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How much is enough, Governor? How much is enough? Does your insatiable greed for more money know no boundaries?

Posted in BESE, Campaign Contributions, Economy, Governor's Office on October 26, 2011| 5 Comments »

The question of the day has to be: How much is enough?

The election is over. Bobby Jindal won in a cakewalk—just as every pundit said he would. It was, after all, a no-brainer. He had somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 million to $10 million with which to literally overwhelm and obliterate a Don Quixote-type opponent who had all of $50,000.

There’s no way on earth Jindal could have spent all that money, even with the $2,500 in financial support he gave to each of 86 legislative candidates (54 of whom were unopposed) and the $5,000 to each of five candidates for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

We repeat. No freaking way.

If he did go through that money, can Louisiana really afford to have this guy keeping watch over the state’s financial interests?

But wait. An email sent out by unnamed supporters is announcing yet another fundraiser.

To quote Oliver Twist, Jindal is now saying, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Holy mother of all fundraisers. The man wants more.

The email says:

“A fundraiser for recently re-elected Governor Bobby Jindal will be held at the L’Auberge du Lac Resort on Wednesday, November 2 from 11:30 to 1:00 in the Embers Restaurant.”

(We can only assume that’s from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)

It goes on:

“Participants will meet with Governor Jindal to discuss economic and leadership plans to move the state forward. Promoting all aspects of economic development are key components of the Governor’s goals. Governor Jindal will address the LASIE (Louisiana Association of Self Insured Employers) Conference from 1:15 to 2:15.

To put things into perspective and to illustrate to whom the governor is cozying up, consider this: if a business can afford to be self-insured, it’s not your basic mom and pop corner grocery. These are major players–corporations like AT&T, Entergy, Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical, and the like. That’s not to say these corporations are participating, but companies of that caliber certainly are.

The email continues:

“See the attached draft invitation for details.”

There was no attachment to the email, but the rest of the email contained the real zinger:

“Please consider being a Gold ($5,000) or Silver ($2,500) sponsor. There is still time to add your company’s name. Call 225-338-0705 with questions.”

So, how much influence do you think your little $25, $50 or $100 contribution will have with the governor if your interests and the interests of one of these heavy hitters should happen to conflict?

Remember, this is the same governor who boasted only a few short months ago that the majority of his donors were from supporters giving $100 or less.

But that was then. This is now.

Note, too, that Jindal, with his political smarts, waited until after the election to hold a fundraiser of this magnitude in Louisiana.

It’s a safe bet, however, that all those out-of-state fundraisers over the last couple of years attracted the same kind of corporate money.

If you’re still not convinced, just be sure to check out the legislative bills introduced during Jindal’s second term and follow the money back to these same corporate donors.

Again, the question of the day: how much is enough?

Does your greed know no limits?

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Jindal raises the ante: his candidate contribution list

Posted in BESE, Campaign Contributions, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators on October 21, 2011| 3 Comments »

Gov. Bobby Jindal over the past year made multiple out-of-state fundraising trips to ensure that his own re-election campaign didn’t suffer the same financial dilemma as the state he was supposed to be running.

To that end, he has to be considered an unqualified success. He amassed some $10 million for his campaign that, barring an upset of monumental proportions, has attracted only token opposition.

Jindal must be given due credit. That he was able to attract so much money for his campaign at the same time the state was drowning in red ink is truly remarkable.

He couldn’t, after all, sell state prisons or the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) to finance his campaign but he could certain attract cash in large chunks from adoring benefactors in such remote reaches as Wisconsin, California, Florida, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio—places with such an obvious stake in the outcome of a Louisiana gubernatorial election.

But, hey, that’s ancient history, right? All that hard work paid off. He’s a lock for re-election. The loss of a few public school teacher jobs is just collateral damage. The fact that health care premiums are going to cost more for fewer benefits after the privatization of OGB—along with about 150 OGB employees who will lose their jobs—is just one of those unfortunate things. When those three prisons are ultimately sold and the state prison guards who work there are forced to take drastic pay cuts, the election will be long past and no one will even notice, right?

