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Archive for November, 2010

Guest Column: A View from Pea Ridge

Posted in Uncategorized on November 7, 2010| 1 Comment »

Editor’s note: Louisiana Voice, while intended to draw attention to the foibles of our Louisiana Legislature and the machinations of the administration in Baton Rouge, is also open to a dialogue on national and international matters of import. Whether we agree or disagree with our guest columnists is not the issue. The issue is the free and unencumbered exchange if ideas, a principle to which we are incontrovertibly committed.

By Judith Howard

Ok, I get it. If I believed Obama was born in Kenya, is a socialist who is determined to undermine the United States, is a racist with a profound hatred of white people (even though his mother was white), promoted a healthcare plan that put the government between my doctor and me, that he has taken over every sector of the American economy, and that he has an anti-Christian agenda, I’d vote for Republicans too. None of this is true. Nor has he raised taxes.

If Republicans had spent years and millions of dollars from anonymous sources repeatedly telling the public that Martians walk among us, plenty of people would believe it. Some would even swear they had seen a Martian, and some people actually believe all that malarkey in the first paragraph.

A Washington Post reporter went to McKee, Kentucky where 50% of the residents live below the poverty line, and nearly three-quarters subsist on government money like Social Security, welfare or another entitlement program. It is 99.5% white. The reporter recorded these statements from McKee residents:

Viola Johnson, age 72, said, “I just feel like they’re trying to destroy our government and our Constitution and make us a socialistic society. They’re trying to take our freedoms away – no doubt about it.” Think about that for a minute. A woman on Social Security and Medicare– fretting about socialism. It would be laughable were it not so sad. Where do you think she gets her information?

The owner of the hardware store in McKee, Mr. Barrett, said that many locals are deeply suspicious about Obama and consider him an illegitimate president. He said people openly question whether Obama is Muslim or was born outside the United States.

Barrett said, “I’m not real sure. You don’t know what to believe. I hope he’s a Christian. He seems like a real good fella.”
Pointing to his computer, Barrett added: “I’ve seen on here a sign in Kenya or wherever his father’s at, ‘Birthplace of the American President.’ You really don’t know what to believe. Honestly, do you?”

When I read Barrett’s statement about reading it on the internet, I thought of a young woman’s sign at the Rally to Restore Sanity last weekend. It read, “Dear Dad, just because you read it on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true!”
One of my favorite rally signs was “Sanity, not Hannity.”

But back to Kentucky and how people get bamboozled. What are people referring to when they say Obama is “taking away our freedoms?” I can’t think of a single freedom Obama and the Democrats have taken from me, yet I keep hearing right-wingers rant about it.

People who have never read the Constitution get all upset because Democrats are destroying the Constitution. Why would they think this? Because Sarah Palin says so.

I received an email from a right-winger last week that was a scary message about the government taking our guns. Nobody has landed in black helicopters and stormed in to seize my guns. Them guvmint agents must not be able to find Pea Ridge. Have they been to your house?

Here’s an example of how silly this is, and how misinformed people are: A television reporter asked some Alaskans who were holding signs in support of Republican Joe Miller why they supported him. They said it was because Miller supported gun rights, unlike Eric Holder, head of the Justice Department.

When asked what Eric Holder had done to threaten their gun rights, they didn’t have an answer. One guy said, “Just look at his voting record.” I groaned. Eric Holder has never held elective office, thus has no voting record.

All this fear, divisiveness, and hatred whipped up to win elections are a sad commentary on our politics. If you want to see what moral courage looks like, read this email from an old friend in North Carolina who voted early:

“Well, I stood in line for about 20 minutes and voted today. While in line, the folks in front of me were discussing who the NRA said to vote for. Then the topic turned to the federal government. When a man referred to that n—-r in the White House I decided I needed to join the conversation.

I opened with, “That’s incredibly offensive.” And the conversation ensued. He said he had a right to his opinion and I agreed that he had the right to be racist. His fellow Republicans did not enter the conversation but were listening intently.

There were two black women standing about 2 1/2 feet in front of us, which his friends tried to point out to him. He added that he was proud of the South and would fly the Confederate flag if he wanted to. I agreed that he had that right, but he was still a racist. Oh yes, and he is very concerned about the President’s place of birth.”

