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Archive for March, 2014

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Boards, DHH, Health Care, Notable Quotables on March 11, 2014| 8 Comments »

“This isn’t my face. I used to be real pretty.”

—Roblyn Ruggles, quoted in the Aug. 31, 1993 Wall Street Journal after eight oral-surgery procedures left her disfigured, without jaw joints, mouth permanently agape, and unable to bite into a sandwich or purse her lips for a kiss—a victim of jaw implants marketed by Drs. John Kent of the LSU School of Dentistry and his partner Charles Homsy of Houston.

“Dr. (Conrad) McVea stated both to me and to the Board that I could not be expected to comply with professional standards because I had not accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.”

–Dr. Randall Schaffer, who is Jewish, in his federal lawsuit against the Louisiana Board of Dentistry and its members, including Dr. McVea, its attorney and its private investigator after the board revoked his license when he turned whistleblower against Dr. Kent’s faulty jaw implant.

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From protecting their own to persecution of a whistleblower: it’s all part of the bureaucratic shuffle by State Dental Board

Posted in Boards, DHH, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Public Records on March 11, 2014| 14 Comments »

Suppose for a moment that you work as a technician for a large computer company and in the course of your duties, you discover the company is knowingly marketing computers with faulty hard drives destined to crash within a few months.

Imagine now that when you call the defect to the attention of your company CEO, you are fired, ostracized by your industry and unable to find employment because the word is on the street that you are disloyal and suddenly unreliable despite a stellar work record.

Taking this scenario a step further, you suddenly find yourself prosecuted—and persecuted—by your former company’s board of directors on vague charges of fraud and malfeasance. The board, you learn, will go to any length to defend its CEO—including the destruction of your career. Making matters worse, your accuser is also the prosecutor, the judge and the jury in your trial.

Even worse, when you walk into the courtroom, you are informed that you have already been convicted—without benefit of a trial—of unspecified crimes and that if you pay a fine of $25,000 and sign a consent decree, the matter will go away.

You are innocent of any wrongdoing, so of course you tell your accusers to take a long walk off a short pier.

They in turn inform you that there are other charges that haven’t even been mentioned yet and if you refuse to sign the consent decree and decide to stand and fight, your fine will increase to $100,000 or more—plus the fees of your own attorney and those of the prosecuting attorney—and the costs incurred by the “investigator” who discovered your crimes, costs which also could exceed $100,000.

Finally, you are told by one of the board members that you will never be allowed to work again in your field because of a difference in religious beliefs between you and the board.

Now give that company a name like say, the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry, change the product from a computer hard drive to a dental implant and you have a pretty good idea of the plight of Dr. Randall Schaffer.

Schaffer, a 1982 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry with a Doctor of Dental Surgery, went on to two residencies at Charity Hospital and Louisiana State University Dental and Medical Center in New Orleans. Certified in General Dentistry in 1984 and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 1988, he entered into private practice in oral and maxillofacial surgery in 1988 in Marrero and in Corinth, Mississippi.

More than a decade earlier, Dr. John (Jack) Kent, head of the LSU School of Dentistry’s Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, developed a joint replacement device for temporomandibular jaw (TMJ) sufferers. Kent subsequently entered into an agreement with a Houston company, Vitek, and the company’s principal shareholders, Drs. Charles and Ann Homsy, to manufacture and market the Proplast implant.

It proved to be a lucrative arrangement for Kent who was given stock in Vitek and earned royalties of 2 percent to 4 percent on the sale of Vitek products. He also received monetary compensation for giving written and verbal presentations to oral and maxillofacial surgeons throughout the world, according to a lawsuit filed by Schaffer against Kent, LSU, members of the Dental Board, attorney Brian Begue and board investigator Camp Morrison.

It did not take long for the implants to begin to fail, causing disfigurement, excruciating pain and at least eight suicides, according to a July 29, 2002, story in U.S. News & World Report.

As a resident at LSU, Dr. Schaffer became aware of the negative effects to patients receiving the implants, which Schaffer described as “defective (100 percent) in all patients implanted.”

Schaffer says in his lawsuit that he informed Dr. Kent of the “disastrous results” of the implant but Kent refused to stop placement of the devices and “threatened Dr. Schaffer with dismissal should this information regarding the research and adverse results be made public.”

By 1989, Schaffer was in private practice and was assisting implant victims by offering consultation and corrective procedures at no charge. “As hundreds of cases came forward, Dr. Schaffer began assistant plaintiff attorneys in the cases against Dr. Kent, his associates, and Louisiana State University,” the lawsuit says. “Eventually 675 patients were combined as a class for discovery purposes,” leaving the state exposed to about $1 billion in liability.

