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Archive for the ‘Contract, Contracts’ Category

π-yush takes a powder, ducks the issues…again but Vitter’s cowardice eclipses D.C. Madam scandal in pure sleaziness

Posted in Contract, Contracts, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Politicians, Privatization, Revenue, Taxes, Transparency, Vitter, Vouchers on September 21, 2012| 11 Comments »

This is about arrogance. More specifically, it is about the arrogance of two men, both from Louisiana and each elected to represent his constituents to the best of his ability.

And to that end, each has failed miserably while taking his individual insolence to new levels—in very different ways. One we have written about extensively in the past. The other, not so much, though perhaps he may well warrant closer attention in the future.

We are talking about Gov. Piyush Jindal and U.S. Sen. David Vitter.

The first, Jindal, has repeatedly displayed his cowardice, his spinelessness, by taking actions to close state facilities without bothering to notify affected legislators of his plans in advance. He has consistently ignored the plight of hundreds of state employees he forced into unemployment by cutting services and corporate taxes, further exacerbating the state’s budgetary crisis.

Vitter’s vote on a Senate bill last week can only described as despicable and hypocritical.

We will get to him presently.

It was not enough that Jindal announced the closure of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville and C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in Dequincy without extending the courtesy of a heads up to the legislative delegation in southeast and southwest Louisiana, the two areas affected.

But in doing so, he appeared to give little regard to or concern for the hundreds of employees at the two facilities who will be adversely impacted by layoffs or, in a few cases, transfers.

Then, on the heels of the announcement of the C. Paul Phelps closure The Baton Rouge League of Women Voters held a panel discussion to discuss Jindal’s continued privatization of state agencies, including the Office of Risk Management, the Office of Group Benefits, charter schools, educational vouchers, state hospital privatization and Medicaid cutbacks.

Invited to attend were representatives of the Jindal administration and proponents of privatization as well as four opponents, including an education coalition representative and Dr. Fred Cerise, former head of the LSU Health Care System.

One end of the head table was fully represented. On the other end, not a single person appeared on behalf of the administration. Cowardice. If an administration cannot publicly defend its actions—and make no mistake, Jindal never does—then that can only be described as cowardly.

Oh, they all had excuses. Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater said he had to attend a State Bond Commission meeting. But that meeting was over before the panel forum began across town. Bottom line, no one from the administration could—or would—find the time to defend the governor’s program.

Of course, Jindal had plenty time to attend a Republican unity breakfast in New Hampshire a week before and agreed to participate in a Sept. 26 Leaders of Iowans for Freedom “No Wiggins” bus tour—a rally in opposition to the re-election of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins who voted with the majority to rule the state’s one-man, one-woman marriage law unconstitutional.

We have to wonder how our governor, who, metaphorically speaking, has more snakes than he can kill right here at home, can find time to involve himself in a supreme court race in Iowa. Does the state Medicaid budget’s gaping budget hole not keep him sufficiently occupied without his having to traipse off to Iowa? Isn’t the fiscal plight of the state’s colleges and universities of enough concern to deter him from having breakfast in New Hampshire?

Or could it be more than mere coincidence that the first presidential primary and party caucus will be in New Hampshire and Iowa, respectively, in about three years? Could Jindal be that brazen, that disturbingly obvious? Well, yes. Could he really be that delusional, fooling himself into thinking he has a prayer? Yes again.

Piyush would be wise to awaken to the realization that Timmy Teepell is no Karl Rove.

LouisianaVoice has submitted a public records request to determine the cost of Jindal’s two trips including costs not only for Jindal, but for his security detail and any staff members who went along, including travel, lodging, meals and salaries—and including Jindal’s pro-rated salary for the days he is out of state.

Just for argument’s sake, let us say he made each trip in a single day. Giving his annual salary of $130,000, that would mean he should rebate the state a minimum $712 in salary while he was out of state attending to non-governor-type business—plus all the other expenses incurred on the trip for him and his entourage.

Now let’s talk about Vitter.