I was dumbfounded when I read my friend’s email. The guy in front of him must have mistakenly assumed that everyone around agreed with his bigotry. What he didn’t realize is that a majority of people recognize the humanity of minorities, and antipathy towards them has gone the way of the dinosaur.

You’d have to know my friend to understand how courageous he was to speak up. He is not an activist; he’s a quiet person, and very much a “live and let live” sort of guy.

I understand that radio talk show hosts and Faux News peddle lies and hatred to boost their ratings. I understand that politicians spread lies and fear to win elections. But my friend’s experience in the voting line is an example of what hate-peddling does to our country.

While politicians have been exploiting fears about all manner of crazy stuff, people in a small Iowa town that has lost thousands of jobs were interviewed on television about the election. Gay marriage and abortion are not on their radar, and they don’t care about Republicans or Democrats.

They said they just want people in Congress to solve problems for everyday Americans, not go to Washington to make a career out of being there. They’re angry at politicians and desperate about their economic situation.

Republicans offer no solutions for these people. David Stockman, Reagan’s budget director no less, said on television last weekend that he was embarrassed to say it, but Republicans propose “tax cuts” as the answer for every problem.

How refreshing to hear one of their own tell the truth. It beats the heck out of lies about our President’s birthplace, or how much freedom we’ve lost, or who’s coming for our guns.

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Chaos & absenteeism define Jindal administration

Posted in Economy, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Jobs, Legislature, Legislators, Taxes, Transparency, tagged , , , , , on November 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If there’s a single word that could describe both the political and fiscal plight of Louisiana, that word would be chaotic. Absentee governor also comes to mind.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, when he’s not flying off to any of a growing number of other states to campaign for Republican candidates, is telling cabinet members and department heads to lead and to stop “whining” about proposed budget cuts that threaten to further stymie the state’s already stagnant economy and to gut higher education.

College presidents from one end of the state to the other are grappling with ways to keep from shutting down academic programs and laying off professors and teachers. The college presidents challenged Jindal’s Facebook criticism of the state’s colleges and universities for “underperforming” and for their “inefficiency.”

Professors also are entering the fray, openly criticizing the governor for everything from chronic absenteeism to insensitivity toward higher education as manifested by the administration’s deep budgetary cuts.

One legislator, perhaps with some measure of justification, or perhaps with an eye on the governor’s office in next year’s election, likewise accused Jindal of being absent from the state in a time of crisis.

Rep. John Bel Edwards of Amite described Jindal as absent without leave during “the most serious budget crisis in our history.” Edwards, a Democrat, said that Jindal “is not minding the store” and has been less than honest with Louisiana’s citizens about problems facing the state.

Edwards isn’t alone among legislators in offering criticism of the governor’s repeated optimistic proclamations on his statewide “Building a Better Louisiana for Our Children” tour. Press releases from the governor’s office quote Jindal as saying his administration is “doing more with less” and has “significantly cut government spending and reduced the size of government—while pursuing innovative programs that are more effective at providing services for our people.”

Several state senators, however, have called Jindal to task for what they feel is a lack of candor. The said he should be more straightforward about the types of severe budget cuts that will be necessary in order to balance next year’s budget. They said Jindal has been misleading the public in talking up cost savings and office consolidations while refusing to acknowledge the far-reaching budget cuts that will be needed to close the budget gap.

The president of the LSU student body gained national publicity recently when he wrote to a newspaper in New Hampshire where Jindal was campaigning. The letter asked the governor to return home and address the budgetary problems facing higher education. Only when J. Ryan Hudson’s letter got national attention did Jindal finally agree to meet with students to discuss cuts to higher education.

More recently, an LSU professor voiced similar sentiments, saying Jindal should do his job and “stop playing games.” A.R.P. Rau added that the governor, while critical of university sabbatical policies, failed to appreciate the irony that he is often “absent without leave from the state, neglecting it for his personal national aspirations.”