Right? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

But we digress. The point of all this banter is to illustrate how serious Jindal really is taking this election, his own cakewalk notwithstanding.

His campaign has shoveled money into 93 separate legislative races, 49 in which his candidate is unopposed.

That’s right: $2,500 each to 49 hand-picked candidates ($122,500 total) who didn’t even draw opposition.

Even more interestingly, he dumped $2,500 each into the campaigns of nine ($22,500 total) legislative candidates all on the same day—Sept. 19, a full 11 days after it was apparent they would have no opposition. The others got their blood money well in advance of the qualifying deadline of Sept. 8.

Most of those 49, of course, were incumbents but some were somewhat surprising at first but on reflection, probably made perfect sense to the governor.

But the most significant contributions from the Jindal campaign coffers went to candidates for five of the eight seats on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Those five candidates, including one currently holding a $16 million contract with the state, received $5,000 each—double what the individual legislative candidates received.

That should illustrate just how much importance Jindal places on those races. It is the current BESE membership, after all, that has blocked his attempts to appoint John White as State Superintendent of Education. White was brought in (from New York) to replace Paul Vallas of Chicago as Superintendent of the Recovery School District (RSD). Only a few weeks after White’s appointment to head RSD, Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek resigned (some say he was forced out) and Jindal immediately moved to place White in that position, only to be thwarted by BESE. Now he wants revenge and he wants his way.

Of the three races in which he did not place bets, one candidate, DeSoto Parish Superintendent of Schools Walter Lee, is unopposed in District 4 which includes the parishes of Caddo, Bossier, Webster, Bienville, DeSoto, Red River, Winn, Natchitoches, Sabine and Vernon. The remaining two apparently are considered as lost causes. They are District 2 (all or parts of the parishes of Assumption, St. James, St. John, St. Charles, Jefferson, and Orleans), and District 8 (all of the parishes of East and West Baton Rouge Parish, Avoyelles, East and West Feliciana, St. Landry, Pointe Coupee, Lafayette, St. Martin, Iberville, and Ascension), in which no incumbent is running but three of the candidates are Democrat and a fourth is No Party.

In District 1, comprised of St. Tammany and parts of Jefferson and Orleans parishes, Jindal has tossed $5,000 to incumbent Jim Garvey of Metairie who is opposed by fellow Republican Sharon Hewitt of Slidell.

In District 3, Jindal is supporting another incumbent, Glenny Lee C. Buquet of Houma. She is opposed by Lottie Polozola Beebe of Breaux Bridge. Both candidates are women but what makes Jindal’s endorsement unusual here is that his candidate, Buquet, is a Democrat while her opponent is Republican.

Keith Guice, a Monroe Democrat, is the incumbent in BESE District 5 and Jindal is going after that seat. He kicked in $5,000 for his Republican challenger, Jay Guillot of Ruston.

Guillot is a partner in the multi-disciplined engineering firm of Hunt, Guillot and Associates (HGA) that has contracts with the state totaling nearly $17 million. A single contract in the amount of $16 million calls for the firm to manage grants for infrastructure “and other projects undertaken as a result of damages incurred as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to a lesser extent as a result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike,” according to the contract description provided by the Division of Administration.

Guillot has said if elected, he will request an opinion from the State Ethics Board on the propriety of his serving on the board while contracting with the state. The question of why he would wait until after the election remains puzzling since that avenue has always been available without having to wait for the results of an election.

The most high-profile and perhaps most controversial BESE candidate is incumbent Chas Roemer, a Baton Rouge Republican in District 6. He is being opposed by fellow Republican Elizabeth Meyers of Denham Springs and Democrat Donald Songy of Prairieville and Jindal has cast his lot—and another $5,000—with Roemer.