There was a bill up for a vote in the Senate last week. The Veterans Jobs Corps Act of 2012 would have made it easier for veterans in the future to transition to civilian life.

With veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars experiencing unemployment rates 3 percent higher than the general population, the bill would have put a lot of those veterans to work.

A majority (58-40) voted for the bill but that was two votes short of the three-fifths majority needed to overcome a budgetary point of order thrown up by Republicans.

Republicans said the bill violated the Budget Control Act by adding a program that would increase the deficit. Only five Republicans voted for the bill.

Vitter was one of 40 Republicans who voted no.

That’s correct. U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana), given a chance to vote up or down on a measure to help veterans, chose to vote down.

We’re talking about a $16 trillion deficit and the Republicans were quibbling over a budget item of $200 million per year over five years.

Given the propensity of Republicans to consistently vote for larger and larger appropriations for the Pentagon and military contractors and given Republicans’ support of two wars that have cost this country more than $4 trillion, a $1 billion appropriation to help our veterans re-enter the work force should not seem so unreasonable.

Given that most of these Republican chicken hawks have never experienced military service, it certainly is curious that they are so reluctant to lend a hand once these military personnel have sacrificed so much to defend the rhetoric of the pompous congressmen who while beating their collective breasts, are so quick, yea eager, to send them off to war.

It is heartless enough that military personnel with traumatic head injuries are unable to obtain adequate or timely medical treatment once they are no longer useful as fighters and as unwitting enablers of military contractors who milk the Pentagon budget of untold billions of dollars in unchecked cost overruns and outright fraud.

But when it came time to put his money where his patriotic, flag-waving mouth is, Vitter, rather than reaching out to the veterans, turns his back on them. What a coward.

And we thought his frequenting New Orleans prostitutes and cavorting with the D.C. Madam after all of his preaching about family values was hypocritical. That was child’s play, a victimless crime, as they say. His vote on the Veterans Jobs Corps Act dwarfed that transgression. There were thousands of victims of that callous action.

To demonstrate the Republican stance on American exceptionalism and righteous wars, one need look no further than to a statement made by Andrew Card, President George W. Bush’s chief of staff who, when asked about the timing of the March 2003 Iraqi invasion, dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom, said, “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.”

There you have it. A half-century ago President Eisenhower said, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

Despite that admonition, war—and the influence of that military-industrial complex—has become a marketing concept, a product to be introduced with the appropriately hyped mixture of patriotism, mom and apple pie, along with the oft-repeated need to defeat the newest threat to the American Way of Life, whatever that is.

And Vitter is right there with his fellow Republicans—until it’s time to help those who supported that policy—the men and women in uniform.

In 2003, he voted in favor of HR 1559, the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act. In 2008, he voted in favor of HR 2642 to approve funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan War—funding that has now exceeded the $4 trillion mark.

But in 2012, he and 39 other Republicans just could not bring themselves to waste a five-year, billion dollar expenditure to help military veterans return to the workforce.

We should be so very proud of our junior senator.

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π-yush Jindal’s Revamp of LSU Health System reveals his obsession with destroying everything with ‘public’ label

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, LSU, Privatization, Teague on September 16, 2012| 9 Comments »

When the LSU Medical Center, aka Charity Hospital of New Orleans, was closed for good following Hurricane Katrina, then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco managed to gain a legislative appropriation of $300 million for the construction of a new University Medical Center. The state secured another $475 million from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for the project.

Originally approved to “serve the public purpose,” the mission of the new $1 billion facility quickly changed from a public to private purpose after Gov. Piyush Jindal was inaugurated in January of 2008.

There are several problems with this scenario, however.

First, a private board was created with a purpose to support the educational research mission of LSU, according to the board’s bylaws. Then, the board, known as the University Medical Center Management Corp. (UMCMC), had to be appropriately stacked with members favorable to Jindal. That took a little chicanery, but it was done.

When the makeup of the 11-member board was finally agreed upon, seven of the members, their family members and businesses turned out to be major contributors to Jindal, combining to give nearly $205,000.

