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Archive for the ‘Governor’s Office’ Category

Jindalistas’ ploy to move appointees to protected classified positions facing several obstacles, according to Civil Service

Posted in Civil Service, Elections, Ethics, Governor's Office, Politicians, State Agencies on September 23, 2015| 9 Comments »

Furtive plans by some agency heads to move certain unclassified employees into Civil Service classified positions before Bobby Jindal leaves office could be thwarted by Civil Service rules designed expressly to prevent such maneuvers.

LouisianaVoice received reports on Wednesday (Sept. 23) of plans to move some of Jindal’s appointees from unclassified to classified positions as a means of protecting them from potential termination by the new governor when he takes office on Jan. 11.

“Since the clock is ticking on the Jindal administration,” wrote one state employee, “his department heads are converting…unclassified folks into classified positions. Only trouble is, those positions don’t pay that well. [I] overheard a conversation by some HR (Human Resources) folks that they don’t know how to make the slip switch and include a $30,000 add-on to the classified position.”

But former Civil Service Director Shannon Templet, in one of her last actions before accepting the position of director of human resources for the Louisiana House of Representatives, may have put the kibosh on any such plans—or at least made any such attempt considerably more difficult.

General Circular 2015-033, issued to heads of state agencies and human resource directors on Sept. 1, addresses that very scenario although there still may be a small window of opportunity to circumvent a prohibition against converting appointees to unclassified positions. CIVIL SERVICE CIRCULAR 2015-033

The circular alluded to Civil Service Rule 22.2 which says all appointing authorities shall obtain the Civil Service Director’s approval before making a permanent appointment to any job at specified pay grades.

But the policy governing such appointments is applicable only between the date of any election for a statewide elected office (Oct. 24, 2015) through Inauguration Day (Jan. 11, 2016).

There appear to be no restrictions to such transfers between now and Oct. 24, which is nearly a full month away and some movement may have already occurred.

“Unless the director grants permission, vacancies covered under this rule cannot be filled on a permanent basis through a probationary or permanent appointment into a regular ongoing position,” the circular says. “This also applies to promotions and transfers into an agency while on permanent status.

“The process will be handled as follows:

  • Vacancies affected by this rule shall not be announced without obtaining prior approval of the director by means of a letter which includes justification explaining why the vacancy needs to be filled.
  • Agencies are to send letters requesting approval to fill to the Staffing Division.
  • Agencies will be notified via email of the director’s decision.
  • Verification of approval must be attached to the exam plan…for audit purposes.

Even if an appointive (non-classified) position should be converted to a classified one, the additional task of adjusting the position’s salary poses yet another problem—unless the appointee would agree to a major pay cut.

Because Civil Service classifications govern pay scales for every classified position in state government—as opposed to unclassified positions, which have no such restrictions—appointive posts generally pay much higher salaries than civil service jobs. Converting from unclassified to classified necessarily would dictate significant reductions in pay.

But even if that wrinkle could somehow be worked out, there is one more deterrent to such an underhanded tactic. Any transfer, lateral or otherwise, or new appointment generally carries with it a six-month (180 days) probationary period during which the employee may be terminated without cause.

As of today (Sept. 23), there are exactly 110 days until a new governor takes office.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Elections, Governor's Office, Notable Quotables on September 22, 2015| 11 Comments »

“If you can find me a Muslim candidate who is a Republican, who will fight hard to protect religious liberty, who will respect the Judeo-Christian heritage of America, who will be committed to destroying ISIS and radical Islam, who will condemn cultures that treat women as second class citizens and who will place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution, then yes, I will be happy to consider voting for him or her.”

—Bobby Jindal, in perhaps his most absurd utterance yet, in responding hypothetically to the question put to Dr. Ben Carson on whether or not he would vote for an Islamic candidate for president.

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Jindal finds winning tactic in heroic presidential nomination drive: challenge opponents to debate, do exorcism on Trump

Posted in Elections, Governor's Office, Health Care on September 22, 2015| 9 Comments »

Bobby Jindal, shut out of the big boy pants Republican stupid party debates, may have found just the ticket to catapult him past “none of the above” in the GOP presidential nomination mash-up: hold—or at least issue the challenge to hold—one-on-one debates with a pre-selected opponent.

It is the boldest of a series of stupid bold tactics employed recently by Jindal, who has languished somewhere around 238th among candidates and non-candidates from all recognized and unrecognized political parties.

It’s a lead pipe cinch to give him instant street creds in the bare knuckles food fight into which the Republican dialog has descended.

And as his ace in the hole, he also has reached out to the Islamic community for support by being the first—and only—candidate of any stripe to openly admit he would vote for a Muslim candidate for president….provided he or she is a Christian.

