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Two major investment rating firms threaten Louisiana with downgrade; state is now officially at the financial end game

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Corruption, Earl Long, Economy, Ethics, Exemptions, Finances, Fraud, Governor's Office, Grant, Grants, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Incentives, Jobs, Legislators, Legislature, Lobbyist, Media, Office of Group Benefits, OGB, PACs, Politicians, Revenue, Senate, Taxes on February 14, 2015| 29 Comments »

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“That clanking sound you heard,” says blogger C. B. Forgotston, “was Louisiana’s proverbial fiscal can hitting the end of the road.” And he has been around state government long enough to know the signs.

“Like a kid behaving badly, we’ve been placed on probation,” added State Treasurer John Kennedy.

Both men’s assessments were in response to the double whammy of two investor rating services’—Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s—action to move Louisiana’s credit outlook from stable to negative on Friday and to threaten the more severe action of a downgrade.

“This should be a wake-up call that we need to stop spending more than we take in,” Kennedy said.  “We’ve drained our trust funds, we’ve relied on nonrecurring money and we’ve had to cut the budget in the middle of the fiscal year for too many years now.  Many have been warning that this day would arrive, and it has.”

The dual action by the two ratings services impacts $2.7 billion in outstanding general obligation debt and $1.25 billion in related debt.

Moody’s warned that continued structural imbalances, steep growth in pension costs, deterioration in financial liquidity and failure to contain costs in the state’s Medicaid system will result in a credit rating downgrade, making it more costly for the state to borrow money.

S & P added a warning that “Should budget adjustments fail to focus on recurring solutions or if the structural gap grows with continued declines in revenue or material reductions in federal program funding to the state, we could lower the rating” even further.

Gov. Bobby immediately attempted to put a positive spin on the bad news (or as Forgotston described it, tried to pour perfume on the manure pile to change the smell but not the content) by saying that the agencies didn’t lower the ratings on the existing outstanding General Obligation bonds.

But what Gov. Bobby did not say, according to Forgotston, was that the rating on those bonds was not lowered because the Louisiana State Constitution gives those bonds first call, even before employee retirement benefits, on all the money in the state treasury. “In other words, if the state goes bankrupt, those bonds will be paid,” he said, adding that future state borrowing will also cost more.

It could also mean that in the event of default, retirees won’t be getting their pension checks, something that should get the gray panthers up in arms.

At this point, we feel it important to point out—just in case anyone still needs reminding—that Gov. Bobby has been traveling all over the country (well, mainly to Iowa and Washington, D.C.) spewing his rhetoric about how he has cut the number of state employees, how Louisiana’s economy is out-performing other states, how new industry is locating to Louisiana, and how little it costs to attend LSU.

Except it’s all part of his big lie—except, of course, the part about hauling state workers out to the curb.

But if he is so hell-bent on claiming and then taking credit for all these wonderful events and trends (of course he never mentions the state’s high poverty rate, poor health care availability, our second lowest median household income, the eighth lowest percentage of citizens with a bachelor’s degree or higher, or our fifth highest violent crime rate), then he must shoulder the blame for the bad news as well.

Any coach will tell you that’s the way the game is played; if you take credit for the wins, you have to take the blame for the losses.

And of course, he never, never does that. Everything out of his mouth is about all the great accomplishments of his administration, and always spouted off in such rapid-fire fashion as to give little chance for argument from dissenters. It’s his style to overwhelm with statistics quoted by rote in his boring staccato delivery.

Well, Bobby, your rhetoric—and for that matter, you as well—are wearing a little thin.

The doubt began creeping in here in Louisiana midway of your first term and has continued to build until now the national media have caught on. Only last week, three or four national stories revealed the pitiful shape you are leaving our state in for your unfortunate successor to attempt to clean up.

