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Louisiana’s Public records laws being routinely ignored by officials; lawsuits, fines increase – all at taxpayer expense

Posted in Corruption, DOA, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Lawsuits, Legislature, Legislators, Media, Politicians, Public Records, Transparency on April 5, 2016| 6 Comments »

First of four-part series:

Officially, it’s Louisiana Revised Statute (L.R.S.) 44:1 et seq., or informally, the Louisiana Public Records Act.

It’s a sister statute to L.R.S. 42:4.1 et seq., otherwise known as the Louisiana Open Meetings Law.

Both are state laws enacted to give us the right to examine public documents and to attend meetings of public bodies in order to know what our elected representatives and political appointees are doing that affect our lives.

But to some in positions of authority, from city marshals to the previous governor’s office, they are merely suggestions.

And that’s what’s keeping Louisiana courts a little busier these days.

Today begins a four-part installment on ways in which certain public servants circumvent or even ignore the state’s public records law.

Under L.R.S. 44:1 et seq., a public body is defined to include a “political subdivision, or any committee, subcommittee, advisory board, or task force thereof.”

Public records include “all books, records, writings, accounts, letters and letter books, maps, drawings, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, memoranda, and papers, and all copies, duplicates, photographs, including microfilm, or other reproductions thereof, or any other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information contained in electronic data processing equipment, having been used, being in use, or prepared, possessed, or retained for use in the conduct, transaction, or performance of any business, transaction, work, duty, or function which was conducted, transacted, or performed by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of this state, or by or under the authority of any ordinance, regulation, mandate, or order of any public body or concerning the receipt or payment of any money received or paid by or under the authority of the constitution or the laws of this state.”

Custodian is defined as “the public official or head of any public body having custody or control of a public record, or a representative specifically authorized by him to respond to requests to inspect any such public records.

“It shall be the duty of the custodian of the public records to provide copies to persons so requesting.

“In any case in which a record is requested and a question is raised by the custodian as to whether it is a public record, such custodian shall within three days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays, of the receipt of the request in writing for such record notify in writing the person making such request of his determination and the reasons therefor. Such written notification shall contain a reference to the basis under law which the custodian has determined exempts a record, or any part thereof, from inspection, copying, or reproduction.” (Emphasis added.)

Under L.R.S. 44:31, the right to examine records is clearly spelled out:

  • Providing access to public records is a responsibility and duty of the appointive or elective office of a custodian and his employees.
  • Any person may inspect, copy, reproduce, or obtain a reproduction of any public record.
  • The burden of proving that a public record is not subject to inspection, copying, or reproduction shall rest with the custodian.

LOUISIANA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

There is no ambiguity in the law. It’s all right there in black and white. Yet, there are those, notable of them Superintendent of Education John White, former Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols, the LSU Board of Supervisors, a city marshal, and some judges who steadfastly abide by their own set of rules that were—and are—in stark contrast to what the law enunciates in concise language that any layman can easily comprehend.

Two key words are now routinely ignored: Public, as in public records, and Servant, as in public servant.

Almost exactly three years ago, in April 2013, the Baton Rouge Advocate and the LSU Daily Reveille filed suit against the LSU Board of Supervisors to obtain a complete list of candidates for LSU President, a position awarded to F. King Alexander. After winning at the district court level, the First Circuit Court of Appeal split the baby by partially reversing 19th JDC Judge Janice Clark’s ruling that the names of all 35 candidates must be turned over to the public. The First Circuit ruled that only the four finalists for the post and not the entire 35 names must be made public. http://theadvocate.com/news/11213914-123/lsu-wins-partial-reversal-in

The First Circuit also overturned Judge Clark’s sanctions against LSU which would have had the university having to pony up some $50,000 in fines.

LouisianaVoice has participated in the running battle over public records, winning one, losing one and winning a partial victory in a third that is currently on appeal.

The first case involved a request for records from the Louisiana Department of Education. When those records were not forthcoming, we sued and won a judgment of $2,800 plus court costs and attorney’s fees. That judgment was paid by DOE shortly after the decision by Judge Clark.

We later sued the Division of Administration but our suit was tossed by District Judge Mike Caldwell who helped DOE attorneys formulate their objections from the bench. But soon we were back before Caldwell in a second public records suit that rendered a strange decision, a token slap on the wrist to Nichols who then appealed.

