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Is the bloom fading from the rose that is Bobby Jindal? Perhaps so. Let’s take a look at a few recent developments

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, Health Care, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Privatization on January 17, 2012| 2 Comments »

BATON ROUGE (CNS)—Gov. Bobby Jindal’s façade of invulnerability appears to be, if not crumbling, then at least in dire need of some major touch-up work.

Barely past steamrolling an opponent who had only about $39 in campaign funds and who yet somehow still managed 17 percent of the vote, Jindal finds himself:

• at odds with the state’s attorney general;

• joined at the hip with a loser in the presidential primaries;

• linked to a firm with contracts in Louisiana that is under scrutiny for cost overruns on a contract with the State of Texas;

• seeing his Medicaid privatization program, being run by several campaign contributors, get off to a less than auspicious start.

All that without re-hashing the ongoing shell game of just who is administering his first privatization project—the Office of Risk Management—at any given time. ORM has been handed off to the third company in just over a year since initially being taken over by F.A. Richard and Associates (FARA).

Nor have we, or anyone else, for that matter, bothered to mention the undercurrent of resentment between Jindal and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne.

It’s a poorly-kept secret that Jindal wanted ally Billy Nungesser as the lieutenant governor so that Jindal could privatize the Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in order to get his hands on that agency’s $30 million in statutory dedications. Jindal, in fact, hosted a $5,000-a-pop fundraiser on Tuesday to help Nungesser pay off his $1 million campaign debt. It was one of the few fundraisers Jindal attended in-state.

Which brings up another bone of contention between Jindal and Dardenne: Jindal over the past two years has spent an extraordinary amount of time out of state—and continues to do so—attending fundraisers for himself, for other candidates, and to hawk his book.

Yet, not once has he extended the courtesy to Dardenne the second in line for the governor’s office should something happen to Jindal, of informing the lieutenant governor on those occasions when he was out of the state.

His endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the Republican presidential nomination—along with the candidate—is in the tank. After a contentious round of debates, caucuses, primaries and millions of dollars spent by PACs by nearly all the GOP hopefuls, it appears that the nomination, barring a major misstep, is Mitt Romney’s to lose.

Speaking of Texas, the Texas General Land Office has placed tighter controls on Kansas City engineering firm HNTB which encountered cost overrun problems with its contract to manage federal grants to Texas communities hit by hurricanes Ike and Dolly.

Gary Hagood, deputy commissioner for financial management at the Texas General Land Office, last week testified before the Texas Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs that HNTB’s no-bid contract may have been improperly procured and that an amendment more than doubling the contract from its original $69 million to $144 million may also have been improper.

The land office assumed responsibility for the contract after the former agency in charge, the Department of Rural Affairs, was dissolved. If an audit determines that funds were improperly spent, the state could be required to repay millions of dollars to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

HNTB was also was the lead consultant for Perry’s proposed Trans-Texas toll road system. Since 2007, the firm was paid $112 million by the Texas Department of Transportation for various projects, including $38 million for the toll road project, which was scrapped in 2009.

Ray Sullivan, Perry’s former chief of staff who now works with his presidential campaign, is a former lobbyist for HNTB, which has made nearly $35,000 in political campaigns to Perry since 2007.

The company has at least three contracts totaling $4 million with the State of Louisiana and while it has made several political contributions under its corporate name—$10,000 to the Republican Party of Louisiana, $1,900 to Jindal, and $2,500 to Nungesser, among others—it appears to prefer making its contributions through corporate officers:

• Paul Yarossi, a director in HNTB’s New York corporate offices—$5,000 to Jindal in February of 2011;

• Michael McGaugh of Baton Rouge, a manager for a HNTB-ABMB joint venture—$2,500 to Jindal in June of 2007 and $5,000 in November of 2010;

• John Basilica of Baton Rouge, a manager for a HNTB-CPE joint venture—$2,500 to Jindal in February of 2011;

• Mary D. Hinkebein of Carmel, Indiana—$1,000 to Jindal in February of 2011. Mary Hinkebein is the wife of Keith Hinkebein, a director with HNTB Holdings, Ltd.

HNTB contracts with Louisiana include one for $750,000 with the Department of Natural Resources to provide geotechnical assistance for coastal restoration projects on an as-needed basis; $300,000 with the Department of Transportation and Development to serve as an expert witness “with specialized knowledge of professional engineering fields,” and $3 million with the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration “to provide the means for engineering assistance for coastal restoration projects on an as-needed basis.”

