Kenner visitors bureau misspent thousands

BATON ROUGE — The state Legislative Auditor has released a report that accuses the director and a board member of the Kenner Convention and Visitors Bureau of misusing public funds.

The charges of possible misspending, in an audit released Monday, include more than $200,000 given to the board president and his daughter, thousands of dollars in undocumented credit card spending, improper advances to an employee and Christmas bonuses the director gave himself.

The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/KvTUBe ) Kenner's internal auditor began investigating the bureau last year. Mayor Mike Yenni announced in July that the city was withholding $60,000 from the bureau, pending completion of that audit, which preliminary found misspending. He cut off ties with the group in August and the state auditor began its probe after Yenni made the city's findings public.