State employees hoping to avoid Gov. Bobby Jindal’s state retirement reform, aka reverse gang rape, would be wise to contact the Louisiana State Employee Retirement System (LASERS) Member Services Office as quickly as possible.
Jindal, working in lock step with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), is attempting to ram through the ALEC-sponsored retirement reform that could potentially leave many state employees in dire financial straits.
ALEC is a national organization underwritten by dozens of major U.S. corporations, including Koch Industries, which drafts legislation favoring business and industry and passes the proposed legislation along to state lawmakers to take back to their respective legislatures and state assemblies for passage.
One 38-year-old state employee earning $100,000 per year has worked for the state for 15 years and planned on working 15 more years before retiring at approximately $75,000 per year.
Under Jindal’s plan, that employee would only qualify for an annual pension of $17,000 after 30 years, a loss of $58,000 per year, or 77 percent.
Another state employee, 41 years of age with 20 years is presently making $52,000 per year. That employee planned on working another 10 years and retiring at 75 percent of that salary, or $39,000.
That worker is now facing an annual pension of $6,000 after 30 years under Jindal’s plan, a loss of $33,000 per year, or almost 85 percent.
Jindal is seeking an additional 3 percent contribution from state employees but the money would not be used to close the gap on LASER’S unfunded accrued liability (UAL). Nor would it go to increased retirement benefits. Instead, the 3 percent will go directly into the state general fund to help fill holes in Jindal’s budget.
Jindal’s plan also would require state employees to work until age 67 to qualify for full benefits.
Finally, he is seeking to convert from a defined benefits retirement plan to one of defined contributions.
Any one of the three that is subsequently approved by the legislature and signed into law is all but certain to face litigation on the theory—by LASERS officials and courts in Arizona and New Hampshire—that the U.S. Constitution forbids lawmakers from diminishing or impairing a contract.
LASERS contends, and the courts in those two states have agreed, that promises made to employees upon their hire constitute binding contracts and cannot be broken arbitrarily.
State employee morale is at an all-time low, largely due to the policies implemented by Jindal’s minions.
Over at the Department of Health and Hospitals, Carol Steckel, former Commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid Agency, was hired by Jindal to head up health care reform efforts in Louisiana. Her efforts to fire 69 information technology workers and contract their jobs out to the University of New Orleans was thwarted by the Civil Service Commission because commission members did not buy into the rosy numbers she gave them.
Only last week, UNO President Peter Fos said in a letter to DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein that he was disinclined to sign the proposed contract until his concerns “are addressed and resolved to my satisfaction.”
Fos, who is new to the job, obviously does not know how things work in the Jindal administration. Underlings do not question the master; it’s surprising that he has not been Teagued already.
Steckel, who while in Alabama, left out of her budget appropriations for the purchase of artificial limbs for low-income Alabama amputees, saying the funds were optional, not mandatory. She has lost no time in pursuing reprisals against her employees who had the temerity to resist being fired.
The first thing she did was to discontinue flex time, whereby employees had the option of working four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days.
On the heels of that move, she began refusing to grant annual leave to employees.
It is the option of supervisors to grant or refuse annual leave even though it is earned by employees. Generally, the reason for not granting annual leave is that it is essential that the employee be at work on that day.
These, however, are employees she has been trying to fire—the same employees who were blocked out of their computers minutes after being informed in December that they would not have jobs in January and now she says they are needed at their desks. One of the IT workers at DHH has had enough and announced plans to retire.
In other agencies and other offices, state employees who are retirement-eligible are calling LASERS to schedule appointments with LASERS Member Services to plan their exodus from state government.
State Civil Service employees are eligible for retirement after 30 years of service at any age, after 25 years of service at age 55, and after 10 years of service at age 60.
LASERS data show that there are 3,000 rank-and-file employees under the age of 55 but with 25 or more years of service and another 1,100 who are 55 or older with 25 years or more of service.
Moreover, of the 47,000 rank-and-file Civil Service workers, about 9,900, or 21 percent, are eligible for immediate retirement—and they aren’t waiting around for the proverbial shoe to fall.
While it normally requires only a three- to five-week waiting time for an appointment with Member Services, the wait is now about three months—or until late June at the earliest. And as the retirement nightmare approaches reality with the advancement of Jindal’s bills, that line is inevitably going to grow longer and more crowded.
And lest one believes passage of the retirement bills out of the House and Senate retirement committees is not likely, let’s harken back to Rule One:
Follow the money.
Just as in the case of the House and Senate education committees, Jindal has complete control and he is going to go full throttle with his bills through those committees. And the fuel, once again, is money.