The $3 million contract is a joint venture with CPE, Inc.

As if that were not enough, barely a month after being hailed as a “hallmark moment,” the first phase of the rollout of the state’s new “Bayou Health” privatized health care system for the state’s poor and uninsured has been plagued by delays, technical difficulties and unanswered questions.

On Dec. 12, Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) Secretary Bruce Greenstein said all five health plans contracted to manage care under the Bayou Health program were ready to begin operations in nine southeast Louisiana parishes. By mid-2012, he said, the plan would cover two-thirds of the state’s 1.2 million Medicaid recipients.

“This is a hallmark moment in our state’s journey toward improved health outcomes,” Greenstein said.

Instead, callers have complained of long wait times, incorrect information and technical difficulties in dealing with DHH and health-care providers have bombarded DHH with so many questions about how the new privatized system works that DHH has begun holding daily conference calls to address concerns.

The five companies participating in the Bayou Health system include Amerigroup, LaCare, Louisiana Health Connections, Community Health Solutions and United Healthcare.

All five have made campaign contributions to Jindal either directly or indirectly:

• United Healthcare made seven contributions totaling $25,000 to Jindal between November 2003 and December 2009 and $5,000 to the Republican Party of Louisiana in December of 2010;

• Louisiana Healthcare Connections Vice-President Jesse Hunter of St. Louis, MO., contributed $1,500 to Jindal in October of 2008 and McGlinchey Stafford law firm, Louisiana Healthcare’s agent of record, made six contributions totaling $22,000 between September 2003 and March 2011;

• Amerigroup made three contributions totaling $5,500 to Jindal in November of 2003 and in February and September of 2011;

• Community Health Solutions contributed $5,000 to Jindal in January of 2011 and John Fortunato, Jr., vice-president of the corporation’s agent of record, contributed $1,000 to Jindal in May of 2007;

• Neither LaCare nor any of its officers were found to have made any direct contributions to Jindal but the company’s agent of record, Adams and Reese law firm of New Orleans, made five contributions totaling more than $19,000 to Jindal between September of 2003 and December 2008.

Both Adams and Reese and McGlinchey Stafford law firms, it should be noted, also served as registered agents for other corporations, making it impossible to tie their contributions directly to the Bayou Health participating companies.

Recently, when LouisianaVoice made a formal request of the Division of Administration (DOA) for copies of the state contract report provided the Louisiana Civil Service Commission at its monthly meeting, DOA legal counsel David Boggs replied that no such report existed.

The same request was then made to Civil Service and that agency complied immediately.

The report from Civil Service shows that the contracts with LaCare (through its parent company, Amerihealth Mercy of LA., Inc.), Louisiana Health Connections and Amerigroup are for $985.8 million each while Community Health Solutions and United Healthcare have contracts for $68 million each.

The combined amount of the five contracts is almost $3.1 billion.

Finally, there is the simmering rift between Jindal and the state’s elected legal representative, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, over procedural differences in the ongoing litigation over the BP Gulf oil spill.

Caldwell accuses Jindal of interfering with his handling of the case while Jindal’s chief of staff Stephen Waguespack, himself an attorney, claims the governor has every right to involve himself as the state’s chief executive officer.

At issue is the method in which each prefers to pay attorneys representing the state. Caldwell wants to pay the lawyers a set rate as work is performed while Jindal wants to pay a percentage of the final judgment.

The difference could mean millions of dollars to the state.

Federal Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans has ordered plaintiff states, of which Louisiana is one, to set aside 4 percent of what could be billions of dollars in settlement money.

Jindal, to the outrage of Caldwell, signed off on a legal document in which he agreed not to appeal any awards made for legal fees.

It is rare, if not virtually unheard of, for one to sign away rights to appeal a verdict. Such action locks the party in on whatever unpredictable decision might come down.

Caldwell said that by agreeing to the 4 percent set-aside for lawyers, Jindal is in violation of both state law and the state constitution to direct money away from the state treasury to private lawyers.

He said his attempts to settle the dispute met with accusations by Jindal’s aides that Caldwell was trying to intimidate the governor.

Waguespack countered that Jindal is not afraid to meet Caldwell.

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Vendetta or legitimate investigation? Legislative Auditor spends a dime to recover a nickel from LDWF employee

Posted in Auditor, Governor's Office on January 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

BATON ROUGE (CNS)—Did the Legislative Auditor’s office allow itself to be used to build a case against an employee of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) as part of a political vendetta?

