Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for February, 2015

Curmudgeon C.B. Forgotston must be having fun tweaking legislators who would rather be left alone by constituents

Posted in Attorney General, Audit Reports, Boards, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Contract, Contracts, Corruption, DOA, Ethics, Exemptions, GOHSEP, Governor's Office, House, Incentives, Legislators, Legislature, Politicians, Public Records, Retirement, Senate, Taxes on February 16, 2015| 7 Comments »

Senator Daniel R. Martiny's Picture

STATE SEN. DAN MARTINY

C.B. Forgotston may have opened a can of worms…with the unwitting help of State Sen. Dan Martiny (R-Metairie)—and much to Martiny’s chagrin.

Forgotston, you see, is an independent old cuss who used to work for the legislature and he has been serving for a number of years now as an unofficial overseer of all things state government and few events escape his skeptical critique of the actions and motives of elected officials, particularly legislators, or as he calls them, leges.

Called “King of Subversive Bloggers” by no less an expert on cynicism than Baton Rouge Advocate columnist James Gill, Forgotston is beholden to no one and any leges who crosses swords with him does so at his own peril.

Martiny may have found out the hard way when he sent this email to Forgotston Sunday around 4:16 p.m. informing C.B. that his emails to the good senator were no longer welcomed:

From: “Martiny, Sen. (Chamber Laptop)” <dmartiny@legis.la.gov>

To: “C.B. Forgotston” Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2015 16:16:34 -0600 Subject:

Re: Where’s Buddy?

Take me off your list until u do something positive about anyone.

Martiny was responding to Forgotston’s “Where’s Buddy” post in which he took Attorney General Buddy Caldwell to task for the AG’s reluctance to do his job in telling the Caddo Parish Commissioners they are in violation of the Louisiana State Constitution by virtue of their illegal participation in the Caddo Parish retirement system.

Forgotston noted that Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera has done his job in saying commissioners’ participation in the retirement system is illegal but Caldwell, as has been his M.O. since taking office, has been strangely quiet on public corruption.

And while there is certainly nothing wrong in going after free-lance pharmaceutical salesmen (drug dealers), child pornographers and the like, Caldwell has displayed an obvious dislike for making waves in the political waters and has steadfastly run from public corruption cases.

And we know that while the 1974 State Constitution took much of the prosecutorial duties from the attorney general, the AG is still the legal adviser for all state agencies and if nothing else, Caldwell should step forward and whisper in officials’ ears when they are seen skirting the edge of the law. (Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols’ open violation of the state’s public records law comes immediately to mind. So does Auctioneer Board attorney Larry Bankston’s advice to the board to actually refuse to release public records.)

But we digress.

If you notice, Martiny’s message for C.B. to delete future mailings to him was written on his Senate chamber laptop, which some might interpret as an unwillingness on his part to hear from citizens on matters that concern them.

“My periodic mailings address issues of concern to me primarily about state and local government,” Forgotston said on Monday.

“The mailings are sent to each lege via a public server owned by taxpayers. The address to which it is sent is also provided by the taxpayers.”

Forgotston said that after a “gentle reminder,” Martiny, an attorney, relented and acknowledged the provisions of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“Other leges may not be as familiar with the First Amendment as is Martiny,” he said. “As a public service, here is some background on the First Amendment which leges might find useful in dealing with members of the public.

“The First Amendment states, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’” (Emphasis Forgotston’s)

The right to freedom of speech, he says, “allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government. (Emphasis Forgotston’s)

“The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts (litigation) or other governmental action. (Emphasis Forgotston’s)

“Not only do we have a right to contact the leges regarding matters of government, they are prohibited from interfering with our exercise of that right,” Forgotston said. “That includes the blocking of emails as some leges have done in the past.

“Any lege not wishing to receive my communications, please forward me a copy of your letter of resignation from the lege and you will be promptly removed from all future mailings.”