Those seven include;

• Robert Yarborough of Baton Rouge—$73,500;

• Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger of Lockport—$58,850;

• David R. Voelker of New Orleans—$45,000;

• Thomas A. “Tim” Barfield of Baton Rouge (recently appointed by Jindal as Secretary of the Department of Revenue)—$15,000;

• Dr. Christopher J. Rich of Alexandria—$5,500;

• Stanley Jacobs of New Orleans—$5,000;

• Darryl Berger of New Orleans—$1,000.

Additionally, three of the seven contributed more than $157,000 to Believe in Louisiana, a political slush fund set up for Jindal’s use by Rolfe McCollister, former Jindal campaign manager and publisher of the Baton Rouge Business Report. Those include:

• Bollinger—$125,000;

• Voelker—$25,000;

• Yarborough—$7,700.

While the stated purpose of the board is to support the education and research mission of LSU, the board does not include anyone directly involved in education and research at LSU, and requests by then-LSU President John Lombardi to appoint such individuals were rejected by the governor’s office.

Board members and Jindal spokespersons have consistently asserted the need for the board to be “independent” of LSU, which is not consistent with the public function of the hospital. To construct the new hospital, considerable private property in downtown New Orleans was expropriated, or taken at market value for the overall good of the public. Private entities are forbidden by law to expropriate property—for any purpose.

So, that naturally brings up the question of what happens to all that property that was expropriated in the name of LSU and University Medical Center for the good of the public?

Before the first meeting of the Jindal dominated UMCMC board the chairperson, who was appointed by Lombardi and who had the fault of being loyal to LSU and not to Jindal (read: no campaign contributions), was replaced by Jindal loyalist, Bobby Yarborough.

Color her teagued.

Yarborough, owner of Manda Fine Meats of Baton Rouge, served as campaign finance chairman for Jindal’s gubernatorial campaign. He now is not only chairman of UMCMC, but also chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors, which oversees the LSU medical system.

On Aug. 28, 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for governance of the UMC was unanimously approved by Jindal’s hand-picked LSU Board of Supervisors. The MOU was signed by Jindal, then-Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) Secretary Alan Levine, John Lombardi and Tulane University President Dr. Scott Cowen.

Though there was a MOU, there has never been an agreement between the administration, LSU, DHH and the legislature whereby the legislature authorized a private corporation to manage this public hospital.

Original plans called for the new facility to be the primary teaching hospital of the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and to also serve as a teaching affiliate of Tulane University School of Medicine.

The business plan for the medical center called for a three-year construction period with opening in 2015 with clinical education and research activities now being provided at the Interim LSU Hospital to be transferred to the new hospital upon completion.

With drastic reductions already implemented and more planned at the Interim LSU Public Hospital (ILH), one has to wonder what the board and the governor’s plan is to meet the expectations outlined in the business plan approved by the legislature.

That plan depends on continued care for the insured and includes the assumption that Medicaid coverage for the poor would expand under ObamaCare. Now the governor is headed in the other direction: cutting services at ILH and rejecting the Medicaid expansion.

Can he tell us what the new plan is? How will this private entity fulfill its public mission to provide care and to support the education and research missions of LSU? It is an issue worth following, particularly since those involved in crafting the original agreements for LSU—Lombardi, Cerise and Townsend—have all been teagued.

Those personnel changes are not surprising, given the fact that the administration makes a habit of regularly calling LSU Board of Supervisors members, even during meetings, with instructions on what to say and what not to say.

That practice would appear to fly in the face of oft-repeated claims by Jindal—particularly in his many out-of-state appearances at fund raisers and television interview shows—that his is the “most transparent,” most open and accountable administration in Louisiana history.

It does, however, appear to dovetail with his growing reputation of micro-managing all facets of state government, his propensity to take a dim view of dissent and to fire or demote any subordinate who disagrees with him, be they employees, cabinet members or legislators.

Now, he has ordered a new round of deep budget cuts for seven public hospitals in south Louisiana. The new directive calls for budgets to be slashed by 34.5 percent.