In that case, we had several public records request outstanding, including one in which we made our request in October 2015. On the same day we made our request, we had a state representative file an identical request through House Legislative Services. The legislator had the records in two days. In January of 2016, three months later, we still did not have the records, including the one given the legislator within two days, so we sued. Wonder of wonders, no sooner was the lawsuit served than presto! DOA hand delivered a disc containing the requested records.

Prior to trial, DOE offered to settle our case for attorney fees and court costs. We declined.

So we again entered the courtroom, again presided over by Judge Caldwell, confident that we had a solid case. According to our calculations, DOA owed fines of $100 per day for each day in which each of the requests went unanswered—a total of about $45,000. Caldwell, in his infinite wisdom, awarded us eight days on one request, or $800, plus court costs and attorney fees. He also ruled that Nichols would be personally liable, meaning a check would not be forthcoming from DOE but from her personal checking account.

Then Nichols did a curious thing: she appealed. She appealed an $800 judgment to the First Circuit. And even though Caldwell held her personally liable, the taxpayers are picking up the legal costs of her appeal and those costs aren’t cheap. But since she appealed, we did likewise, asking the First Circuit to overrule Caldwell and assess the full $45,000. Arguments have not been scheduled on the appeals but it is our contention if the lower court decision is upheld or better yet, if the appellate court decides to impose the full amount, or somewhere in between, Ms. Nichols should be required to pay her own legal costs. It was her decision, after all, to take a personal penalty up the ladder.

Tomorrow: Superintendent of Education John White personifies the contempt with which officials treat requests for public records—and adverse court judgments by concocting non-existent rules along the way that delay justice by requiring plaintiffs to jump through imaginary hoops to collect what’s owed them.

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SLU associate professor says Advocate columnist can only arrive at state expenditure numbers by ‘making them up’

Posted in Budget, Education, Ethics, Finances, Revenue, Transparency on March 1, 2016| 20 Comments »

There are three or four of us who every Sunday morning break out into a round robin email dissection of the latest op-ed column by LSU-Shreveport political science associate professor Jeff Sadow. While we invariably disagree with Sadow’s philosophical position, we have finally arrived at a consensus that The Advocate is striving for balance on its opinion pages.

On Tuesday (March 1) I received a copy of the following blog post by Michael Kurt Corbello, Ph.d. and a former classmate of Sadow. I immediately contacted Dr. Corbello, a political science associate professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, to inquire if he would be willing to post his comments on as a guest columnist on LouisianaVoice. To our delight, he consented. Following is his column:

By Michael Kurt Corbello

Copyright 2016

     Numbers can be pesky things, a great source for truth, or a weapon to mislead.  Scientists like numbers because they are transparent, until human beings interpret them or insinuate that they have done so.  I am a political scientist who teaches my students “math is the language of objectivity!”  Yet, three-plus decades of research and teaching have taught me the pitfalls of data collection and interpretation for someone trying to conduct scientifically valid research, even if it proved me wrong.  In partisan politics, many divest themselves of scientific validity, some accidentally, others purposefully, and still others because they fail to admit their biases.  We all have biases, but numbers have a way of cutting through those most cherished.

Recently, Jeff Sadow for The Advocate (See “Lawmakers should call Edwards’ bluff on TOPS, Medicaid,” The Advocate, February 27, 2016) criticized Gov. John Bel Edwards’ budget plan during the special session of the Louisiana State Legislature, arguing that the governor “refuses to meaningfully pare a state government that ranks well above the national average in per capita spending” [emphasis added].  Sadow didn’t indicate sources supporting these value statements, so I collected the most recent data and examined it. In fact, the only way to arrive at the columnist’s conclusion that Louisiana ranks “well above the national average in per capita spending” is to make it all up!

I looked at the most recent U. S. Census data estimates of state populations for 2015. I combined this with data from the National Association of State Budget Officers, State Expenditure Report (Fiscal 2013-2015) (Table A-1 in the downloadable report). In 2015, total state general fund and federal fund expenditures per capita ranged from a low of $3,724 (Florida) to a high $18,644 (Alaska), with a national average per state of $6,717. Louisiana ranked 22nd out of fifty states, in the middle of the pack, at $6,365 per capita. That’s right! Louisiana was $352 per capita below the state averages nationwide! Among 16 southern states, Louisiana ranked 7th in total state general fund and federal fund expenditures per capita, about $134 per capita above the state averages in the south.

