The time has come to stop blaming Bobby Jindal. (Yeah, I know, I probably won’t. The man simply spread too much carnage during his eight clueless years occupying one office in theory while running for another in runaway delusional fantasy.)
But now it’s a new day and the torch of ineptness has been passed to his enablers, holdover members of the Louisiana House and Senate.
Legislators convened in Baton Rouge Sunday in special session to address a $900 million budget deficit for the remainder of this fiscal year and to take steps to head off a $2 billion budgetary shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
They have one chance to get it right. One chance, and one only.
If their performance over the last eight years is any indication, they won’t. Here’s why:
| Louisiana elected officials who have signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge | ||
| Paul Hollis* | State Representative | Republican |
| John Alario | State Senate President | Republican |
| Jack Donahue | State Senate Finance chairman | Republican |
| Gerald Long | State Senator | Republican |
| Fred Mills | State Senator | Republican |
| Barrow Peacock | State Senator | Republican |
| John Smith | State Senator | Republican |
| Steve Carter | State Representative | Republican |
| Greg Cromer | State Representative | Republican |
| Cameron Henry | State Representative | Republican |
| Dorothy Hill | State Representative | Democrat |
| Valarie Hodges | State Representative | Republican |
| Sam Jones | State Representative | Democrat |
| Dee Richard | State Representative | No Party |
| Alan Seabaugh | State Representative | Republican |
| Scott Simon | State Representative | Republican |
| John Schroder | State Representative | Republican |
| Kirk Talbot | State Representative | Republican |
*Paul Hollis signed the federal Americans for Tax Reform pledge when he was running for U.S. Senate. He is not listed as one of the people who signed onto the state government pledge.
These are returning legislators who swore an oath to a man who does not live in Louisiana, who has never held office. Yet, he appears to command loyalty from a handful of legislators who feel it is more important to serve his interests over those of their constituents, the ones who elected them to office. (Rep. Dee Richard of Thibodaux told LouisianaVoice last year that when he signed the pledge, he had no idea who Norquist was and had never heard of him.)
The late C.B. Forgotston called it “the lowest of a lot of low points” in Louisiana’s sorry legislative history. He said legislators, who had “already abdicated their constitutional responsibility to Bobby Jindal” were pleading with a non-resident of Louisiana “for help doing their jobs.”
Eleven state representatives—we called them “The Elastic Eleven” at the time—turned their collective backs on their constituents in particular and on the state in general in order to suck up to Norquist and to advance their own political agenda. In short, they were afraid to take a bathroom break without Norquist’s permission.
Their letter to Grover Norquist sought his blessing before they voted to pass the Student Assessment for Valuable Education, or SAVE credit program, which created money out of thin air via a higher education tax credit to cover a nonexistent student fee. https://louisianavoice.com/2015/06/08/eleven-republican-members-of-house-ways-and-means-committee-go-groveling-to-grover-norquist-for-direction/
Now, thanks to that little shell game, Louisiana’s colleges and universities teeter on the brink of unmitigated disaster. It’s not as if we were never warned: https://louisianavoice.com/2015/06/05/save-guest-columnist-wonders-if-grover-norquist-holding-compromising-videos-of-louisiana-legislators-bobby-jindal/
So why should we expect a different outcome now?
For one thing, we no longer have a delusional governor hell bent on leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight for the White House. Now we have a grownup on the fourth floor and not a gaggle of adolescent Milton Friedman theorists who refuse to acknowledge the obvious.
LouisianaVoice offers a guest column by Dayne Sherman on the threat to higher education as well as this link to Stephen Sabludowsky’s Bayou Buzz political blog: http://www.bayoubuzz.com/bb/item/1061467-jon-bel-edwards-dogged-by-kill-lsu-save-the-tigers-mentality
Dayne Sherman resides in Ponchatoula. He is the author of two novels and he blogs at http://talkaboutthesouth.com/
Below is his guest column:
Don’t blame the messenger for TOPS crisis
Similar to Rip Van Winkle, Louisiana just awoke from a long sleep. Eight years to be exact. While Jindal wrecked the state, the citizens snoozed, except for a few political watchdogs here and there howling in the night to no avail.
The moment Louisiana resurrected was Thursday, Feb. 11 at 4 PM. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced TOPS payments to universities were being suspended. TOPS, college scholarships, is the most beloved socialist welfare program in Louisiana history.
Residents went from deep slumber to screaming in minutes. With college football also on the chopping block, we now know the dead can indeed rise from the grave.
It’s time to face the facts. Louisiana has an enormous structural deficit, approximately $1 billion this year, and $2 billion next fiscal year.
However, despite a Republican governor in Jindal and a Republican dominated House and Senate who created this fiscal crisis, some are incredibly, amazingly, and even ignorantly blaming the new governor—just a month in office—for these cuts.
