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Archive for the ‘Campaign Contributions’ Category

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Governor's Office, Notable Quotables on October 15, 2013| 6 Comments »

“No member of a civil service commission and no officer or employee in the classified service shall participate or engage in political activity; be a candidate for nomination or election to public office except to seek election as the classified state employee serving on the State Civil Service Commission; or be a member of any national, state, or local committee of a political party or faction; make or solicit contributions for any political party, faction, or candidate.”

Article X, Part I, Paragraph 9 (A) of the Louisiana State Constitution.

“No person shall solicit contributions for political purposes from any classified employee or official or use or attempt to use his position in the state or city service to punish or coerce the political action of a classified employee.”

Article X, Part I, Paragraph 9 (B) of the Louisiana State Constitution.

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Civil Service rules prohibit campaign contributions by classied employees—unless you’re the governor’s mom

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Commissions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Toledo Bend, Water Sale, Water Reservoirs, Water Sales on October 15, 2013| 9 Comments »

For a man who has received more than $20 million in contributions to his various political campaigns, perhaps a half-million or so in questionable contributions shouldn’t raise too many eyebrows. After all, that’s less than 2.5 percent of the total.

Still, for the man who set himself up as the beacon of all that’s pure and pristine, the one who established the “gold standard” of governmental ethics, the one who loves to boast (only in out-of-state speaking engagements, of course) of “the most transparent” administration in the state’s history, anything less than clean campaign money should be unacceptable.

Alas, such is simply not the case.

Even his mother, a state civil service employee, got into the act in open violation of civil service regulations, but more about that later.

We have written at various times of many of the contributions which appear to be directly related to appointments to state boards and commissions. Donald “Boysie” Bollinger was appointed last March to the State Police Commission and Aubrey Temple of Deridder was appointed in July of 2008 to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Financing Corp.

Together, the two men and their businesses and family members have combined to give Jindal’s campaigns at least $95,000 and three of their business associates, Red McCombs ($15,000), Corbin Robertson ($5,000) and James Weaver ($1,000) formed a partnership to purchase water from the Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Louisiana-Texas border for re-sale in Texas. That attempt, at first supported by Jindal, failed when the Sabine River Authority reversed itself and killed the deal at least for the time being.

Temple, meanwhile, was paid $400,000 by the Coushatta Tribe back in 2001 for undisclosed services but he was never able to give an accounting for how the money was used. Also involved with the Coushatta Tribe was Alexandria attorney Jimmy Faircloth, who chipped in another $23,000 to various Jindal campaigns and has since reaped more than $1 million in legal fees for defending the state in various legal proceedings, most of which saw the state end up on the losing end of key court decisions.

Faircloth, while serving as legal counsel for the Coushattas, advised the tribe to sink $30 million in a formerly bankrupt Israeli technology firm call MainNet for whom his brother Brandon was subsequently employed as vice president for sales. The investment, to no one’s surprise except perhaps Faircloth, proved to be a financial bust for the tribe.

This is the same tribe, with Faircloth as legal counsel, that Paid disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff $32 million to help promote and protect their gambling interests but who provided little in return for his fee.

Another Abramoff associate, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, also contributed $5,000 to Jindal. DeLay was convicted of scheming to influence Texas state elections with corporate money but a federal appeals court overturned that conviction last month.

There was the $55,000 in laundered money the Jindal campaign received in 2007. Richard Blossman, Jr., president of Central Progressive Bank of Lacombe in St. Tammany Parish, issued $5,000 “bonuses” to each of 11 board members but instead of giving them the money, 11 contributions of $5,000 each were funneled into the Jindal campaign in the names of the board members—without their knowledge or permission. Regulators subsequently took over the bank and Blossman was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for bank fraud.

Jindal has refused to return the money.

The State Board of Ethics also said River Birch, Inc., of Jefferson Parish formed six “straw man entities” through which it laundered $40,000 in illegal donations to Jindal.

Again, Jindal kept the money.