Now, just to give you a little background on Sen. Martiny, who:

  • Fought a bill by State Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) which would have prevent legislators from leaving the House or Senate and taking six-figure jobs in order to boost their state retirement. It’s worth noting that several legislators had been appointed to cushy state jobs by the Gov. Bobby administration. Noble Ellington of Winnsboro was named second in command at the Louisiana State Department of Insurance at $150,000 per year; Jane Smith of Bossier City was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Department of Revenue ($107,500), though she admitted she knew nothing about taxes or revenue; Troy Hebert of Jeanerette was named Commissioner of the Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control Board ($107,500); Kay Katz of Monroe, named to the Louisiana Tax Commission ($56,000); former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis named Director of Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness ($165,000), and former St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro was appointed Director of Hazard Mitigation and Recovery ($150,000).
  • Pushed through an amendment that gutted Senate Bill 84 by Sen. Ben Nevers (D-Bogalusa), a bill originally designed to protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory payday lenders. Nevers sought to cap payday loan annual interest rates at 36 percent which was an effective way to rein in those lenders who were charging annual percentage rates of up to 700 percent. Martiny’s amendment removed the APR cap and instead simply limited borrowers to 10 short-term loans each year.
  • Pushed through a bill that was subsequently signed by Gov. Bobby which prohibited state contractors from entering into agreements with labor unions, prohibited public entities from remaining neutral toward any labor organization, and prohibited the payment of predetermined or prevailing wages.
  • Introduced a bill that was subsequently signed by Gov. Bobby which re-created 17 state boards, offices and commissions. Louisiana already has far more boards and commissions than any other state but apparently no one saw a need for reducing the number.
  • Introduced a bill subsequently signed into law by Gov. Bobby that gave judges on state district courts, courts of appeal and the Louisiana Supreme court pay raises ranging from 3.7 percent to 5.5 percent—even as Louisiana civil service employees were forced to go without a pay raise for the third straight year.
  • Introduced but later withdrew a bill that would have allowed the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (DED) the authority to offer air carriers a rebate of up to $500 annually for each incremental international passenger flying to or from a state airport for a period of up to five years.
  • Introduced a bill allowing DED to offer tax credits refundable against corporate income and corporate franchise taxes for businesses agreeing to undertake activities to increase the number of visitors to the state by at least 100,000 per year. (We’re beginning to see the problem with the state’s economic incentive tax breaks here).
  • Introduced a bill to provide tax credits for solar energy systems of up to 50 percent of all costs.
  • Introduced a bill that would have allowed the Commissioner of Insurance to fire the Deputy Commissioner of Consumer Advocacy without cause.

Let’s examine that very last one again. Louisiana law provides for the appointment of a deputy commissioner of consumer advocacy by the Commissioner of Insurance.

This is important, provided that person is wholly independent of Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon who gets the bulk of his campaign finances from insurance companies he is supposed to regulate.

Donelon, obviously, cannot be expected to ride herd over his benefactors. That’s just not the way politics works in Louisiana. So a consumer advocate in the department is critical—especially after all those stories about Allstate and State Farm denying legitimate claims from Hurricane Katrina and other tactics such as the Delay, Deny, Defend strategy as taught the insurance companies by Gov. Bobby’s former employer, McKinsey & Co.

The law provides that the consumer advocate may be terminated only for cause.

But Martiny wanted to change that and though the bill did not pass, one has to wonder about his motives.

To learn that, you’d probably have to email him at dmartiny@legis.la.gov

Read Full Post »

Team Bobby inadvertently posts governor’s statewide election endorsement list—from wrong election year

Posted in Attorney General, BESE, Elections, Governor's Office, House, Legislators, Legislature, Media, Politicians, Senate on February 15, 2015| 10 Comments »

The late comedian Brother Dave Gardner once said, “If a man’s down, kick him. If he survives it, he has a chance to rise above it.”

Well, Gov. Bobby is definitely down and we would be remiss if we did not accommodate Bro. Dave’s sage advice to the fullest extent possible.

Besides, that appears to be pretty much the same philosophy of Gov. Bobby as evidenced by his failed economic policies and by his depriving the state’s working poor adequate health care.

Plus, it’s fun to watch Team Jindal screw up to this extent. There’s a quote by author Patricia Briggs that keeps coming to mind at times like this: “Some people are like slinkies. They aren’t really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to my face when I push them down a flight of stairs.”