If not, investigators certainly went to great lengths to build a case against Wayne Sweeney, manager of the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area.

An investigation by the auditor’s office indicates that Sweeney was paid $505, excluding benefits, for hours he did not work and that he used a state vehicle to run personal errands.

The audit report, however, has all the overtones of a personal dispute between Sweeney and his supervisor, LDWF Biologist Director Osborne Baker.

And the case could also be made that the state spent considerably more on its investigation of Sweeney than the amount for which he is accused of being overpaid.

In his cover letter, Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera said the audit was conducted “to determine the credibility of certain allegations regarding the management of White Lake Wetlands Conservation area.

“Our audit consisted primarily of inquiries and the examination of selected financial records and other documentation. The scope of our audit was significantly less than that required by Governmental Auditing Standards,” he added.

The audit noted that on Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, Sweeney submitted his time sheet for the two weeks ended Aug. 21. State work weeks run Monday through Sunday. Sweeney’s time sheet reflected that he worked 83.5 hours for the two week period. That included 80 regular hours and 3.5 hours of compensatory time.

However, from Aug. 15 to Aug. 18, the audit said, “we monitored Mr. Sweeney’s daily activities and found he worked 22.5 of the 32.5 hours he recorded on his time sheet for these days.” Accordingly, Sweeney should not have claimed nor been paid for the additional 10 hours and was not entitled to 3.5 hours of compensatory time. Sweeney is an unclassified employee earning a salary of $105,040 per year. That computes to an hourly rate of $50.50 per hour.

“By claiming hours for which he did not work, Mr. Sweeney may have violated state law,” the audit said.

LDWF provides Sweeney with a 2005 Toyota Sequoia and a Fueltrac card with which to purchase fuel. He was allowed to keep the vehicle at his home when it is not in use for state business. The audit report says that Sweeney used the vehicle to run personal errands for the four days he was observed by auditors.

Sweeney, who lives in Lake Charles, was allowed to maintain an office in Lake Charles in order that he would not have to make the 138-mile round trip to and from the White Lake property in Vermilion Parish.

Because of this, Baker said that even though he suspected that Sweeney was not working 40-hour weeks, he still approved his time sheets because he did not have the resources to verify his hours.

Around Aug. 15, when surveillance was first begun, Sweeney commented to a neighbor that he believed he was being followed. The neighbor, Scott Baily, an investigator for the attorney general’s office confirmed that he observed a vehicle in a nearby parking lot that appeared to be surveilling someone.

By assigning an auditor to follow Sweeney around for four eight-hour days and then compiling the written audit report, it would appear that the amount spent on the investigation more than doubled the $505 for which the report said he was not entitled.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, by contrast, took numerous out-of-state trips during 2011 to promote his book and to attend fund-raisers for himself and others, all while continuing to draw his salary.

Legislators do not generally convene on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during legislative sessions even though they are paid per diem for those days.

All of which begs the question of whether the audit report was requested as a means of building a case against Sweeney.

White Lake was owned and managed by British Petroleum America Production (BP) until July 8, 2002, when the property was donated to the State of Louisiana. On that same date, the state entered into a cooperative endeavor agreement with White Lake Preservation, Inc., a 501(c) 3 corporation, for management of the property.

Sweeney, as an employee of BP since 1980, was manager of White Lake and his employment was transferred to White Lake Preservation, Inc., once the cooperative endeavor agreement was executed.

On Jan. 1, 2005, Act 613 of the 2004 regular legislative session became effective whereby management of White Lake was transferred from White Lake Preservation, Inc., to LDWF, effective July 1, 2005.

At that time, Sweeney became an employee of LDWF.

Baker told auditors he attempted to move Sweeney’s office from Lake Charles, take away Sweeney’s vehicle and to restructure the management of White Lake. He said his efforts, if successful, would have resulted in better management of White Lake by Sweeney and would allowed Baker to better supervise Sweeney.

Baker and LDWF Assistant Secretary Jimmy Anthony each said that LDWF management initially support Baker’s plan but subsequently denied the plan after Sweeney spoke to LDWF Secretary Robert Barham who allowed him to keep his Lake Charles office and his vehicle.

Barham confirmed the conversation with Sweeney, according to the audit report. He said he made his decision after being told moving Sweeney to White Lake could result in the loss of some of the White Lake corporate hunters.

