By now, everyone who isn’t emotionally involved with Dancing with the Stars or Bachelor, is acutely aware that the state, going into the 2015 legislative session, is flirting with a $1.6 billion budget deficit.
And that doesn’t even take into consideration the growing backlog of sorely needed infrastructure repairs for state highways and universities totaling well over a billion dollars. Nor does it include previous deep cuts to health care and higher education.
Things are so bad that an increasingly desperate Bobby Jindal, running out of state buildings, vehicles and hospitals to sell or agency funds to raid, is even looking to sell the remainder of the state tobacco settlement money and the State Lottery in order to generate yet even more one-time revenue to cover recurring expenses.
And remember, this is the man who told the Monroe News-Star he was leaving the state in better shape than he found it. http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/13/gov-jindal-want-finish-strong/70262992/
Still, every year those non-government organizations (NGOs) make the obligatory trek to Baton Rouge with hands out, asking that legislators appropriate funding for their organizations. This year is no exception as 80 individual entities have submitted requests for funding of 89 separate projects totaling nearly $241.3 million.
Of that amount, $116 million, or 48 percent, were for NGOs in the greater New Orleans area.
Many of the requests are from the usual worthy organizations like councils on aging, youth groups and charitable organizations.
Among the larger requests:
- $26 million for the Foundation for Science & Math Education in New Orleans;
- $17.2 million for the Girl Scouts of Louisiana East in New Orleans;
- $4.4 million for Kingsley House in New Orleans;
- $1.6 million for the Louisiana Arts & Science Museum in Baton Rouge (two projects);
- $8 million for the Louisiana Children’s Museum in New Orleans;
- $5 million for the Louisiana Food Bank Association in Baton Rouge;
- $4 million for the Louisiana Regional Leadership Council in Lafayette;
- $27.7 million for a National Hurricane Museum and Science Center in Lake Charles;
- $1.4 million for renovations to VFW Post 8852 in Alexandria;
- $14.9 million for the North Desoto Water System in Stonewall;
- $4.1 million for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans;
- $1.2 million for Sci-Port (Louisiana’s Science Center) in Shreveport;
- $10.7 million for repairs at the State Fair of Louisiana in Shreveport;
- $2.1 million for Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund in New Orleans;
- $4.3 million for Lighthouse for the Blind in New Orleans;
- $4.9 million for the Louisiana Association for the Blind in Shreveport;
- $3 million for the Baton Rouge Empowerment Foundation;
- $10 million for the Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation in Baton Rouge;
- $7 million for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana;
- $2 million for the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra;
- $2.6 million for Loyola University in New Orleans;
- $1.1 million for WYES Educational Television in New Orleans;
- $11.8 million for University Hospital & Clinics in Lafayette (two projects);
- $37.3 million for the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans;
- $5.68 for the Biomedical Research Foundation Northwest in Shreveport;
- $4.5 million for the NOLA Motorsports Hospitality Committee in New Orleans.
The last four warrant particular attention.
While all such organizations are barred from making political contributions because of their non-profit status, officers and members of their boards of directors are not bound by such restrictions. Jindal received $167,000, various members of the Louisiana House and Senate got $65,650, and the Louisiana Republican Party was the beneficiary of another $26,000 from seven principals connected with those four organizations.
University Hospital in Lafayette has been taken over by Lafayette General Medical Center in Jindal’s sweeping state hospital privatization scheme which raises immediate question of why the state should be funding projects at that facility.
Same for the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, which last year assumed operation of LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe. The foundation received $5.7 million in state largesse last year.
The Audubon Institute receives millions of state dollars every year, much of which goes to the upkeep of the institute’s golf course. Last year, for example, Audubon Institute received $16.8 million in legislative appropriations.
But for sheer audacity, we give you the NOLA Motorsports Hospitality Committee. Here is its summary justifying its request for $4.5 million:
- NOLA Motorsports Park in Jefferson Parish, through a competitive process, has been selected as the site for an INDYCAR event to be part of the championship Verizon INDYCAR Series. The selection was made, in part, because of the availability of a venue for the Event and related activities, transportation infrastructure, personnel, commitment to comply with the required specifications, and because of the collaborative relationships that have been established with other support entities. The Nola Motorsports Host Committee, Inc., a non-profit corporation, has committed to host a first-class Event and to plan and provide a unique and entertaining visitor experience for all which will include live music from Louisiana artists, regional cuisine, and demonstrations of Louisiana’s culture to enhance the visitor experiences for all participants including drivers, team owners, team supporters, corporate sponsors, family and guests, media, and other attendees; and
- The public purpose of the Event is to provide supplemental funding to the Nola Motorsports Host Committee, Inc. to host the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana which will support the expansion and promotion of tourism by producing an event that is projected to stimulate substantial growth in the Louisiana tourism industry, resulting in job creation and other increased economic activity, including the generation of tax revenue for state and local governments. Nola Motorsports Host Committee has secured a preliminary economic impact analysis from Formula, LLC which indicates an estimated economic impact of $27.8 million annually from the Event. INDYCAR has guaranteed a 3-year lifecycle of the Event with the goal of the Event being an annual occurrence. The goal is to attract visitors to Louisiana and to maintain awareness and a positive image of Louisiana as a unique and desirable travel destination. It is anticipated that the public benefit is proportionate to the obligations undertaken by the State. The State will receive tourism publicity and recognition for its support through verbal acknowledgements, media events, and in other related publicity associated with promoting and publicizing the Event.