Significantly, the closure of any hospital or emergency room or any cut of 35 percent or more requires the concurrence of the legislature. The 34.5 percent cut manages to conveniently fall just below that plateau.

Legislators already are showing signs of frustration and discontent in the manner in which the administration is keeping them out of the loop in the decision-making process regarding the LSU system’s 10 statewide teaching hospitals that provide health care to Louisiana’s poor.

The 34.5 percent cutbacks are likely to result in the loss of up to 400 of the 1500 resident doctors at the 10 hospitals across the state, which can also cause yet another problem: the disposition of the contracts between those doctors and the state.

The administration’s belief that private hospitals would take those residents could be a miscalculation with serious legal ramifications.

The administration has already put staff and employees on notice at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe and the Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville/Alexandria that a request for proposals (RFP) will be issued “for the purpose of exploring public-private partnerships for the LSUHSC-S affiliated hospitals.”

Jindal’s latest ploy of keeping cuts half-a-percent below the level requiring legislative approval is not likely to sit well with many lawmakers, particularly those in districts served by the hospitals which both employ and treat constituents.

All of this is to say that the current state of the LSU health care system is one big mess, thanks in no small part to a state administration with chronic tunnel vision, a compliant LSU Board of Supervisors comprised exclusively of political cronies, and the loss through firings and reassignments of capable administrators.

Louisiana—and LSU—deserve better.

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Attorney General opinion accuses π-yush of parliamentary chicanery in Office of Group Benefits privatization contract

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Attorney General, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Contract, Contracts, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Jobs, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Prison, Privatization, RFP, Request for Proposals, Transparency on September 15, 2012| 5 Comments »

A Louisiana Attorney General’s opinion released Friday has accused the administration of Gov. Piyush Jindal of attempting an end run around the legislature in its efforts to privatize the Office of Group Benefits (OGB).

Meanwhile, another state prison is abruptly closed by Jindal.

The eight-page opinion, written by Assistant Attorney General Michael J. Vallan, says that the proposed privatization of the Office of Group Benefits and the ensuing contract with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana must be approved by the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, as well as the Office of Contractual Review.

But don’t expect Jindal to capitulate too easily, for while the opinion, which boiled down to a interpretation of under which state statute the privatization action was taken, is just that—an opinion. It has no force of law and the likely action to be taken by Jindal and the Division of Administration (DOA) is to simply ignore it and proceed as planned.

The only recourse in such a scenario, would be for the legislature to file suit against Jindal to get a determination of which statute should apply in the privatization process—one which effective bypasses legislative authority or one which specifically requires approval of the two committees.

The requirement for approval of the Office of Contractual Review may as well have been deleted from the opinion since the office is a part of DOA and answers directly to Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, making that agency’s approval a virtual given.

The Division of Administration, through OGB issued a request for proposals (RFP) earlier this year and on April 30 issued a Notice of Intent to Contract (NIC) for Administrative Services Only (ASO), meaning for the awarding of a contract to a third party administrator (TPA) to take over the administrative duties for the state’s Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan, the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with Health Savings Account (HAS), and the LaChip Affordable Health Plan (LaCHIP).

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBS) was already serving as third party administrator for the state’s HMO coverage for state employees and their dependents through OGB and on July 20, OGB issued a report and recommendation to the Evaluation Committee in which it proposed awarding the PPO, HDHP, HAS and LaCHIP business to BCBS as well.

That recommendation was approved by the State Civil Service Commission on Aug. 1.

State Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) two days later requested an expedited legal opinion from the attorney general’s office based on her belief that the legislature had to sign off on the awarding of such contracts.

Vallan, in his opinion, said that Louisiana Revised Statute 42:802(B)(8)(b) “clearly provides that any such contract shall be subject to review and final approval by the appropriate standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over review of agency rules by OGB as designated by (statute), or the subcommittees on oversight of such standing committees, and the Office of Contractual Review of the Division of Administration.”

“It is our understanding that the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are the appropriate standing committees having jurisdiction over OGB rules.

“Therefore, pursuant to the plain language of …42:802, it is the opinion of this office that any contract negotiated by OGB pursuant to the authority granted by …42:802(B)(8) shall be subject to review and final approval by the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.”

