Even as Gov. Bobby is busy handing out pink slips to state employees (a new round of layoffs is anticipated momentarily), LouisianaVoice has learned of a couple of unusual hiring practices—one involving yet another retire-rehire, this time by the Department of Public Safety, and a possible case of nepotism that has since quietly been resolved in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LADHH) with the timely transfer of the mother of a LADHH administrator to another agency.
DHH Deputy Secretary Courtney Phillips has accepted the position of Secretary of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHH) and will begin her duties there on April 1, according to a press release from LADHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert.
Courtney Phillips has been employed by LADHH since 2003 when she began as a management intern. She was appointed Deputy Secretary on May 10, 2013, at a salary of $145,000, according to information obtained by LouisianaVoice from LADHH.
Her mother, Sheila Phillips was initially hired by LADHH on June 19, 2012, as an Administrative Coordinator at a salary of $37,500.
“At no point in time did Courtney Phillips serve in a supervisory role over Sheila Phillips,” said LADHH spokesperson Olivia Watkins in an email Thursday to LouisianaVoice. “Regarding her time as deputy secretary, Courtney Phillips did not officially begin her tenure as deputy secretary until May 10, 2013. Sheila Phillips ended her employment with DHH on May 9, 2013, and is currently an employee with the Department of Environmental Quality.
Civil Service records reflect that Sheila Phillips actually resigned on May 8, 2013, two days before her daughter’s promotion, and began working on May 9, 2013, for the Department of Environmental Quality as an Administrative Assistant 4 and currently makes $40,560 per year.
And while Courtney Phillips did not begin as deputy secretary until two days after her mother left the agency, her curriculum vitae that she submitted to the State of Nebraska notes that she served as Chief of Staff at LADHH from September of 2011 until her promotion to deputy director—which was during the time when her mother was hired.
State statute, according to Watkins, specifically says that “no member of the immediate family of a member of a governing authority or the chief executive of a governmental entity shall be employed by the governmental entity.”
The statute defines “agency head” as chief executive or administrative officer of an agency or any member of a board or commission who exercises supervision over the agency, Watkins said.
“Based on consultation with Civil Service, agency head would not include the chief of staff position, precluding any violation of the state nepotism law during her tenure in that role. Furthermore, as chief of staff, Courtney Phillips did not have legal appointing authority or supervise any DHH program office, including the Office of Public Health where Sheila Phillips worked from 06/09/2012 through 05/09/2013.
“Given that definition and the facts of the employment of Courtney Phillips and Sheila Phillips, nepotism was not a concern,” Watkins said.
Her resumé, however, says her Chief of Staff duties involved the planning and direction of “all administrative, financial, and operational activities for the department’s Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Undersecretary” and that she acted “as a point of contact between top management and employees, as well as developing, overseeing and maintaining the budget for the executive office. She also said in her resumé that she served as a “key member of the executive management team responsible for the central coordination of activities and ensuring timely flow of information to and from the executive office.”
Moreover, on various LADHH organizational charts obtained by LouisianaVoice, Courtney Phillips served directly under the position of agency undersecretary during the tenures of both Bruce Greenstein, who resigned in March of 2013, and Kliebert.
As a “key member of the executive management team,” she was also a member of and regularly voted on matters coming before the LADHH Statewide Governance Board and signed off on letters to top legislators dealing with LADHH policy.
Meanwhile, an Information Technology (IT) Director 4 who retired from his $140,500 a year job at the Division of Administration (DOA) on Oct. 31, 2014, began working on Dec. 8, just over a month later, for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) as a technology consultant at $70 per hour, Civil Service records show. Jeya Selvaratnam
Prior to his four-month stint with DOA, which began on June 23, 2014, and ran through Oct. 31 (he was retired for little more than a month, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 7), Jeya Selvaratnam worked first as an IT Deputy Director 2 for the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Office of Management and Finance from Sept. 25, 2006 through Aug. 27, 2008 at which time he was promoted to IT Director 4 for the same office. He remained at that post until June 22, 2014, when he moved over to DOA.