In what has to be his most embarrassing gaffe since his European Islamic “no-go” zone blathering of a few weeks ago or his empty boasts about Louisiana’s robust economy, Gov. Bobby has released his endorsements for this year’s statewide elections. http://www.bobbyjindal.com/news/610-bobby-jindal-announces-endorsements

Except, it turns out, they weren’t endorsements for this year, but for 2011, as featured in this New Orleans Times-Picayune story from Sept. 13 of that year. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/09/gov_bobby_jindal_makes_endorse.html

Now that’s embarrassing.

How did that happen? As one of our readers observed, heads may well roll. Another said this SNAFU is just an example of what happens when Gov. Bobby is always gone from the state and never around to see that things are done correctly.

And it’s not as if someone simply pulled up an old page by accident and posted it. The page also contains clips of current news events involving Gov. Bobby, including the CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer given on the same day as Bobby’s infamous Islamic “no-go” zone fiasco of only a couple of weeks ago.

But, at the same time, it’s just another indication of how disorganized, dysfunctional, and disconnected  this administration is and how this governor can no longer be taken seriously.

About anything.

Here are a few interesting names off the list of endorsements posted by Team Bobby:

  • Walter Lee, former DeSoto Parish School Superintendent and former Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). Lee, who pleaded guilty to reduced charges in December, has since retired from the DeSoto Parish school system and resigned from BESE.
  • State Treasurer John Kennedy who has yet to announce whether he will run for re-election, or for governor or for state attorney general. Regardless which office he seeks, it is extremely doubtful he would obtain Bobby’s endorsement—or seek such. It’s equally improbable that Kennedy solicited the 2011 endorsement. Kennedy and Bobby have been at odds over state spending for most of Bobby’s seven years in office.
  • Jane Smith of Bossier Parish for State Senate District 37. Smith previously served in the House but lost her election for the Senate in 2011—despite Gov. Bobby’s authentic endorsement. Bobby subsequently appointed her to a cushy post with the Louisiana Department of Revenue but she now serves as a member of BESE, also by gubernatorial appointment.
  • Don Menard of Opelousas for House District 39. Menard, a two-term St. Landry Parish President, lost his bid for that seat in 2011 and last month he was arrested for issuing worthless checks.

There was no explanation of why Team Bobby would make such a stupid blunder as posting endorsements from 2011, particularly when one might expect a candidate to run fast and far from any Bobby endorsement these days—even one that’s four years old. These days, such validation from this governor could well be perceived as the political kiss of death.

Even more embarrassing for Bobby, who will probably be teaguing some hapless aide or student intern for this latest misadventure, is the fact that 14 legislators who are either term-limited or who are seeking other offices were among the list of those “endorsed” on the web page.

State Sen. Sharon Weston Broom (D-Baton Rouge), for example, is vacating her senate seat to run for Baton Rouge Mayor-President and will not be returning to the Senate despite her “endorsement” by Bobby.

Term-limited but “endorsed” senators:

  • Jody Amedee (R-Gonzales). His seat is likely to go to similarly term-limited Rep. Eddie Lambert (R-Gonzales), who is looking to move to the upper chamber.
  • Robert Kostelka (R-Monroe). Eying that seat is House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Fannin (R-Jonesboro) who also is term-limited from returning to his House seat.

Over in the House, Rep. Simone B. Champagne (R-Erath) is not term-limited but she has resigned to become the new Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Youngsville.

Term-limited “endorsed” representatives in addition to those already cited:

  • Richard Burford (R-Stonewall). Unable to run for his current House seat, he is running for the Senate seat now held by Sherri Smith Buffington who also is term-limited and running instead for Burford’s House seat (see how this term limits stuff works?).
  • Henry Burns (R-Haughton). He is running for the Senate District 36 seat now held by term-limited Robert Adley (R-Benton).
  • Speaker Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles). Kleckley has indicated he may run for Lake Charles mayor.
  • Ledricka Thierry (D-Opelousas) is considering a run for the Senate District 24 seat now held by Sen. Elbert Guillory (R/D/R-Opelousas), who is running for lieutenant governor.
  • Mickey Guillory (D-Eunice). Keeping it in the family, his son, John Ross Guillory, is said to be considering a run for Papa’s District 41 seat.
  • Joel Robideaux (R-Lafayette). Term limits present no problem for Robideaux who is running for Lafayette City-Parish President.
  • Gordon Dove (R-Houma), like Robideaux, may be term-limited but plans to run for Terrebonne Parish President. A possible candidate for his House seat is Republican Jerome Zeringue, formerly one of Bobby’s top advisors—not that that gives him any special qualifications.
  • Karen St. Germain (D-Plaquemine). No word from her whether she intends to continue her political career by seeking another office.
  • Tim Burns (R-Mandeville). Again, no word of his plans for another office.
  • Austin Badon (D-New Orleans). Badon has announced no plans for other elected office.

