Notable Quotables (In their own words)

April 19, 2012 by tomaswell

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

–The late actor Peter Finch as newscaster Howard Beale in the 1976 movie Network.

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, Notable Quotables, Transparency | 18 Comments

18 Responses

on April 20, 2012 at 9:37 am | Reply Midnight 2

I’m mentally drained from fighting my evil supervisors to get paid for the work I do. Now, Jindal and his band of self serving thieves want to steal more from me. Yes, I’m mad as hell, never did take it and won’t take it now! I will march on until victory is won!
on April 20, 2012 at 9:44 am | Reply Midnight 2

Louisiana throws away millions of dollars a year in attorney fees because of bad supervisors making illegal decisions. Taxpayers have to pay to defend these bad supervisors with no management skills. These supervisors are not being evaluated properly. They should be evaluated just like the teachers, but they are not! The only thing being done is the payment of attorney fees on the taxpayer’s dime! I’m mad as hell about this too…
on April 20, 2012 at 12:30 pm | Reply Jmw70810

One of the future consequences of these retirement changes (should they survive the court challenges) will be the loss of ability to use early retirement as a mechanism to avoid layoffs. These changes will tie the hands of future administrations by removing one of the options used in years of budgetary shortfalls. Then again, perhaps this is one of the anticipated perks for Piyush: push through these changes, then lay off employees who can no longer take an early retirement without suffering significant economic loss. From Piyush’s perspective this is win-win. Easier to get layoffs and a real savings in overall retirement system costs. There’s two more budget years to get through with this administration.
on April 20, 2012 at 9:19 pm | Reply Susan Hill

http://www.askchesapeake.com/Haynesville-Shale/Articles/Pages/article.aspx?Filter1Field=ID&Filter1Value=49

Haynesville Shale Celebrates Four Years
Wednesday, January 25, 2012

“In the summer of 2008 news of the Haynesville Shale hit Northwest Louisiana and East Texas. It was quickly followed by a flurry of activity and talk that the Haynesville’s economic impact could be one of the most significant things to occur in the area in decades.”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/us-chesapeake-mcclendon-loans-idUSBRE83H0GA20120418

Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:04am EDT
REUTERS Special Report: Chesapeake CEO (Aubrey McClendon) took $1.1 billion in shrouded personal loans

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http://66.80.214.36/ENGT/image/tid/2

PICTURE: Chesapeake Open House Event. Nick Gautreaux, Aubrey McClendon, Ginger Adams, Jean (Jane) Smith, Governor Bobby Jindal and Scott Angelle, Secretary of Department of Nature Resources

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/20/us-chesapeake-investments-idUSBRE83J1LE20120420

Pensions helped EIG loan cash to Chesapeake, McClendon
Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:09pm EDT

“The list of state pensions that put money into the $4.1 billion EIG Global Energy Partners fund include ones from Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas…”

(Reuters) – “An investment management firm that has loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to Chesapeake Energy Corp.(CHK.N) Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon raised money for its most recent investment fund from 19 institutional investors, including some of the largest U.S. public pension funds, according to a private equity research firm.”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/21/us-chesapeake-idUSBRE83J0QJ20120421

Chesapeake discloses loans after Reuters report
Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:18pm EDT

(Reuters) – “Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N), in response to a Reuters report earlier this week, will disclose to shareholders the existence of loans its CEO Aubrey McClendon took out against his interest in thousands of wells granted to him as a corporate perk, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/us-chesapeake-mcclendon-loans-idUSBRE83H0GA20120418

Special Report: Chesapeake CEO took $1.1 billion in shrouded personal loans
Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:04am EDT

“McClendon has borrowed as much as $1.1 billion in the last three years by pledging his stake in the company’s oil and natural gas wells as collateral, documents reviewed by Reuters show.”

“The loans were made through three companies controlled by McClendon that list Chesapeake’s headquarters as their address. The money is being used to help finance what could be a lucrative perk of his job – the opportunity to buy into the very same well stakes that he is using as collateral for the borrowings.”

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/francinemckenna/2012/04/18/chesapeake-energy-ceo-mcclendon-serves-himself-first/

Chesapeake Energy: CEO McClendon Serves Himself First
4/18/2012 @ 9:08AM |16,119 views

“You have to wonder whether Chesapeake Energy‘s Board of Directors and General Counsel Henry Hood have been overcome by fumes. The company’s response to inquiries from Thomson Reuters’ special investigation by Brian Grow and Anna Driver is not only disingenuous it’s borderline delusional.”

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304331204577356201558269774.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Pressure Mounts at Chesapeake
Updated April 20, 2012, 7:52 p.m. ET

“Pressure intensified on Chesapeake Energy Corp. Friday, as analysts called on it to overhaul corporate governance and warned that the company’s financial structure and liquidity concerns could present a risk for shareholders.”

“The calls for change came in the wake of revelations that entities controlled by Aubrey K. McClendon, the company’s founder and CEO, borrowed up to $1.4 billion from a private-equity firm that has done hundreds of millions of dollars in deals with the company in the past year. The company didn’t disclose the size or source of the borrowings.”
on April 20, 2012 at 9:42 pm | Reply AdvocateforTruth

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/louisiana-house-backs-business-tax-153028374.html

Read this and you’ll understand why Jindal and the Legislature are so keen on making state employee’s pony up for the UAL. They keep giving away the revenue!!! BJ’s boys passed this out of the House 100 to 0! REALLY?? Big Money Moret, Jingle Pockets Jindal, and their Lackey Legislators blow more state cash on pie-in-the-sky economic development schemes. If the state’s so broke that it can’t keep its promise to its employees, and catch up on it’s obligation to the pension system, BJ and the boys need to stop this welfare for businesses. They should pay their taxes like the rest of us do!
on April 20, 2012 at 9:49 pm | Reply AdvocateforTruth

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/summary-box-few-states-track-184814068.html

“Summary Box: Few states track tax break effects”
Need I say more?
on April 20, 2012 at 10:09 pm | Reply Ll

Can anyone explain why the hell they changed the effective date to June 15?!

