Louisiana Voice

There are rarities and there are rarities and it’s rare indeed that I agree with any of the positions espoused by one Michael Lunsford, the top dog at an outfit called Citizens for a New Louisiana.

I believe, for instance, that his multi-front campaign to impose his version of morality on public libraries across the state is at best a misguided attempt to protect children and at worst, an evil introduction to across-the-board censorship that only begins with book-banning with an end-game aimed at sending society reeling back to the days of Jim Crow and an erosion of human rights in general.

But as averse as I am to just about everything Citizens for a New Louisiana stands for (or against), I have to lend my unqualified endorsement of Lunsford’s most recent exposé: the waste of public funds lavished on certain non-government organizations (NGOs), particularly the $11.2 million doled out earlier this year by the Louisiana Legislature to an NGO named New Orleans. and Company, previously known as the New Orleans Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

In the spirit of infrequent partisanship, I find myself agreeing with The Hayride’s post by Lunsford that was originally PUBLISHED by Citizens for a New Louisiana.

Forget for the moment Hayride writer M. Fulton Robicheaux’s story on State Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan’s candidacy for Public Service Commission in which he erroneously said that Coussan was seeking promotion from “one of thirty-five state senators to one of five public service commissioners” (there are 39 state senators).

Lunsford noted that with this year’s $11.2 million allocation, the legislature has shelled out $87.3 million for New Orleans and Company since 202 even though the organization currently has more than $100 million in assets.

Even more astonishing, Lunsford says, are the salaries of the principals of New Orleans and Company. As of 2022, the most recently available figures, its president and CEO, J. Stephen Perry, received an eye-popping $711,753 in salary, bonuses and retirement benefits. By comparison, the U.S. President receives $450,000 in salary and expenses. The Louisiana governor is paid a base salary of $130,000.

Former Speaker pro tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives Walt Legier, III, succeeded Perry as CEO. In 2022, he was executive vice president and general counsel and his salary that year was $371,237, including benefits and bonuses.

Lunsford wrote that odd rules in reporting compensation, “an organization can shuffle money around in such a way as to make it appear that no public dollars were used for executive compensation,” allowing Stephens to list his compensation as zero in documents filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office.

He also wrote that staff salaries increased at an annual rate of 24 percent, from $8.9 million in 2021 to almost $11 million in 2022, which coincidentally just happens to match the state’s contribution.

There’s no doubt that New Orleans and Company does a commendable job for tourism in New Orleans as evidenced by the successful luring of next year’s Super Bowl and the upcoming Taylor Swift concert.

But with 1,100 MEMBER COMPANIES, one would think the organization would be a bit more self-sustaining and less dependent upon state funding.

On that point, I have to wholeheartedly agree with Lunsford – especially with the state ANTICIPATING a $65 million short during the current fiscal year with projected deficits of $559 million, $614 million and $733 million the following three subsequent fiscal years.