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Archive for January, 2015

LouisianaVoice adds social media links: readers may now share posts about our favorite subject: Louisiana politics

Posted in Uncategorized on January 18, 2015| 12 Comments »

 

At the repeated suggestions of several readers, we have added a feature to LouisianaVoice which we hope will increase our readership. (At least that’s what we’ve been told.)

At the bottom of each story we now have links readers may go to share our stories with others via Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Linkedin, and others.

And I personally have never really gotten into social media, there is even a button readers may click on to “like” us—whatever the heck that is. My car, after all, still has an 8-track player and my cell phone has a rotary dial and I still watch movies on Beta tapes—though they and the 8-tracks are getting harder and harder to find.

After adding these links we scrolled through a few stories to see what kind of hits we were getting and found that our story on U.S. Rep. Steve Scalese’s speech to David Duke’s group has already been forwarded more than 3,000 times on Facebook.

And that’s a good thing…we think.

At any rate, please feel free to avail yourselves to the new LouisianaVoice feature.

As for us, well, we’ll just keep writing about good ol’ Louisiana politics.

—Tom Aswell, Editor

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Lines separating Jindal campaign workers from governor’s office staff blurred by seamless back and forth status flow

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Corruption, Elections, Ethics, Governor's Office, Politicians, State Police on January 17, 2015| 7 Comments »

When it comes to making a distinction between the duties of official public servant and campaign worker during the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal, the lines are often blurred as individuals move back and forth between state and campaign payrolls seamlessly and with few apparent changes in their duties.

Jindal deftly juggled the payroll of his closest advisers between his campaign payroll and taxpayer-funded salaries as part of his staff in his two successful runs for the governor’s office in 2007 and 2011, civil service and campaign records show.

At least three of those moved just as easily from the governor’s office in Louisiana to the re-election campaign of Florida Gov. Rick Scott in 2014 and Timmy Teepell moved from Jindal’s 2007 campaign manager to his chief of staff once Jindal took office and he later left briefly to work for the national Republican Governors Association as brother Taylor Teepell moved from advisor to former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to first deputy legislative director and later deputy chief of staff for Jindal.

Timmy Teepell left Jindal’s office following the 2011 election to head up the southern office of OnMessage, a political consulting firm out of Maryland to which Jindal has paid more than $5 million from 2007 through the end of 2013.

Jindal’s campaign paid Teepell $110,000 in 2007 and $120,000 for four months during 2010 (Aug. 1 through Nov. 4) and five months during 2011 (July 1 through Nov. 30) but from Jan. 14, 2008 through July 30, 2010 and from Nov. 5, 2010, through July 1, 2011, he worked as Jindal’s chief of staff at a salary of $165,000 per year—paid by Louisiana taxpayers.

Teepell did receive one payment of $3,880 from Jindal’s campaign on Nov. 11, 2010—10 days after he begin his second stint as Jindal’s chief of staff but the overlap was probably a delayed payment for campaign work done before he re-joined the governor’s staff.

Taylor Teepell, worked for six months in Jindal’s 2007 campaign, earning $29,000 before going to work for former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour who was serving as president of the Republican Governors Association.

Taylor Teepell entered Jindal’s office on Nov. 21, 2011, as older brother Timmy was departing. He first came on board as deputy legislative director at $90,000 but in less than a year, on Oct. 16, 2012, was named deputy chief of staff and given a raise to $130,000, the same salary Jindal makes. This was in the middle of a period in which state classified workers have received no pay raises.

Other attempts by Jindal to shuttle supporters back and forth between campaign and public payrolls are almost laughable in their transparent efforts to make everything appear to be above board.

Take the case of Melissa Sellers who received $35,600 from the Jindal campaign between March 30 and Nov. 8, 2007 and another $12,860 in two separate payments of $6,430 on Oct. 14 and Oct. 24, 2011. Jindal won re-election to his second four-year term on Oct. 22, 2011.