It can’t be said enough, as everyone should realize, Jindal and the senators and representatives we elected are to blame for this fiasco. John Bel Edwards was one of those heralding voices who fought the foolishness, and he was elected to fix the mess.
Look, Edwards wants to protect TOPS and higher education. But Louisiana can’t cut its way to prosperity, nor can the state print money. The special legislative session ironically starts on Valentine’s Day, though love will not be in the air.
This budget crisis can be fixed with responsible tax increases and realistic cuts, which is all Edwards has suggested. It’s simple but will take intestinal fortitude.
The Republicans in the House, led by Taylor Barras (the figurehead Speaker) and Cameron Henry (the real Speaker), have done nothing but try to hamstring the Edwards administration in order to score political points. Sources say plans have been crafted to end the session as soon as it starts and go home with nothing accomplished as a way to cripple the new governor.
Therefore, I am calling for a new Speaker vote on the first day of the session. Remove Barras and send Henry to the kiddie table where he belongs. I don’t care which Republican takes the helm, as long as he or she is willing to work with Edwards and quit playing obstructionist games detrimental to Louisiana.
My advice for those who care about Louisiana is to go see their legislators. Look them straight in the eye and say the Washington-style politics is over. Fix the budget and protect TOPS or resign. Raise taxes, craft a responsible budget, and save the state. No more failures. No more excuses. Put Louisiana first.
Louisiana Voice 
Excellent columns, Tom and Dayne.
Great column , except that TOPS in its current incarnation must be changed. If the program is to continue, the academic requirements must be more stringent and there should be an income requirement. It also needs a mechanism to require payback from students who receive fund and eventually dropout of college.
Reblogged this on tmabaker.
[…] Source: LouisianaVoice, guest columnists unite in effort to hold Louisiana Legislature accountable during sp… […]
Obstructionist games???? You mean like Edwards’ steadfast resolve to keep statutory dedication protections in place and refuse for the matter to be on the table?
Edwards doesn’t have the guts to cut a dime from any of the special interest groups that get this protection, but he doesn’t mind holding us up at gunpoint and extorting $3 billion from us under threat of no LSU football if we don’t empty our wallets for his rampant wasteful spending.
67,000 views and nearly 3,000 shares in mere hours:
https://www.facebook.com/lagop/?pnref=story.
They may as well shut this session down right now because Republican legislators who vote for Edwards’ extortion WILL face recall petitions. They’re exploring it for Edwards himself: http://louisianaconservative.com/how-to-recall-gov-edwards/. No way in hell that can be pulled off, but VERY easy to recall Republicans in Republican districts.
Game on!!!!
I agree with you there are agencies that are currently protected which need to be cut. However, due to the fact the state has at least an $850 million shortfall that needs to be dealt with before June 30th, other sources of cuts/tax increases will have to be utilized. Every year legislators state those protections need to be removed, but somehow the legislation never sees the light of day. If the governor doesn’t STRONGLY push for this legislation during the regular session, I will be on board with you !to recall him! In addition, the budgets of these “protected” agencies should be reviewed this summer before the public votes in the fall. That will allow these agencies to better prepare for the massive mid year budget cuts they will have to deal with.
Really? I was far more concerned about the life and death struggle of kidney patients losing dialysis. Think I should review my priorities? Laf!
Absolutely not! Services to dialysis patients, the developmentally disadvantaged and all the other crucial services are just as–or more vital–than higher ed. I do not for a moment believe that Gov. Edwards is going to turn his back on these people. He is doing the best he can under unbelievably horrific conditions. It’s up to the legislature to determine if it will be done.
Tom,
I do hope you realize I was taking a poke at Chris. 🙂 Guess I should have quoted him first.
Sam Jones signed the pledge? Really?
I wonder how much different things might be now had the Stelly Plan not virtually gone away in Jindal’s first term. I think this crisis is so dire that some impact would have been felt regardless, but perhaps not as critical a situation as we now find ourselves. What a disappointment to hear the same rhetoric from Kennedy about expanding the span of control of supervisors without regard to organizational efficiency – a move that hurts the smallest agencies who are already under funded and under staffed. And what a disappointment to hear from PAR that life would certainly be better if we could just get control of employee health care costs and state employee retirement. Did everybody just pull their talking points from 4 or 5 years ago out of the file?
Amen!!
If the Stelly Plan had been left in place, I’m afraid we would still be in the same position. Annual corporate giveaways would most likely have increased by the amount of money generated by Stelly. In a way, it is fitting that many of those same legislators who have repeatedly trashed Vic Stelly since his legislation passed, now have to craft and pass one of their own. Let’s hope and pray they have the courage and wisdom to pass one that is as fair as the Stelly Plan!