Unfortunately, whoever follows you will most likely be a one-term governor because no one can clean up your mess in a single term and the voters are likely to grow weary of whoever is unfortunate enough to follow you and turn him or her out of office after four years in a desperate attempt to find a quick solution that in reality may take decades. You have set this state back that far (Thank you, Gov. Mike Foster for inflicting this plague upon us).

And, Gov. Bobby, you can just mothball your national political ambitions. Being President is a far distant fantasy by now and any prospects of a cabinet position are just as surely disappearing like so much sand through your fingers. You can now only accept that you will go down as one of, if not the most vilified governor in the history of this state. You have succeeded, by comparison, in making Earl Long appear to have been in full control of his mental faculties back in 1959.

And lest anyone think we are giving the legislature a free pass on this situation, think again. With only a handful of exceptions, those of you in the House and Senate have been complicit in this charade of governance. You have aided and abetted this pitiful excuse of a chief executive who, while pandering repeatedly that he had the job he wanted, nevertheless plunged full speed ahead toward his fool’s errand of seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Why, his own family was talking openly of his becoming President—at his first inauguration way back in 2008!

Moody’s and S &P were each quite thorough in laying out the reasoning for their simultaneous actions on Friday.

Moody’s said its action reflects a $1.6 billion structural deficit, continued budget gaps, the state’s large Medicaid caseload, job growth below the national average and significant unfunded pension liabilities.  “The negative outlook reflects the state’s growing structural budget imbalance, projected at $1.6 billion for fiscal 2016, or about 18% of the $8.7 billion general fund even after significant budget cuts of recent years,” Moody’s said. “The state has options for reducing the imbalance, including scaling back various tax credit programs, but the overall scale of balancing measures needed may further deplete resources and reduce the state’s liquidity, which has been one of its strengths.”

S & P was no kinder, citing Gov. Bobby’s reliance on non-recurring revenue which it said only served to increase future budgetary pressures. “In our view, the state’s focus on structural solutions to its general fund budget challenges will be a key determinant of its future credit stability.

“We could consider revising the outlook back to stable if revenue trends stabilize and if Louisiana makes material progress in aligning its recurring revenues and expenditures on a timely basis with a focus on recurring solutions. Should budget adjustments fail to focus on recurring solutions or if the structural gap grows with continued declines in revenue or material reductions in federal program funding to the state, we could lower the rating,” S & P said.

Forgotston, in his own unique way, tells us what Moody’s and S & P were really telling us: “Bobby, you and the legislators have made a big ‘number-two’ mess in your fiscal pants and we have no faith in your ability to clean it up. Folks, don’t let the legislators try to fool you; this is very bad news for us taxpayers and the legislators are the reason for it.”

Yes, it’s easy to blame Gov. Bobby because he has in his seven years initiated every Ponzi scheme one could imagine from giving away something like $11 billion in tax incentives (according to one recent story), to giving away the state’s charity hospitals, to robbing the Office of Group Benefits reserve fund, to attempting to rob the state’s retirement system, to refusing federal grants for needed projects, to rejecting Medicaid expansion and thus depriving the state’s indigent population access to decent health care which in turn led directly to the announced closure of the emergency room of a major Baton Rouge hospital. The list goes on.

But, as Gov. Bobby is so fond of saying, at the end of the day, it was the legislature, through the “leadership” of Senate President John Alario, House Speaker Chuck Kleckley and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Fannin that allowed him to do it by refusing to grow a collective set and stand up to this vindictive little amateur dictator.

This is an election year and Louisiana voters—particularly state employees, former state employees who have lost their jobs because of Gov. Bobby, teachers, retirees and the state’s working poor would do well to remember what this governor has done to them and which legislators voted to support the administration’s carnage inflicted upon this state.

There are those few in the House and Senate who have spoken up and tried to be the voices of reason but those voices have been drowned out by Gov. Bobby’s spinmeisters.

So when you vote for governor next fall, you would do well to ignore the TV commercials bought by those who want only to continue down this same path of economic destruction and growing income disparity and consider who you believe really has the best interest of the state, and not the special interests, at heart. In other words, think for yourselves instead of letting some ad agency do your thinking for you.