What makes this particular race controversial is Roemer’s sister, Caroline Roemer Shirley. Ms. Shirley is executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and Chas Roemer has consistently voted on matters concerning charter schools and which directly benefit his sister’s organization. In some instances, Chas Roemer has even made or seconded motions on actions involving charter schools in which his sister has a vested interest.

The State Ethics Board has even issued a ruling that Ms. Shirley may not appear before BESE on matters involving charter schools because of her brother’s membership on the board. The ethics board also has ruled that she may not even communicate with BESE members on matters involving charter schools for that same reason.

This obvious ethics question apparently causes little or no concern to “the most ethical administration in America,” the administration that is “accountable and transparent.”

In BESE District 7, Jindal has taken aim on another incumbent, Republican Dale Bayard of Lake Charles. Instead, the governor is backing challenger Holly Boffy, a Youngsville Republican.

The nine unopposed legislative (eight House and one Senate) candidates to whom Jindal contributed $2,500 each more than a week after the close of qualifying included:

• Stuart Bishop of Lafayette (House District 43);
• Walt Leger, III of New Orleans (House District 91);
• J. Rogers Pope of Denham Springs (House District 71);
• Hunter Greene of Baton Rouge (House District 66);
• Eddie Lambert of Gonzales (House District 59);
• Jared Brossett of New Orleans (House District 97);
• Mickey Guillory of Eunice (House District 41);
• Helena Moreno of New Orleans (House District 93);
• Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge (Senate District 15).

All but Bishop are incumbents and five of the nine (Leger, Brossett, Guillory, Moreno and Broome) are Democrats.

Why would Jindal sink $12,500 into the campaigns of five unopposed Democrats?

Possibly….no, definitely to build a consensus for his political agenda. Call it quid pro quo. A Democrat indebted to a Republican governor when a key bill comes up for a vote. What could be sweeter?

Other unopposed legislative candidates to whom Jindal contributed $2,500 each but prior to the qualification deadline included Republicans:

• Gordy Dove of Houma (House District 52);
• Page Cortez of Lafayette (Senate District 23);
• Dan Morrish of Lake Charles (Senate District 25);
• Steve Carter of Baton Rouge (House District 68);
• Jody Amadee of Gonzales (Senate District 18);
• Tom Willmott of Kenner (House District 92);
• Tony Ligi of Metairie (House District 79);
• Frank Howard of Many (House District 24);
• John Alario of Westwego (Senate District 8);
• Charles Chaney of Rayville (House District 19));
• Patrick Connick of Marrero (House District 84);
• Norby Chabert of Chauvin (Senate District 20);
• Neil Riser of Columbia (Senate District 32);
• Craig Hensgens of Geydan (House District 47);
• Mike Walsworth of West Monroe (Senate District 33);
• Mike Huval of Breaux Bridge (House District 46);
• Joseph Harrison of Gray (House District 51);
• Eric Ponti of Baton Rouge (House District 69);
• Charles Kleckley of Lake Charles (House District 36);
• Kirk Talbot of River Ridge (House District 78);
• Joseph Lopinto of Metairie (House District 80);
• Clif Richardson of Baton Rouge (House District 65);
• Ronnie Johns of Sulphur (Senate District 27);
• Taylor Barras of New Iberia (House District 48);
• Johnny Guinn of Jennings (House District 37);
• Cameron Henry of New Orleans (House District 82);
• Henry Burns of Haughton (House District 9);
• Scott Simon of Abita Springs (House District 74);
• Fred Mills of St. Martinville (Senate District 22);
• Brett Geymann of Lake Charles (House District 35);
• Daniel Martiny of Metairie (Senate District 10);
• John Schroder of Covington (House District 77);
• Gerald Long of Winnfield (Senate District 31);
• Kevin Pearson of Slidell (House District 86);
• Conrad Appel of Metairie (Senate District 9).
Unopposed Democrats who received $2,500 from Jindal before qualifying:
• Francis Thompson of Delhi (Senate District 34);
• Girod Jackson of Harvey (House District 87);
• David Heitmeir of New Orleans (Senate District 7);
• Major Thibaut of New Roads (House District 18);
• Mike Danahay of Sulphur (House District 33);
• Jim Fannin of Jonesboro (House District 13).