In 1992, the first case, that of Mary Elizabeth Leger of Jonesboro, Arkansas, was settled for $1 million.

Today, Schaffer lives in Iowa, Vitek is bankrupt, Dr. Charles Homsy is nowhere to be found (though he did surface long enough to write a scathing indictment of “predatory trial lawyers” for the Cato Institute in September of 2001), and DuPont, which manufactured the raw ingredients used in the implants was protected by the “bulk supplier doctrine,” which is a defense to failure-to-warn claims.

When Schaffer was named as a witness and consultant in the class action cases, the Board of Dentistry immediately launched its investigation of Schaffer who says that in 1995, the board “zealously embarked upon an investigation, prosecution and adjudication of a wide variety of claims.”

On Sept. 5, 2000, a board panel consisting of Drs. H.O. Blackwood, Conrad McVea and Dennis Donald revoked Schaffer’s license and imposed “excessive penalties,” Schaffer’s petition says. “The panel members and (then-board executive director) Barry Ogden, (investigator) Camp Morrison, (board attorney) Brian Begue and Arthur Hickham conspired to deprive me of my due process rights during my hearing.”

Begue openly violated a Louisiana Supreme Court order to cease participating in the proceedings by served as both prosecutor and board general counsel, Schaffer’s petition says. While another attorney was ostensibly brought into the matter by the board following the Supreme Court’s ruling barring Begue’s participation, Begue still participated in the proceedings

Even though his revocation was not permanent, Dr. Blackwood, who acted as chairman of Schaffer’s reconsideration hearings in 2004, 2007 and 2012, said on Dec. 7, 2012 that he had promised himself “from the beginning,” that Schaffer would never get his license reinstated.

As blatant as that comment was, it paled in comparison to Dr. McVea’s declaration that because Schaffer had not received his salvation because he had not accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior he could not be expected to comply with professional standards.

Schaffer is Jewish.

Donald added that Schaffer was “a bad person who had hurt people.”

Even if Schaffer’s revocation had been reversed by the courts, in all likelihood, his case would have been remanded back to the same board and the same panel that originally pulled his license as occurred in another disciplinary matter involving a second dentist whom we shall write about in our next post. In effect, the court would have simply thrown Schaffer back to the same pack of wolves, thus making it futile to pursue his case any further before the same group of people.

He said Kent had about 2,500 malpractice lawsuits against him. “I had one, which I won, and yet the board came after me while doing nothing to Dr. Kent,” Schaffer said. “They went behind me to my patients and told them such things as I had killed a patient and that I was going to (the Louisiana State Penitentiary at) Angola. I have accounts receivable in the millions of dollars because I never turned a patient away because he could not pay,” he said.

Once the board had pulled his license, however, it still kept the pressure on Schaffer with no let up.

Schaffer, after being forced out of his practice, leased his office building to another dentist, David Gerard Millaud.

On Dec. 20, 2000, Ogden sent a two-page letter to Dr. Millaud, saying:

“It has come to our attention that you are practicing in the office of Dr. Randall Schaffer…”

Then, in perhaps an unintentional admission that investigator Morrison was continuing to conduct surveillance on Schaffer, whom the board had already broken, Ogden said, “We have also observed Dr. Schaffer’s spending a great deal of time on the office. As you know, his license has been revoked and he is prohibited from practicing dentistry in any form.

“I also wish to call your attention to (state statute) which states:

The board may refuse to issue or may suspend or revoke any license or permit, or impose probationary or other limits or restrictions on any dental license or permit issued under this chapter for any of the following reasons:

Division of fees or other remuneration or consideration with any person not licensed to practice dentistry in Louisiana or an agreement to divide and share fees received for dental services with any non-dentist in return for referral of patients to the licensed dentists, whether or not the patient or legal representative is aware of the arrangement…”

The letter prompted an immediate response from Schaffer’s attorney Michael Ellis of Metairie, who wrote board attorney Jimmy Faircloth (who substituted for Begue after Begue was forced by the Supreme Court to step aside).

“I find it incredulous that the board would write such a letter under the circumstances of this case,” Ellis said. “I know of no law which prohibits Dr. Schaffer from ‘spending a great deal of time in the office.’ The board has effectively put this man out of business and now wants to harass a young dentist to whom Dr. Schaffer is renting space.