The governor accepted $158,500 in contributions from Lee Mallett and a host of his companies in Iowa, LA., and Lacassine and in return, Jindal appointed Mallett to the LSU Board of Supervisors—even though Mallett attended McNeese State University only briefly and received no degree. Jindal also had the Department of Corrections issue a directive to state parole and probation officers to funnel offenders into Mallett’s halfway house in Lacassine.

Jindal appointed Carl Shetler of Lake Charles to the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors in July of 2008 after Shetler, his family and businesses contributed $42,000 to Jindal. Shetler’s biggest claim to fame came when he managed to get McNeese placed on athletic probation by the NCAA after it was learned that he paid money to McNeese basketball players. Now he helps preside over the very school that he placed in jeopardy. So much for that “gold standard” of governmental ethics.

Jindal also accepted $2,500 from Hospital Corp. of America (HCA) which paid a record settlement of $2 billion to settle the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history. The founder and CEO of HCA was Rick Scott, later elected governor of Florida, for whom Jindal campaign extensively.

Speaking of Florida and records, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein was disbarred and sentenced to prison for running the largest ($1.4 billion) Ponzi scheme in the state’s history but not before he, his wife, his law firm and three of his corporations contributed $30,000 at a 2008 Jindal fundraiser hosted by Rothstein.

Most news media found the $10,000 contributed by Rothstein and his law firm but missed his wife’s and the corporation contributions that totaled an additional $20,000. Jindal announced that he would refund the money to a victims’ fund but instead, gave the $30,000 to the Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Jindal also took $10,000 from Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) and later gave ACS employee Jan Cassidy, sister-in-law of Congressman Bill Cassidy, a state job with the Division of Administration. ACS, meanwhile, has come under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for certain accounting practices.

Then there was the $11,000 Jindal accepted from the medical trust fund of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (LHBPA), whose board president, Sean Alfortish, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for conspiring to rig the elections of the association and then helping himself to money controlled by the association.

The association also was accused of paying $347,000 from its medical and pension trust funds to three law firms without a contract or evidence of work performed. A state audit said LHBPA improperly raided more than $1 million from its medical trust account while funneling money into political lobbying and travel to the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Costa Rica and Los Cabos, Mexico.

The association, created by the Louisiana Legislature in 1993, is considered a non-profit public body and as such, is prohibited from contributing to political campaigns.

Saving the best for last

All these were sufficiently questionable to tarnish the “Mr. Clean” image Jindal has attempted to burnish throughout his administration but the most blatant display of arrogance and complete disdain for campaign laws has to be three individual contributions in 2003 that totaled a mere $5,000—from Jindal’s mother.

So what’s wrong with a relative contributing to his campaign? Several family members, after all, gave to the campaign as do family members of many other candidates.

Well, nothing…except that his mother, Raj Jindal, is a classified state employee, according to Civil Service records, an IT Director 3 with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, formerly the State Department of Labor. She earns $118,000 per year and has been working for the state for 38 years, certainly long enough to know the prohibition against state classified employees being active in political campaigns. State employees, after all, are routinely sent periodic reminders of civil service regulations governing political activity.

Records provided by the State Ethics Commission campaign finance reports indicate that Raj Jindal contributed $3,000 on April 23, 2003, to son Bobby. Nine days later, on May 2, she contributed another $500 and on June 17, she chipped in an additional $1,500, bringing her total contributions to the $5,000 maximum allowable by law—for non-civil service employees.

Article X, Part I, Paragraph 9 of the Louisiana State Constitution says:

“Section 9.(A) Party Membership; Elections. No member of a civil service commission and no officer or employee in the classified service shall participate or engage in political activity; be a candidate for nomination or election to public office except to seek election as the classified state employee serving on the State Civil Service Commission; or be a member of any national, state, or local committee of a political party or faction; make or solicit contributions for any political party, faction, or candidate (emphasis ours); or take active part in the management of the affairs of a political party, faction, candidate, or any political campaign, except to exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately, to serve as a commissioner or official watcher at the polls, and to cast his vote as he desires.

“(B) Contributions. No person shall solicit contributions for political purposes from any classified employee or official (emphasis ours) or use or attempt to use his position in the state or city service to punish or coerce the political action of a classified employee.”