Notice that while Louisiana spent a total of $29.7 billion in 2015, $10.15 billion of this was federal funds, $2,173 per capita (ranked 14th), or about $200 per capita above the state averages nationwide. The Louisiana state portion of total state spending was $19.58 billion. Nationwide, state general fund expenditures averaged $4,744 per capita. Louisiana averaged $4,192 in per capita state general fund spending, placing it 23rd, or $552 per capita below the state averages nationwide!

Now, I don’t mind voters, politicians, and citizens calling into question the spending and priorities of state government. All of us should be vigilant in our efforts to take care of our community of needs, while reigning in the natural and selfish human inclinations to abuse the system! However, looking at this data, it is difficult to make the argument that, compared to other states, Louisiana has a spending problem. Whether we look at per capita spending or gross dollar amounts, Louisiana was in the middle of the pack of fifty states, with one exception: We ranked 14th in State Federal Fund Expenditures! For that matter, Louisiana was one of eight southern states (including Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia) in which state federal fund expenditures per capita were above the average per state nationwide ($1,973 per capita). In other words, we are dependent upon everyone else for a huge amount of resources in our state budget. Why? Because of our history of poverty, low levels of education, and lack of economic development (regardless of the deadbeat mantra always coming from Bobby Jindal and his apologists)! Imagine if we in Louisiana really did have to pay for our own spending!

The fact remains that we do not live in the 18th century, with the luxury to implement a minimalist government, not if we want to have a competitive position in a world driven more and more by competitive people of high intellect, hard work, creativity, technological knowledge and skill!  Anyway, those pesky numbers, they must be liberals!

For a closer look at the data used to draw my conclusions (and to refute The Advocate’s columnist), please click on the following link to my blog: http://corbellopolitics.blogspot.com/2016/02/an-advocate-writer-does-it-again-why.html

 

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After 30 years, Louisiana still pursues its failed industrial inducement policy that only serves to empty state treasury

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Broadband, Internet, Budget, Business, Economy, Education, Exemptions, Incentives, Finances, Governor's Office, Higher Education, Incentives, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Revenue on February 24, 2016| 11 Comments »

As it turns out, that quote was attributed to Einstein in error but the fact that he never said it doesn’t alter the accuracy of the definition.

And for at least three decades, Louisiana along with the rest of the South, has insisted on following the same outdated industrial inducement policies first warned about in a 1986 report by MDC, Inc. (Manpower Development Corp.) of Durham, N.C.

One of the members of the MDC Panel on Rural Economic Development which produced the 16-page report Shadows in the Sunbelt was Dr. Norman Francis, then President of Xavier University and Chairman of Liberty Bank in New Orleans. https://gri.unc.edu/files/2011/10/Shadows-in-the-Sunbelt-86.pdf

That 1986 report was followed up in 2002 when MDC published a 44-page report entitled The State of the South. http://mdcinc.org/sites/default/files/resources/MDC_StateOfTheSouth_2014.pdf

Both reports said much the same thing: that the market had dried up. There were, the reports said, 15,000 industrial inducement committees in the South chasing 1500 industries—and if they relocated at all, it would be whether inducements in the form of tax incentives were offered or not. “At best, the states have assisted businesses in doing what they wanted to do anyway,” the ’86 report said.

“The factors which once made the rural South attractive (to industry) are now losing relevance,” it said. That’s because the South, which once boasted an abundance of low-cost labor, can no longer complete in the global market. Where American apparel workers would earn $6.52 an hour (remember, this was in 1986, but the numbers are still comparable), their counterparts in Korea and Taiwan earned $1 and $1.43, respectively, and Chinese workers made about 26 cents per hour.

Shadows in the Sunbelt called southern states’ tax incentives to lure business and industry a “buffalo hunt,” an analogy to the great buffalo hunts of the 19th century which nearly wiped out the North American bison population. “Yet the hunters (states) continue in their pursuit, hoping to bag one of the remaining hides,” the report said.

The stampede actually started in Mississippi 80 years ago through a program called “Balance Agriculture with Industry” whereby the state used municipal bonds to finance construction of new plants. That practice evolved into tax breaks offered to prospective industries as states began forfeiting property tax revenues to lure new jobs.