The Louisiana Board of Ethics prohibits former state employees from working for the same agency within two years of their retirements. The statute (R.S. 42:1111-1121) says, “During the two year period following the termination of public service as a public employee, these individuals may not assist another for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction involving the agency in which the former public employee participated while employed by the agency nor may the former public employee provide on a contractual basis to his former public employer, any service he provided while employed there.”
GOHSEP spokesperson Christina Dayries, however, said when retirees are rehired by state agencies, they are allowed to earn half of what they collect in state retirement. He was earning $140,500 per year and with more than 30 years of service, qualifies for at least 75 percent of his base salary in retirement. That computes to more than $105,000 in retirement, plus 50 percent of that amount as a re-hire up to $158,000—nearly $18,000 more than he made full time.
The project on which Selvaratnam now works as a part time capacity is the DPS FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network.
The project calls for the expenditure of up to $135 million of a State and Local Implementation Grant (SLIGP) provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide emergency responders with their first nationwide, high-speed broadband network dedicated to public safety, according to a Power Point presentation given on Jan. 21 and 22 of this year to provide an overview of the program created under the federal Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.
The $135 million 80-20 federal-state grant is only for the planning of the project. Implementation of the nationwide network is expected to cost $7 billion with funding expected to come from spectrum auction. By law, the network is to be self-sustaining upon expending the $7 billion.
There are 10 regional teams set up to implement the program on a nationwide basis. Louisiana is a member of Team 6, along with New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The program’s staffing chart shows Selvaratnam serving under the supervision of Program Manager Allison McLeary.
While at DPS, he represented the department as a member of the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) SIEC which is responsible for the ability of emergency service agencies to communicate across disciplines and jurisdictions, particularly during times of emergency. SIEC membership is composed of all appropriate first responder and support organizations and has “full authority to design, construct, administer and maintain a statewide interoperable communications system…in support of full response to any emergency event,” according to GOHSEP’s web page. http://www.gohsep.la.gov/interop.aspx
As the DPS representative on the SIEC, he also served as chairman of the SIEC Broadband Subcommittee. Accordingly, he had duties and responsibilities for the SLIGP program during that time and is again providing those same services.
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson, for whom Selvaratnam worked at DPS, is the “State Point of Contact” for the FirstNet project, according to the Power Point presentation, with the Office of State Police listed as the SLIGP grant recipient and GOHSEP as the grant administrator.
A law meant to bring retirees back for short-term help was used by almost 200 current, full-time employees in the Department of Corrections. An oversight in the writing of the law even allowed “retired” employees to continue accruing money into their pension plans, according to a story on Governing, a web-based site on state and local government. http://www.governing.com/topics/public-workforce/Double-Dip-Dilemma.html
The issue of retire-rehire sparked considerable debate in 2010 when Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen resigned and rehired herself two days later, a move that netted her a $90,000 payout for unused sick leave and vacation time and entitled her to $146,400 in retirement pay. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/06/higher_education_commissioner.html
Louisiana Voice 
Two things: A. We are grateful for you. B. Does Louisiana have a law or legislation in the works to make front yard gun range targets legal? (I just read about Florida’s shooting ranges in front yards that are legal.) Thank you for this wonderful LA voice site. D. James From: Louisiana Voice To: plyjam68@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, February 13, 2015 8:45 AM Subject: [New post] More state layoffs expected but some employees continue to dodge bullets and thrive professionally amid economic crisis #yiv7438052497 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7438052497 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7438052497 WordPress.com | tomaswell posted: “Even as Gov. Bobby is busy handing out pink slips to state employees (a new round of layoffs is anticipated momentarily), LouisianaVoice has learned of a couple of unusual hiring practices—one involving yet another retire-rehire, this time by the Departme” | |
Florida law allows people to build and maintain shooting ranges in their backyards. And unless an owner becomes negligent or reckless, there’s nothing a neighbor can do.For example:* There’s no restriction on the type of firearms or ammunition that can be used in a backyard shooting range.* There’s no restriction on the time of day or night your neighbors can use their gun range.* And there’s no restriction on gun ranges near a public school, day-care center or neighborhood playground. Talk about the need for duck-and-cover lessons.