One veteran political observer said that unless Jindal solicited the contribution, all liability lies with the governor’s mother for the rules violation.

But Jindal is a big boy, as evidenced by his advice earlier this year to his fellow Republicans to put on their “big boy pants.” He has to accept the responsibility for allowing his mother to flaunt state civil service rules not once, not twice, but three times. And yes, she also should be held accountable for her violation of rules that apply to every other state civil service employee.

Now the only question remaining is what will the Civil Service Commission do about the governor’s mother violating state campaign regulations governing political activity by Civil Service employees?

Our best advice is: don’t hold your breath waiting for disciplinary action.

The rules obviously do not apply to this governor.

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2011 DOC memo asks probation officers to refer non-violent offenders to facility run by LSU Board member, Jindal donor

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Courts, Ethics, Governor's Office, Judges, LSU, Prison on October 11, 2013| 20 Comments »

The Jindal administration two years ago attempted to influence parole officers and district judges throughout the state to refer violators to a private facility operated by a major Republican campaign contributor whom Gov. Bobby Jindal subsequently appointed to the LSU Board of Supervisors.

LouisianaVoice obtained a four-page memorandum through a public records request of the Louisiana Department of Corrections (DOC) which indicates that state probation and parole officers were directed to funnel offenders into the Academy of Training Skills (ATS) in Lacassine.

ATS, owned and operated by Chester Lee Mallett of Iowa, LA. in Calcasieu Parish, is a 200-bed transitional work program ostensibly set up to provide employment and training in various industrial trades in order to return offenders to the work force. http://www.aattss.com/

On July 13, 2012, Jindal appointed Mallett to the LSU Board of Supervisors. He was previously appointed by Jindal to the State Licensing Board for Contractors in June of 2010. Mallett and companies controlled by him have contributed more than $30,000 to Jindal personally, $242,000 to the Louisiana Republican Party and $75,000 to the Republican Governors Association, of which Jindal is currently president.

The memorandum, from Barry Matheny, Assistant Director of Probation and Parole, to his boss, Probation and Parole Director Gerald Starks, was dated Oct. 3, 2011, and noted that DOC had amended its policy to include probation violators as eligible for the program. Forwarded to parole and probation officers throughout the state, it directed them to “get with your respective judges at your earliest convenience to make them aware of this alternative program.”

Matheny further said, “I would ask that you look at all technical violators…and see if (you) can get some offenders into this program.”

What followed was an outline of the ATS program which essentially was an endorsement of Mallett’s facility which does not accept state or federal funding but rather charges a housing fee to the residents, many of whom are said to work for Mallett’s construction companies.

ATS’s website says that salaries residents receive from job placements by ATS are kept in special accounts in residents’ names. Several former residents, however, have told LouisianaVoice that upon their release from the program, they actually owe ATS money. They said ATS “forgives” any outstanding rent balances owed. But when those who work for Mallett’s companies have to use their salaries to pay Mallett for lodging at ATS, Mallett is basically getting free labor in exchange for the lodging.

Moreover, the ATS website, which apparently has not been updated for some time, says it is certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections and the American Correctional Association (ACA).

The value of the ACA accreditation, however, is somewhat suspect in that the association has come under criticism that it routinely accredited facilities which experienced charges of abuse or poor conditions, according to a 2001 Boston Globe report. http://www.prisonpolicy.org/aca.html

One of ACA’s past presidents, Richard Stalder, while serving as Louisiana State Corrections Secretary in 1993, canceled spending on psychiatric counseling for troubled teens so that he could give out $2.7 million in raises to his staff.

By 1995, ACA had accredited all 12 prisons in Louisiana, passing the last two with 100 percent scores, all while the head of Louisiana’s prison system was serving as ACA’s national president—an arrangement some might consider a conflict of interests. That same year, however, more than 125 prisoners sued Stalder for mistreatment within the prisons and a month after it accredited the state prison at Angola, it was reported that about $32 million in repairs were needed for it to meet safety requirements. Prisoners with fractures were splinted and then not seen for months.

Stalder rejected all the claims, saying that he and his staff deserved “a pat on the back” but in June of 1995, Federal Judge Frank Polozola criticized Stalder for the way in which he ran the state prison system.