Civil Service records show that Sellers began as a state employee in the governor’s office as press secretary on Jan. 15, 2008—the day after Jindal was inaugurated for his first term—at a salary of $85,000. After being promoted to director of communications and given a raise to $90,000, she resigned on Oct. 7, 2011 but returned to the governor’s office in the same role only 18 days later, on Oct. 25. The campaign payments were during her brief hiatus from the governor’s office.

That means she pulled in $12,860 for working 18 days for Jindal’s campaign—a pay scale of more than $300,000 per year. But if the Oct. 24 represented a 10-day pay period (the first paycheck was on Oct. 14), then her first pay period would have extended at least as far back as Oct. 4—three days before her resignation from her state job. In any case, it appears there may well have been some overlap between the time she started working for the campaign and the date she resigned from the governor’s office.

More significant than her salary, however, was the timing of the move. By that time, Jindal and everyone else in the state knew he would win re-election easily over only token opposition, so what was the purpose of her taking an 18-day break from the governor’s office to work in a campaign that was already in coasting mode?

But then, upon returning to the governor’s office on Oct. 25, she remained barely more than a month, leaving again on Dec. 1, ostensibly to enroll in seminary to study for the ministry—a commitment that apparently did not last very long.

Instead, she next turned up in the re-election campaign of Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott and now serves as his chief of staff. Along the way, she managed, along with two other Jindal campaign workers, to become involved in a scandal that resulted in Scott’s firing of popular Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

The three—Sellers and husband and wife team Frank and Meghan Collins—managed to acquire the dubious identity of “The Louisiana Mafia” for the heavy-handed manner in which they attempted unsuccessfully to jerk Bailey around.

They first demanded that state police provide transportation for Scott campaign workers but Bailey refused, explaining that he was obligated by law to provide transportation for the governor and his wife, but not campaign aides.

Next, the Florida Republican Party attempt to foist a $90,000 check onto the FDLE as payment for shuttling campaign workers but Bailey again said no, that it would be inappropriate for his department, which is supposed to be independent of partisan politics, to accept money from a political party.

Scott, or those representing him, then attempted to bring Bailey into a conference call to discuss Scott’s platform for the coming four years but again Bailey declined to involve his department in partisan politics.

And when he complained to Scott’s chief legal counsel, that he had received solicitations for campaign contributions to Scott on his state computer, the attorney, Pete Antonacci, advised him to “just delete” the emails—in violation of Florida law prohibiting the destruction of state records.

And then there is Frank Collins, one of the “Louisiana Mafia,” who should still be smarting from his experience in Jindal’s office.

Paid only $7,500 to work four months in Jindal’s 2007 campaign, he eventually succeeded Sellers as press secretary, but at $65,000—which was $20,000 less than Sellers made for the same position three years earlier. He left on Oct. 6, 2012, and like Sellers and wife Meghan, eventually ended up with Scott’s re-election campaign and now works as Scott’s deputy chief of staff while Meghan Collins is a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education.

Jonathan Ringo is a $110,000-a-year director in the governor’s office who once told Robert Burns—but then denied that he ever said it—that the Office of Inspector General “concurred” in Burns’ removal from the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board. Before bellying up to the public trough, however, he was paid more than $18,000 by Jindal’s 2007 campaign.

Matthew Parker has been director of legislative affairs for the governor’s office at $120,000 per year since Oct. 16, 2012. Before that, from Nov. 28, 2011 until being named to his current position, he was director of intergovernmental affairs at $95,000 per year.

But other than Timmy Teepell, Parker was the highest-paid Jindal campaign staffer, knocking down nearly $35,000 in seven months in 2007 and more than $79,400 in the first 11 months of 2011 for a grand total of more than $114,000.

Perhaps it’s only coincidence that Parker is Timmy Teepell’s brother-in-law.

The two lowest-paid employees in the governor’s office who also worked for his campaign at least have the consolation of getting frequent rides in state police helicopters.