From: Louisiana Voice To: plyjam68@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, February 13, 2015 8:45 AM Subject: [New post] More state layoffs expected but some employees continue to dodge bullets and thrive professionally amid economic crisis #yiv7438052497 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7438052497 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7438052497 a.yiv7438052497primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7438052497 WordPress.com | tomaswell posted: “Even as Gov. Bobby is busy handing out pink slips to state employees (a new round of layoffs is anticipated momentarily), LouisianaVoice has learned of a couple of unusual hiring practices—one involving yet another retire-rehire, this time by the Departme” | |
http://lauranorwalt.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/1/5/24152852/norwalt_laura_nursing_4760_baker_community_assessment.pdf Dear Tom: Please do not use my name, email, job or any other identifying information or reveal it in any way, because the officials in State DOA, DHH, DEQ, Civil Service and governor’s office are all in for what they can get out the State before Jindal leaves. I am afraid for my job and my co-workers’ jobs. With that being said, Interestingly, on page 76 of this thorough report that is posted online at the link above dated APRIL 25, 2013, done by Our Lady of the Lake School of Nursing, Courtney Phillips is listed as Deputy Secretary of DHH – this is the month BEFORE her mom left DHH to go to DEQ. This report is also interesting with respect to the closure of BR General’s ER and how that will translate into more uninsured AND insured ER patients at Lane Memorial and Our Lady of the Lake, whose nursing school wrote this thorough report about the City of Baker and its nursing needs. The more uninsured patients OLOL gets, the more money the State of Louisiana pays that particular hospital.
Please treat this response as confidential because I am an employee of the State and I do not want or need publicity. I find it interesting that Dr Opelka’s son is coming to DHH as Chief of Staff after his Dad wrote those privatization of hospitals and closure of our Charity hospital documents for LSU that were supposed to increase access to healthcare. Apparently having less hospitals and ER’s in north Baton Rouge increases access to emergency healthcare. It is almost like magic. I wonder how much Frank Jr. will earn as DHH Chief of Staff compared to DHH’s attorneys that graduated law school before the turn of the century, 1999. I bet it is a lot more money. Frank Opelka, Jr graduated law school in 2013. DHH has attorneys and a recently left paralegal that is now at Office of Revenue that make less $ than Sheila Phillips does as an administrative coordinator for DEQ.i guess she is just extra qualified for her job at DEQ.
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They need to look into Hugh Eley with DHH. Retired in May and rehire earlier this month(Feb.). Don’t know if it was a retire-rehire , or retire come bac
k as a contract employee.
Doesn’t the State Attorney General’s Office have the responsibility to defend the state against acts detrimental to the state? If these retire-rehire antics are so prevalent, they are certainly known or should be known to Civil Service or Agency Heads who should in turn inform the AG of the illegality of the practices.
So it would appear that the AG continues to fail to do his job to protect the State from ILLEGAL employment practices and/or Department/Agency Heads are guilty of illegal employment practices and should now be held personally accountable. Now that the AG has knowledge of specific violations via the LouisianaVoice post above, he can no longer refuse to investigate and prosecute such violations without being complicit in the fraud. If that becomes the case, he should be taken to court for violating not only his oath of office but Louisiana Statutes.
As Gov. Bobby is fond of saying: three things.
First, the attorney general’s office, by virtue of the 1974 Constitutional Convention, had many of its prosecutorial powers ripped away by the state’s district attorneys who wanted sole control over their fiefdoms. They lobbied strongly in favor of stripping powers from the attorney general. He is officially the legal counsel for the state agencies, and as such, is charged with defending, not prosecuting them.
Second, even if he had the power, this attorney general is a Republican creature who is not only unable to prosecute wrongdoing, but apparently unwilling to advise his clients, the various state agencies, on what course of action should be taken. The bottom line is he is a politician first and a public servant second.