Great piece and column by Dayne – We all need to heed his call to action. I have spoken with my state representative about this very thing. Fortunately, he is a responsive and responsible person – Kenny Havard – who is ascending in influence in the house and I trust him to do the right thing.
Write and/or talk to your legislators, people. If the number of people with fire in their bellies for Trump and Sanders are any indication, more and more people are ready to demand and support change in the way we are governed at all levels. Of course, it goes without saying, those fired up about Trump aren’t thinking beyond his rhetoric and I guess they would say the same about Sanders’ supporters, but at least they care.
Don’t we care?
Professor Sherman calls “TOPS, college scholarships…the most beloved socialist welfare program in Louisiana history.”
HUH?
A merit-based partial payment of the costs of going to Louisiana universities that has to be earned to receive, and also to continue for four years, is a “social welfare” program?
Wow! I don’t know about you, but I need some explanation and enlightening before I can figure that out.
Seems, in Louisiana, that we just can’t stand successful programs (in this case, wildly successful). They just cost too much. We have to demonize them and try to destroy them. The unsuccessful ones don’t cost much, and we have little trouble with them and sustaining them.
I suspect the ones that survive this current crisis with be the least successful (cheapest) ones.
And, I suspect the only real “structural changes” we see will be tax and revenue increases. Have any of you seen any others seriously offered yet?
If the government funds a program, it is Economic Socialism, If it is privately funded, then it’s Capitalism. TOPS is Publicly Funded and thus by definition an Economic Socialist program/benefit.
I agree with Mr. Winham and totally trust Rep Havard, and our Governor Edwards. Recalls are useless, term limits are unconstitutional, in my opinion , and the TOPS program needs to address income of the parents. I don’t give a dam to send a rich kid to LSU, driving a BMW, on our tax money. This is dumb and just creates more entitled arrogant republicans. ron thompson
I was shocked to hear of the “late” C.B. Forgotston. I really admired him and looked forward to his e mails. Now I think back and I can’t remember the last time I got one from him. No one in his circle would have contacted me, I was just a fan as were many in this state. I share your posts and am just sad that I had to find out about the passing of such an admirable man. It was ironic because just as Hurricane Katrina relocated my husband and I out of Tangipahoa and up into the NW part of Louisiana, C.B. moved from his home on the other side of the lake and ended up in Tangipahoa. I will miss him greatly. I am glad I get your e mails or I would never have known what happened to him. Thank you for all you do!
Brenda Traylor
He passed away on Jan. 3.
Dayne is singing a great song. Here is another verse:
About 30 or 40 years ago, the oligarchs started influencing the conservative media. They developed a very effective propaganda machine that incorporated at least two key messages: Friedman economics and “don’t believe anything unless you hear it from me.”
Friedman economics rhetoric sounds like everyone will benefit from these policies. The truth is that the oligarchs benefit and everyone else suffers as Naomi Klein documented in The Shock Doctrine.
“Don’t believe anything unless you hear it from me” separates people from reality. Government statistics are no longer reliable unless they support your lies. This also allows the propaganda machine to generate “facts” that support their lies. This propaganda/brainwashing has been so successful that a significant percentage of the US population does not believe scientific facts.
Now Louisiana, and several other conservative run states have received a gigantic budgetary slap in the face. An undeniable $2 billion dollar deficit should be enough to convince law makers and citizens that they have been lied to and what we have been doing doesn’t work.
Jindal destroyed our state by implementing conservative/Friedman economic principles. He cut taxes on the wealthy and supported huge corporate welfare programs to the extent that business revenue is down more than 70%. In fact, John Bel said Thursday that we are paying out more in credits and refunds than we are collecting in business taxes.
I don’t know if it will be enough, but a simple, easy to understand and explain, partial solution to our deficit is to restore taxation on businesses and the wealthy to what it was eight years ago. They will complain loudly, but the leges and citizens who have been jolted out of their brainwashing will see that we do not want to tax them any more than what they were paying before and they are just whining and not wanting to pay their fair share. If possible, this should include immediate cancellation of most multi year tax exemptions.
To those of you who have not read The Shock Doctrine:
Please do so ASAP. It will give you a unique understanding of our entire economic philosophy and will go far in explaining how we got into this mess.
Thanks for that recommendation Tom. When some time back I’d mentioned neoliberal economics, which is the doctrine coming out of the Chicago school and drew zero responses, I knew I was in trouble.
Makes sense that our governor used LSU football as an example for state budget crisis!
It got the attention from many of those who didn’t bother to go to the polls and vote!
I can’t help but wonder what Vitter would have used to get LA. citizens attention!!
I just finished reading the lead article on the Dead Pelican, about state borrowing. I invite all to read, especially the last paragraph.
Yep, makes you wonder just how close the relationship was/is between Jindal, our legislators and the state’s capital suppliers. Do you know if Capital One is the major bond manager for La.? They were on Edwards transition team so I’m assuming they were. But a search on the net has brought me zero to zilch on La. State bonds.