Republican legislative candidates who received $2,500 contributions from Jindal and who have opposition include:

• A.G. Crowe of Pearl River (Senate District 1);
• Joel Robideaux of Lafayette (House District 45);
• Frank Hoffman of West Monroe (House District 15);
• Garrett Monti of Luling (Senate District 19);
• Kirby Roy of Hessemer (House District 28);
• Steve Pylant of Winnsboro (House District 20);
• Sherman Mack of Albany (House District 95);
• Thomas Carmody of Shreveport (House District 53);
• Barrett Byrd of Alexandria (House District 25);
• Billy Chandler of Dry Prong (House District 22);
• John Smith of Leesville (Senate District 30);
• Dan Claitor of Baton Rouge (Senate District 16);
• Simone Champagne of Jeanerette (House District 49);
• Tim Burns of Mandeville (House District 89);
• Jane Smith of Bossier City (Senate District 37);
• Franklin Foil of Baton Rouge (House District 70);
• Don Menard of Carencro (House District 39);
• Greg Cromer of Slidell (House District 90);
• Sam Little of Bastrop (House District 14);
• Bodi White of Watson (Senate District 6);
• Richard Burford of Stonewall (House District 7);
• Steve Pugh of Ponchatoula (House District 73);
• Joseph Harrison of Gray (House District 51);
• Jim Morris of Oil City (House District 1);
• Jack Donahue of Mandeville (Senate District 11);
• Julie Harrington of Krotz Springs (House District 38);
• Paul Miller of Ville Platte (Senate District 28);
• Bob Kostelka of Monroe (Senate District 35);
• Fenn French of New Orleans (House District 98);
• Nancy Landry of Lafayette (Senate District 26);
• Alan Seabaugh of Shreveport (House District 5);

Democratic legislative candidates who received $2,500 contributions from Jindal and who have opposition include:

• Elbert Guillory of Opelousas (Senate District 24);
• Karen St. Germain of Pierre Part (House District 60);
• Andy Anders of Vidalia (House District 21);
• Rick Gallot of Ruston (Senate District 29);
• Rick Ward of Port Allen (Senate District 17);

One thing each of those 93 legislative candidates and five BESE candidates–and every voter–might want to keep in the back of their minds as regards all those contributions:

Bobby Jindal considers those payments as nothing more than an investment–an investment in commodities and the recipients of those donations are the commodities on which he expects high–very high–returns.

So much for the myth of an independent legislature.

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Fundraiser Jindal also serves as benefactor to political allies

Posted in BESE, Campaign Contributions, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Transparency on October 19, 2011| 4 Comments »

It seems that Gov. Bobby Jindal is not only skilled at raising money for what appears to be a re-election cakewalk but he also appears to be quite generous in doling out some of that campaign cash to other candidates.

Over the past 12 months, Jindal has written checks totaling $285,000 to 102 candidates for the legislature, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), and to a sitting legislator who is running for parish tax assessor.

It is one thing for a governor to award supporters in the legislature with key committee assignments through a friendly House speaker and Senate president but quite another to spread cash around in an effort to secure support for his programs.

Some of those candidates are running for BESE and Jindal’s agenda for education is every bit as ambitious as any other area of government. Heading his to-do list for education is his appointment of John White as State Superintendent of Education to succeed the departed John Pastorek. BESE has thus far blocked those efforts.

Some might even say it is a not-so-subtle form of vote buying. It’s a bit more sophisticated than passing out five dollar bills to voters before hauling them to the polls, but still an obvious back-door effort to consolidate his power base.

So, what’s so terribly wrong with a sitting governor who is a virtual lock to be re-elected providing assistance to candidates politically aligned with him?

For one thing, some of those to whom he has contributed are not necessary his political allies. A few are (gasp) Democrats. Granted, some of those may be Democrats on whom he may be able to count in a pinch.