Sweeney subsequently reimbursed the state the $505 but his attorney, Thomas Lorenzi of Lake Charles, said he did so while not admitting to not performing work for the pay received. Moreover, Sweeney has been reassigned to the White Lake office and is no longer allowed home storage of his state vehicle.

In a five-page response, Lorenzi noted that Sweeney emailed documents to his home in July of last year so that he could review them that night at his home. Lorenzi provided copies of emails to substantiate his claim.

On Aug. 15, one of the days auditors observed Sweeney, Lorenzi said that Sweeney had two telephone conversations with whooping crane biologist Tandy Perkins. These conversations occurred at 8:34 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. but were not recorded on Sweeney’s time sheet. Lorenzi also cited several occasions in which Sweeney performed work for his office outside normal work hours.

One of William Shakespeare’s plays was entitled Much Ado About Nothing.

That somehow seems an appropriate way to describe Mr. Sweeney’s case.

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Got contract? If not and you want to play, be prepared to pay

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Contract, Contracts, Ethics, Governor's Office, Privatization on January 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

In September of 2000, the City of New Orleans awarded a contract to SMG Crystal for the management and operation of the New Orleans Cultural Center in an effort to reduce the city’s $915,000 deficit incurred in 1999.

The agreement called for SMG, which also manages the Louisiana Superdome, the New Orleans Arena and the Baton Rouge River Center, to spend $25,000 per year to market and promote the Cultural Center and for the city to pay SMG $175,000 per year, plus an incentive fee based on the amount by which SMG reduced the operating deficit.

The Cultural Center had 19 classified civil service employees, 10 of whom accepted employment with SMG and nine who remained with the city in the Department of Property Management at their same pay rate.

The New Orleans Civil Service Commission filed suit against the city because the agreement, it said, was entered into in violation of its rules that required commission approval prior to privatization of any governmental function.

Rules adopted by the commission specify that:

• Contracts for personal or professional services shall be approved only when such services require unique or specialized skills not presently required of positions in the classified service;

• Any contract for privatization of a governmental service shall contain a provision that thoroughly explains the effects of privatization on the status of current employees, as well as any specific contractual commitments entered into by the parties, which affect the interests of the displaced employees;

• All contracts for personal or professional services first shall be transmitted to the Civil Service Department for initial consideration and review, and again for final approval after all other aspects of contractual review have been completed.

The upshot of that legal action was a ruling, upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court, that the city must submit for prior approval—or disapproval—by the civil service commission any agreement calling for privatization of any city department or agency.

The ruling said, “If…the commission finds that no civil servants will be involuntarily displaced from the civil service, or, if they will, that the contract was entered into for reasons of efficiency and economy and not for politically motivated reasons (emphasis our) as to the civil servants, it should approve the contract.

“However, if the commission has good reason to believe that civil servants will be involuntarily displaced and that the contract was entered into, not for reasons of efficiency and economy, but for politically motivated reasons, it may refuse to approve the contract,” it said.

Because of this decision, the Louisiana Civil Service Commission receives a printout at its monthly meetings. This printout contains a list of all proposed state contracts for the commission’s review. If there are no objections by the commission, the list is then forwarded to the Office of Contractual Review, located in the Division of Administration, for final approval.

The printout ostensibly is to assure the commission members that:

• No state civil servants will be displaced by the contract, and;

• There are no state civil service employees (or at least an insufficient number of civil servants) who are qualified to performed the needed services.

But It would require more than a single meeting of the civil service commission for its members to make such a determination on each of the proposed contracts.

That’s because the latest printout is 208 pages with an average of 10 proposed contracts per page. The dollar amount on these 2,000 contracts? Almost $4.1 billion.

There is no possible way the commission members can make an intelligent decision on the merits of each and every one of these proposed contracts.

And you can be sure that those in positions to reward political campaign contributors are fully aware of that.

Take C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates of Lafayette, for example.

That firm landed a lucrative $3 million contract with the Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration to “provide engineering services for coastal protection and restoration projects.”

That’s a pretty vague description of services and fails to address the issue of whether or not there were qualified state employees to perform the work.

But Fenstermaker and his firm contributed $20,500 to Jindal’s gubernatorial campaigns from 2003 to 2009.

Likewise, Providence Engineering of Baton Rouge, which gave Jindal more than $2,700 in 2007, has a $750,000 contract with the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration to “provide engineering services for coastal protection and restoration projects on an as-needed basis.”