Having said that, you and Stephen, who I presume have retired on a state pension, might want to have a look at what’s being stuffed into the pension funds. Corporate junk bonds have already taken a dive and it appears the higher rated corporates are beginning to fall into the same black hole. If the Fed increases rates even treasuries will have a capital loss.
This is what caused me to raise an eyebrow-
“Louisiana’s teacher and state employee pension systems registered investment gains approaching 20 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, nearing record growth levels.”
Aug. 28, 2014
La. pension systems post big gains
http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/sports/football/10117661-171/la-pension-systems-post-big
Of course, with big gains come….big risks.
“However, despite a Republican governor in Jindal and a Republican dominated House and Senate who created this fiscal crisis, some are incredibly, amazingly, and even ignorantly blaming the new governor—just a month in office—for these cuts.” Go figure.
All right! If these 15 representatives just stick to their pledge, that means these insane tax increase measures require 70 out of 90 votes in the House. That’s 78%. They need to cut the state work force by a third and then place the remaining 2/3 on 10 hour a week furlough. That should do the trick and John Q. Taxpayer will never know the difference. There’s bloat everywhere in state government.
Actually, it’s 70 votes out of 105, a 2/3rds vote. There are 105 House members. I guess Mr. Reynolds you do not stand in line at the office of motor vehicles, you are not worried about having enough corrections officers at the state-run prisons, there is no unsafe bridge that you drive across that needs to be inspected, you don’t hunt or fish so you are not worried about a shortage of wildlife and fisheries agents, you do not know anybody who lives in a foster home, a home that has to be periodically inspected, you are not concerned about overgrown grass on the medians and shoulders of our highways, you don’t visit state parks and museums, so no upkeep is needed, you have never lost a job, so you are not worried about getting that unemployment check on time, you are not a veteran(if you are, I apologize) and probably wonder why we have an office of veterans’ affairs, and you have never wondered why that state trooper pulled that truck over on the highway(not because he was speeding, but because the trucker may not have the proper permits, the proper equipment on his truck, or he may have been driving erratically). So cut all those areas by 1/3 and you have less enforcement and less delivery of services that the state is required to deliver. Why stop at 1/3? Just privatize everything..
Excellent points Clifford. One-third does seem, even at first glance, quite excessive. Yet there will be areas of bloat. Who hasn’t been struck with the notion of largesse when seeing state troopers driving around in luxury SUV’s?
We are still yet stuck with the reality of govt. size in the face of declining incomes giving the appearance of govt. growing beyond our means of paying for it. When one follows this out along lines of causation, invariably found is how currency is emitted in this country and off-shoring. We desperately need fiscal stimulus, but in the current political climate that option is off the table because of failed neo-liberal economic policies.
These issues must be addressed or we will find ourselves addressing revenue shortfalls over and over. This session of the legislature will not end our problems as much as we’d like to believe that.
I missed an opportunity to close to the logical conclusion.
Unless we have some mechanism to stabilize incomes, it becomes inevitable that govt. must shrink. Further pauperization of the public through increased taxes is pro-cyclical and will only further the problem by reducing demand. So in this, I’m in agreement w/ Chris’s protest. Increased taxation in the face of declining income is not the answer.
“Increased taxation in the face of declining income is not the answer.” With that, I do agree.
Thanks Clifford. It does appear to be a necessary interim solution, so I’m in agreement with you there. But we must lobby at the Federal level for fiscal stimulus if we are to see progress, plus place taxes where the discretionary money actually is….the higher incomes.
I’m well aware it is 70 out of 105! Did you not read my first sentence backing out the 15 on the presumption they will honor their pledge? Jesus!!! That mAkes it 70 out of 90!!!
As for losing a job, I’ve lost three, and it’s time this mentality of “Oh, I’m with the government. They can’t touch me,” comes to an end. As for W & F, JBE saw to it CM’s lottery ticket got stamped with that appointment!!
JBE is an unmitigated disaster, and I see the recall petition is gaining steam. Some guy wrote an article saying he voted for him but will now gladly sign the petition to recall: http://www.bayoubuzz.com/bb/item/1061469-first-jindal-now-edwards-stick-a-fork-in-louisiana-we-re-done.
Sorry and thanks for making that clear. However, it’s only 12 House members. Two are Democrats and I believe they will break their pledge. Richard is shaky at best. So I think your math is still off. I don’t like the idea of raising taxes, but I do not have a vote. State employees are not protected from layoffs. The Jindal administration submitted numerous layoff plans to civil service. Which, I believe, were all approved. So that mentality does not exist when it comes to layoffs. If the governor or the legislature approves/orders an across the board cut, no department is spared. No matter who the secretary may be.