When Buddy Roemer was running for governor back in 1987, he promised metaphorically to “board up the top three floors of the Louisiana Department of Education.”
With John White, aka Bea Curtis (I’ll explain that momentarily) running the department, that may be more literal today than that rhetorical pledge of more than 30 years ago as he seems to prefer employees who telecommute to those who actually show up for work.
Not only does White encourage telecommuting, which in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but he appears to carry the concept to the extreme—as in from coast to coast.
Back on May 31, I wrote about our old buddy LEFTY LEFKOWITH, who is paid $99,999.90 per year to work from his home in Los Angeles. He comes in a dime under the $100,000 threshold at which state employees are required to be residents of….well, the state.
In the interest of full disclosure, I did interpret one of his mileage reports incorrectly, reporting that he rented a car from Enterprise in Los Angeles. Technically, he did reserve the car from that city, but didn’t pick it up until he arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. I mistakenly said he drove the car from Los Angeles. He did not. He did, however, submit an expense voucher and was paid $50.49 by LDOE for mileage driven in a rental car.
And there’re always those primed and ready to catch such errors. Bea Curtis was quick to post a lengthy comment on that blog post, calling attention to “half-baked” information that I wrote. Of the more interesting remarks by Bea, there was this:
Slow news day? I think not: there’s been plenty happening in the legislature during these last three sessions to provide more than enough fodder for a sleepy little blog. Stories just waiting to be told about Representatives standing defensively on the House floor encouraging non-profits to break the law with illegal lobbying practices, and Senators who publicly announce that they no longer serve at the will of the people… Ya know, important things that people care about.
Sleepy little blog? I love that! Bea’s was an accurate enough statement except for a couple of important observations:
- First, Bea’s comments were so knowledgeable about Lefty they could only have come from someone deeply embedded within the Department of Education who knows procedures, grants, expense reports, and miles traveled by Lefty while carrying out his duties on those rare occasions that he bothers to visit Louisiana.
- Second, a check with the Louisiana Department of Civil Service revealed there is not now, nor has there ever been an employee named Bea Curtis in the Department of Education—or any other state agency.
Conclusion: Since it would have taken someone with intimate knowledge of Lefty’s duties and since there’s no such person in LDOE as Bea Curtis, Bea Curtis, in fact, has to be John White. But John couldn’t very well afford to go public with such caustic comments certain to antagonize legislators, could he? Thus, the pseudonym. (Oops. That’s gonna piss off some legislators.)
But all that aside, LouisianaVoice has recently learned that John White has broadened his telecommuting from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Lindsey Mingo is an Education Program Consultant 4 and does her work from Boston, of all places.
She started with the department just a year ago, on June 26, 2017, at $68,000 and at the end of his six-month probationary period, got a raise to $69,400.
Boston?
Boston.
Guess there’s no one in Louisiana qualified to do that job, either.
Finally, I would make this request of Bea Curtis:
If you respond again, please send a copy of your driver’s license (with your driver’s license number redacted, of course). It’s my way of carding certain people who comment so that I know you’re who you say you are.
Louisiana Voice 