Between Jindal and ALEC, a grand total of $182,450 has been invested in 13 members of the two committees.
It turns out Jindal was not running around all over the country raising unnecessary money for a re-election campaign that he already had in the bag; he was fundraising to grease the skids in the Legislature with his own campaign donations.
Illegal? No. Unethical? Probably not. At odds with his squeaky clean public image he so cherishes and burnishes outside the borders of Louisiana? Absolutely.
With that said, let’s take a look at those contributions to select committee members with names of the legislators listed first, followed by the total campaign contributions and the source—Jindal or ALEC corporate members, or both.
House Retirement Committee members:
• Kevin Pearson, Chairman (R-Slidell)—$2500 from Jindal;
• Nick Lorusso, Vice Chairman (R-New Orleans)—$6500 from ALEC corporate members;
• Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe)—$2500 from Jindal, $12,800 from ALEC corporations;
• Anthony Ligi (R-Metairie)—$5000 from Jindal, $20,700 from ALEC corporate members;
• Jack Montoucet (D-Crowley)—$6000 from ALEC corporate members;
• Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport)—$2500 from Jindal, $11,750 from ALEC corporate members;
• Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge)—$5000 from Jindal.
The total for the seven House Education Committee members: $17,500 from Jindal, $57,750 from ALEC corporate members.
Senate Retirement Committee members:
• Elbert Guillory, Chairman (D-Opelousas)—$7500 from Jindal, $45,200 from ALEC corporate members;
• Page Cortez, Vice-Chairman (R-Lafayette)—$2500 from Jindal;
• Conrad Appel (R-Metairie)—$2500 from Jindal;
• A.G. Crowe (R-Pearl River)—$2500 from Jindal, $4500 from ALEC corporate members;
• Gerald Long (R-Natchitoches)—$2500 from Jindal, $35,000 from ALEC corporate members;
• Jonathan Perry (R-Kaplan)—$5000 from Jindal.
The total for the Senate Education Committee members: $22,500 from Jindal, $84,700 from corporate members of ALEC.
Larusso, Hoffmann, Ligi, Montoucet, Seabaugh, Talbot, Crowe and Long are all members of ALEC and the organization paid for travel, registration fees, hotel accommodations and meals for members Hoffman, Seabaugh, Crowe and Long to attend ALEC conferences.
Rule Two: See Rule One.
Louisiana Voice 
Please join the pension fight at: https://www.facebook.com/pension2012
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Thanks!
You know, I really thought this one would be different. I was really excited watching Jindal’s star rise and I thought he would be the breath of fresh air this state needed. I had hoped he would be the first of a new generation of ‘statesmen’ who truly served the public and not themselves. And at one point he may actually have been.
Regardless whether or not it was voluntary, he’s now fully co-opted by ‘the system’ and is just another odoriferous career politician. I weep for the future of our state and our nation.
ALEC is rooted in corruption and those who participate are the most corrupt of all! Larusso, Ligi, Montoucet, Seabaugh, Talbot, Crowe,Long among the other ALEC political prostitutes should be thrown out of office. The Center for Media and Democracy “ALEC Exposed” has the full list of Louisiana legislators and senators who belong to ALEC, and it has been learned, efforts are being made in this state [as well as others] to identify those members, and have them removed from office through political means.
It’s sad, people are not going to realize how BADLY the Jindal administration has screwed up this state until it’s too late! When he’s finally finished screwing the people of Louisiana for his and his buddies own financial gain, he will move on to his next prey, which is America! Jindal will then finish Raping the whole Country! I’m sure the stories will surface once he leave office of all the horrible things his administration did while in office. This state will be in BAD shape for a long time! I’m 51 years old, and Jindal is the worse administration I have ever witness! EWE got nothing on him when it comes to wrong doings! Disappointed Louisiana I agree, I WEEP FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR STATE! I pray GOD FORBID, Jindal doesn’t get a chance to destory and rape our NATION!
PLEASE READ THIS AND CONTACT YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATOR. I am just speechless about this. Our beloved republican governor really has it in for us state employees.
Little boy gone bad. What in the hell is he thinking? Better not run for anything in this state again; could never get back in, and to think we, voted for him. What nitwits we were.
Is it possible to hold Legislatures “personally” liable for decisions – you know – name them in lawsuits when they destroy the retirement system – or – hold the governor responsible for not paying the UAL that is required by law to be paid ??
Everyone else has to answer to him – why dosen’t he have to answer to us, the tax payers?
Will new employees be part of social security when they go to a 401K type retirement?