Today, Louisiana gives up about $3 billion each year in tax breaks and credits doled out in various programs, all of which are designed ostensibly to attract industry and raise the standard of living through more and better jobs but which in reality, do little of either.

What we’ve received instead are tax breaks for duck hunters, chicken plucking plants, Wal-Mart stores, fast food franchises and for industries that either (a) get the tax incentives but which soon shut down operations (Nucor Steel, General Motors) or (b) claim the creation of great numbers of new jobs but which actually are far fewer than announced.

In fact, the ’86 report said, a long-term study of job promises in South Carolina revealed that only 52 percent of the jobs promised actually materialized. In Louisiana, when Bobby Jindal ran for re-election in 2011, he claimed in TV ads that the Louisiana Department of Economic Development during his first term handed out incentives that brought 25,425 new jobs to Louisiana. The actual number, however, was only 6,729. That’s only 26.5 percent of the jobs promised. https://louisianavoice.com/2011/09/29/jindal-plays-fast-and-loose-with-jobs-claim-tv-campaign-ad/

The ’86 report said as much. “The costs of inducements offered to attract industry are also heavy—and in some cases counterproductive,” it said. Evidence showed that tax breaks did not significantly affect plant location decisions but states nevertheless open up the state treasury for companies to loot even though the benefits do not offset the costs. “Whatever the effectiveness of industrial recruiting in the past, current trends clearly indicate that its value as a tool for economic development is declining,” it said.

That was 30 years ago and we’re still giving away the store by adhering to a faulty ALEC-backed policy of favoring corporations over citizens.

As an alternative, the report recommended that in lieu of spending millions to attract out-of-state industries, states should implement programs to support local development and to encourage entrepreneurship.

The 2002 report, State of the South, only reiterated the recommendations of the study of 16 years earlier. It also should have sent a clear message to the Louisiana Legislature and to Bobby Jindal six years before he came to power. The latter report’s recommendations included:

  • Refocus state agencies responsible for economic development to pursue a broader, more strategic approach;
  • State governments should not measure success simply by the number of new jobs, but also in terms of higher incomes for people and improved competitiveness of regions within the states;
  • Modernize tax systems so that states have the fiscal capacity to provide excellent educatin, widely accessible job training, necessary infrastructure, and community amenities that enrich the soil for economic development;
  • Tighten performance criteria for industrial incentives—and encourage associations of Southern governors and legislators to reexamine the one-dimensional, incentives-driven recruitment strategy in favor of a comprehensive economic development strategy;
  • Dramatically expand efforts to erase serious deficits along the entire education continuum in the South, and bolster the education, health and well-being of children;
  • Draw on universities and community colleges to act as catalysts for state and regional economic advancement.

The 2002 report said high-poverty, sparsely-populated areas are last to get telecommunications infrastructure. More than 60 percent of the zip codes in the Delta areas of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana have no broadband internet provider which further widens the competitive gap for these areas. Yet Jindal rejected an $80 million federal grant to install broadband in Louisiana’s rural areas. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/11/80_million_grant_for_rural_bro.html

Because Louisiana, along with the rest of the South, made a commitment to low taxes, low public investment, and low education in return for jobs. That strategy trapped the state in a cycle of low-wage, low-skill industry “begetting more low-wage, low-skill industry,” and thus perpetuating the “Wal-Mart Syndrome.”

Mac Holladay, who served as head of economic development for three Southern states summed up the situation. “If we had put the vast majority of our economic development resources into incubators, small business services, export training, and existing business assistance instead of recruitment and overseas offices, it might have made a big difference.”

Tax abatements and other financial giveaways, the 2002 report said, “inevitably drain resources from schools, community colleges and universities—public investments that are crucial to long-term economic advancement. Incentives provide a better return on investment when they build a community’s infrastructure, provide workers with higher skills and attract jobs that pay markedly more than the prevailing wages.”

Even when Mississippi granted $68 million in incentives for Nissan’s assembly plant in Canton, a small town just north of Jackson, the company’s director of human resources told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that he could not name any Canton resident likely to be hired for one of the 5,300 jobs starting at $12 per hour. He attributed that to the town’s 27 percent poverty rate, 76 percent of out-of-wedlock births and 44 percent of adults without a high school diploma.

Carley Fiorina, former chief executive for Hewlett-Packard and more recently an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination said, “Keep your incentives and highway interchanges. We will go where the highly skilled people are.”