Perhaps that is why certain other Democratic legislators running for re-election are noticeably absent from Jindal’s list of recipients; he can’t count on their support.

But consider this:

Donor John Doe gives Jindal a donation for his gubernatorial campaign. Jindal then gives $2,500 to Candidate A who is running against Candidate B for either the legislature or for a coveted BESE seat. But it turns out that donor John Doe is a personal friend and avid supporter of Candidate B.

If donor John Doe is a major Jindal contributor of say, $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000, it could create what Johnny Carson used to call a sticky wicket–especially if donor John Doe also contributed to Candidate B and now feels that contribution has been negated, perhaps with his own money.

Jindal, of course, is free to spend campaign donations for any political purpose he deems worthy. In theory, at least, donations are supposed to be free of any strings or conditions. But we know how that works.

One of the more high-profile recipients is BESE member Chas Roemer, son of former Gov. Buddy Roemer and brother of Caroline Roemer Shirley, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

Jindal made identical $2,500 contributions to Chas Roemer about three weeks apart—on Aug. 15 and on September 6.

Chas Roemer consistently votes on matters involving charter schools that come before the board despite an apparent conflict of interest because of his sister’s position. The Louisiana Board of Ethics has, in fact, issued a ruling that Ms. Shirley is not allowed to appear before the board on matters involving charter schools because of her brother’s membership on the board. The ethics board also has ruled that she should not even communicate with BESE members on matters involving charter schools for that same reason.

Jindal also contributed $5,000 to the campaign of Jay Guillot of Ruston.

Guillot, who is seeking a BESE seat, is a partner in the multi-disciplined engineering firm of Hunt, Guillot and Associates (HGA) that has contracts with the state totaling almost $17 million.

The largest of those, for $16 million, calls for the firm to manage grants for infrastructure “and other projects undertaken as a result of damages incurred as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to a lesser extent as a result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike,” according to the contract description provided by the Division of Administration.

Jindal also wrote campaign donation checks of $2,500 each to Democrats Jim Fannin of Jonesboro, Rick Gallot of Ruston, Francis Thompson of Delhi, and Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge. Fannin is Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which may explain that contribution. Donations to the others would have to be investments in future key legislative committee and floor votes.

He also wrote a $2,500 check back on July 29 to the campaign of State Rep. John Schroder (R-Abita Springs). Schroder, it may be remembered, authored a number of bills in 2010 that would have abolished the State Civil Service Board, the state civil service system, and would have given the legislature final authority on which classified (civil service) employees–if any–would receive merit pay increases.

Schroder did not make a similar effort this year, possibly because it is an election year, but some observers feel he will renew those efforts in next spring’s legislative session.

The most curious contribution, however, was the $2,500 donation Jindal made to the campaign of State Rep. M.J. “Mert” Smiley (R-St. Amant) on Aug. 2. Smiley is not seeking re-election but instead is running for Ascension Parish tax assessor.

It was Smiley who, during testimony about the mass exodus of employees of the Office of Risk Management in the wake of that agency’s privatization, asked if there was not some regulation in place that would prevent employees from leaving for employment elsewhere. “Isn’t there some way you can make them stay?” he asked.

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Jindal continues out-of-state campaign spending binge

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Economy, Governor's Office, Jobs, Transparency on October 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Bobby Jindal’s approach to his re-election campaign has about as much finesse as swatting a mosquito with a baseball bat.

First he spends three years visiting north Louisiana Protestant churches to hand out federal money he said he opposed. When he wasn’t garnering face time on television during hurricanes and oil spills, he spent so much time fundraising and book signing in other states that an LSU student found it necessary to travel to New Hampshire in an effort to get the governor to return and address budget issues at home.

He vastly embellished the number of jobs he claims his administration has created during his first term and then he attempted to take full credit for the cleanup of the BP spill. Of course those slick ads about his heroic actions to save the world from BP conveniently overlook his Monty Python-inspired plan to construct those $350 million berms to hold back the oil spill. Remember the aerial photos of the berms eroding away practically overnight (not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of earth-moving equipment that sank along with the berms)?