In 1998, the new Jena Juvenile Center came under fire for widespread problems, including a near-riot, poor teaching and security and physical abuse and in 1999 the juvenile facility in Tallulah was taken under state control after five years of repeated problems with private ownership despite its having received accreditation and a positive report only six months earlier from ACA and Stalder.

http://www.prisonsucks.com/ACA/ACAofficers.html

In 2010, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) trumpeted the re-accreditation of five of its private prisons by ACA. But what CCA did not reveal was that it had paid ACA more than $22,000 for those five accreditations, that CCA employees serve as ACA auditors, that CCA is a major sponsor of ACA events or worse, and that accredited CCA facilities had experienced major security problems. http://www.privateci.org/private_pics/PCIACApr.htm

(CCA, it should be noted, is one of several private prison companies that have made major contributions to the campaigns of Gov. Jindal.)

Despite the memorandum from DOC, most judges and district attorneys have shied away from ACS. One judge said he threw the letter in the trash can “as soon as I received it,” and a district attorney told LouisianaVoice he wanted nothing to do with the facility.

Both Mallett and his son are major players in politics, having contributed $670,000 to assorted state and national candidates—mostly Republicans—and Jindal’s Believe in Louisiana “527” tax exempt political organization which is little more than a political slush fund used to push Jindal’s agenda such as his failed state income tax repeal last legislative session.

Lee Mallett contributed the yearly maximum of $30,800 to the Republican National Committee on three separate occasions between the summer of 2011 and the spring of 2012 and son Brad Mallett also contributed another $30,800, records show.

Following is a partial list of contributions by Lee Mallett and nine of his corporate entities:

Academy of Training Schools

• Billy Nungesser (lieutenant governor bid), $5,000, July and August of 2011;

• State Sen. John Alario Jr., $1,000, September of 2011;

• Republican Party of La., $12,000, September and November of 2011;

• Jane Smith (who lost her State Senate race but was subsequently appointed Assistant Secretary of Revenue by Jindal), $1,000, October of 2011;

Air Vac Inc.

• Bobby Jindal, $5,000, September of 2010;

• State Sen. Dan Morrish, $1,000, November 2010;

• Chuck Kleckley (La. House Dist. 36), $2,500, Feb. 8, 2011;

• State Sen. Jonathan Perry, $2,500, February 2011;

• State Sen. Ronnie Johns, $2,500, May 2011;

• Billy Nungesser, $2,500, August 2011;

• Republican Party of La., $27,000, September and November 2011;

Best Buy Industries

• Billy Nungesser, $2,500, August of 2011;

• Republican Party of La., $27,000, September and November 2011;

Caddy Shack Enterprises

• Bobby Jindal, $5,000, May 2007;

• Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain, $2,500, August 2007;

• Republican Party of La., $15,000, May and September 2008;

Mallett Inc.

• Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, $2,500, November 2007;

Mallett Buildings

• Republican Party of La., $25,000, April 2011;

Nature’s Best Inc.

• Dan Morrish, $500, November 2010;

• Bobby Jindal, $1,500, March 2011;

• Republican Party of La., $12,000, September and November 2011;

Progressive Buildings

• Dan Morrish, $1,000, November 2010;

• Bobby Jindal, $3,500, March 2011;

• Bobby Jindal, $1,500, April 18, 2011;

• Sen. Ronnie Johns, $2,500, May 2011;

Progressive Merchants

• Republican Party of La., $107,000, May, October, February, 2007, December, 2009, September and November 2011, and April 2012;

• Mike Strain, $2,500, August 2007;

• Bobby Jindal, $5,000, December 2009;

• Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, $25,000, June 2011;

• Billy Nungesser, $2,500, August 2011;

Lee Mallett

• State Treasurer John Kennedy $2,500, February 2007;

• Republican Party of Louisiana, $1,000, April 2007;

• Dan Morrish, $2,500, November 2010;

• S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, $3,500, April 2012;

Federal contributions

• Republican Party of Louisiana, $16,000, April 2007, June 2008, September and December 2010, and June 2011;