“If the board has any evidence whatsoever that either Dr. Millaud or Dr. Schaffer was in violation of the law, I ask that you notify me immediately. If the board is not in possession of such evidence, (Ogden’s) letter must be considered nothing but a tactic of harassment calculated to prevent Dr. Schaffer from earning a living.”

Millaud, who said he was not sharing fees or paying other remuneration to Dr. Schaffer, nevertheless decided that his best interest would be served by terminating his lease arrangement with Schaffer, Ellis said.

Then-State Sen. Chris Ullo (D-Marrero), who died earlier this year, contacted Gov. Mike Foster to intervene with the board on Schaffer’s behalf but Foster declined to get involved with what some might describe as his rogue board.

Then, following Ogden’s letter to Dr. Millaud, Schaffer himself requested an audience with Foster. On Dec. 27, exactly a week following Ogden’s letter to Millaud, Chris Stelly, writing on behalf of Foster, said the board “is an independent body created and empowered” by state law and that the board had “sole jurisdiction over this matter. Therefore, this office does not have the authority to intervene.

“However, I have taken the liberty of forwarding your letter to Mr. C. Barry Ogden, executive director of the LA State Board of Dentistry, for his information.”

That, readers, is what is known as the classic bureaucratic shuffle.

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State board uses intimidation, harassment, fines to generate funds to pay for lucrative contracts worth millions of dollars

Posted in Boards, Courts, Ethics, Governor's Office on March 7, 2014| 47 Comments »

LouisianaVoice has learned of an ongoing pattern by at least one state board to indiscriminately impose stiff penalties and fines of tens of thousands of dollars against dental professionals for perceived violations of a dizzying array of confusing and obscure regulations that seem to pop up with no prior warning, no explanation and with little or no due process.

The Louisiana State Board of Dentistry (LSBD) operates with complete autonomy as it serves as prosecutor, judge and jury in bringing charges and then conducts its own hearings and then rules on those charges, often hitting dentists, dental assistants and dental hygienists with five-figure fines.

Many of these charges are the result of apparent entrapment on the part of the LSBD and an investigator under contract to the board, according to its victims.

Moreover, the LSBD, which receives no state funding for its operations, still manages to award lucrative contracts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to attorneys and private investigators, according to state records obtained by LouisianaVoice.

LSBD’s funding comes exclusively from fines levied against dental professionals, giving the board strong incentive to conjure up charges and hand down stiff fines in order to pay for those contracts.

Taking the contract of board of attorney Brian Begue, records show he was awarded a one-year contract of $175,000 in June of 1995. That contract was renewed for the same amount in June of 1996.

In June of 1997, a new three-year, $225,000 contract was given Begue. He again was given three-year contracts in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012, but the contract amounts for each of the last five contracts was doubled to $450,000.

One source said Begue did not routinely submit time sheets indicating how much time was spent doing legal work for the board. Instead, he would simply give the board a piece of paper with an amount to be paid for his services.

Even as it was bestowing those contracts on Begue, the board was also awarding lucrative contracts on New Orleans private investigator Camp Morrison. Beginning in March of 1997, he received a three-year, $45,000 contract to investigate dentists who might be in violation of some rule or regulation.

In 2000, Morrison’s new contract was for only two years but the contract amount jumped to $150,000, then to $200,000 in 2002, to $240,000 in 2004 where it remained for each two-year term until last year when his contract was renewed for three years—and increased to $340,000.

Even more curious was the disparity between contract begin dates and approval dates. For example, Morrison’s 2002 contract began on Sept. 1 but was not approved until May 19, 2003. His 2008 contract for $240,000 started on Sept. 1 but was not approved until Dec. 28, 2009—almost 15 months after the begin date.

A familiar name surfaced on April 13, 2000, when a two-year, $100,000 contract backdated to Mar. 1 was awarded to Jimmy Faircloth, who would later reveal in open court the board’s ulterior motive in pursuing charges against one dentist.

In that case that progressed to a federal courtroom trial the presiding judge was questioning why Faircloth was so determined to prosecute Dr. Randall Schaffer who had revealed design flaws in a TMJ implant developed by the LSU School Dentistry, Faircloth pointed to then-LSBD executive director Barry Ogden, telling the judge that Ogden had instructed him to get Schaefer “no matter what it cost.”