Here are a few others:

• BCG Engineering & Consulting: $3 million contract “to provide engineering services for coastal protection and restoration projects on an as-needed basis.” BCG contributed $5,000 in January of 2010 for a Jindal “fun hunt.” BCG also contributed about $100,000 more to other candidates;

• HNTB Corp., which made an in-kind contribution of $1,947 last March, has two such contracts with the Office of Coastal Protection—one for $3 million and another for $750,000;

• ASC State & Local Solutions made two $5,000 contributions to Jindal in 2003 as well as an additional $48,000 to 11 other candidates, including State Treasurer John Kennedy, then legislator Bill Cassidy, then-Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The contributions appear to have paid handsome dividends; ACS has consulting contracts worth $74.5 million and $13.95 million with the Office of Community Development and the Department of Children and Family Services, respectively;

• Volkert & Associates: $892,350 contract with the Division of Administration for “relocation assistance services for University Medical Center in New Orleans in accordance with federal relocation guidelines (seven contributions to Jindal between 2003 and 2011 totaling $7,000);

• T. Baker Smith & Son: $3 million contract with the Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration for “engineering services for coastal protection and restoration projects on an as-needed basis,” and a $250,000 contract with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for “engineering services for the Atchafalaya Basin Program.” T. Baker Smith contributed $5,000 to Jindal in 2008;

• Ardaman & Associates: $3 million contract with Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration “to provide geotechnical services for coastal protection and restoration projects on an as-needed basis.” Contributed $1,000 to Jindal in 2008;

• Morris P. Hebert, Inc.: $1 million contract with Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration “to provide the means for surveying assistance for coastal protection for coastal restoration projects on an as-needed basis. Hebert contributed $1,000 to Jindal in 2007;

• Peter Meyer Advertising of New Orleans: $5 million contract for advertising and communication services for the Department of Economic Development; $8,000 in contributions to former Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu;

• Trumpet Consulting of New Orleans: $3.9 million contract with the Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (which is part of the lieutenant governor’s office) “for creative, marketing, media, brand identity for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism; $1,000 contribution to Landrieu by Trumpet in 2006 and $1,000 to Jindal by Trumpet agent David Lukinovich;

• URS Corp.: Eight contracts with seven separate agencies for more than $4.5 million; five separate contributions to Jindal totaling $12,500, all in 2003;

• C&C Technologies: $3 million with the DNR to “provide the means for surveying assistance for coastal restoration projects on an as-needed basis; $5,000 contribution to Jindal in 2007 by C&C President Thomas Chance;

• CH2M Hill Corp.: $12 million contract with the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management to “provide environmental science consultant services,” $3 million contract with DNR to “provide engineering assistance for coastal restoration projects; $16,000 in four contributions to Jindal from 2003 to 2011and more than $50,000 to several other candidates;

• Sigma Corp.: $750,000 contract with the Governor’s Office of Coastal Restoration and Management and a $250,000 contract with the Department of Natural Resources; $5,750 in two contributions to Jindal in 2003 and 2008 and $10,500 in three contributions to Jindal between 2003 and 2010 by Sigma President Miles Williams;

• CSRS, Inc.: $2,125,674 contract with the Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration “to augment existing professional engineering staff.” CSRS made a $5,000 contribution to Jindal in 2008. CSRS Vice President Curtis Soderberg made contributions of $5,000 to Jindal in each of his three gubernatorial campaigns for a total of $15,000;

• Value Options, Inc.: $13.75 million contract with the Office of Group Benefits to “provide a fully-insured managed mental health and substance abuse treatment service. Value Options contributed $5,000 to Jindal in 2008.

Next, we will take a look at contracts which call for services that it would seem state employees could perform and at contracts that simply defy logic.

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To limit exposure to official actions, make announcement late Friday or late Thursday before big weekend holiday

Posted in Governor's Office, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Politics, Teague, Transparency on January 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It is a long-held tradition at all levels of government that anytime an agency does not want attention drawn to any official action, make the announcement late on a Friday afternoon when most of the “working” media have left for the weekend.

If that Friday just happens to be on the eve of a major holiday like Christmas or New Year’s, so much the better.

That’s what happened with the Division of Administration (DOA) and two news releases about major personnel changes recently. We waited until now to assist DOA in disseminating the stories.