(Just as an aside, consider how that $350 million might have been better spent.)

He even managed to politicize what should have been a magnanimous gesture—the awarding of medals to Louisiana military veterans.

It’s enough to evoke that wonderful quote by an exasperated Joseph Welch who in 1954 asked Sen. Joe McCarthy during the volatile Army-McCarthy hearings, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

But for all his trumpeting about job creation, it’s interesting to note—again, for we visited this subject back in June—that Jindal has a propensity to go after out-of-state talent when trolling for votes.

In June, we reported that since his first run for governor back in 2003, Jindal had spent about $16.5 million on polling, political advertising, printing, direct mail, telephone banks, office rent, automated telephone calls, fundraising expenses, and campaign staff.

Of that amount, $6.2 million, or 37.6 percent of the total, went to pay out-of-state companies for those services.

This time, we decided to narrow expenditures down to a single 12-month period, Oct. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2011.

The results were no less interesting–or disturbing–for this “Let’s keep jobs in Louisiana” governor. In just the past 12 months, he has lavished more than $1.1 million to some 20 out-of-state companies. Some examples:

• Prosper Group of Greenwood, Indiana—six payments totaling $57,100 for telecommunication services;

• Majority Strategies of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida—16 payments totaling $113,500 for political consulting and sign printing;

• Gopshoppe.com of Glen Burnie, Maryland—eight payments totaling $53,300 for sign painting;

• Cold Harbor Films of Alexandria, Virginia—11 payments totaling $68,900 for advertising production;

• Onmessage, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia—14 payments totaling $167,200 for political consulting, focus groups and travel expenses;

• Southwest Publishing and Mailing Corp. of Topeka, Kansas—four payments totaling $31,400 for design and printing for campaign mailer and mailing expenses;

• Illuminati Research of Englewood, Colorado—one payment of $9,000;

• Praxis List Co. of Austin, Texas—four payments totaling $22,600 for list rental for campaign mailers;

• Grassroots Targeting of Alexandria, Virginia–$46,300 in nine payments for web development and maintenance;

• RL Carriers of Wilmington, Ohio—one payment of $7,900 for shipping;

• MDI Imaging and Mailing of Dulles, Virginia–$19,300 in two payments for data processing for campaign mailer;

• Olsen and Shuvalov of Austin, Texas—twelve payments totaling $66,100 for design and printing for campaign mailers, mailing expenses, and printing expenses;

• Comcast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–$24,300 in six payments for advertising;

• Response America of Arlington, Virginia–$15,400 in three payments for design and printing for campaign mailers and for mailing expenses;

• Sage Payment Solutions of McLean, Virginia–$8,600 in five payments for fundraising expenses and processing fees;

• SBR Enterprises of Culpepper, Virginia—one payment of $4,300 for fundraising consulting;

• Capitol Hill Lists of Athens, Georgia—three payments totaling $11,100 for list rental for campaign mailers and for consulting expenses;

• National Media of Alexandria, Virginia—a single payment of $3,600 advertising fee;

Jindal did provide a number of temporary jobs for campaign workers. His campaign made 30 payments over the past 12 months totaling $229,100 in payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

And then there’s Matt Hutson. Hutson, one of those campaign employees for whom Jindal’s campaign paid those payroll taxes. His campaign made 12 payroll payments totaling $25,400 to Hutson.

But Hutson resides in Coweta, Oklahoma.

Could it be no one in Louisiana was qualified to do whatever it was that he did for Jindal’s campaign? But we digress. The point here is not Matt Hutson of Coweta, Oklahoma, though an Oklahoma campaign worker for a Louisiana governor does cause some head-scratching.

The real issue is that while there are numerous direct mail companies, production companies, polling services, telephone banks, advertising agencies, etc., in Louisiana, Jindal seems more than content to go elsewhere to spend all that campaign money.