Jeremy Alford of Louisiana Politics, gives a nice wrap-up of all the term-limited incumbents and those who are taking advantage of other opportunities available to them.

http://lapolitics.com/2015-legislative-races/

So now at least we have a reasonable explanation for Gov. Bobby’s inability to come to grips with the dire financial crisis facing the state: he’s obviously caught in a time warp and thinks it’s still 2011. He has the job he wants, and he plans to endorse Texas Gov. Rick Perry for President in 2012. And just in case things don’t go as planned, he has a speech in his pocket about some stupid party.

Read Full Post »

Two major investment rating firms threaten Louisiana with downgrade; state is now officially at the financial end game

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Corruption, Earl Long, Economy, Ethics, Exemptions, Finances, Fraud, Governor's Office, Grant, Grants, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Incentives, Jobs, Legislators, Legislature, Lobbyist, Media, Office of Group Benefits, OGB, PACs, Politicians, Revenue, Senate, Taxes on February 14, 2015| 29 Comments »

75b6e117b785e594d770c9bcc52fd34e_2phq_lt4o[1]

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

“That clanking sound you heard,” says blogger C. B. Forgotston, “was Louisiana’s proverbial fiscal can hitting the end of the road.” And he has been around state government long enough to know the signs.

“Like a kid behaving badly, we’ve been placed on probation,” added State Treasurer John Kennedy.

Both men’s assessments were in response to the double whammy of two investor rating services’—Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s—action to move Louisiana’s credit outlook from stable to negative on Friday and to threaten the more severe action of a downgrade.

“This should be a wake-up call that we need to stop spending more than we take in,” Kennedy said.  “We’ve drained our trust funds, we’ve relied on nonrecurring money and we’ve had to cut the budget in the middle of the fiscal year for too many years now.  Many have been warning that this day would arrive, and it has.”

The dual action by the two ratings services impacts $2.7 billion in outstanding general obligation debt and $1.25 billion in related debt.

Moody’s warned that continued structural imbalances, steep growth in pension costs, deterioration in financial liquidity and failure to contain costs in the state’s Medicaid system will result in a credit rating downgrade, making it more costly for the state to borrow money.

S & P added a warning that “Should budget adjustments fail to focus on recurring solutions or if the structural gap grows with continued declines in revenue or material reductions in federal program funding to the state, we could lower the rating” even further.

Gov. Bobby immediately attempted to put a positive spin on the bad news (or as Forgotston described it, tried to pour perfume on the manure pile to change the smell but not the content) by saying that the agencies didn’t lower the ratings on the existing outstanding General Obligation bonds.

But what Gov. Bobby did not say, according to Forgotston, was that the rating on those bonds was not lowered because the Louisiana State Constitution gives those bonds first call, even before employee retirement benefits, on all the money in the state treasury. “In other words, if the state goes bankrupt, those bonds will be paid,” he said, adding that future state borrowing will also cost more.

It could also mean that in the event of default, retirees won’t be getting their pension checks, something that should get the gray panthers up in arms.

At this point, we feel it important to point out—just in case anyone still needs reminding—that Gov. Bobby has been traveling all over the country (well, mainly to Iowa and Washington, D.C.) spewing his rhetoric about how he has cut the number of state employees, how Louisiana’s economy is out-performing other states, how new industry is locating to Louisiana, and how little it costs to attend LSU.

Except it’s all part of his big lie—except, of course, the part about hauling state workers out to the curb.

But if he is so hell-bent on claiming and then taking credit for all these wonderful events and trends (of course he never mentions the state’s high poverty rate, poor health care availability, our second lowest median household income, the eighth lowest percentage of citizens with a bachelor’s degree or higher, or our fifth highest violent crime rate), then he must shoulder the blame for the bad news as well.

