The Baton Rouge Advocate had a superb story today (Sunday, Feb. 22) that revealed that Gov. Bobby was out of state 45 percent of the time during 2014 at a direct cost of $314,144 to taxpayers in travel, lodging, meals and rental vehicles for state police security details. You can add another $58,500 (45 percent of his $130,000 per year salary) in additional costs for which taxpayers got no return while he was chasing the pipe dream of becoming president. http://theadvocate.com/news/education/11626690-63/frequent-flier
What you are about to read, though, is not about that. We’ve written about his travels before and The Advocate’s story thoroughly documents the actual costs of his travel to the extent that it would be redundant for us to beat that drum here.
Instead, this story, while much shorter than my usual posts, is simply about a Smart Phone.
And it says volumes about just how casually this administration takes its responsibility for the looming $1.6 billion state budget deficit.
It also says a lot about how certain people are not above helping themselves as they prepare to head out the door even as the institutions they are sworn to protect are swallowed by the expanding financial crisis—non unlike the captain abandoning a sinking ship with passengers still on board. We can only hope they remember to turn off the lights as they leave.
It speaks to the disdain contempt these people have for moral codes and legal constraints which require that they put the welfare of the state first and their own interests last.
And it practically shouts the double standard, the hypocrisy, and the lack of character ingrained in the makeup of the very people entrusted with running the state in the most economical, most responsible and yes, the most principled, manner possible—and their willingness to take ethical shortcuts even as they create and then walk away from a huge fiscal mess for someone else to clean up.
All this fuss over a Smart Phone?
Yes, because the entire affair is symptomatic of a much greater illness—official callousness, obliviousness and indifference—character flaws this state can ill afford in its leaders.
All over a Smart Phone.
You see, Commissioner of Administration recently decided she wanted a new Smart Phone.
Not a state-owned Smart Phone, one that would remain for her successor when she leaves office, but a Smart Phone for her very own personal use, owned by her.
And she wanted the State of Louisiana (taxpayers) to pay for it, according to our source inside the Division of Administration.
And she wasn’t shy about asking the Office of Telecommunications Management (OTM) to purchase one for her.
But OTM said no.
Nichols persisted.
OTM continued to say no.
Nichols finally relented.
But it was the very act of trying to get the state to pony up the money for a Smart Phone for her personal use that rubs salt into the state’s festering fiscal wound and calls into serious question the very integrity of the entire administration of Gov. Bobby.
It Nichols’ apparent disregard for well-defined rules and regulations disallowing just such actions that leaves the authenticity of everything she says and does subject to scrutiny and justifiable skepticism.
She should never have made such a request…and she knows it.
Her attempt at compromising her office and that of OTM, however, was only an extension of an attitude that runs throughout the upper levels of state government.
From the purchase of the luxury Eddie Bauer and Harley-Davidson trucks by former Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley, to long-term Enterprise auto rentals for State Department of Education employees, to legislators who use campaign funds for LSU, Saints and Pelican tickets and for expensive meals, to last year’s unconstitutional attempt to bolster State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson’s retirement by $55,000 a year, to Deputy Commissioner of Administration Ruth Johnson’s ordering of two desktop computers, a laptop and expensive furniture for her office, there is an attitude of entitlement that permeates the offices of those who impose a completely different set of standards on the rest of us.
And it’s an attitude that flows from the top down.
And the real tragedy is nobody will do a damned thing about it.
Louisiana Voice 
The hubris that runs throughout every facet of this state government is unbelievable!
Bob N, there are literally thousands of state employees and retired state employees out there who are just as frustrated and appalled as you are by the conduct of the current administration. They have moral compasses that would never let them so blatantly steal from the state. Sure, there is the occasional nut case who goes crazy with a state credit card or finds a way to help himself to some of the state’s money. Though it wasn’t our favorite thing to do, that is one of the benefits of the periodic visits from the Legislative Auditor’s Office which looks into the financial integrity of all state agencies. They made sure that we had adequate financial controls. The truth, though, is that 99% of the people in state government don’t need a watchdog looking over their shoulders because they have integrity. The truly puzzling thing is that someone in the public eye as much as the commissioner of administration or the governor is arrogant enough to think that the rules don’t apply to them. They don’t have to produce public records, and they don’t have to actually show up for work for time for which they claim compensation. More important, however, they think the state which is in a financial crisis created by them should still find the money for the gift of a personal smart phone. I guess I am hoping that your characterization of hubris running throughout every facet of this administration is talking about the governor and those who are close to him. It is simply not true about all state employees.
Bozinga!!!!!!
State53: One of the classic characteristics of sociopaths is thinking the rules don’t apply to them. Yet another bit of evidence of the type of person we are dealing with.
Please don’t accord this group with such respective, descriptive terminology as “sociopaths”. The plain truth of the situation is Jindal’s administration is riddled with corruption, personal enrichment, a group of people essentially using the executive branch for their own personal playground. These people are crooks, plain and simple, no better than drug dealers, pimps, bank robbers or embezzlers. Jindal’s administrators know what they are doing, they have a “goal” in mind and it has come and will continue to come at a cost to Louisiana citizens. Please don’t apply or employ terminology according these individuals any form of “sophistication” that is not deserving.
Furthermore, I find it most ironic that Jindal has gone to great lengths to vilify, besmirch Huey P. Long’s legacy. Jindal could have taught Huey lessons on graft and corruption. Before the dust settles, Jindal and many in his administration will be taking a ride on the second “Louisiana Hayride”. It is not a question of if, but a fact of when.
Amen!
Rodeoclown: AMEN. I stand corrected. You stated what I was really thinking. Sorry to have insulted sociopaths with the comment.
Makes you wonder how many times Kristy was successful in her pursuit of other unethical, illegal transactions that personally benefitted her prior to this episode.
I hope this story gets wide circulation. Thanks, and keep it coming!
If she is in need of charity because her salary is so low that she cannot afford a cell phone, she should apply for the Reagan-initiated SafeLink program that offers free cell phones to the disadvantaged.
That’s a good one. I personally believe her quest for a PERSONAL phone is probably Tom’s fault. If the state owned the phone you are supposed to account for the personal calls you make, which means somebody might have access to her business calls. Tom has her scared about the public records issue. Not that they think that law applies to them.
Maybe she should get one of those disposable phones that are untraceable so she could follow Tom’s Louisianavoice.com blog and not get caught.
Is Ruth Johnson still banking her LASERS retirement and a full salary? The corruption is endless.