Tyler Brey, who received $18,500 for working for seven months in the 2011 campaign, went on the state dime on March 11, 2013 as a $33,000-per-year external affairs liaison, whatever that fancy title entails. Last Oct. 1, even as state classified employees were going without a pay increase for a fifth consecutive year, Brey received a $1,300-per-year raise to $34,300. Brey also made 42 trips on the state police ‘copter, always accompanying Jindal as his sycophant, to such exotic getaways as Monroe, Springhill, Ruston, Jena, Winnfield, Delhi, and Mansfield, among others.

One of those trips Brey made with Jindal and communications director Kyle Plotkin, was to Minden on Feb. 3, 2013, eight days before he officially became a state employee.

The other frequent flyer was Daniel Kirk, who was paid $24,000 by the Jindal 2007 campaign before joining the governor’s office on Jan. 14, 2008, the same day Jindal was inaugurated for his first term.

He started as a $35,000-a-year administrative assistant and four months later was named a program manager at the same salary. But on Feb. 22, 2010, he was named a director in the governor’s office. It wasn’t altogether clear what a director does, but it must be pretty impressive considering he got a $30,000 bump in pay—to $65,000 but still $45,000 less than fellow director Ringo.

Kirk got to visit some of the same locales as Brey and got the added treat of flying to Georgetown in LaSalle Parish and Kinder in southwest Louisiana. He and Jindal also made a hop to Columbia, home of State Sen. Neil Riser, just about the time U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander was getting ready to announce his retirement so that Riser could run for his seat—unsuccessfully, it turned out.

In all, Kirk made 49 trips with Jindal in the state police helicopters, 19 of those during the 2011 election year and the other 30 in 2010, the year leading up to Jindal’s re-election run.

It’s impossible to say with any certainty that Jindal and his campaign-workers-turned-state-employees were using the state helicopters for campaign purposes, but with Jindal making nearly 200 ‘copter trips in 2010 and 2011, often accompanied by Sellers, Kirk or Timmy or Taylor Teepell or Brey, compared to only 86 during the next three years combined, one has to wonder.

And with the controversy sparked by Sellers and Meghan and Frank Collins in Florida in their attempts to commandeer state vehicles for campaign purposes, one also has to wonder if the “Louisiana Mafia” was only trying to repeat in Florida what they may have done with impunity in Louisiana in 2010 and 2011.

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Three former Jindal aides, aka “The Louisiana Mafia,” are implicated in campaign irregularities by Florida Gov. Scott

Posted in Corruption, Elections, Governor's Office, Politicians, State Police on January 16, 2015| 12 Comments »

Three people, including a married couple, who previous worked for Gov. Bobby Jindal have been implicated in purported campaign irregularities and demands that state police provide transportation for campaign workers in Florida in last year’s gubernatorial campaign that resulted in Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s firing the state’s top law enforcement officer following his re-election.

The two, Melissa Sellers and Frank Collins, worked for a time in Jindal’s office and Sellers worked briefly for both Jindal and in his 2011 re-election campaign.

Sellers was Scott’s campaign manager and since the election has been serving as his chief of staff.

The Florida incidents appear to have been the result of a clash between a feeling of entitlement carried over from their stints working for Jindal and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Gerald Bailey who refused to allow his department, which is supposed to be independent, from becoming involved in partisan politics.

Bailey’s office denied requests by Scott’s campaign that it transport Meghan Collins, a campaign staffer who was assigned to first lady Ann Scott. FDLE said while it was responsible for providing transportation for the governor and the first lady, campaign workers were not allowed to avail themselves of state transportation vehicles.

Since Scott’s re-election, Collins was moved onto the state payroll as chief spokesperson for the Department of Education.

Her husband, Frank Collins, worked for Jindal from Jan. 14, 2008, immediately after Jindal first took office, until his resignation Oct. 6, 2012. He was first employed as assistant press secretary at a salary of $35,000 but was promoted to press secretary and received a salary increase to $65,000 on Dec. 2, 2011. He was named a policy assistant on April 17, 2012 at the same salary and remained at this post until he resigned to join the Scott campaign with his wife.