• Cong. Charles Boustany, $7,200, September 2007 and October 2011;

• U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, $4,600, September 2007;

• State Treasurer John Kennedy (U.S. Senate bid), $2,300, December 2007;

• Donald Cazayoux (La. 6th Congressional Dist.), $16,100, February and April 2008;

• Kennedy Majority Committee, $28,500, April 2008;

• National Republican Senatorial Committee, $28,500, April 2008;

• U.S. Sen. David Vitter, $1,200, June 2008;

• Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachman, $2,500, July 2011;

• Republican National Committee, $61,600, August 2011and March 2011;

• Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, $2,500, October 2011;

• Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, $2,000, November 2011;

• Republican National Committee Recount Fund, $30,800, December 2011;

• Cong. Bill Cassidy, $2,500, April 2012;

• Romney Victory Inc., $14,200, June 2012;

527 contributions

Lee Mallett

• American Solutions Winning the Future, $1,100, January and December 2009;

• Republican Governors Association, $50,000, October 2010 and February 2012;

Mallett Inc.

• Republican Governors Association, $25,000, June 2009;

Air Vac Inc.

• Believe in Louisiana, $1,000, March 2012;

Academy of Training Schools

• Believe in Louisiana, $6,000, March 2012;

Nature’s Best Inc.

• Believe in Louisiana, $1,000, March 2012;

Progressive Merchants

• Believe in Louisiana, $1,000, March 2012;

Progressive Buildings

• Believe in Louisiana, $1,000, March 2012;

Brad Mallett

• David Vitter, $3,100, June 2008;

• Republican National Committee, $30,800, August 2011.

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One NGO recipient run by senator’s husband; another holds millions in state contracts, to run LSUMC on blank contract

Posted in Budget, Campaign Contributions, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, Grant, Grants, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Public Records, Transparency on August 2, 2013| 11 Comments »

BATON ROUGE (CNS)—Before we leave the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) funding controversy (for now; we can always return to it when events warrant), we thought we’d review a few of the more interesting NGO funding requests that came before the Louisiana Legislature this year.

We interrupt this story for a tip of the hat to our friend C.B. Forgotston who provided us with some background information on one of the 36 organizations that State Treasurer John Kennedy said earlier this week were a tad negligent in providing an accounting of how their NGO funding from the state was spent.

Forgotston pointed out that one of those, The Colomb Foundation in Lafayette, is being asked to account for $300,000 of $361,000 in funding it received.

All non-profits are required by law to file Non-Profits 990 Reports with the IRS each year. These reports are public record but search of Non-Profits 990 Reports by Forgotston produced no results under the name The Colomb Foundation, Inc.

Oops.

The foundation’s registered agent is Sterling Colomb, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office.

Sterling Colomb is married to Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb.

Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb is a state senator from Baton Rouge.

Oops again.

Connect the dots and follow the money, folks.

Thanks, C.B.

We return you now to our regular story.

Altogether, about 100 applications were received from the same NGOs which submit their paperwork each year in hopes of receiving funding from the state.

In the past, it’s been pretty much a routine procedure to ask for—and receive—funds from the state. It is, after all, a scheme strikingly similar to vote buying, only more respectable, we suppose. Who could vote against a legislator who brought home funding for the local Council on Aging or for a community activity center or a kids’ baseball park?

That was then when the state had money. There was little to no oversight provided on the disposition of these funds. Give ‘em the money and remind them who to vote for next election.

But this is now when funding is hard to come by and when the governor is pulling money from higher education, health care and developmentally disabled programs and using one-time money to plug budget holes.

Still the applications came in from those councils on aging, local civic clubs, arts museums, the YMCAs and substance abuse centers.

Even the Treme Community Education Program, Inc. which was on that list of 36 organizations that State Treasurer John Kennedy is asking to provide an accounting for the use of past funding—or pay the state back—submitted a request.

In the case of Treme Community Education Program, it is being asked to account for the expenditure of $425,000 but that didn’t prevent the organization from submitting a request this year for $475,000 “to provide transportation for senior citizens to all offsite field trips; wholesome nutritious means, and organized physical, academic and social activities specifically for their age group.”