Any coach will tell you that’s the way the game is played; if you take credit for the wins, you have to take the blame for the losses.

And of course, he never, never does that. Everything out of his mouth is about all the great accomplishments of his administration, and always spouted off in such rapid-fire fashion as to give little chance for argument from dissenters. It’s his style to overwhelm with statistics quoted by rote in his boring staccato delivery.

Well, Bobby, your rhetoric—and for that matter, you as well—are wearing a little thin.

The doubt began creeping in here in Louisiana midway of your first term and has continued to build until now the national media have caught on. Only last week, three or four national stories revealed the pitiful shape you are leaving our state in for your unfortunate successor to attempt to clean up.

Unfortunately, whoever follows you will most likely be a one-term governor because no one can clean up your mess in a single term and the voters are likely to grow weary of whoever is unfortunate enough to follow you and turn him or her out of office after four years in a desperate attempt to find a quick solution that in reality may take decades. You have set this state back that far (Thank you, Gov. Mike Foster for inflicting this plague upon us).

And, Gov. Bobby, you can just mothball your national political ambitions. Being President is a far distant fantasy by now and any prospects of a cabinet position are just as surely disappearing like so much sand through your fingers. You can now only accept that you will go down as one of, if not the most vilified governor in the history of this state. You have succeeded, by comparison, in making Earl Long appear to have been in full control of his mental faculties back in 1959.

And lest anyone think we are giving the legislature a free pass on this situation, think again. With only a handful of exceptions, those of you in the House and Senate have been complicit in this charade of governance. You have aided and abetted this pitiful excuse of a chief executive who, while pandering repeatedly that he had the job he wanted, nevertheless plunged full speed ahead toward his fool’s errand of seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Why, his own family was talking openly of his becoming President—at his first inauguration way back in 2008!

Moody’s and S &P were each quite thorough in laying out the reasoning for their simultaneous actions on Friday.

Moody’s said its action reflects a $1.6 billion structural deficit, continued budget gaps, the state’s large Medicaid caseload, job growth below the national average and significant unfunded pension liabilities.  “The negative outlook reflects the state’s growing structural budget imbalance, projected at $1.6 billion for fiscal 2016, or about 18% of the $8.7 billion general fund even after significant budget cuts of recent years,” Moody’s said. “The state has options for reducing the imbalance, including scaling back various tax credit programs, but the overall scale of balancing measures needed may further deplete resources and reduce the state’s liquidity, which has been one of its strengths.”

S & P was no kinder, citing Gov. Bobby’s reliance on non-recurring revenue which it said only served to increase future budgetary pressures. “In our view, the state’s focus on structural solutions to its general fund budget challenges will be a key determinant of its future credit stability.

“We could consider revising the outlook back to stable if revenue trends stabilize and if Louisiana makes material progress in aligning its recurring revenues and expenditures on a timely basis with a focus on recurring solutions. Should budget adjustments fail to focus on recurring solutions or if the structural gap grows with continued declines in revenue or material reductions in federal program funding to the state, we could lower the rating,” S & P said.

Forgotston, in his own unique way, tells us what Moody’s and S & P were really telling us: “Bobby, you and the legislators have made a big ‘number-two’ mess in your fiscal pants and we have no faith in your ability to clean it up. Folks, don’t let the legislators try to fool you; this is very bad news for us taxpayers and the legislators are the reason for it.”

Yes, it’s easy to blame Gov. Bobby because he has in his seven years initiated every Ponzi scheme one could imagine from giving away something like $11 billion in tax incentives (according to one recent story), to giving away the state’s charity hospitals, to robbing the Office of Group Benefits reserve fund, to attempting to rob the state’s retirement system, to refusing federal grants for needed projects, to rejecting Medicaid expansion and thus depriving the state’s indigent population access to decent health care which in turn led directly to the announced closure of the emergency room of a major Baton Rouge hospital. The list goes on.

But, as Gov. Bobby is so fond of saying, at the end of the day, it was the legislature, through the “leadership” of Senate President John Alario, House Speaker Chuck Kleckley and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Fannin that allowed him to do it by refusing to grow a collective set and stand up to this vindictive little amateur dictator.