The entire issue hangs on which statute was used in the issuance of the NIC and the subsequent awarding of the contract to BCBS.

“According to OGB,” Vallan said, “the contract at issue was not negotiated pursuant to the provisions of …42:802(B), but was instead negotiated pursuant to the authority provided by Louisiana Revised Statute 42:851.”

While acknowledging that 42:851 does not require legislative approval of contracts, Vallan said, “Our reading of …42:851 is that it applies to situations where a particular state governmental or administrative subdivision, department, agency, school system, etc., intends to procure private contracts of insurance for its respective subdivision, department or agency.

“We do not believe that …42:851 provides OGB with the authority to enter into the proposed contract with BCBS. We are of the opinion that such authority is clearly granted by …42:802. An interpretation of both …42:802 and 42:851 authorize OGB to execute the proposed contract with BCBS would render the provisions of (the two statutes) duplicates of each other and their provisions superfluous and/or meaningless. Such an interpretation should be avoided.”

Vallan said that by enacting 42:802, it was clear that the legislature “has expressed its desire that contracts governing the provision of basic health care services, as well as certain other related contracts be subject to review and final approval by the legislature.

“To interpret …42:851 as offering some sort of alternative route to execute such contracts, thereby escaping legislative oversight, appears to be contrary to the logic and presumed fair purpose the legislature had in enacting …42:802.

“In summary, it is the opinion of this office that the proposed contract between OGB and BCBS is a contract negotiated pursuant to the provisions of …42:802. As such, the contract is subject to review and final approval by the appropriate standing committees of the legislature having jurisdiction over review of agency rules by the Office of Group Benefits.”

Almost lost in all the legalese is the fact that if Jindal’s privatization plan is ultimately approved—by the legislature or by the courts—121 state employees who show up each day to see to it that the medical claims of more than 100,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents are paid in a timely fashion will see their jobs vanish.

Jindal sees privatization through rose-colored glasses—provided him, no doubt, by generous corporate campaign contributors—despite the obvious pitfalls.

Take the Office of Risk Management (ORM), for example. It was the first state agency to be privatized and the company that the state paid $68 million to take over the TPA functions. The takeover was to occur in phases, with the worker’s compensation section one of the first to go and the road hazard section scheduled later this year as the last section to go over.

One of the conditions of the privatization contract was that the TPA absorb displaced ORM employees for a minimum of one year.

In only about eight months after taking over ORM in September of 2010, the contractor, F.A. Richard and Associates (FARA) of Mandeville, was back, asking for an amendment of a tad over $6.8 million to its contract, bring the total to just under $75 million.

Because the request was for an additional 10 percent, legislative approval was not necessary; there is a provision that contractors may get a one-time bump of 10 percent without legislative concurrence.

Legislators were not too happy to learn of that provision but in less than a month, FARA sold out to a company in Ohio which in a matter of only a few more months, sold out to a company in New York.

But here’s the clincher: the contract with FARA contains a clause which specifically says that its contract with ORM may not be transferred or reassigned without prior written approval. When DOA was asked for a copy of the written approval to transfer the contract to each of the out-of-state companies, the response was no such document existed.

So, because of not one, but two flagrant violations of its contract for privatization, ORM is being run by an out-of-state corporation even before all the ORM sections were phased into the contract.

And where are those former ORM employees today? Well, it seems, only a handful of former ORM employees remain there.

OGB remains on the privatization chopping block despite the encouraging legal opinion of the state’s highest legal office. It remains to be seen how it all will play out.

Meanwhile, Jindal, having failed to privatize state prisons as he wished, is simply closing facilities. J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center was closed earlier this year with nary a word to area legislators of his intent.

On Friday, September 14, Jindal dropped another bombshell.

C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in DeQuincy is being closed with its 700 medium security prisoners to be transferred to Angola State Penitentiary.

Again, state employees, about 150 of them, have had their livelihoods jerked from under them with no prior warning. About 70 of those will be given the opportunity to transfer to Angola. As for the rest?