Small potatoes. Check out some of the other requests, some of which were approved in House Bill 1, the state’s general appropriations bill signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal as Act 13. First, those that received funding:

  • $1 million for the 2013 NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Tournament Host Committee;
  • $544,020 for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation;
  • $280,577 for the New Orleans Bowl;
  • $151,140 for Healing Hearts for Community Development in Metairie;
  • $400,000 for the Avondale Booster Club.

Here are some of the other requests:

  • New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation (Jazz Fest): $2,470,586;
  • State Fair of Louisiana (Shreveport): $12,664,960;
  • 2014 NBA All-Star Host Committee; $3,250,000;
  • Teach for America: $5 million (at least $1 million of that request was approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education). TFA, in addition to the money received from the state outright, also receives $3,000 per teacher placed from local school districts that hire TFA teachers. The local school districts must also pay the salaries of the TFA teachers.
  • Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana: $6.53 million (approved for $4.8 million in Priority 2, or second year funding).

This is the same Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana that was recently awarded a blank contract by the LSU Board of Stuporvisors to assume administrative and operational control of the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe.

This is the same Biomedical Research Foundation whose President and CEO, Dr. John F. George, Jr., is a member of the LSU Board of Stuporvisors—the same public agency that somehow skirted all existing conflict of interest laws to award that blank contract to an organization run by one of its board members.

That’s the same John F. George, Jr., M.D., who made two campaign contributions of $5,000 each to Jindal.

That’s the same Biomedical Research Foundation whose board members, including John F. George, Jr., M.D., combined to contribute $31,000 to various Jindal campaigns. Besides George, those board members and the amounts contributed include:

  • Roy L. Griggs of Griggs Enterprise: $5,000;
  • Thomas Pressly, III, M.D.: $3,500;
  • John F. Sharp, past President/CEO: $2,500;
  • Craig Spohn of the Cyber Innovation Center: $10,000.

Oh, and this is the same Biomedical Research Center of Northwest Louisiana that currently has five active contracts with the state, excluding that blank contract with LSU, totaling $26.2 million. These include:

  • $14 million “for capital improvements for the wet-lab business incubators.”
  • $995,966 “to facilitate economic development by developing infrastructure need to provide technology transfer assistance to the university systems of Louisiana and to help commercialize technologies through the operations of a wet lab facility.”
  • $8.75 million for research equipment.
  • $1.9 million for “scanner acquisition for the positron emission tomography imaging center.”
  • $563,700 the “provide PET and PET/CT scans for patients who are financially and medically indigent.”

Going back a few years, the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, which will henceforth operate the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and the E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe with a blank contract, also had eight contracts (now expired) totaling another $14.1 million.

So it only makes sense that the foundation would be seeking an additional $6.53 million in NGO funding for “acquisitions.”

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Jindal negotiates to leave $350M in judgment funds on table in exchange for $50M in quick money to fill in budget holes

Posted in Attorney General, Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Public Records, Transparency on July 25, 2013| 31 Comments »

Gov. Bobby Jindal has inserted income from the privatization of public agencies that weren’t yet privatized in order to make the numbers in his Executive Budget more palatable to legislators.

He has included revenue from the sale of state buildings that were not yet sold—indeed, some of which came back with appraisals far below his projected sale price—in order to make that budget more realistic.

To be sure, he caught considerable flak from those fiscal hawks in the legislature for his repeated use of one-time money for recurring expenses—something by the way, he was openly critical of and which he vowed never to do during his 2007 gubernatorial campaign.

Now LouisianaVoice has learned that Jindal has apparently attempted to execute an end run around state contract attorneys and the attorney general’s office in an attempt to negotiate a settlement of an outstanding judgment in favor of the state against a major pharmaceutical company.

It should be noted here that any negotiations between parties in any litigation without involving attorneys would be considered a breach in legal ethics.

The object of Jindal’s efforts is to generate a quick up front settlement of $50 million in order that he might plug holes in the upcoming annual ritual of mid-year adjustments to the state budget, one observer said.

Fifty million? Pretty good windfall for the state, wouldn’t you say?

