Members of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee received copies of the report of Chaffe & Associates of New Orleans that the Division of Administration, through Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, has attempted to withhold from release.
It was only a partial victory for the committee, particularly Sen. Ed Murray who had moved successfully on Wednesday for the committee to subpoena the report on the financial assets of the Office of Group Benefits (OGB).
Conflicting reports said Rainwater reportedly was served with the subpoena late Wednesday but still refused to turn the report over to the committee, maintaining that the subpoena was not signed by a judge. Another source said Rainwater gave the report to senators before actually being served with the subpoena.
One report said the report was provided by the Legislative Auditor’s office which had, after several attempts of its own, been provided with a copy of the report but that could not be confirmed. That same report said that because the report came from the auditor’s office which is conducting an investigation, senators were required to sign a confidentiality agreement not to divulge the contents of the report.
Rainwater, when turning over the report, reportedly asked that senators not to divulge the contents because of sensitive information contained in the report.
Another source said the report was released to the members of the committee for investigative purposes relative to committee confirmation hearings only.
Confirmation hearings for Rainwater and Deputy Commissioner of Administration Mark Brady were held by the committee last week.
Apparently, the only thing know for certain is that senators have the report in hand but won’t release it themselves.
LouisianaVoice has tried unsuccessfully on five separate occasions to get DOA to release the report but DOA first said the report had not been received, then said the report was not final but on May 29, said it had received the report on the 25th but because it was part of the “deliberative process,” was not public record.
DOA attorney Paul Holmes further cited two court cases in which the Public Service Commission and the Louisiana Department of Insurance each prevailed in efforts to keep records from being made public. Those cases, however, in no way pertained to LouisianaVoice’s request for the report.
Chaffe had been retained to produce the report by the March 19 deadline for Gov. Bobby Jindal to submit his executive budget but nothing from such report was included in the budget. That led to speculation—and actual reports—that Chaffe reported that the only advantage to privatizing OGB would be for the purchaser to retain the agency’s $500 million surplus.
The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee elicited a promise from Rainwater during last week’s confirmation hearing that he would make the report available to Sen. Karen Peterson (D-New Orleans) vice-chairperson of the committee.
When Rainwater backed out on that promise and instructed OGB CEO Scott Kipper not to produce the report, Kipper tendered his resignation, effective June 24. It was the second time within six weeks that OGB had lost a CEO.
Last week’s confirmation hearing also included Kipper, who was named to replace former CEO Tommy Teague on April 15, the same day Teague was fired just six months short of his qualifying for retirement.
The committee peppered Kipper with a withering barrage of questions about his disavowal of any knowledge of the contents of the Chaffe report. That led to Murray’s motion on Wednesday to subpoena the report.
Brady received and read the latest request by LouisianaVoice for the public record on Thursday but did not respond.
Louisiana Voice 
Well we already know what the report says. Kipper told his staff the report said the only benefit to selling OGB would be if the buyer received the surplus funds. That’s what they want to keep secret. The Administration doesn’t want state employees to know that the premiums paid by state employees to cover their claims will be given to the buyer. Stealing is the name of the game. They also don’t want the buyer to know that OGB lost $17 million for the last month that figures were compiled. The Administration wants to eat away at the fund balance anyway they can. I hope the prospective buyers search the web and discover all of these “secrets”.