Apparently they’re not Jindal’s problem. After all, he likes to say do more with less.

And now, with such a stellar record to back him up, Jindal is turning his attention to the privatization of the LSU Health System and its 10 affiliated hospitals statewide that treat the state’s poor and which train medical students.

Does anyone see a trend?

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What happens when a dictator gains control over education, health care, legislators? Ask Gov. π-yush, campaign donors

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Contract, Contracts, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Privatization, Transparency on September 7, 2012| 6 Comments »

Let the dismantling begin.

The LSU Board of Supervisors, packed with 11 of its 15 members who contributed an aggregate of more than $225,900 to Gov. Piyush Jindal’s political campaigns, voted Friday to take the first official step toward what will likely become the complete destruction of the LSU Health System.

The board, which since April has fired, demoted or reassigned LSU President John Lombardi, health system head Dr. Fred Cerise, Interim LSU Public Hospital CEO Roxanne Townsend and LSU System General Counsel Ray Lamonica, voted on Friday to authorize LSU hospitals in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria to develop requests for proposals (RFPs) for public-private partnerships for the three hospitals.

Jindal has already slashed $14 million in appropriations for Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center in Tangipahoa Parish. That represents nearly 35 percent of the facility’s total budget and will mean the loss of surgery, cardiology and ICU services and dramatic cuts to oncology, gynecology and disease management as well as up to 150 staff members who stand to lose their jobs.

Additionally, the LSU Hospital in Bogalusa had its budget cut by $3 million, forcing the facility to close several clinics and to absorb pediatrics into primary care.

In Mandeville, Southeast Louisiana Hospital is slated for closure beginning next month, leaving the Florida parishes, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes with no state mental health treatment centers.

W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center in Lake Charles also was designated for massive budget cuts and University Medical Center (UMC) in Lafayette was earmarked for $4.2 million in cuts but Jindal said the LSU plan would “protect critical services.

In an apparent effort to head off employee protests, UMC administrator Larry Dorsey notified employees not to attend a public rally—on or off the clock—protesting the cutbacks subject to disciplinary measures. That email was in stark violation of state civil service rules which specifically allow employees to attend such rallies as long as it is on their own time.

The Shreveport Times Friday morning published a story saying that LSU System supervisors would vote later in the day on beginning the process to develop RFPs on public-private hospital partnerships for hospitals in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria.

LSU Health spokesperson Sally Croom said the resolution, which was not added to the board’s agenda until Thursday, apparently after Lamonica was forced to resign as general counsel, and after the reassignment of Townsend, would give officials authority to develop an RFP.

Late Friday, as has become the custom of the administration, the announcement was formally made. Robert Barish, chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport, notified “faculty, staff and friends” by memorandum.

“As promised, I wanted to update you on the most recent activity regarding our continuing efforts to ensure a successful future for LSU Health Shreveport in the wake of the federal cuts to Louisiana’s Medicaid budget,” he said. “As you might recall, we were asked to explore several approaches to address the continuing budget challenges or our hospital system.

“Today, the LSU Board of Supervisors authorized us to explore public-private partnerships for our three hospitals. It is important to note that this is being done to see how collaboration with other hospitals might look and whether this may be a workable option.

“We will follow the Board instructions to explore this option, which is among several we are looking at during this fact-finding process. We have been looking at other hospitals which have faced similar situations successfully.

“We are committed to a thorough fact-finding process and exploring possibilities that would ensure continuation of our important missions of education, patient care and research.

“I will keep you updated as more information becomes available.”

It was not immediately known if similar messages were sent to employees of the facilities in Monroe and Alexandria.

The resolution passed by the board said:

• BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University that LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport and Health Care Services Division are hereby authorized to develop and seek a Request for Proposal for the purpose of exploring public private partnerships for the LSUHSC-S affiliated hospitals, namely the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, the E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe and the Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville/Alexandria and each of the hospitals in Health Care Services Division; and

• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this is necessary for identifying potential partners and long-term strategies which may help ensure the organization’s clinical services and financial stability in light of budgetary challenges caused by the recent decrease in federal Medicaid funding; and

• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the authority to seek a Request for Proposal does not mandate the Request for Proposal be released, nor does it mandate a proposal be accepted should one be released. The President shall have the discretion to authorize the release of the Request for Proposal and to accept the proposal that he deems in the best interest of the university.”

