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Jennifer Van Vranken confronts ethics that she believes are false | Jefferson Parish

Jennifer Van Vranken confronts ethics that she believes are false | Jefferson Parish

After repeated accusations of ethics violations by her colleagues, Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Jennifer Van Vranken is facing her own state ethics investigation for voting on liquor licenses for the family business where she works part-time.

In an interview Monday with her attorney, Van Vranken confirmed she is under investigation, but called the complaint, which led to the Louisiana Board of Ethics investigation, frivolous and politically motivated.

“The timing is not a coincidence,” Van Vranken said. “In my opinion, this is political retaliation.”

Last week, Jefferson County officials received anonymous letter on 92 pages appealed to the parish’s Ethics and Compliance Commission, accusing Van Vranken of voting on issues that benefit her, her family and her husband’s business interests. She said it was baseless.

Van Vranken said she asked the Board of Ethics to expedite the investigation and said she was confident she would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Drink permits

Records show Van Vranken has voted on resolutions approving liquor licenses for The Balcony Ball Room every year since 2016. Her family owns a Metairie wedding and event venue.

However, Van Vranken noted, those resolutions did not include the names of the companies to be approved. They only listed permit numbers, so she didn’t know if her family’s business was included, she said.

Van Vranken said the Office of the Inspector General interviewed her earlier this year and said a memo listing the businesses to be approved was available on the parish’s intranet. Van Vranken said she did not know how to log into the intranet.

In July, she emailed Parish Attorney Toni Gurley asking her to send a memo directly to parish council members listing establishments seeking permits.

Van Vranken’s attorney, David Sherman, said the ethics committee’s complaint was “totally without merit.”

Sherman said the “actual approval” of the permits is handled by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Parish Attorney’s Office, who review the applications before recommending approval or denial by the Parish Council.

Husband’s business

The anonymous letter sent to Jefferson County officials last week also targeted Van Vranken’s husband, attorney Stephen Dwyer.

This suggests that Dwyer’s participation on the evaluation committee for the bond underwriting contract and Van Vranken’s vote to approve it was a conflict of interest because Dwyer’s company was listed as an officer of the company along with a firm with the same ownership as the winner.

Dwyer said in an interview that the companies had “nothing to do” with each other and said he could not have benefited financially from winning the contract.

The letter alleges that Van Vranken should have recused herself from a vote involving business owners Matt Bowers and Louis Lauricella because Dwyer acted as the registered agent for the firms they owned. Bowers could not be reached for comment. Lauricella said Dwyer never represented his firm on matters before the board where Van Vranken voted.

Van Vranken said, “When Steve deals with issues or his firm deals with issues, I try to recuse myself from those issues all the time,” adding that she has recused herself at least 21 times since joining the board in 2016.

The anonymous letter notes that Dwyer represented Richards Clearview, LLC in a lawsuit in 2019, and Van Vranken later voted in favor of a planning and zoning request filed by the company.

Van Vranken said her husband has been a lawyer for nearly 50 years and she is not required to recuse herself from a case just because her husband represented a company involved in a separate case.

Van Vranken said she is certain the anonymous letter and complaint filed with the Board of Ethics is the work of a political opponent.

However, she said she would make a “significant effort” next week to “reset” her relationship with her colleagues.

She said that the divisions in the Parish Council were “starting to take up a lot of time and energy, which I don’t think is doing us any good.”

“I really want us to change gears,” she said.