This is an election year and Louisiana voters—particularly state employees, former state employees who have lost their jobs because of Gov. Bobby, teachers, retirees and the state’s working poor would do well to remember what this governor has done to them and which legislators voted to support the administration’s carnage inflicted upon this state.

There are those few in the House and Senate who have spoken up and tried to be the voices of reason but those voices have been drowned out by Gov. Bobby’s spinmeisters.

So when you vote for governor next fall, you would do well to ignore the TV commercials bought by those who want only to continue down this same path of economic destruction and growing income disparity and consider who you believe really has the best interest of the state, and not the special interests, at heart. In other words, think for yourselves instead of letting some ad agency do your thinking for you.

If you don’t get your collective heads out of the sand and in the most emphatic manner you can muster, tell your neighbors, your friends, your family, the clerk at the store where you shop for food and clothing, the cashier at the restaurant where you eat what this governor and this legislature have done to you and to them, then come next fall, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

The time for joking about Gov. Bobby is over. We’re at the end game now.

Read Full Post »

More state layoffs expected but some employees continue to dodge bullets and thrive professionally amid economic crisis

Posted in Broadband, Internet, DEQ, DOA, Economy, Ethics, Finances, GOHSEP, Governor's Office, IT, Jobs, Layoffs, Public Records, Retirement, State Agencies, State Police on February 13, 2015| 10 Comments »

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

SELVARATNAM GOHSEP

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

 

Read Full Post »

Gov. Bobby cuts staff numbers and salaries but still has too many warm bodies with decorative titles, uncertain duties

Posted in Budget, Finances, Governor's Office, Layoffs on February 11, 2015| 8 Comments »

In the five years we have been posting stories about Bobby’s administration, we have, from time to time, had to backtrack and admit we were wrong or were rash in our judgment. This is one of those times.

Except we may be incorrect in saying we were wrong. Got that? Read on.

Through a diligent search of payroll records, we have found that Bobby, while imploring state agencies to “do more with less,” has at least set an example of fiscal restraint for others to emulate.

Six months after taking office, the payroll in the governor’s office stood at a whopping $5.9 million. Today, a leaner and meaner staff (if indeed, it is possible to be any meaner) in the governor’s office is costing Louisiana taxpayers “only” $3.9 million in salaries.

As of June 30, 2008, Bobby had 92 full time employees drawing $5,659,800 in salary (an average of $61,519 each), not including medical and retirement benefits. He also had 34 part-timers for an additional $267,900, an average of $7,879 each, according to figures obtained by LouisianaVoice.

Where the governor’s office had 92 full time employees in 2008 drawing $5.66 million, today he has only 64 full-timers making $3.66 million, records show.

The number of part time employees also has decreased from 34 in 2008 to only 21 today, but their average salaries have increased considerably.

But wait! Things are never as they seem. It turns out that several former employees were quietly moved around to other agencies and are still on the state payroll. Chance McNeely, who went from a $65,000 per year policy analyst for all of nine months to a $102,000 position as head of environmental compliance at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), comes immediately to mind.

Stephen Winham also provided this interesting information: It seems that in Fiscal year 2008-2009, there were two transfers from the governor’s office to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the following year,  two more transferred from Bobby’s office to the Board of Regents and 11 more to DEQ to prepare a place for Chance McNeely. And in FY 2012-2013, three more left the fourth floor and moved across the street to the Department of Education. Winham’s source for his information is this link: http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/OPB/pub/ebsd.htm

“You are giving them too much credit for position and funding elimination,” Winham says, “since these positions and funding were simply transferred to other departments in the state budget. Based on your information, I’m guessing that at least 64 percent of the savings you show was really just transferred out,” he said.

So, before you get too excited over the apparent good news, we have to offer our disclaimer that the numbers are somewhat misleading.

Some of those reductions could also be employees who see the writing on the wall and are simply bailing out before the end of Bobby’s term of office expires in about 11 months. In such cases, departures would have nothing to do with Bobby’s efforts to reduce his own staff numbers while gutting needed state agencies of key personnel and leaving unqualified administrators in place.

Because we were interested only in the numbers and salaries of staff members, none of the figures included Bobby’s own salary of $130,000 per year.