“Not so long ago,” said the 2002 State of the South report, “the South sought to build its economy by enticing companies from afar to relocate with the bait of cheap land, low taxes, and a surplus of hardworking but undereducated workers. That old recipe no longer works to feed families and sustain communities.

“No comprehensive strategy would be complete without further efforts to bolster public schools,” the report said.

“There must be a recognition that the ultimate challenge lies in the educational and economic advancement of people who have gotten left behind,” it said. “We must get the message out to every household, every poor household, that the only road out of poverty runs by the schoolhouse.

“The line that separates the well-education from the poorly education is the harshest fault line of all.”

Yet, Louisiana’s leaders insist on doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

And we keep electing the same failed policy makers over and over and over…

Insanity.

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Bobby Jindal’s parade of lies and distortions about state’s wonderful business climate exposed in yet another survey

Posted in Business, Corruption, Economy, Education, Ethics, Exemptions, Incentives, Finances, Governor's Office, Incentives, Jobs, Politicians on February 23, 2016| 20 Comments »

After eight years of Bobby Jindal’s whiz-kid ALEC-backed policies of awarding tax incentives, exemptions, and inducements to the business and industry lobby and his constant boasting to Iowans and to Fox News of his smashing successes, Louisiana remains mired as the second-worst state in the nation for business.

So says the latest report of 24/7 Wall St., a financial news and opinion company headquartered in Delaware which publishes more than 30 articles per days on economics, health, and politics.

For its most recent survey, 24/7 compiled 47 measures into eight separate categories to determine the business climate for each state: business costs, cost of living, economy, infrastructure, labor and human capital, quality of life, regulation, and technology and innovation.

The U.S. has seen 71 consecutive months of private sector job growth through January, the report noted. Despite the consistent improvement, which dates back to February 2009 (the month after Jindal was first sworn in as governor), the recovery has been uneven and some states have experienced substantially less growth than others.

One of those is Louisiana, where the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.5 percent was 21st lowest in the nation and average wages and salaries of $46,136 was 24th lowest.

Both of those ratings put the state at about the middle of the pack but other indicators showed a much bleaker picture. But only one other state, Maine, has experienced an annualized GDP decline over the past five years.

The 434 patents issued to residents in 2014 was 14th lowest in the nation. The projected working-age population growth through the year 2020 of minus 3.2 percent was seventh lowest and the 22.9 percent of adults with bachelor’s degrees was fifth lowest.

A decreasing working-age population, combined with the relatively low educational attainment means trouble for employers to fill positions with qualified job candidates. That could explain the high number of tax incentives to industries with low-paying, unskilled workers such as chicken plants and Wal Marts.

Almost 20 percent of Louisiana’s population lives below the poverty line, a statistic Jindal refused to address during his entire eight years of running for president. Moreover, the state unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. Both figures are higher than the national rates.

So, if Louisiana was second worst for business, which state was worst? Well, this time it wasn’t Mississippi which traditionally holds down the anchor spot. In this case it was West Virginia with lower GDP growth, lower average salaries, lower percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree (actually the lowest), lower number of patents issued to residents and a lower projected working-age population growth than Louisiana.

The best state for business? That would be Utah. Where Louisiana and West Virginia each had a minus projected working-age population growth rate, Utah’s projected working-age population growth of 20.5 percent was second-highest. Despite the healthy projected population growth, Utah had an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, fourth lowest in the nation.

Just more evidence of how Jindal was perfectly willing to twist and distort numbers to fit his ambitious but hopeless agenda.

Does anyone still wonder whether he was simply clueless or callously committed to his own ambitions?

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Sorry Jindal legacy lives on in threat to accreditation of Louisiana colleges and universities for lack of funding

Posted in Budget, Corruption, Economy, Education, Ethics, Finances, Governor's Office, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Revenue on February 12, 2016| 72 Comments »

The fecal matter is poised to strike the Westinghouse oscillating air manipulation device (the crap is about to hit the fan) and the citizens of Louisiana have no one to blame but Bobby Jindal (sorry, but I still can’t bring myself to call him governor) and the brain-dead legislators who, like so many sheep, for eight years obediently allowed him to lead the state off the fiscal cliff into the abyss.