DOA actually issued its official announcements not on Fridays but toward the close of business on Thursday, Dec. 22, and Thursday, Dec. 29 because, well, both Fridays were official state holidays for Christmas and New Year’s, respectively. It had the same effect, of course, as a Friday release on a normal work week: near zero media attention and less than zero media follow-up.

On Thursday, Dec. 22, the official news release went out announcing the appointment of Charles Calvi, Jr., to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Office of Group Benefits (OGB).

The following Thursday, on Dec. 29, it was announced that Mark Brady was leaving as DOA Deputy Commissioner of Administration.

Both announcements were made by Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater.

Actually, the second news release was not so much to announce Brady’s departure as to proclaim the appointment of Assistant Commissioner Ray Stockstill as his successor. In fact, Rainwater devoted precisely two sentences to Brady:

“Rainwater also thanked and praised outgoing Deputy Commissioner Mark Brady, who will assist the Division in transition through January before returning to the private sector,” the news release said. The release quoted Rainwater as saying, “‘Mark’s contribution has been invaluable, and I am grateful for the integrity, intelligence, and passion that he brought to the job and that I’m sure will serve him well in his next endeavors.’”

That’s it. Nothing about his tenure at DOA, nothing about his previous background, nothing about his reasons for leaving or his future plans except that he was “returning to the private sector.”

There were no mentions of the previous two OGB CEOs, both of whom left or were fired in 2011. Nor was there any explanation of how the two moves may be inter-connected or how Brady was at the forefront of last spring’s efforts to sell off OGB to private investors.

Tommy Teague was fired by Brady last April 15 when Brady and Rainwater concluded that Teague was not sufficiently enthusiastic about the administration’s proposed selloff of group benefits and its $500 million surplus.

He was replaced by Scott Kipper, who resigned effective June 24, after a controversial report by Chaffe & Associates of New Orleans did not square up with the administration’s insistence that the OGB sale and accompanying elimination of 149 jobs would be good for the state, 62,000 state employees and even more retirees and dependents.

When the Chaffe report did not say what Gov. Jindal desired, the administration subsequently retained Morgan Keegan to conduct a financial analysis of OGB preparatory to a second effort to sell off the agency despite vocal opposition from retired state employees, retired teachers and a state district judges’ association.

The Morgan Keegan report is expected to be finalized and submitted to the state in February but if events play out the way they did with the Chaffe report, don’t expect Rainwater to be forthcoming with contents of the report. Rainwater, despite harsh criticism from legislators, steadfastly refused to release the Chaffe report to lawmakers.

Rainwater did not hesitate to throw Brady under the bus during Brady’s testimony before the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. Committee members, lead by Sen. Ed Murray, subjected Brady to withering criticism over the administration’s refusal to release the report as Rainwater busied himself texting even as Brady twisted in the wind.

Following the Chaffe debacle and Jindal’s embarrassing setback in his efforts to sell three state prisons, the administration pulled back on its privatizing efforts. In the interim, the Office of Risk Management (ORM) has been transferred to a third private firm in apparent violation of the state’s contract with F.A. Richard & Associates (FARA).

The state paid FARA $68 million to take ORM off its hands and then amended that contract by another $6.8 million less than two weeks before FARA was sold to Avizent Risk Management Solutions of Ohio which was in turn recently purchased by York Claims Service of New York.

The state’s original contract with FARA specifically prohibits any transfer of contractual services without prior written consent. When a public records request was made for written consent to transfer the contract, DOA responded that no such documents exist.

Rainwater announced nothing further will be done toward the sale of OGB until early 2013. And while OGB proposed a rate increase of about three percent for the coming year, the administration insisted on at least a five percent bump. The bigger increase will obviously make the agency far more attractive to potential buyers.

Calvi has more than 40 years of experience in the healthcare, insurance and employee benefits fields. For seven years he worked for Gulf South Health Plan. He also worked eight years as CEO of BestCare, Inc., where he developed and owned the first Physician Hospital Network in the state.

Stockstill is a retire-rehire employee who had previously worked in DOA as state director for planning and budget until being named assistant commissioner in February of 2010. He retired from that $180,000 per year position, effective Christmas Day of 2010 and returned as a re-hire two days later.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Governor's Office, Notable Quotables, Teague, Transparency on December 21, 2011| 1 Comment »

“Sticks and stones may break his bones, but if you dare criticize Republican Governor and Presidential-aspirant Bobby Jindal’s policies, it could get you fired.”

–Asian Pacific Americans for Progress web page, Oct. 12, 2009.

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