Perhaps the most significant criticism, however, came from Ed Steimel, retired president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). Steimel, calling himself a longtime supporter of Jindal, now describes the governor as “a major disappointment” and said he no longer supports him. Steimel-perhaps with tongue in cheek, but perhaps not-even suggested that Hudson and Jindal swap jobs.

State Treasurer John Kennedy, sounding more and more like a potential 2011 challenger to his fellow Republican, has offered his own plan to balance the state budget now estimated to be more than $100 million in the red. Kennedy said his 16-point plan would produce an overall savings of $2.6 billion.

The governor’s office, even as it was responding to the college presidents, launched a web page dedicated to criticizing Kennedy’s proposals, with Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater saying that the state treasurer’s ideas were “unworkable.” Kennedy angrily responded to Rainwater, saying, “Tell me you don’t want to do it. Tell me you don’t have the political courage to do it. But don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

When he became governor, Jindal increased the size of the Louisiana Board of Ethics by more than two-thirds, from 23 to 39 staff positions but now has directed the agency to cut staff by 35 percent. Ethics Board Chairman Frank Simoneaux said personnel cuts would be “particularly egregious to us.” He said the board already in understaffed for it to perform the duties it is charged by law to do.

Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein sent an Oct. 22 agency-wide email in which he said Jindal was “committed to providing the core health-care services and programs that our residents need.” At the same time, however, Greenstein announced a reorganization that “will lead to a reduction in staff.”

Even as Greenstein was parroting Jindal’s commitment to needed health-care services, physicians and legislators alike leveled stinging criticism of Jindal’s decision last week to scrap CommunityCare, a program which mainly serves children in providing primary-care physicians for Medicaid patients throughout Louisiana. By eliminating the extra $3 per patient per month paid physicians to coordinate care of individual Medicaid patients, Jindal said he hopes to cut spending by $16 million.

Nor is the governor the only one to incur the wrath of some observers. The same growing feeling of general frustration was also directed at the legislature.

A Baton Rouge retiree offered a proposal which isn’t likely to get many takers. He suggested that whenever cuts are necessary, legislators should be first in line to sacrifice. Bill Fontaine of the Baton Rouge suburb of Central said that would mean that salaries, staff, perks, and any other costs of making the legislature run must be cut proportionate to any cuts to higher education. “….imagine the legislators working for free when there is no budget to pay them…..” he said.

“But you see,” he added, “I’m a pessimist about legislative courage. I don’t think they have the courage to forgo some pay and/or benefits for the good of the people. They are just cowards and greedy grabbers….”

Even the Associated Press is beginning to call attention to Jindal’s growing propensity to speak of Louisiana’s economy in more glowing terms than its citizens back home can see.

Saying that the governor seems more focused on his own political future than on problems back home, AP points out that Jindal conveniently leaves out the bad news about the state’s finances when describing his administration’s accomplishments during appearances in other states.

The latest example of Jindal’s apparent propensity to embellish his image of the state came as recently as Oct. 27 in Wisconsin.

Appearing on behalf of eventual winning gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker, Jindal and Governors Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Haley Barbour of Mississippi told Wisconsin voters that their strategies of cutting taxes and shrinking government worked in their states. Their pronouncements prompted Walker to call the three his inspiration when he is asked how he will create jobs and make government smaller. Calling them “great leaders,” Walker said, “They did it and we’re going to do it.”

Jindal boasted that Louisiana’s economy improved when he cut or repealed tax increases passed under his Democratic predecessor Kathleen Blanco, adding that Americans need leaders who can balance budgets, create jobs, and cut taxes. (Actually, the Stelly Plan to which he was apparently alluding, was passed in 2002, the final year of Republican Gov. Mike Foster’s administration.)

The “improved” economy of Louisiana is wrestling with the current budget deficit of $106 million. As if that were not sufficiently severe, next year’s deficit is pegged—by the Jindal administration itself—at $1.6 billion while others project an even bigger budgetary shortfall.

Back home in Louisiana, however, Jindal said it will be necessary for cabinet members and department heads to deliver better value with fewer dollars. “We don’t need whining. We do need leadership,” he said at a Capitol press conference. Then, apparently satisfied to leave the leadership to others, he immediately left for Pittsburgh to attend a fundraiser for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania.

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