In an LouisianaVoice exclusive, we have received a copy of a two-page letter from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) which, by comparison, is to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ warning Thursday as Black Sabbath is to Pat Boone. SACSCOC LETTER

The letter, dated Feb. 11 (Thursday) was addressed to Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne with copies to Edwards, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Eric LaFleur, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Cameron Henry, Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph C. Rallo, Ph.D., the Louisiana institutional members of SACSCOC, and SACSCOC Board of Trustees Chairman Mark E. Keenum, Ph.D.

At least one source told LouisianaVoice that Edwards possessed the letter at the time of his televised statewide address on Thursday but chose to attempt to soften the impact of the letter’s contents as much as possible while still sending a clear message to the legislature and the citizens of Louisiana.

SACSCOC is the regional accrediting body for 800 public, private and for-profit institutions of higher education in 11 southern states, including Louisiana. It is one of seven regional accrediting bodies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to assure quality in higher education and to serve as the gatekeeper to federal financial aid (Title IV) for students in the region (emphasis ours). http://www.sacscoc.org/

The letter was signed by SACSCOC President Belle S. Wheelan, Ph.D.

“SACSCOC has become aware of the fact that because of the lack of financial resources from the state, the institutions the commission accredits may have to cease operation prior to the end of the current semester,” she wrote. “This would mean (1) students would not be able to complete classes and, subsequently, earn no credit for courses taken this semester, potentially impacting their financial and eligibility, and (2) payroll will not be met and bills would not be paid placing employees in an untenable financial situation as well as negatively impacting the credit ratings of the institutions.”

She said federal regulations dictate that any institution suspending operations or closure in the next several months must provide SACSCOC with a plan for how students can continue at another college or university. The commission, she said, would have to approve such a plan and could send students to another state. “This would create a tremendous hardship on students who might be unable to get a job because the completion of their degree is needed or, worst case scenario, they might drop out of college all together (sic).”

She said if the schools are unable to demonstrate continued financial stability or continue to enroll students, “the board of SACSCOC would have to consider a public sanction of the institutions or a withdrawal of their accreditation. Public sanctions have a chilling effect on the enrollment of potential students and withdrawal of accreditation results in the loss of federal financial aid.”

Wheelan served as president of two institutions and as Secretary of Education for the State of Virginia. As such, she said, “I am painfully aware of the difficulty state leadership has in making budgetary decisions but the lack of state funding is putting Louisiana colleges and universities in serious risk and placing students’ academic careers in jeopardy. I know the challenges are many but I believe it is important for you to know the impact your decisions will have before you finalize your plans.”

Here is the response to the letter which Gov. Edwards gave LouisianaVoice on Friday:

“The previous administration’s choice to make the largest disinvestment in higher education in the nation over the past seven years was a choice that would inevitably lead to devastating results. It is time to turn that around. If the legislature chooses to raise no new revenue in the special session starting Sunday, universities and colleges across our state together will face more than $200 million in cuts this fiscal year—and will have to implement those cuts over the next four months. Even if the legislature chooses to raise the revenue I am proposing, higher education still faces $42 million in cuts and a $28 million TOPS funding shortage this year. This is unsustainable. I am working with our legislature to develop solutions to stabilize Louisiana’s budget this year and going forward. These responsible steps can only help us maintain accreditation for our higher education institutions, as our students deserve.”

Edwards, in his address Thursday, said that the TOPS scholarship program had suspended payments because of the state’s pending $870 million budget deficit and the looming $2 billion budget hole facing legislators for the next fiscal year which begins on July 1.

In order to awaken anyone who might have been dozing off or who were ticked off for missing Family Feud or Wheel of Fortune (one Baton Rouge TV station opted for Wheel instead of carrying the governor’s speech, choosing instead to stream the speech on its Web site), Edwards also threw in the biggest threat of all: the possible necessity of (gasp!) cancelling collegiate football in 2016.

Well, if losing TOPS didn’t do the trick, you can bet your school jersey that got the attention of Louisiana’s masses. I mean, how could we possibly survive without watching a bunch of oversized, tutored adolescents strut around on the field after pile-driving an opposing quarterback head first into the turf at Tiger Stadium to the delight of 100,000 screaming maniacs?

Why, it would be downright unamurican!