So, there you have it. A figurehead president brought out of retirement to replace a president who had a bad habit of being candid and outspoken is given the final authority to release the RFP and to accept the proposal “that he deems in the best interest of the university.”

What are the odds that this interim president and his hand-picked board will take any action, up and including taking a bathroom break without the approval of Piyush Jindal?

We already have more than sufficient evidence that Jindal is rapidly moving toward successfully destroying public health care in Louisiana. The closure of Charity Hospital in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, though nearly three years before he came to power, lay the groundwork for his later actions.

The federal government’s decision to slash Louisiana’s Medicaid appropriation by more than $572 million—along with state cuts of $287 million, bringing the total loss of funding to $859 million—simply gave him a convenient opportunity to accelerate a program he already had in place.

One need only look at what Jindal has done to higher education and public education to see a dangerous trend of cutbacks in crucial public services. His obsession with granting tax exemptions totaling $5 billion a year for corporate donors, transferring funds from parish school boards to private, for-profit schools, and forcing state colleges and universities to increase tuition to cover budgetary cuts has put the state on a dangerous collision course with fiscal reality that will remain long after Jindal has moved on to a cabinet position or in pursuit of higher office.

Jindal won’t be around to answer for his policies…but 144 legislators will be.

And so will Louisiana voters.

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π-yush completes packing of LSU Board of Supervisors with long-time Republican Party loyalist Chester Lee Mallett

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Politicians, Privatization, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency on September 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

Chester Lee Mallett of Iowa likes to spread his money around but his political involvement is mostly restricted to conservative Republican candidates at both the state and federal levels.

Described as a “well-established businessman” and “a true conservative,” Mallett has served on the board of Louisiana’s Citizen Insurance Company and the State Licensing Board for Contractors—appointed to both boards by Gov. Bobby Jindal. More recently, Jindal appointed him to serve on the LSU Board of Supervisors.

The reasons for Jindal’s continuing to call on Mallett to serve in various capacities are not difficult to understand. Like many of the governor’s appointees, he has proven himself to be a generous donor to Jindal’s campaigns through personal contributions ($10,000) and seven of his companies ($148,500) since Jindal’s first gubernatorial campaign of 2003.

Mallett does not limit his largesse to state political candidates (although he has chipped in another $61,000 to other Louisiana candidates). Since 2004 alone, he contributed an additional $166,400 to national Republican candidates, all but one of whom are from Louisiana, and three separate contributions of $30,800 each to the Republican National Committee and another for $5,000. Additionally, Brad Mallett of one of Lee Mallett’s companies contributed another $30,800 to the RNC.

Republican congressional beneficiaries include U.S. Sen. David Vitter ($6.400), congressmen Jeff Landry ($5,000), Charles Boustany Jr. ($5,000) and Bill Cassidy ($5,000). Other prominent Republicans receiving contributions from Mallett include Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin ($2,500), Newt Gingrich ($1,000), Texas Gov. Rick Perry ($2,500) and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney ($2,500).

Though a Republican loyalist, he did contribute $2,300 to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in 2007 and $3,700 to the State Senate campaign of Democrat Willie Mount of Lake Charles in 2004.

Described as “an avid social reformer,” Mallett counts as his greatest achievement the creation and operation of The Academy of Training Skills (ATS) in Lacassine. ATS, whose corporate offices are located at the same Iowa address of all of Mallett’s other companies, opened in 2008, and serves as an alternative facility for individuals who are at risk of going to prison. Those with non-violent or non-sexual offenses are given an opportunity to reside at ATS and to enroll in any of several training programs.