But wait. Didn’t this same organization receive $4 million from the state just last year for track improvements after Jindal made a commitment to the track owners to come through with the money?
Well, yes and no.
This is where things get a bit murky.
You see, last year, when Jindal yanked a $4.5 million appropriation away from the developmentally disabled, it was to give the money to NOLA Motor Club (The NGO got $4 million, not the $4.5 it requested), a corporation that was established in September of 2009 and which remains in good standing.
This year, however, the $4.5 million request came from a corporation calling itself NOLA Motorsports Host Committee, established last June.
Both corporations listed their addresses at 11075 Nicolle Blvd. in Avondale, however, but had different officers, according to corporate records on file with the Secretary of State’s office.
But wait. There is a third entity: NOLA Motorsports established in May of 2008 and located at 2251 Drusilla Lane, Suite B in Baton Rouge. But that corporation is listed as inactive and records show its corporate status was revoked on Aug. 16, 2013.
One of the officers of NOLA Motor Club was Laney Chouest.
While Laney Chouest was listed as an officer for NOLA Motor Club, he is not listed among the officers for NOLA Motorsports Host Committee. It is nevertheless interesting to note that he, other members of the Chouest family and their many business enterprises have made $166,300 in campaign contributions since 2003. They include $43,800 to various legislators, $26,000 to the Louisiana Republican Party and $96,500 to Jindal.
What best illustrates the arrogance of that fiscally irresponsible appropriation, the thing that pushed it to the status of virtual malfeasance, is the fact that the Senate Finance Committee, taking its cue from Jindal, ripped $4.5 million from the budget for Louisiana’s developmentally disabled in order to free up the money for the racetrack. The lone dissenting vote was that of State Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge). https://louisianavoice.com/2014/05/26/senate-finance-committee-craters-to-jindal-rips-4-5-million-from-developmentally-disabled-for-racetrack/
But what compounds that unconscionable act was the motivation behind Jindal’s action.
The man who for his entire term of office has railed against government encroachment (see: federal stimulus funds, Common Core, medical care, prisons, etc.), obviously based his justification on political expedience and using state government to take care of his contributors.
Though Laney Chouest is not listed among the officers for NOLA Motorsports Host Committee, it is nevertheless interesting to note that he, other members of the Chouest family and their many business enterprises have made $166,300 in campaign contributions since 2003. They include $43,800 to various legislators, $26,000 to the Louisiana Republican Party and $96,500 to Jindal.
Two members of the Senate Finance Committee, Robert “Bret” Allain (R-Franklin) and Norbert “Norby” Chabert (R-Houma), received $2,500 each from Gary Chouest in 2010 and 2011.
Isn’t it interesting how a state so broke as to find itself unable to fund things like highway and bridge repair, health care, higher education, and a host of other essential services, can find $4 million for a race track, $7.7 million for golf courses across the state, $35.1 million for professional sports facilities, $10.1 million for local sports complexes, and another $3 million for baseball stadiums (including $1.4 million for a baseball stadium in Baton Rouge, when we don’t even have a team here)?
It will certainly be interesting to follow the outcome of some of these NGO requests.
Especially those last four on the list.
Louisiana Voice 
These NGOs neither know, care, or even believe the state is in a fiscal crisis. Unfortunately, they come to this belief for reasons made obvious by your report. Every year a huge crisis looms. Every year various gimmicks are employed to avoid catastrophe for another year and give the impression all is good. And every year good programs are strangled beyond the public’s view because they get virtually no publicity during implementation of the cuts so well hidden in the positive rhetoric. Wouldn’t these facts lead anybody looking to suck the state’s teat to believe there is plenty of milk there – maybe not for the developmentally disabled or our crumbling infrastructure, but certainly for INDYCAR and other private enterprises that simply need a hand up so they can trickle their yellow rain down to the rest of us.
I think we need to add a letter to the acronym NGO and make the same statement about these projects as Jindal said of certain zones existing in England. These projects are all NOGOs.
Really? 😯
And can someone from that area tell me why the North Desoto Water System is an NGO. It’s not a municipal water system?
Lord knows there are some worthy groups on that list like Second Harvest Food Bank but how can the state hand out money it doesn’t have?