Nine of those full time employees in 2008 earned $100,000 per year or more. Those nine combined to earn just over $1.2 million, or an average of about $134,800 each.

In addition, the governor’s office and governor’s mansion combined to employ 20 security personnel from the Department of Public Safety (State Police) at a per diem rate of $92.32 over and above their normal salaries. Because all 20 were not on duty at the same time, it was impossible to determine the total amount paid in per diem to the security personnel.

Today, the per diem rate remains the same but we could only account for 19 security personnel, one less than in 2008. Most the other numbers, however, have decreased significantly.

One major exception is the salary of Bobby’s executive counsel. In 2008, it was Jimmy Faircloth who resigned to run unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Supreme Court. His salary then was $167,000 per year.

The current executive counsel, Thomas Enright, who supposedly advised Bobby last June to sign that bill giving Superintendent of State Police Mike Edmonson that retirement increase that was subsequently ruled unconstitutional, currently earns $165,000 per year, $2,000 less than Faircloth.

But where there were nine employees earning $100,000 or more in June of 2008, today there are “only” seven combining to make just over $900,000, or an average of $128,585 each.

Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell was making $165,880 per year in 2008. Apparently his brother, Taylor Teepell, doesn’t have the same value to Bobby at $130,000 per year as Deputy Chief of Staff. His $130,000, incidentally, is the same that Bobby makes as governor in absentia.

Kyle Plotkin is something of a success story in Bobby’s administration. Beginning in November of 2008 with his appointment as press secretary, he was named as Special Assistant to the governor at $85,000 per year on July 26, 2011 but is now Bobby’s Chief of Staff at $165,880 per year, more than double his salary of just three years ago.

Matthew Parker, Timmy Teepell’s brother-in-law, pulls down $120,000 as one of 15 “directors” in the governor’s office, though we’re unsure as to what he directs.

In 2008, the 34 part time employees combined to make $267,900 and while the $243,300 being paid to 21 part time employees today is $24,600 less than in 2008, the average salaries of the part-timers has increased from $7,879 per year to $11,585.

In 2015, we found a couple of staffers drawing pretty good chump change considering their listed status as part time employees. Bobbie Johnson, an “assistant,” was listed at $18,574 per year and “Executive Assistant” Megan O’Quin was listed at $30,420.

But those were nothing compared with a couple of part time salaries we discovered for 2008. Michael Wascom, a part time “special counsel,” was listed at $31,949 per year while James T. Ryder, was pulling down $156,000 per year as a part time “special counsel,” just $11,000 per year less than his boss, Faircloth.

All this is well and good, Bobby; you’ve set the pace for asceticism. You slashed your staff from 126 to 85, a 32.5 percent reduction and cut the combined salaries accordingly, by 33.9 percent. Good for you.

But still, the question must be asked: does it really require 85 people to run your office when apparently it isn’t even necessary that you be there half the time? I’ve been to the fourth floor of the State Capitol. There is not room for 85 people to maneuver in that space with any efficiency.

While you have reduced the number of warm bodies in your office and while you have cut salaries significantly, we still have to wonder at the necessity of 85 people bumping into each other and apparently  getting very little done, based on any real accomplishments during your time in office.

Besides the 15 directors, there are four deputy directors, two assistant directors, two executive directors, one project director, one representative, two managers, one project manager, one executive administrative assistant, three administrative assistants, eight executive assistants, one administrative staff officer, four advisers, four coordinators, a specialist, five assistants, one executive counsel, two assistant executive counsels, a law clerk, a chief of staff, two assistant chiefs of staff, one deputy chief of staff, along with a few clerks, receptionists, a single garden variety deputy, and one housekeeper.

But just what are the duties of a director? A specialist? An administrative assistant? An executive assistant? An executive administrative assistant? An advisor? What does a coordinator coordinate? What’s the difference between a director and a project director? What does either direct? What’s the difference between an assistant director and a deputy director? And what does a manager manage that a director can’t direct? Deputy? Deputy what? And just one housekeeper to clean up after all those people?

And just one more note, Bobby: You may pull the wool over the eyes of an old worn out news reporter but it’s difficult to fool a retired budget officer.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »