A review of government emails, contracts, litigation, and financial disclosures reveals serious flaws in the Ascension Parish plan to provide financial support to Hyundai and other out of state corporations seeking to profit off of our parish via the RiverPlex MegaPark (RiverPlex).
The RiverPlex has been shrouded in unprecedented secrecy. According to news reports, the $2.6 billion dollar incentive package was negotiated in secret. 23 public officials signed non-disclosure agreements with Louisiana Economic Development about the project, and the Ascension Parish government has refused to provide public records and appealed a judge’s order to do so. Those records may contain even more non-disclosure agreements. If the RiverPlex is so good for Ascension Parish, why are officials refusing to share information?
The Ascension Parish Council will soon consider its own incentive package for Hyundai, the corporation that is the anchor tenant of the RiverPlex. This Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) with Hyundai, as it is called, would commit the parish to millions of dollars of public money for the complex.
Tell the council not to approve the CEA.
Explore the non-disclosure agreements that limit public scrutiny of the parish’s radical industrialization plan.
An NDA is a legally binding agreement that prevents the signatory from discussing – or disclosing – anything about a subject. An NDA has long been a practice in private business. The Ascension Parish and Louisiana state government’s use of NDAs is a highly controversial new practice that violates the principles of democracy.
Twenty-three public officials have signed NDAs with Louisiana Economic Development regarding the RiverPlex. To see an NDA, expand the list and click the name of the official.
LED
Ken Brass
Representative
8.23.24
An NDA is a legally binding agreement that prevents the signatory from discussing – or disclosing – anything about a subject. An NDA has long been a practice in private business. The Ascension Parish and Louisiana state government’s use of NDAs is a highly controversial new practice that violates the principles of democracy.
Twenty-three public officials have signed NDAs with Louisiana Economic Development regarding the RiverPlex. To see an NDA, click next to the name of the official.
Taft Kleinpeter – LED
Ascension Parish School Board President (9.19.24)
Clint Cointment – LED
Ascension Parish President (10.14.24)
Ruth Phillips – LED
Chief Administrative Officer
Ascension Parish (10.14.24)
Bobby Webre – LED
Ascension Parish Sheriff (10.14.24)
Colonel Paul Robert – LED
Sheriff’s Executive Officer
Ascension Parish (10.14.24)
Oliver Joseph – LED
Ascension Parish Councilman
District 1 (1.7.25)
Leroy Sullivan – LED
Donaldsonville Mayor (1.8.25)
Ed Price – LED
Senator (8.22.24)
Ken Brass – LED
Representative (8.23.24)
Cameron Henry – LED
Senator, Senate President (9.17.24)
Jeffrey Wiley – LED
Representative, Maurepas (9.16.24)
Phillip DeVillier – LED
Representative, House Speaker (9.16.24)
Eddie Lambert – LED
Senator, Asc – Prairieville, Livingston,
St. James (10.11.24)
Lawrence Bagley – LED
Representative, Caddo, deSoto, Sabine (10.14.24)
Joseph Orgeron – LED
Representative, Cut Off (12.30.24)
Taylor Barras – LED
Commissioner of Administration (8.28.24)
Greg Rusovich – LED
Chair, Louisiana Board of International Commerce (8.27.24)
Jay Hardman – LED
Executive Director, Port of Greater Baton Rouge (8.27.24)
Julia Fisher-Cormier – LED
Commissioner, Department of Transportation
and Development (8.13.24)
Brian Cox – LED
Chief Operating Officer, Port of South Louisiana (12.5.24)
Joey Murray – LED
Board Chair, Port of South Louisiana (11.25.24)
Paul Matthews – LED
CEO, Port of South Louisiana (11.18.24)
Glenn Ledet – LED
Secretary, Department of Transportation (8.13.25)