Faircloth subsequently received a second two-year contract for $50,000, effective Nov. 1, 2010, but not approved until April 19, 2011. That contract was renewed for 20 months and $50,000 in 2012

The board even went so far as to have legislation passed whereby it provides legal representation for Morrison, its contracted investigator, in cases where litigation is brought against Morrison—a practice unprecedented for a state agency. Contracts issued by every other agency contain provisions that the contractor must provide and pay for his own liability coverage and state contracts further stipulate that contractors shall incur their own legal costs while holding the state harmless.

That could be because of Morrison’s practice of hiring unlicensed personnel to conduct investigations and of actions that some say border on entrapment.

The manner in which the board serves as accuser, judge and jury, Begue’s dual function as both the board’s general counsel and as prosecutor may have prompted former State Sen. Max Malone (R-Shreveport) to react to allegations of harassment and extortion by the board by rising on the Senate floor to brand the board and its members as “corrupt.”

The enforcement muscle flexed by the board usually intimidates those accused of wrongdoing to pay fines without resistance because of the costs involved and because they know they will be going up against a stacked deck.

An example of the abuse inflicted by the board is the case of two Shreveport dental hygienists who were accused of fraud by the board and who were presented a consent decree to sign which contained substantial penalties, including 90-day suspensions, fines and legal costs.

The hygienists refused to sign the initial consent decree even in the face of the steep odds that they faced.

The board, however, because of its own vulnerable position, came back with a second consent decree that removed the fraud term, replacing it with failure to provide the acceptable standard of care, fines of $500 each and legal costs of $15,000, and remedial training with no suspensions.

So, why did the board come back with a reduced penalty and why did the two accused sign? First, the hygienists were fully aware of the power of the board to take away their livelihoods by revoking their license.

But the board’s investigator, Morrison, had made the mistake of sending in unlicensed investigators posing as patients to be seen by the hygienists. Additionally, the board allegedly offered one hygienist immunity if she would say that her boss, a Shreveport dentist, ordered her to falsify information obtained by the hygienist in her examination.

In exchange, the hygienists were required to waive any challenge to the complaint against them.

More revealing, however, was the requirement that the hygienists “hereby release and forever discharge the board, its executive director, its investigator and any of the agents, employees, representatives, officers, members, attorneys and investigators of the board, including but not limited to Camp Morrison, Dana Glorioso and Karen Moorhead, from any and all claims, damages, causes of action, or other claims of any nature whatsoever, known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, arising from any set of facts of circumstances existing as of the date of this agreement, including, but not limited to any claims of improper investigation, prosecutorial misconduct, defamation, or invasion of privacy.” (Emphasis added.)

LSBD spokespersons might claim this is standard verbiage but it is nevertheless significant to note that Glorioso and Moorhead were the unlicensed investigators sent into the dentist’s office under the pretense of treatment for dental problems—a practice that appears questionable at best and illegal at worst.

LouisianaVoice will be posting additional stories about the LSBD in the coming days and weeks, including the identities of the LSBD members and political contributions of dental political action committees. We also will be examining various legal cases, some of which are concluded and others that are making their way through the courts, and interviewing dental professionals who have encountered similar difficulties with the LSBD.

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The Peter Principle is alive and well at DHH as evidenced by sequence of curious events—from CNSI to recent promotion

Posted in Contract, Contracts, Corruption, DHH, Health Care on March 3, 2014| 9 Comments »

Sometimes it’s just mind-boggling to try and fathom what goes through the minds of our political leaders.

The only possible explanation may be found in the 1969 book The Peter Principle by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull. In their book, they introduced the “salutary science of hierarchiology” which theorized that in a hierarchy, employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence.

Take, for example, that news release from the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) just last Aug. 13. DHH trumpeted the recovery of more than $124 million in fraudulent payments in the Medicaid program, “the highest rate of recovery in any state in the nation at nearly 2 percent of all Medicaid dollars spent in Louisiana.

One must wonder just where the oversight was at the time that should have caught and prevented such overpayments.

Yet, only two months prior to that announcement, a red-faced DHH learned that one of its own had embezzled more than $1 million to finance her gambling addiction.

In that case, DHH accountant Deborah Loper was accused of diverting funds over a six-year period in a scheme that revealed glaring weaknesses in departmental policy.

Her arrest warrant said she intercepted more than 130 checks payable to DHH “meant for invaluable health care services for Louisiana’s Medicaid recipients,” Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said.

She had been entrusted to manage a bank account opened in 2006 on behalf of the National Association of State Human Services Financial Officers in order to underwrite the association’s 2009 conference.

Former DHH fiscal director Stan Mead volunteered to hold the conference and designated Loper and her immediate supervisor to organize the event. Loper was given responsibility for management of the account and had the authority to conduct financial transactions, the warrant said.