ATS, approved by the Louisiana Department of Corrections, takes residents by referral from local court jurisdictions. The facility’s web page says it is seeking accreditation from the American Correction (sic) Association (ACA) and that a trade school was planned for the site. The website also said plans were in place to expand to a 1,000-resident capacity.

The American Correctional Association, located in Alexandria, Virginia, confirmed that ATS received accreditation in 2010, an indication that the ATS website has not been updated for at least two years.

Claims by ATS that residents are trained for jobs and that they receive counseling and medical treatment for addictions, however, are in dispute.

While the ATS web page touts training in pipefitting, welding, electrical, millwright, heavy equipment operator and instrumentation fitter, at least one district attorney who refers offenders to facilities such as ATS said he has experienced numerous complaints about the program and no longer refers offenders to ATS.

A spokesman for the district attorney, who requested that he not be identified because of political implications, said all his referrals now go to Cenikor Foundation, a Houston-based center with facilities in Baton Rouge.

“We just stopped sending people to ATS,” he said. “The jobs they were getting our people were jobs hamburger flipping at fast food restaurants, not technical skills. The claims that they are providing medical treatment don’t seem to be valid, either, because our referrals told us they received no medical treatment.

“Moreover, ATS works these people and pays money into personal accounts for each resident, which is certainly an accepted practice,” he said. “However, without exception, when our referrals completed their programs there, instead of receiving the money in their accounts, they wound up owing ATS money.”

He also said ATS appears to have difficulty in retaining facility directors. “There’s a lot of turnover there,” he said. “No one seems to stay more than a few months. Some of the directors seemed to try to do what the program advertises but they don’t last long before they’re gone.”

Now, it appears that Mallett may be expanding his operations to include online classes as part of the Louisiana Department of Education’s (DOE) Course Choice Program.

The Course Choice Program ostensibly provides students at failing schools the opportunity to take the online courses instead of continuing in their old schools. All the classes are online and providers are allowed to set their own course fees.

One of those approved by DOE is ATS Project Success of Michigan, which claims on its web page to offer courses in 41 states, including Louisiana. Academy of Training Schools (ATS) of 21089 South Frontage Road in Iowa, which is the same corporate address as Mallett’s seven other enterprises (including Academy of Training Skills), appears to be the Louisiana ATS entity through which courses are to be offered.

The Academy of Training Schools also contributed $6,000 to Believe in Louisiana, a 527 tax-exempt political organization founded by Baton Rouge Business Report Publisher Rolf McCollister.

McCollister was Jindal’s campaign chairman in his successful 2007 run for governor and served as chairperson of Jindal’s transition team.
Julio Melara, president of the Baton Rouge Business Report, was appointed by Jindal to the Louisiana Stadium Exposition District (Louisiana Superdome) Board in February 2008, a month after Jindal first took office.

Jindal appointed Mallett, a Republican insider, to the LSU Board in July and all the pieces now appear to be in place for Jindal to do whatever he wants with LSU in general and the LSU Medical System in particular. The recent firing of Dr. Fred Cerise and the reassignment of Dr. Roxanne Townsend would seem to support that theory.

Jindal said as much on July 2 in an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News:

“We’re the only state in the country that runs our own government-owned, government-operated hospitals. I’ll be the first to tell you that’s not the best way to provide health care. And we’re replacing that. We’re transitioning folks on our Medicaid program to privately-run insurance coverage.”

Jindal, of course, neglected to mention that those state hospitals, particularly Charity Hospital in New Orleans served, not only as a medical safety net for indigent citizens of the state and as teaching hospitals for both the LSU and Tulane University schools of medicine.

Charity was never reopened after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 even though only the basement of the 21-story facility was flooded and more than 200 military and medical volunteers restored the hospital to conditions that many said were superior to the hospital’s pre-storm state. For whatever reasons, however, electricity, which was working in the hospital, was ordered turned off and the doors were locked.

With all but one of the LSU Board members appointed by Jindal, the governor now has carte blanche to bulldoze ahead with dismantling the state’s Medicaid program—just as he promised he would in his interview with Van Susteren—in favor of privately-run insurance coverage, most likely administered by large campaign contributors.

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