Still, he continues to drone on ad nauseam with his tired “Louisiana jobs for Louisiana residents” incantation.

Has he no sense of decency at long last? Has he left no sense of decency?

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Hide the women and children! ALEC invades N.O. Monday to offer ‘Solutions for the States’ during 38th annual meeting

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Campaign Contributions, Charters, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Privatization, Vouchers on July 29, 2011| 10 Comments »

BATON ROUGE (CNS)—One of the primary forces behind the systematic elimination of public schools, the privatization of government, and the widespread implementation of the Milton Friedman school of economic principles is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

The organization, founded in 1973 by conservative activists, ALEC has drafted a list of radical legislation it plans to propose in Republican-controlled states in an apparent effort to duplicate the so-called “shock doctrine” forced on countries in South and Central America in the 1980s and 1990s with disastrous results.

Louisiana Legislator Rep. Noble Ellington (R-Winnsboro) last December said, “Never has the time been so right” to plan the radical reshaping of policies in the states. His remarks were made at a gathering of conservative legislators in Washington on the heels of the midterm elections that saw Republicans seize majorities in both legislative chambers and governorships in 21 states.

The event was the “States and Nation Policy Summit” and it featured such heavy hitters as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Calling itself “the nation’s largest non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators, ALEC will hold its 2011 annual meeting, “Solutions for the States,” in New Orleans for six days, beginning Monday at the Marriott.

Charter schools are one of the organization’s main showcases, so the timing of the annual meeting couldn’t be worse, given the ongoing investigations of two charter schools in New Orleans and Baton Rouge into allegations of abuse, mistreatment, neglect, and cheating.

The highlight for attendees, of course, will be the appearance of free market wunderkind Gov. Bobby Jindal who will be the featured speaker at the organization’s plenary lunch on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

ALEC’s proposed legislation must first meet the approval of corporate donors who have veto power over language contained in the legislation which in turn, is developed by secretive task forces out of the view and scrutiny of the public.

The task forces cover every imaginable issue from education to health policy, from union-busting to privatization of schools and government, from global warming to industry deregulation.

ALEC’s agenda tracks the agenda of the late economist Milton Friedman who sent his disciples into Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, Poland, Russia, China, Indonesia, and several other countries in the wake of natural or man-made disasters to institute privatization of government programs and industries before the citizens could recoup their senses.

Friedman specialized in earthquakes, revolutions, and tsunamis, moving in and instituting radical change in economic and political policies. That pattern was followed with the public school system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with many formerly public schools now being operated by corporate-run charters.

Invariably, when Friedman’s economists moved in, the chasm between the super rich and the super poor grew ever wider as unemployment soared when jobs disappeared, people lost their homes, and inflation made local currency worthless. It was then that U.S. corporations moved in and purchased state-owned mines and manufacturing plants for pennies on the dollar.

In 2007, ALEC made its most ambitious and strategic push for privatization of education with its publication, School Choice and State Constitutions, which proposed a list of programs tailored to each state.

ALEC’s 2010 Report Card on American Education challenged members to “transform the system, don’t tweak it.”

After what has occurred with the Abramson Science and Technology Charter School in New Orleans earlier this month and now the ongoing revelations at Kenilworth Science and Technology School in Baton Rouge, someone needs to tweak something. The State Department of Education has already pulled Abramson’s charter and now Kenilworth is under investigation.

Both schools are operated by Pelican Educational Foundation which has ties to a Turkish-run, Houston-based firm, Atlas Texas Construction and Trading and Atlas vice president Inci Akpinar.

Louisiana Department of Education investigator Folwell Dunbar, who investigated complaints against Abramson last year, reported that Akpinar attempted to bribe him in an effort to smooth over problems at the school but nothing was done until a year later when the state auditor began an investigation.

Only then did the Department of Education take decisive action by revoking Abramson’s charter—and firing both Dunbar and his supervisor, Jacob Landry.

Apparently ALEC’s 2010 Report Card on American Education has its own definition of transformation: shoot the messenger.

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