She was instructed to close the account following the conference but instead, fabricated documents so as to give the appearance she had complied but instead, merely changed the address on the account so that she could receive the monthly statements at her home.

The main source of the money was Medicaid reimbursements that were issued to DHH by licensed Medicaid providers and were intended to be returned to the state’s Medicaid program, Caldwell said.

Her embezzlement went unnoticed by her superiors until February of 2013 when she inadvertently deposited one of the checks for more than $40,000 into her own account and her bank subsequently froze her account.

Only three months before the revelation of that financial oversight by DHH officials, we learned of an ongoing FBI investigation into that infamous $300 million contract with CNSI which quickly resulted in cancellation of the contract by the Jindal administration and the resignation of DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein.

Then in February of this year, Greenstein’s undersecretary Jerry Phillips announced his retirement after 25 years at DHH. Oddly, he announced he was retiring to “pursue other employment options with the state.”

DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert said Jeff Reynolds would replace Phillips on March 10, the same day the legislative session convenes.

Reynolds started with DHH as an Accountant Administrator 5 in July of 2006 at $102,000 per year. Most recently, he served as Medicaid Deputy Director at $113,734 per year.

And the person who served as Loper’s immediate supervisor while she was skimming that $1 million from DHH?

Jeff Reynolds.

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It’s that time of year again: more than $109 million in big ticket funding requests submitted to legislature by NGOs

Posted in Budget, Legislature, Legislators, NGOs on March 3, 2014| 6 Comments »

They’re baaaack!

It’s been a scant seven months since State Treasurer John Kennedy fired off that news release claiming that 36 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) owed the state either an audit their expenditure of state funds or a combined refund of up to $4.5 million.

The resulting furor resulted in political watchdog C.B. Forgotston’s publicizing the corporate structure and frequent lack of corporate standing of many of those 36 NGOs which in turn prompted a flurry of hostile communications and threats of lawsuits on behalf of  State Sen. Yvonne Dorsey Colomb (D-Baton Rouge), whose husband, Sterling Colomb was the recipient of a $300,000 state grant in 2007.

Without rehashing the details of that little political firestorm, suffice it to say that none of those 36 NGOs are back this year asking for state handouts but it certainly did not deter others from seeking legislative largesse at a time when Louisiana continues to be strapped for cash to improve highways, fund higher education, or to provide basic services for the physically, mentally and economically disadvantaged citizens of Louisiana.

In all, 87 NGOs, including one identifying itself with the attention-grabbing name of Diaper Bank (at least it’s not a diaper exchange), have submitted requests for funding from the state totaling more than $109 million and some of the applicants may surprise you—and maybe not.

While most requests are of modest amounts from local councils on aging, community centers, local economic development corporations and other non-profit social services, a mere 34—less than half the total number of applicants—account for requests of $100,000 or more but those 34 combined for more than $108.4 million in requested funding, according to figures obtained from the state.

Topping the list are the Audubon Nature Institute (ANI) ($32.4 million), The Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana (BRF) ($11.48 million), and the State Fair of Louisiana in Shreveport (two requests of $10.165 million and $2.5 million).

Their requests combined for $56.545 million, or nearly 52 percent of the total dollar amount requested for all 87 applicants.

ANI, which operates the Audubon Zoo, the Audubon Aquarium, and a golf course, is requesting $12 million in Priority One, or first-year funding to finance ongoing construction projects which total more than $300 million since 1977, its application says. The $12 million was approved by the legislature in 2013 and was subsequently approved by the State Bond Commission as a noncash line of credit. The remainder of its $12 million request is broken out in subsequent year priorities, the application indicated.

Perhaps the most controversial of all the requests is that of BRF.

The $11.48 million it is seeking is in addition to more than $120 million in hospital improvements and expansions the state is expected to bankroll after BRF assumed operations last October at the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Shreveport—a move that the Jindal administration insists will ultimately save the state money—even though the transaction has yet to be approved by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The request is a two-part application for BRF itself and not for either of the hospitals. The first is for $6.53 million for upgraded and expanded equipment for the PET Imaging Center, which was approved by the legislature in 2013 as a Priority Two project.

The second part is for $4.95 million for Micro-Imaging Equipment for the Molecular Imaging Center.

BRF is headed by CEO John George who also sits on the LSU Board of Stuporvisors which last year approved the transfer of the two hospitals to BRF, apparently circumventing conflict of interest laws with some fancy sleight of hand.