You bring up a very good point, Fredster. Only in the last several years have these programs been referred to as “NGOs”. Before that they were called by a variety of names. Decades ago during Edwards’ first terms, a legislator recommended giving each poor person in Louisiana $10 (I’m not joking). Rather than do this, a senate concurrent resolution was adopted spreading the dollar value of $10/poor person to a set of programs that helped poor people. We started calling these programs “SCRs” (for senate concurrent resolution). Later they were called “enrichment programs”, then “urban programs”. The rural folks got upset about this so a set of rural programs were added to the mix. Ultimately, they came full circle to what they really started as – political patronage programs.
Stephen, we’d all have been better off with the $10 a head to each person.
Fredster, you are so on point. North Desoto is a hotbed of the fracking program. Without even looking, I’d bet dollars to donuts that the fracking of wells has sucked the Desoto municipal and parish wells dry. Surely the water systems were charging the fracking companies for the water they extracted from those public wells. So where is the money that the oil and gas well fracking companies paid to Desoto parish? As for me, I’d tell Desoto parish to go back to the fracking companies and demand that they restore the water table if by any means possible and raise the cost of water by say 50 fold. That should help slow the use of Desoto ground water.
Ah thanks for the info John. I would definitely have to tell Desoto parish to look elsewhere for their fix.
Remember though that the gas drilling companies were exempt from severance taxes for horizontal drilling projects for 5 years. By the time the exemptions expired, the price of natural gas had tanked, so the tax value was much less than before.
I live in DeSoto Parish, and use the N. DeSoto Water system. There are 2 water systems here: the N. DeSoto is a series of wells, and then the DeSoto Waterworks pulls from Toledo Bend. North DeSoto is set up as a user co-op. I’m at a loss to figure why we’re entitled to any state funding; your explanation is as good as any. And yes, the fracking companies have used astronomical amounts of water here. There’s almost as much money for landowners to be made selling water as selling leases.
I guess that the $1.1 million for WYES – Channel 12 explains why Errol Laborde & the rest of the Uninformed Sources are always so “charitable” towards Jindal, his machinations, & his ideological causes (like charter schools, privatization of everything, & belief in the “free” market & trickle-down economics, etc) in their weekly reporting on the state of Louisiana on the program.
Errol needs some of that gubmint handout money for his formal wear when he covers the meeting of the courts on Mardi Gras.
It’s a d@mned shame if he’s spouting that stuff since he’s a graduate of U.N.O. and I’m sure he knows how badly that school has been hurt under lil booby.
Yeah, I guess between Jindal’s contribution & the cash flowing from the charter supporting Rex organization, WYES won’t miss the $100 a year that I am no longer sending them. As a state employee, I can ill-afford philanthropy these days, & anyone who labels the privatization of public education as “school choice” is not getting a dime from me. Your report makes me feel better about my decision. Thanks, Tom.
When WYES comes begging with their rice bowl in hand, write them a nice note just as you did here. Perhaps they’ll seek some $$$s from the charters.
Lanny Chouest built and owns the NOLA Motorsports track. I’m not sure if you made that clear. Doesn’t matter if he’s on the board of any entity or not. He owns the place, is its chief cheerleader, and is intimately involved in making this Indy Race happen.
Thanks for clarifying that important point.
“The man who for his entire term of office has railed against government encroachment …”
One more shining example of the IOKIYAR principle.
HI,
The following line caught my eye: “last year, when Jindal yanked a $4.5 million appropriation away from the developmentally disabled, it was to give the money to NOLA Motor Club ”
The reason I find that interesting is that something strange was going on with the ADA seating at the IndyCar event at NOLA this past weekend.
I’ve been crowd &/or ticket counting auto racing events for years, and did so for this past weekend’s IndyCar event at NOLA – and when I first polled tickets sold last Tuesday, something immediately struck me as unusual: although Sunday (race day)’s tickets were selling poorly (just 34% of the 14,191 non-ADA grandstand seats had been sold at that time), the 436 ADA seats were already 99% sold! The same was true for Saturday ADA tickets as it was Sunday ADA tickets.
I saw video from Saturday and I saw video from Sunday. The front rows, which were ADA seating in every grandstand, were certainly not all being used. In some grandstands there was either nobody or very few people in the front row, while others did appear to be nicely filled.
I tried to come up with an explanation: first time race, maybe some Louisianans thought the 1st row would be a good view? (High rows are actually better). Tickets being held back for phone-in orders only? (No, that violates ADA Requirements). Did someone buy up nearly all the ADA seats and distribute them as their good deed/act of charity?
Now that I’ve seen this blog article and learned that NOLA got money that would have gone to the developmentally disabled, I’m wondering if I was actually on to something…..
I should add that ticket sales DID pick up over the last few days of the event. While respectable given the brutal weather, the Formula LLC economic impact #s were unrealistic whatever the weather.
I posted some #s that may be of interest to anyone against the spending of $4.5 million on an IndyCar event in the comments section here: http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/14/lopes-on-nola-if-the-weather-was-different-wed-be-having-a-different-conversation/#comments