Here is what he actually said in response to the question posed to neurosurgeon Ben Carson on whether or not he would vote for a Muslim presidential candidate:

“If you can find me a Muslim candidate who is a Republican, who will fight hard to protect religious liberty, who will respect the Judeo-Christian heritage of America, who will be committed to destroying ISIS and radical Islam, who will condemn cultures that treat women as second class citizens and who will place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution, then yes, I will be happy to consider voting for him or her.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bobby-jindal-vote-for-muslim_56002233e4b00310edf7c308

Cristian Farias, writing for The Huffington Post, wrote “It’s not clear exactly what the governor means by ‘respecting the Judeo-Christian heritage of America,’ especially since the framers of the Constitution specifically declined to establish a national religion. But between that and the Bible thing, Jindal’s ideal Muslim candidate kind of sounds like … a Christian, basically.”

Of course Jindal, always covering his bases, offered what he considered to be an alternative to finding a good Christian Muslim candidate. “If you can’t (find a candidate like that), I’ll settle for voting for a Christian Governor from Louisiana,” he said.

Next, according to information leaked to LouisianaVoice from his campaign headquarters in downtown Shongaloo, he will make the same offer to any potential candidate from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community….provided he or she subscribes to the one-man, one-woman marriage covenant—and so long as none attempt to apply for a marriage license in Rowan County, Kentucky.

There has been no word yet of whether he intends to extend a similar offer to the hordes of illegal immigrants invading the U.S. who refuse to assimilate and go to work.

But we digress. Back to the debates.

His debate ploy has already worked in thinning out the ranks of presidential wannabes.

It was on Aug. 22 that Jindal laid down the gauntlet in challenging Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to appear with him on stage “anywhere, anytime” to debate the pair’s respective alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare.

And apparently Jindal’s latest ploy also serves to send out the message that old alliances mean nothing in the dog-eat-dog arena of presidential politics. You may remember that Jindal spent considerable time in 2011 and 2012 cavorting around Wisconsin in support of Walker in the latter’s successful efforts to fight a recall effort. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/declared-winner-wisconsin-recall-gov-scott-walker/story?id=16502469

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-scott-walker-hypothesis-faces-a-test-in-wisconsin/

http://wtvr.com/2012/06/06/walker-survives-recall-effort-in-wisconsin-cnn-projects/

“I have the backbone, the experience, and the bandwidth (bandwidth?) to get this job done,” Jindal said with all the confidence of a master debater. “I can’t speak for Scott (they’re on a first name basis, you know). Maybe he’s intimidated, maybe he’s not ready to debate, but we are.”

Apparently it was the backbone part (or perhaps that reference to the dreaded bandwidth) that intimidated Walker. Whatever, it appeared to work.

On Monday (September 21), as the summer of 2015 finally came to an official end, Walker dropped out of the Republican presidential sweepstakes, obviously choosing not to take on his one-time political ally in a mano a mano showdown. http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/scott-walker-drops-out-2016-election/

One down.

Which raises the immediate question: can Hillary be far behind Walker?

Not content to thin out the Republican herd, Jindal on Monday saw an opportunity to destroy yet another opponent, Hillary Clinton, who just happened to be in Baton Rouge in a campaign stopover.

“Secretary Clinton’s first stop on her socialized medicine tour is in Louisiana, where Governor Bobby Jindal has rejected the expansion of Obamacare in the state because it would put more people on a poorly-run government healthcare system, take away freedom from people, and bust the budget,” trumpeted the Web page dedicated to Jindal’s election to the presidency. https://www.bobbyjindal.com/jindal-challenges-secretary-clinton-to-healthcare-debate/

The Web page, which just happens to have a convenient “donate” button, then went on to quote Bobby:

“I have a plan that repeals Obamacare and replaces it with something that preserves freedom, empowers patients, lowers costs and reduces the role of both the federal government and insurance company bureaucrats,” he said, being careful at the same time not to tip his hand as to just what his “plan” entails.

“Instead of battling through press releases though, I have an idea for Hillary Clinton. Let’s have a debate about healthcare. Instead of the carefully controlled campaign events that Secretary Clinton prefers,” said the pot to the kettle, “let’s give the American people a real live discussion.”

Anyone see a trend here?

Surely Hillary, seeing the handwriting on the wall, will wither under Jindal’s bandwidth and experience and in a few days will be announcing her withdrawal from the race and Jindal can then turn his attention to Dr. Ben Carson and challenge him to a debate on brain surgery.

After that the next step will be obvious: perform an exorcism on Donald Trump.

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Bob Mann has separated the wheat from the chaff in this year’s governor’s race by invoking a single word: poverty

Posted in Economy, Education, Elections, Governor's Office, Guest Columnist, Health Care, Higher Education, Huey Long, Jobs, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians on September 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Folks, if you don’t read anything else today, please read Bob Mann’s post. It should strike a chord with every person in Louisiana who struggles to make his or life a little better. It will break the hearts of teachers who see the effects that abject poverty has on children’s ability to learn. It will resonate with those who are unable to afford health care. It should infuriate those forced to pay higher tuition at our colleges and universities because the politicians can’t seem to find the funds to support higher education.

But it will clang with an empty thud with those who want to absolve themselves of any responsibility, who fail to see society’s problems as their own and who, instead of striving to find solutions, choose only to blame the federal bureaucracy in a sweeping dismissal of the ills that afflict us all—economically, physically, emotionally, and morally.