The State Fair Association is seeking $10.165 for repairs to Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, the venue where Elvis gave his final performance as a member of the Louisiana Hayride on Dec. 16, 1956, just two years after the facility was constructed.

A second request of $2.5 million is for the construction of an exhibit building on the fairgrounds to replace the one that was previously demolished. It will house the LSU AgCenter exhibits during the annual State Fair and will be leased as a multipurpose venue during the remainder of the year, the application said.

Other requests in order of amounts from most to least include:

  • Louisiana Children’s Museum, New Orleans—$10 million;
  • Teach for America, New Orleans—$5 million;
  • Food Bank Association, Baton Rouge—$5 million;
  • Louisiana Association for the Blind, Shreveport—$4.926 million;
  • Lighthouse for the Blind, New Orleans—$4.8 million;
  • Kingsley House, New Orleans—$4.415 million;
  • Daughters of Charity Services, New Orleans—$$3.737 million;
  • Capitol City Family Health Center, Baton Rouge—$2.349 million;
  • New Orleans Jazz Orchestra—$1.45 million;
  • The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans—$1.124 million;
  • WYES-TV (public television), New Orleans—$1 million;
  • Sci-Port: Louisiana Science Center, Shreveport—$1.3 million (two requests, $1 million and $300,000);
  • Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network (LATAN), Baton Rouge—$750,000;
  • The Developmental Institute for Rural & Urban Excellence, Monroe—$750,000;
  • Bayou Civic Club, Larose—$646,491;
  • Jefferson Performing Arts Society, Metairie—$600,000;
  • Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation—$544,020;
  • District 2 Community Enhancement Corp., New Orleans—$500,000;
  • South Louisiana Economic Council, Thibodaux—$467,995;
  • Washington Parish Fair Association, Franklinton—$403,100 (two requests of $353,100 and $50,000 for replacement and repairs to building and roofs);
  • Tangipahoa Diaper Bank, Hammond—$316,000;
  • New Orleans Bowl—$280,577 (to pay a share of the financial guarantee of $500,000 each to the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA whose conference champions pay in the New Orleans Bowl);
  • Opportunities Industrialization Center of Ouachita, Monroe—$250,000;
  • Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Baton Rouge—$250,000;
  • Special Olympics Louisiana, Hammond—$250,000;
  • Woods Products Development Foundation, Pineville—$214,000;
  • Teaching Responsible Earth Education, New Orleans—$200,000;
  • Healing Hearts for Community Development, Metairie—$151,388;
  • Helping Assist Multi-Purpose Community Organization (HAMPCO), Monroe—$105,104;
  • Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Foundation, Metairie—$100,000;
  • Nicholson Redskins Booster Club, Marrero—$100,000.

Teach for America (TFA) submitted another of the more controversial requests.

The billion-dollar organization pays its founder more than $390 million a year to train non-teaching college graduates for about five weeks during the summer months and then installing them in classroom settings with no experience. For that, local school boards are obligated to pay TFA teachers’ salaries and to pay TFA $3,000 per teacher recruited—even as long-time teachers are being laid off because of budget cuts.

So, if TFA receives $3,000 per teacher placed in local school systems and the systems must then pay TFA teachers’ salaries, what is the $5 million from the state used for?

No one really knows because the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is complicit in the cover-up. In fact, one BESE member, Kira Orange Jones, also serves as executive director of Teach for America—Greater New Orleans-Louisiana Delta.

The Louisiana Food Bank Association provides food for more than 609,000 persons each year through some 700 community and faith-based organizations in every parish in the state.

The Louisiana Association for the Blind provides vocational training and rehabilitation services visually impaired Louisiana citizens in much the same manner as the Lighthouse for the Blind.

Kingsley House’s application described the organization’s purpose as “to help maintain required infrastructure that underlies essential service delivery by the agency to nearly 6,000 people that meets the need for services of at-risk children, families, medically fragile/disabled adults and seniors in 12 parishes across southeast Louisiana.”

Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans attempts to “restore medical services to the New Orleans East community,” an area it claims is “underserved.”

Capitol City Family Health Center performs many of those same functions for a seven-parish area surrounding Baton Rouge.

The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will use its grant money, if approved, to expand existing programs, according to its application.

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art would use its $1.1 million to renovate the Patrick Taylor Library for use by the museum.

Sci-Port is part of the Louisiana Science Center which in turn is affiliated with the Louisiana Children’s Museum and will use its funding to bring a children’s museum with IMAX technology to Shreveport.

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