comparisons between the military and local government.
“In the United States a general has a lot of authority, but he is only allowed to remain in the same area for two or three years,” he said.
Ernst said the “first line of defense to abuse in government is term limits. When the council says they won’t let the people decide the matter, they are saying they don’t believe the people can understand—that is arrogance.”
He pointed out that there are term limits for state legislative positions, the governor, and most St. Tammany city governments.
“So many of our Parish Council members think we are suggesting they are corrupt and that’s why we want term limits,” he added. “This has nothing to do with whether someone is corrupt, it’s about letting the people decide.”
A St. Tammany Inspector General Task Force last year studied the prospect of bringing that position here, but also rejected it in favor of asking the state legislative auditor to provide “enhanced audits” for the parish. Ernst, who was on the Task Force, does not agree with the final decision by the Task Force.
“Once again, the Army has a system of checks and balances, but they also have inspector generals because anywhere there is a lot of money to handle, there is the potential for fraud or inefficiency,” he said. “It’s just human nature.”
After achieving the rank of general, Ernst was appointed the inspector general for Fort Polk, where he served in that role for 15 months. He had the authority to look into allegations against anyone, even his superior officer. If he found issues with his own boss, he turned the matter over to a higher authority, but the bottom line was that he was allowed to scrutinize every level of the operation.
“The reason the Task Force in St. Tammany turned down the inspector general is that they did not have the political stomach to do it here,” he said. “Every department in the U.S. government has an inspector general and that’s the way it should be all the way down to local government.”
Ernst said the inspector generals in Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish have actually saved millions of taxpayer dollars by uncovering inefficiencies as much as they have found fraud.
“It’s not always that people purposely are trying to waste money, but when you are handling large amounts of public money it’s easy to be inefficient,” he said. “That’s what I learned serving as an inspector general, and that’s why we need one here in St. Tammany. It will actually save enough money that it will pay for itself.”
With the parish rejecting an official inspector general here, CCST has taken the job on itself, to the best of its ability with volunteers. With dozens of people wanting to join with the watchdog group after the publicity and success it has had, they now have investigators, lawyers, accountants and CPAs who look into calls or e-mails alleging something that is wrong in government.
Ernst is originally from New Orleans where he grew up one of five sons, all of whom served in the military, even though his father did not have a military background.
“My dad was a patriotic man, very conservative,” he said. “I was the youngest of the boys and I guess it was natural for me to follow my brothers into the military.”
He spent most of his career as an Infantry officer in the operational Army including assignments with the 82nd Airborne, 101st Airborne and Rangers, among others. Combat tours include Vietnam, Desert Storm and Somalia, where he commanded a 17,000 man Joint Task Force.
As assistant division commander of the 82nd Airborne Division he commanded a no-notice deployment of an 82nd task force which put 5,000 Paratroopers in the streets of South Miami Dade County within 24 hours of notification, developing the tactics there that became the model for all subsequent Army disaster relief operations.. He retired in 2000 as Commanding General of Fort Benning, GA, Chief of Infantry and Commandant of the Infantry School.
“I decided corporate life wasn’t for me although I still work now as an independent consultant, probably up to 40 hours a week,” he said.
Ernst said he loves St. Tammany, but wants to see it achieve its true potential, something he is still waiting for.
“If people don’t get energized then St. Tammany won’t be all it can be,” he said. “Some past elections give me hope, but for now I’ll work through CCST and continue to be committed to good government, and good stewardship. Run for election? No, I’ll never run for anything.”
Ernst married his high school sweetheart and the couple has two children. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Oct. 2 with a trip to Greece.