Sellers began in Jindal’s office one day later than Collins, on Jan. 15, 2008, as press secretary at a salary of $85,000 (no complaints of lower pay for the same job there) and on Oct. 2 that same year, she was promoted to Director of Communication and raised in pay to $90,000.

Inexplicably, she resigned on Oct. 24, 2011, only to return the next day at the same position and same salary, civil service records show, until she resigned again on Dec. 2, 2011, to join the Scott campaign in Florida.

Meghan and Frank Collins and Sellers quickly became known in Florida as the “Louisiana Mafia” as tensions mounted over demands made on Bailey, whose office was in charge of investigating wrongdoing by Florida public officials. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/gov-rick-scotts-ouster-of-fdle-commissioner-followed-months-of-tension/2213534

Bailey was asked Scott or his staff to take part in a June 2014 conference to discuss “the governor’s platform for the next four years. Bailey refused, saying he felt it inappropriate for him, as a law enforcement officer, to participate in partisan politics.

Bailey also complained to Scott’s chief legal counsel Pete Antonacci that he had received solicitations to contribute to Scott’s re-election on his state computer. Antonacci, he said, simply told Bailey to “just delete it.” In Florida, like Louisiana, it is illegal to destroy public records.

Scott said no state employees received email solicitations unless they gave an email address to the campaign but Bailey said he never provided his email address to the campaign.

Perhaps the incident that might cause some in Louisiana, particularly in Shreveport, to recall the George D’Artois-Jim Leslie saga of 1976 occurred in March of 2014.

The Florida Republic Party, acting on Scott’s behalf, sent a $90,000 check to FDLE to cover the costs of transporting Scott campaign workers (supposedly that included members of the “Louisiana Mafia”) in state vehicles to ensure that no state cars were used for campaign purposes.

D’Artois, Shreveport’s Public Safety Commissioner at the time, had, on the other hand, attempted to pay Shreveport advertising executive Jim Leslie for his work on D’Artois’ re-election campaign with a city check, which Leslie refused. D’Artois re-sent the check, telling Leslie to take it and keep quiet but Leslie threatened to go public if the commissioner persisted. In July of 1976, Leslie, who had worked on behalf of proponents of Louisiana’s Right to Work bill, was gunned down in a Baton Rouge motel parking lot after attending a party to celebrate passage of the bill. D’Artois was later implicated in the murder but died before he could be tried.

Like Leslie, Bailey refused the money from the Florida GOP, saying it had no legal authority to accept it and that moreover, it was inappropriate to accept money from a political party. A second check was written to the state general revenue fund in April of 2014. “We properly reimbursed the state,” said Scott spokesperson Jackie Schultz. “Everything was paid for properly,” she said.

But the damage was done and Scott, like Jindal, apparently is not the forgiving sort.

Bailey, 67, a veteran of more than 35 years in law enforcement, 30 of those with FDLE and the last eight as the state’s top cop, said Antonacci arrived at his office on the morning of Dec. 16 with a three-word ultimatum: “Retire or resign.”

He said he was told by Antonacci to write a brief letter of resignation, pack his things and leave his office by 5 p.m. His two-paragraph made no mention of the word “resignation,” even though Scott continues to insist Bailey resigned. “He resigned. I’ll say it again, Commissioner Bailey did a great job.”

But Bailey said Scott is lying. “I did not voluntarily do anything,” he said. “If he said I resigned voluntarily, that is a lie.”

Sellers, 32, who has been Scott’s chief of staff for five weeks now and who is considered his most influential adviser, has declined to comment. “I have nothing further to say on the record,” she said.

FDLE, which has about 1,700 full-time employees and a $300 million budget, has been investigating a series of suspicious inmate deaths in state prisons and also has been assisting in the search for human remains at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

The agency also has investigated the destruction of emails during Scott’s transition to the governor’s office in 2010.

Public records obtained by LouisianaVoice have revealed that Sellers and others who worked in Jindal’s 2011 re-election campaign, took numerous trips on state police helicopters. We will examine those flights in subsequent posts.