If you don’t get your collective heads out of the sand and in the most emphatic manner you can muster, tell your neighbors, your friends, your family, the clerk at the store where you shop for food and clothing, the cashier at the restaurant where you eat what this governor and this legislature have done to you and to them, then come next fall, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

The time for joking about Gov. Bobby is over. We’re at the end game now.

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More state layoffs expected but some employees continue to dodge bullets and thrive professionally amid economic crisis

Posted in Broadband, Internet, DEQ, DOA, Economy, Ethics, Finances, GOHSEP, Governor's Office, IT, Jobs, Layoffs, Public Records, Retirement, State Agencies, State Police on February 13, 2015| 10 Comments »

Even as Gov. Bobby is busy handing out pink slips to state employees (a new round of layoffs is anticipated momentarily), LouisianaVoice has learned of a couple of unusual hiring practices—one involving yet another retire-rehire, this time by the Department of Public Safety, and a possible case of nepotism that has since quietly been resolved in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LADHH) with the timely transfer of the mother of a LADHH administrator to another agency.

DHH Deputy Secretary Courtney Phillips has accepted the position of Secretary of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHH) and will begin her duties there on April 1, according to a press release from LADHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert.

Courtney Phillips has been employed by LADHH since 2003 when she began as a management intern. She was appointed Deputy Secretary on May 10, 2013, at a salary of $145,000, according to information obtained by LouisianaVoice from LADHH.

Her mother, Sheila Phillips was initially hired by LADHH on June 19, 2012, as an Administrative Coordinator at a salary of $37,500.

“At no point in time did Courtney Phillips serve in a supervisory role over Sheila Phillips,” said LADHH spokesperson Olivia Watkins in an email Thursday to LouisianaVoice. “Regarding her time as deputy secretary, Courtney Phillips did not officially begin her tenure as deputy secretary until May 10, 2013. Sheila Phillips ended her employment with DHH on May 9, 2013, and is currently an employee with the Department of Environmental Quality.

Civil Service records reflect that Sheila Phillips actually resigned on May 8, 2013, two days before her daughter’s promotion, and began working on May 9, 2013, for the Department of Environmental Quality as an Administrative Assistant 4 and currently makes $40,560 per year.

And while Courtney Phillips did not begin as deputy secretary until two days after her mother left the agency, her curriculum vitae that she submitted to the State of Nebraska notes that she served as Chief of Staff at LADHH from September of 2011 until her promotion to deputy director—which was during the time when her mother was hired.

State statute, according to Watkins, specifically says that “no member of the immediate family of a member of a governing authority or the chief executive of a governmental entity shall be employed by the governmental entity.”

The statute defines “agency head” as chief executive or administrative officer of an agency or any member of a board or commission who exercises supervision over the agency, Watkins said.

“Based on consultation with Civil Service, agency head would not include the chief of staff position, precluding any violation of the state nepotism law during her tenure in that role. Furthermore, as chief of staff, Courtney Phillips did not have legal appointing authority or supervise any DHH program office, including the Office of Public Health where Sheila Phillips worked from 06/09/2012 through 05/09/2013.

“Given that definition and the facts of the employment of Courtney Phillips and Sheila Phillips, nepotism was not a concern,” Watkins said.

Her resumé, however, says her Chief of Staff duties involved the planning and direction of “all administrative, financial, and operational activities for the department’s Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Undersecretary” and that she acted “as a point of contact between top management and employees, as well as developing, overseeing and maintaining the budget for the executive office. She also said in her resumé that she served as a “key member of the executive management team responsible for the central coordination of activities and ensuring timely flow of information to and from the executive office.”

Moreover, on various LADHH organizational charts obtained by LouisianaVoice, Courtney Phillips served directly under the position of agency undersecretary during the tenures of both Bruce Greenstein, who resigned in March of 2013, and Kliebert.