And third, there really is no law prohibiting the practice of retire-re-hire. When Sally Clausen retired and re-hired herself two days later, she did so without the knowledge of the Board of Regents, her bosses and that rankled them. There can—and may be—individual agency policies against the practice, but no law despite all the political posturing and indignation by the legislature and others. In the end, nothing was done.
Buddy Caldwell doesn’t have time to deal with governmental corruption! He’s too busy flushing precious taxpayer resources down the toilet fighting same-sex marriage initiatives (despite the inevitable U. S. Supreme Court ruling declaring such restrictions unconstitutional). That’s the case because, as Tom points out, he’s first a politician and then a (distant) second a law-enforcement official.
Additionally, about five years ago, AG Caldwell posted a video of himself on the AG’s website delivering a sermon to a black congregation on MLK Day. Not only is that hypocritical in that I can tell you for 100% certainty that his office received a complaint of racial discrimination (http://www.auctioneer-la.org/AG_LAPA_link.pdf), and all his office did is #1) stall for time by relaying it “must be on our official complaint form,” which was done (http://www.auctioneer-la.org/AG_LAPA_link2.pdf), then #2) merely toss the complaint into the hands against whom the complaint was filed (the LALB) with a notation for them to “handle it as you see fit:” http://www.auctioneer-la.org/AG_Phillips021814.pdf. Beyond Caldwell’s sheer hypocrisy exhibited in his sermon he placed on the AG website, there’s also an issue of separation of church and state with which I can only assume he’s completely oblivious or else just says, “I’ll do what the hell I want to!”
Lastly, and I would assume most Louisiana Voice readers saw this on WAFB’s broadcast last night, AG Buddy Caldwell as entered into a secret contract with a Florida firm enabling Caldwell’s office to monitor all of our cell phone calls. That’s done via towers which resemble cell phone towers but, in reality, enable his office to gather whatever information he deems appropriate regarding our cell phone conversations. The ACLU in New Orleans is attempting to fight him on this, but his office told WAFB, “We’ll have no comment,” and they further said WAFB’s request for a copy of the contract with the Florida is protected via “security measures to counter terrorism.”
For a tad more on my sentiments regarding AG Caldwell, see my comments at the bottom of a recent Advocate blog on his poor fundraising efforts for re-election: http://blogs.theadvocate.com/politicsblog/2015/02/10/buddy-caldwell-reports-slow-fundraising-re-election-campaign/?fb_action_ids=939988512679166&fb_action_types=og.comments.
Between Jindal and Caldwell together, we have one more cluster —- for our Chief Executive and Chief Law Enforcement Officer, do we not?
And Caldwell is already busy campaigning! Saw his big campaign commercial on Youtube about a week ago already making him out to be a hero for fighting Obamacare, gay marriage and Executive relief for some illegal immigrants. Same ol reactionary cowboy BS.
You got it, Can’t Say!! Just watch this investigative report on WWL and LISTEN to Caldwell talk: http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/investigations/david-hammer/2014/09/03/14591396/. He sounds like an ignorant country hick.
I cannot believe he had the UNMITIGATED GALL to accuse a Federal Judge of sleeping during a trial!!! I think Barbier’s staff handled that statement with class, but you can tell it had P/O’d Barbier!!
Also, don’t forget Caldwell “blacked out” and crashed a state car. There was one news outlet who reported he was drunk (but they later retracted the story). I have to be honest. He SOUNDS drunk on that WWL investigative link above! At least that would be an excuse for what is a pathetic performance to the reporter’s questions. He is arrogant beyond belief and apparently must think he’s God.
We’ll see how he fares in October, but I sure hope this guy is GONE! I hate to say this, but he makes Jindal look decent by comparison!!
On an unrelated note, congratulations on SUBSCRIBER # 2800 today, Tom! Yes, I follow those type of stats. When I first went on your blog site, you had 1,832. Hence, in just over a year, you’ve experienced a 53% increase in subscribership. Bet John Georges can’t top that percentage gain over the last 13 months!!