When I first heard rumors of this bill, and before it was filed, I assumed they would give everyone at least until the end of the year. I was shocked to learn it was October 1, but now this June 15 date is total madness!

This means everyone has to GUESS how the new system will affect them and then choose an option in ignorance without any help from LASERS.

THERE WILL NOT ONLY BE LAWSUITS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTIONALITY BUT LAWSUITS TO REIMBURSE AND REINSTATE THOSE OF US WHO ARE FORCED TO LEAVE WITHOUT HAVING BEEN GIVEN TIME TO EVEN UNDERSTAND THESE LAWS.
- on April 21, 2012 at 5:27 pm | Reply Statesman
  
  This is precisely what they want Li, I say let’s give it to them. Let’s give them all the court cases they can stand.
- on April 22, 2012 at 3:16 pm | Reply Jmw70810
  
  Just guessing here, but I would assume it has to do with the end of the fiscal year and reducing the “paper” projected costs for FY2013. Bear in mind that our governor has a vested interest in trying to “prove” that trickle down economics works, hence tax cuts to upper income folks and businesses and a concomitant reduction in expenses. Of course the would also assume a reduction in services, which has not actually occurred. The transfer of government to a free market model is his goal. The irony is that government services (police, fire, education, etc) aren’t true free markets. For example, I pay taxes for public education system even though I don’t have children because the entire community–including myself–benefits from a well-educated population. A free market model of government services would be no government services at all–essentially I pay for whatever I use. What Piyush, Inc is doing is distorting free markets by transferring wealth from a large pot of taxpayers to a small oligarchy of private business owners who have every incentive to provide fewer services at a higher cost to captive “customers” (aka taxpayers). By adding a profit motive into the mix, Piyush,Inc actually disincentivizes the correction of social problem.
  
  So why decrease the amount of time you have to decide: a paper numbers game that will decrease next year’s projected budget deficit as well as increase the attrition numbers for FY2012.
  - on April 22, 2012 at 9:31 pm Ll
    
    Well said.
    
    And I’m afraid it’s going to work. At least the part about decreasing the head count. I’m preparing to resign. There is a lot to do and little time to do it in.
    
    I’m not sure that I understand the bill, and it’s not even the final bill, and LASERS cannot help me. The only thing I am sure of is the fact that I will not be making an informed decision, only an educated guess.
    
    I would love to wrote this to the Advocate opinion page, but I’m afraid that this governor, with the resources of the state at his command, will persecute me in some way. Everyone I know feels the same way. This explains why 56,000 employees haven’t written a word to the paper, even though they’re all about to get screwed.
on April 21, 2012 at 6:30 pm | Reply SR

Since the state is essentially a deadbeat, is a lien appropriate? Just curious if there is anything that can be done before the lawsuits kick in.
- on April 21, 2012 at 8:35 pm | Reply Ll
  
  Slap a lien on Bobby’s mansion! And his helicopter toys.
  - on April 22, 2012 at 3:18 pm Jmw70810
    
    At least sue him for the taxpayer cost of the security details he uses for his fund raising trips. Then again, I understand his speeches are quite the opportunity to catch a few zzzz’s.
on April 21, 2012 at 8:36 pm | Reply Ll

It appears that BJ still can’t understand why his long, boring speeches put people to sleep.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/04/new_york_newspaper_finds_gov_b.html
on April 21, 2012 at 8:57 pm | Reply Ll

Here’s an infuriating fact. If they pass SB-749, forcing thousands of people to resign (to avoid losing their property), none of them will qualify for unemployment insurance coverage because they will be blamed for what happened to them.

From the Louisiana Workforce Commission:

“Unemployment insurance (UI) is a program designed to provide temporary financial assistance to workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own and who meet the requirements of the Louisiana Employment Security Law. UI benefits are paid as a matter of past employment and legal entitlement, and not on the basis of need.”

On the ther hand, welfare and food stamps are options, I suppose.
on April 22, 2012 at 2:56 pm | Reply Ll

I read that SB-749 will probably be argued and modified right up untill the end of the session.

The session ends on June 4, and the effective date is June 15, and there are an estimated 56,000 affected employees.

If LASERS made appointments with each eligible employee in the 8 business days between the end of the session and the effective date of the new law, they could spend 4 seconds each.

Fair?
on April 22, 2012 at 3:52 pm | Reply AdvocateforTruth

Ll — What’s the big deal! That’s only 3.9 seconds longer than it took the Senate Retirement Committee to deliberate the retirement bills and pass them to the Senate Floor! And it took most of the .10 second to wink and nod at each other.
- on April 22, 2012 at 10:30 pm | Reply Ll
  
  I heard those on the committee admit they hadn’t read or understood the bill, weren’t sure what was in it, but they all agreed it must go to the floor. And when the bill reappeared, the effective date of October 1 had been changed to June 15.
  
  LASERS testified they could not explain to the employees how the new law would affect them personally by the Oct 1 deadline, so the senators reduced the time LASERS had by 90%.
  
  What are the chances of a class action lawsuit to reimburse and reinstate employees who are forced to resign without the council of LASERS?