Not necessarily—not when you consider that the amount of the original judgment was $257 million.

That’s correct. Two hundred fifty million dollars. Plus $3 million in costs, plus another $70 million in attorney fees.

Attorney fees? Didn’t we say the attorney general’s office was involved in the litigation?

Well, yes, then-Attorney General Charles Foti initiated the lawsuit way back in 2004 in 27th Judicial District Court in St. Landry Parish but heavy hitters were needed in this matter so several outside firms were contracted to steer the litigation through the courts. Those included the firms of Kenneth DeJean of Lafayette, Robert Salim of Natchitoches and Bailey, Perrin & Bailey and Fibich, Hampton, both of Houston.

On the other side of the ball were lawyers from the firms of Irwin, Fritchie, Urquhart & Moore of New Orleans, Guglielmo, Lopez & Tuttle of Opelousas, Drinker, Biddle & Reath of Florham Park, N.J., and O’Melveny & Myers of Washington, D.C.

After six years of legal back and forth sparring, discovery, depositions and various other means of keeping attorneys’ meters running the matter finally went to trial Sept 28-30 and Oct. 12 and 14, 2010. When the dust had settled, the jury made a determination that the “aggressive marketing campaigns” of Janssen Pharmaceutical, a Johnson & Johnson company, had violated the Louisiana Medical Assistance Programs Integrity Law (MAPIL) no fewer than a whopping 35,542 times with each violation subject to a civil penalty of $7,250, bringing the total damages to $257,679,500.

(Don’t ask us what “aggressive marketing campaigns” were employed by Janssen or how they violated the state’s MAPIL; we’re not privy to that information. All we know is what we read in the Third Circuit Court of Appeal’s affirmation.)

Janssen, of course, appealed the award as anyone might expect, but the Third Circuit upheld the lower court judgment and Janssen has applied for writs to the Louisiana Supreme Court where the matter is now pending.

Nine years of judicial interest (6 percent per year in simple interest) brings the current total judgment to just a shade under $400 million.

So now we have Jindal who, in typical fashion, is attempting to patch anticipated budget holes with $50 million in one-time money—all the while throwing the state under the bus to the tune of nearly $350 million.

Several legal experts knowledgeable about the case say the State Supreme Court could conceivably reduce the attorney fees but that there is little chance that the $257 million award ($400 million with interest, remember) will be overturned—a fact that would make Jindal’s tactics even more underhanded.

And were it not for Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell, Jindal’s efforts may have succeeded, according to sources who told LouisianaVoice that Caldwell stepped in and shut down the negotiations.

Neither Caldwell nor this top assistant, Trey Phillips, returned telephone calls seeking comments on the matter.

Attempts were likewise made to contact several of the plaintiff attorneys who argued the case on the state’s behalf but all such attempts failed.

Any such settlement would necessarily negatively impact attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, it would be reasonable to expect a maelstrom of protests from the attorneys under contract to the state if they were aware of Jindal’s efforts.

LouisianaVoice also emailed Gov. Jindal’s office for a comment but received no response.

One person who did comment was Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Elm Grove in Bossier Parish.

“I was not aware of this,” he said, “but I certainly am not surprised. This is typical of this governor. He has complete and total contempt for the people of this state. It’s all about what he can do for little Bobby. He’s trying to settle this for about 13 cents on the dollar just so he can patch his budget deficit, the state be damned.”

Neither Johnson & Johnson nor Janssen has made any campaign contributions to Jindal since 2003 but six pharmaceutical companies contributed $34,500 to his campaigns in 2007 and 2008. One of those, Pfizer, Inc., of New York City, gave $15,000 in three separate contributions of $5,000 each while Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in Washington, D.C., made two contributions of $5,000 each in 2007 and 2008.

State campaign finance records also show that pharmaceutical companies contributed more than $400,000 to candidates for state offices, mostly legislators, since 2003. Those contributions were for both Republican and Democratic candidates. Again, it was Pfizer ($170,000) and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers ($150,000) that reported the bulk of those contributions.

Other contributors included Takeda Pharmaceuticals of Deerfield, IL, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals of East Hanover, N.J.

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