Gov. Bobby Jindal's office has dismissed suggestions from retired generals he appointed to consider who should lead the Louisiana National Guard, and has refused to release the group's reccomendation.

Last week, Jindal reappointed Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau as the state's adjutant general without reviewing the report by the committee he set up.

The generals were "flabbergasted and insulted" that Jindal ignored their input, according to a letter sent Friday to the governor's office by its chairman, former Louisiana Adjutant Gen. Ansel "Buddy" Stroud.

Jindal Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell replied Monday with a letter saying he thought Stroud was biased against Landreneau and might have a conflict of interest because of his work for contractors that do business with the Guard.

Although the governor's office said no committee report existed, Stroud — whom Jindal appointed in January to head the recommendation committee — said it completed the report in January, but the governor's office repeatedly canceled meetings to deliver it.

"Our committee members ... were told that the reason for our mission was to keep politics out of the process," Stroud's letter said. "Because of this statement, these committee members agreed to devote their valuable time to the project. Obviously, we were misled regarding this."

Stroud was adjutant general for 17 years and led the Louisiana Guard during Operation Desert Storm.

The panel interviewed a number of candidates for adjutant general and made a recommendation that was not disclosed. The governor had interviewed and rejected that person for a less important job, according to Teepell's letter.

He told Stroud he "became concerned about your objectivity — or at the appearance thereof — as I obtained additional information about the extent of your association with contractors who do business with the Guard."

Stroud said Tuesday that he does consulting work on military issues for the Shaw Group. Other members of the panel said Stroud's work was commonly known and should have been no revelation to the governor's office.

"I just wished the governor would have approached this in a manner that was more open, and not as divisive as it has become in the last week," said retired Brig. Gen. Sam deGeneres, a member of the panel. "He has challenged Gen. Stroud's integrity, as well as ours, and that's not acceptable. Mr. Teepell owes Gen. Stroud a public apology and he owes the members of the committee a public apology."

Retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth Ross said he and his fellow panel members put in days of work only to be rudely dismissed by the governor's office. "I'm actually mystified," Ross said. "I thought Bobby Jindal was smarter than this."

After disputing the panel's claims about low morale and leadership troubles at the Guard, Teepell's letter said his office would look into the panel's recommendations for changes and "take corrective action where warranted."