Sure enough, Internet news pages predictably latched onto the football hook in covering Louisiana’s fiscal implosion. http://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/golf/lsu-football-in-danger/vp-BBpqNEV

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/louisiana-budget-crisis-could-threaten-lsu-football-183232215.html

At least we now know what’s really important in this state (like we didn’t before?). Certainly it’s not the deplorable condition of the academic buildings falling down around LSU students that Bob Mann has been documenting in recent weeks on his outstanding blog post Something Like the Truth. http://bobmannblog.com/2016/01/24/sinking-flagship-a-new-look-at-lsus-middleton-library/

http://bobmannblog.com/2016/01/20/the-disgraceful-windows-of-lsus-hatcher-and-johnston-halls/

http://bobmannblog.com/2016/01/15/lsu-librarys-decay-is-symbolic-of-louisianas-misplaced-priorities/

http://bobmannblog.com/2016/01/29/mired-in-mediocrity-has-louisiana-higher-education-lost-the-battle/

But hey, who ever paid admission to watch a physics professor teach—other than students faced with ever-rising tuition costs?

And just how is all this legislators’ and Bobby Jindal’s fault?

The explosion of corporate tax breaks that were handed out during his administration, for openers.

Generous corporate tax incentives bleed revenue from state treasury, provide little other than political bragging rights

And there is the excellent series on corporate tax breaks published by the Baton Rouge Advocate: http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/

Along with the handouts to his corporate friends and supporters, Jindal also cut higher education more than any other state, another issue covered in depth albeit somewhat belatedly by The Advocate. State support to colleges and universities was cut by 55 percent during Jindal’s eight years with cuts having to be made up by painful tuition increases.

http://blueprintlouisiana.org/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/618

LSU President F. King (I would absolutely change my name—or drop the initial) Alexander fired the first real warning shot across the legislature’s bow last April with he revealed he had already drawn up plans for financial exigency (bankruptcy) as yet another higher education budget cut loomed.

It worked, in a fashion. The legislature responded by passing a phantom tuition increase offset by a phantom tax credit which was supposed to fix the problem (who bought into that?), but only after consulting with the god of No New Taxes, Grover Norquist. Norquist has never held public office but yet he mysteriously controls the puppet strings of legislators and congressmen as if holding the sword of Damocles over their collective heads with his idiotic “No New Taxes” pledge. Did the Republicans learn anything from George H.W. Bush’s infamous “Read my lips: no new taxes” promise in his 1988 nomination acceptance speech? Apparently not.

And therein lies the real problem. Why in hell did our legislators, led by a delusional man who would be president if only he could break the 1 percent barrier in the Iowa polls, answer to someone like Norquist and not the citizens of this state? That question needs to be addressed repeatedly to every legislator who went along with that shell game last year. “Mr. Legislator: why did you acquiesce to Grover Norquist like some pathetic, starving little puppy begging for table scraps?”

“For years, Louisiana’s colleges have stabilized funding with tuition and fee increases to offset declining direct support from the state,” said Public Affairs Research Council (PAR) President Robert Travis Scott when shown the letter by LouisianaVoice. “But we’ve reached the limits of those tactical maneuvers. Now we need a strategy to provide long-term financial stability for higher education while also getting a streamlined and accountable educational product in return,” he said.

State Rep. J. Rogers Pope (R-Denham Springs), a member of the House Education Committee, said the letter “makes you want to throw up.” He said the message in the letter is “devastating to all parents and students as well as our colleges. I don’t see that the legislative body will permit that to happen.”

Pope, a former school principal and retired Superintendent of Livingston Parish Schools, said he hoped that the legislature and Edwards can “forget partisan politics and work together to get us out of this deep hole dug by the previous administration. Losing accreditation is a major blow to the state’s financial and workforce capabilities.”

Another source said the situation “is dire” and that was why football was mentioned by Edwards in Thursday’s address. “If we lose accreditation, it’s all over regardless of how much money TAF (the Tiger Athletic Foundation, which helps support LSU athletics) has.”

The source, who asked not to be identified said, “This is the beginning of the multi-institutional collapse of historic proportions I’ve been predicting for years.”

As I have said here before, if you, the citizens of this state, choose to sit idly by and not question the actions, motives and obligations of legislators to lobbyists and corporate contributors, then you have become as much of the problem as Jindal and the legislators.

It’s up to you to hold your elected official accountable. If you don’t, if you can’t pull yourself away from football or Wheel of Fortune or Bachelor long enough to learn what your elected officials are doing, then stop whining.

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