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Gov. Jindal has mailed in his administrative duties after 2011 re-election as revealed by state police helicopter logs

Posted in Governor's Office, State Police on January 15, 2015| 4 Comments »

If more conclusive proof that Gov. Bobby Jindal has simply mailed in his administrative duties for the final three years of his administration, a quick review of his use of State Police helicopters to call on constituents throughout the state should do the trick.

He has availed himself the use of the ‘copters in years 2012, 2013 and the first eight months of 2014 just 86 times combined for all three years compared to 93 during the first 10 months of 2011, the year he was re-elected, and 100 times during 2010, records show.

Following 2010 and 2011, his usage of the helicopters dropped precipitously, to 34 in 2012, 39 in 2013, and just 13 through August of 2014.

Prior to the 2011 October election, Jindal was hopscotching all over the state to visit Protestant churches, primarily in north Louisiana, and to hand out federal checks to local officials. He has not visited a single church since the election.

On occasions, the state police helicopters were used to take the entire Jindal family to destinations that would appear to have no connection to state business.

For example, in early December of 2010 (the exact date is obliterated but the trip fell between two others—on Dec. 2 and Dec. 6—the state police helicopter transported the Jindal family to Natchitoches during the time of the Natchitoches Christmas Festival of Lights.

The Jindals participated in the 85th Annual Festival of Lights on Dec. 3 of that year, according to local news sources.

Earlier that year, on Feb. 9, the Jindals were flown in the state police ‘copter to New Orleans to attend the victory parade to celebrate the New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl championship.

On July 6, 2011, Daniel Kirk, program manager of the Governor’s Program on Abstinence, and Gene Mills, executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum, accompanied Jindal and his press secretary Kyle Plotkin on a jaunt to Monroe and Pineville. No purpose for the trip was provided on the flight logs but Jindal was at the First Baptist Church of West Monroe on that date to sign into law a bill designed to deter women from having abortions.

Mills, you may recall, in 2012 called the issue of school bullying “agenda-driven propaganda” and referred to a bill to prevent bullying as an introduction to “a sexually-charged political agenda” into schools.

We suppose Mills was given a free ride on the state helicopter by virtue of his position, but we can’t help but wonder if he will also offer free rides to all those corporate executives who get those generous tax breaks from the state or if state employees will get the same treatment when Jindal signs a pay raise for civil service workers.

Oh, wait! Sorry, we drifted off into fantasy land there for a moment.

Official trips in the state police helicopters other than routine patrol were significantly fewer than those taken by Jindal.

There were 39 non-patrol state police flights in the ‘copters in 2010 compared to Jindal’s 100 trips. The same was true in 2011 when Jindal took 93 trips and state police administrative personnel recorded only 32 flights.

But in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the numbers evened out considerably. In 2012, for instance, Jindal had use of the helicopters on 34 occasions and LSP administrative personnel took 33 flights. In 2013, it was 39 for Jindal and 40 for LSP personnel. The only year in which LSP personnel used the helicopters more than Jindal was during the first eight months of 2014 when state police took 21 flights compared to only 13 for Jindal.

One of the more curious flight log notations was when state police were needing the helicopter for pursuit of a criminal suspect on December 19, 2013, but Jindal apparently had the craft tied up on a flight to New Orleans.

Flight logs show that Jindal had use of the helicopter from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and that state police then deployed the aircraft for the pursuit and subsequent felony arrest from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Perhaps Jindal should have gone along on that chase. Then, in addition to running as the fiscal conservative who slashed government spending in Louisiana and as the family values candidate who vetoed anything resembling rights for those of different gender, skin color or lifestyle, he could also run as the straight-up law and order candidate.

He could have even worn that camo clothing he donned for his Christmas card for a much better political photo op.