A survey released on Thursday (Sept. 17) shows that Louisiana is the 8th poorest state in the nation. With the abundance of natural resources that we have in this state, that should never be. It should an extreme embarrassment to our leaders, especially one so oblivious as to believe he is presidential timber. Here is the link to that survey: http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/09/17/richest-and-poorest-states/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=SEP172015A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

Bob Mann has said the things that I have wished a thousand times for the skill and the proficiency to articulate. Go here to read today’s post:

http://bobmannblog.com/2015/09/18/the-real-immorality-in-the-governors-race-is-not-david-vitters-prostitution-scandal/

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More on Kristy’s new job: it appears Ochsner received $31 million to take over Leonard J. Chabert Hospital in Houma

Posted in Contract, Contracts, DOA, Governor's Office, Health Care, Lobbyist, LSU, Privatization, Public Records on September 17, 2015| 15 Comments »

ETHICS DILEMMA

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

“No former elected official, including a legislator, no former member of a board or commission, nor agency head for two years shall assist another person for compensation in connection with a transaction, or render service on a contractual basis for or be employed/ appointed to any position involving the agency by which he or she was formerly employed or in which he/she formerly held office.” (LA Rev Stat § 42:1121)

“…Kristy Nichols is leaving the public sector to become Ochsner Health System’s vice president of government and corporate affairs, the Jindal administration announced today.” (Baton Rouge Business Report, Sept. 15, 2015)

So Nichols will be going to work for Ochsner as a lobbyist. And while state law precludes her lobbying the legislative or executive branches for two years, there appears to be no prohibition to her lobbying local governments (parishes and municipalities) on the part of Ochsner.

Kristy, anticipating the end of her boss’s rocky tenure in January, found her own golden parachute at Ochsner. We don’t know her salary at Ochsner, but we’re guessing it’ll be six figures. Taken at face value, that would normally be the end of the story.

But with this gang, there’s always more than meets the eye. And thanks to our friend C.B. Forgotston who helped us connect the dots, we’re able to shed a little more light into how she parlayed three years of repeated budget crises into such a high-profile private sector job.

Remember the great state hospital privatization fiasco and the contract with 50 blank pages? http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130602/INFO/306029998

The contract obligated the state to long-term spending obligations that will extend decades beyond the Jindal years. Let’s ignore for the moment the fact that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has yet to approve the deal. Instead, let’s explore the Nichols-Ochsner connection.

It was two years ago that the LSU Board of Supervisors signed off on that contract to hand over operation of state-owned hospitals in Lake Charles, Houma, Shreveport and Monroe. The blank pages were supposed to have contained lease terms. Instead, the LSU board left those minor details to the Jindal administration (read: Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols).

Eventually details about the contracts emerged, including that of the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma. And, thanks to the Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council, that is where we’re able to bring the picture into focus.

Leonard Chabert Medical Center was opened in 1978 as a 96-bed facility with 802 employees but by the time it was privatized, it was down to 63 beds.

In 2008, a hospital-based accredited Internal Medicine residency program was begun. In 2011, the hospital’s revenue was 47 percent uncompensated care for the uninsured, 29.5 percent Medicaid, 13 percent Medicare, 5.5 percent state general fund and 6 percent interagency transfer from other departments with only 1 percent being self-generated.

When the Jindal administration moved to unload state hospitals, Chabert was partnered with Southern Regional Medical Corp., a nonprofit entity whose only member is Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC).

TGMC was slated to manage Chabert with assistance with a company affiliated with (drum roll)…..Ochsner Health System, Louisiana’s largest private not-for-profit health system with eight hospitals and 40 health centers statewide.

So what were the terms of the agreement? Five years with an automatic renewal after the first year in one-year increments to create a rolling five-year term.

Though Southern Regional is not required to pay rent under terms of the agreement, the Terrebonne Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 is required to make annual intergovernmental transfers of $17.6 million to the Medicaid program for Southern Regional and its affiliates. Here are the TERMS OF THE OCHSNER DEAL AT LEONARD CHABERT MEDICAL CENTER

Here’s the kicker: the cooperative endeavor agreement (CEA) calls for supplemental payments of $31 million to Ochsner. It’s no wonder the Houma Daily Courier described the deal as “a valuable asset to Ochsner’s network of hospitals” and that the deal “expands Ochsner’s business profile.”

Between 2009 and 2013, Ochsner’s revenue doubled from $900 million to $1.8 billion and the deal only means more revenue for Ochsner, the Daily Courier said. http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20140325/articles/140329692?p=3&tc=pg

We’re certain it’s just coincidence that the LSU Board signed off on a blank contract that the Jindal administration would fill in after the fact.

And it’s just by chance that Kristy Nichols, as Commissioner of Administration, was responsible for that task.

And of course it was just happenstance that Ochsner received that $31 million payment and a mere two years later, just as her reign at DOA was ending, saw the need to bring Kristy aboard as vice president of government and corporate affairs.

So there you have it. All you have to do is follow the money.

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