Will the State of LA pay Social Security taxes? (They don’t pay the UAL!)
Private employees have SS and get the benefit of a 401K – Will State employees?
Maybe dumb questions but I still wonder about all this?
The ultimate responsibility is with our legislators. They are safe from this plan with their raises and benefits.
I can proudly say I did not vote for him the first time or the second time, he’s just a wolf in sheep clothing!
Watching from the retirement sidelines. I am saddened my friends are being affected by this disgusting situation. Changing retirement rules in the middle of the game is akin to starting the game playing football only to have players return to the field and find a cricket match going on. Make no mistake, state employees are in for an uphill battle. When it is reported that some of the people who hold lives in their hands and they sell their vote for $2500 I wonder how low have we gone in this state. Using Landrieu as our guide, selling her vote in the Senate, will people begin to think we are all money grubbers. Well, let’s face it–some people love extra money. Just wondering if everyone is paying taxes on all this “extra income.” How much is YOUR integrity worth? I certainly hope it is worth more than $2500. I want to thank the publisher of LouisianaVoice—you ARE making a difference. And believe me—I will advise you when I hear of other abuses. This situation is completely unacceptable. How would employees of privately owned companies feel if their company changed their retirement, arbitrarily, moments before their retirement? They would be outraged. But are they outraged enough to contact their legislators—remember the old expression: “They came for the Jews and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t Jewish. Then they came for Catholics. I didn’t say anything because iI wasn’t Catholic. Then they came for the Protestants and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a protestant. Then they came for me. And I realized there was no one left to speak up for me.” Remember, if it can happen to state employees, don’t you know it can happen to people who work for private companies?
Another case of dirty politics in Louisiana.
I hope everyone is contacting their legislators and also commenting in the comment sections of Business Report, the Advocate, even sending letters to those places. We have to fight. No one will do it for us.
Has anyone seen the forgotston piece on the governor changing state employee leave policy last friday? Forgotston says the gov sent it out on twitter to avoid letting the press know about it, and that it is retroactive to 2008. I haven’t heard anything about this.
The Executive Order established leave policies for unclassified appointees and was retroactive to 2008. As Forgotston pointed out, one has to wonder what rules these people have been operating under, if any.
[…] A link to an article by the far-left Louisiana Voice website accusing the Jindal administration of taking orders from the “evil” American Legislative Exchange Council in pushing pension reform – which that website termed “reverse gang rape;” […]
First of all, we have never once laid claim to being “non-partisan” and having perused The Hayride on numerous occasions, it would seem that we do at least measure up to The Hayride’s standard of excellence in non-partisanship.
Don’t dispute the donations and the ALEC connections, just cry ‘this is from the left’. OK, you’ve ‘shot the messenger’. Now explain how Jindal’s dealings help LASER’s members? Funny, you don’t look ‘non-partisan’ either. BTW, ALEC is exactly
what’s wrong with government.
As a Jindal supporter, I take offense to some of the stretches that are displayed in this article. But I do agree that this man has decieved the public and basically bribed (legally) the prostitute legislators who really only care about personal interests and friends. Thank God I own my own business but the future can only get worse if this policy is passed by a bought group of politicians. God save our representatives and senators.
No matter what, no new taxes. Well, um, unless they are lower to middle class peasants, teachers, state working losers, etc… Just do not include me, I’m an elected elite.
we have a privately owned company ( Koch industries owning Georgia-pacific amongst many other companies) trying to pass legislation. Since when do you let a private business tell you how to run your government?? Oh yes, when you can easily be bought and paid for. Jindal is a pawn himself and not as intelligent as he wants everyone to believe. Republicans can be bought for much less than Democrats too, it seems. Notice the amount the amount the Democrat above was given vs. the Republicans. This governor is ruining this state. I knew he was awful from day 1. I looked at his health & hospitals past and realized he was NOT fit to be Governor. Where’s the recall petition?? 🙂
I can’t even stand to look at Jindal, really disappointed in him and how he is bringing Louisiana down.
Follow the lead of Wisconsin-RECALL. It is only going to get worse. It will already take decades to undo the damage he has done to this state. He is a puppet and ALEC pulls the strings. God help our country if he does move up. Yes, I voted for him twice. We were all duped. I am a registered republican, not an ALECIAN. After witnessing what the Republicans have done this legislative session, how they have betrayed us for ALEC, I will never vote Republican again.
Anyone wishing to print and circulate the Jindal recall petition, please email deutsch29@aol.com for a file copy and complete directions. Please write “recall petition” in the subject line,