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Secretary of State to furlough employees in effort to meet budget cuts ordered by Jindal that are ‘going to be brutal’

Posted in Budget, DOA, Economy, Elections, Finances, Governor's Office, Jobs, Layoffs, Privatization, Revenue, State Agencies on January 14, 2015| 13 Comments »

It’s a good thing Gov. Bobby Jindal doesn’t have Vince Lombardi as a boss.

Whenever one of his players became prone to fumbling, the legendary coach would make the player carry a football everywhere with him—when he was eating or sleeping or even in the bathroom—as a reminder to hold onto the ball.

Jindal would look silly sillier having to carry a copy of the state budget with him everywhere he went.

But it would be an appropriate punishment for the way he has fumbled the state’s finances throughout his administration. To simply blame falling oil prices is the worst cop-out. He is now into his eighth year in office and he has had a budget crisis every year—and this is the first time since he took office that oil prices have experienced a major drop.

The fact is, Bobby Jindal is simply inept and an embarrassment to the state that has had more than its share of embarrassments.

After sell-offs of state property, privatization of state agencies, wholesale layoffs of state employees, raids on Office of Group Benefits reserve funds, devastating cuts to higher education and health care, and cutting state contracts, we now learn that at least one agency—there most likely will be others to follow—is instituting an employee furlough plan that will result in employees losing about a month’s pay projected over a 12-month period. Hopefully, the furloughs will last only through the end of the fiscal year (June 30).

Secretary of State Tom Shedler announced today (Jan. 14) that yet another proposed $3.8 million mid-year budget cut for his agency by the administration will force the implementation of an agency-wide furlough beginning next week. He said he has been advised to prepare an impact statement to the Division of Administration (DOA) by Friday outlining how the reduction would be facilitated.

“This level of reduction this late in the fiscal year is truly daunting,” Shedler said. “After holding the largest election our state has seen in decades just this past fall, my office’s resources are down to the bone. The administration is asking for us to give up bone marrow and it is extremely painful. You can’t cut enough pens, pencils and travel allowances to get to this number.”

Schedler shared the budget numbers with his senior staff Wednesday morning, telling them that if the Secretary of State’s office receives an executive order calling for the cuts, he will immediately seek Civil Service approval of a furlough to begin next Tuesday (Jan. 20), or soon thereafter.

Once approved, all Secretary of State employees, both classified and unclassified (including Schedler), will be required to take one day off per pay period (state pay periods are every two weeks, meaning that over a full year, employees would be required to take off 26 days, or nearly a full month, without pay) through the rest of the fiscal year.

If the furloughs last only through June 30, that would mean about two weeks’ lost pay to employees, still better than the previous Jindal method of wholesale layoffs.

“Furlough days will be staggered throughout the agency so that office hours can be maintained for the public,” Schedler said.

He said the one-day-per-pay-period furlough plan would produce an anticipated savings of $1.1 million through June 30. The administration has requested $2.6 million in state general funds that otherwise would be used for elections, he said. The remaining balance would be achieved from various savings in operational costs. With primary and runoff elections for governor scheduled for this year, $2.6 million would be a lot for the office to absorb.

“I recognize that this kind of reduction is unsustainable in the long run,” he said. “So, as I have my entire career, I plan to be fiscally responsible. As we await an executive order and Civil Service approval, immediate action was necessary to maximize savings while continuing to look for a more permanent solution if the budget picture does not improve.”

Secretary of State Press Secretary Meg Casper added that some state museums may have to close additional days in order to meet the required spending cuts.

Casper said has not heard how other state agencies will handle the pending executive order from Jindal to reduce spending but an official of one other agency, asked if he knew of the pending executive order, replied, “Oh, yeah. It’s coming…and going to be brutal.”

Of course, as the fiscal crisis worsens in Louisiana, Jindal is nowhere to be found. The last we heard, he was planning to bash Hillary Clinton in a speech in London next week—before returning to his home base of Iowa.

We’re as yet unclear on how the London speech relates to Louisiana’s fiscal woes. Maybe it’s just us, but it seems he was elected governor of Louisiana and should be in Baton Rouge minding the store—especially when it seems the store is going bankrupt.

 

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