As a “key member of the executive management team,” she was also a member of and regularly voted on matters coming before the LADHH Statewide Governance Board and signed off on letters to top legislators dealing with LADHH policy.

Meanwhile, an Information Technology (IT) Director 4 who retired from his $140,500 a year job at the Division of Administration (DOA) on Oct. 31, 2014, began working on Dec. 8, just over a month later, for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) as a technology consultant at $70 per hour, Civil Service records show. Jeya Selvaratnam

SELVARATNAM GOHSEP

Prior to his four-month stint with DOA, which began on June 23, 2014, and ran through Oct. 31 (he was retired for little more than a month, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 7), Jeya Selvaratnam worked first as an IT Deputy Director 2 for the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Office of Management and Finance from Sept. 25, 2006 through Aug. 27, 2008 at which time he was promoted to IT Director 4 for the same office. He remained at that post until June 22, 2014, when he moved over to DOA.

The Louisiana Board of Ethics prohibits former state employees from working for the same agency within two years of their retirements. The statute (R.S. 42:1111-1121) says, “During the two year period following the termination of public service as a public employee, these individuals may not assist another for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction involving the agency in which the former public employee participated while employed by the agency nor may the former public employee provide on a contractual basis to his former public employer, any service he provided while employed there.”

GOHSEP spokesperson Christina Dayries, however, said when retirees are rehired by state agencies, they are allowed to earn half of what they collect in state retirement. He was earning $140,500 per year and with more than 30 years of service, qualifies for at least 75 percent of his base salary in retirement. That computes to more than $105,000 in retirement, plus 50 percent of that amount as a re-hire up to $158,000—nearly $18,000 more than he made full time.

The project on which Selvaratnam now works as a part time capacity is the DPS FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network.

The project calls for the expenditure of up to $135 million of a State and Local Implementation Grant (SLIGP) provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide emergency responders with their first nationwide, high-speed broadband network dedicated to public safety, according to a Power Point presentation given on Jan. 21 and 22 of this year to provide an overview of the program created under the federal Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.

The $135 million 80-20 federal-state grant is only for the planning of the project. Implementation of the nationwide network is expected to cost $7 billion with funding expected to come from spectrum auction. By law, the network is to be self-sustaining upon expending the $7 billion.

There are 10 regional teams set up to implement the program on a nationwide basis. Louisiana is a member of Team 6, along with New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The program’s staffing chart shows Selvaratnam serving under the supervision of Program Manager Allison McLeary.

While at DPS, he represented the department as a member of the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) SIEC which is responsible for the ability of emergency service agencies to communicate across disciplines and jurisdictions, particularly during times of emergency. SIEC membership is composed of all appropriate first responder and support organizations and has “full authority to design, construct, administer and maintain a statewide interoperable communications system…in support of full response to any emergency event,” according to GOHSEP’s web page. http://www.gohsep.la.gov/interop.aspx

As the DPS representative on the SIEC, he also served as chairman of the SIEC Broadband Subcommittee. Accordingly, he had duties and responsibilities for the SLIGP program during that time and is again providing those same services.

Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson, for whom Selvaratnam worked at DPS, is the “State Point of Contact” for the FirstNet project, according to the Power Point presentation, with the Office of State Police listed as the SLIGP grant recipient and GOHSEP as the grant administrator.

A law meant to bring retirees back for short-term help was used by almost 200 current, full-time employees in the Department of Corrections. An oversight in the writing of the law even allowed “retired” employees to continue accruing money into their pension plans, according to a story on Governing, a web-based site on state and local government. http://www.governing.com/topics/public-workforce/Double-Dip-Dilemma.html

The issue of retire-rehire sparked considerable debate in 2010 when Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen resigned and rehired herself two days later, a move that netted her a $90,000 payout for unused sick leave and vacation time and entitled her to $146,400 in retirement pay. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/06/higher_education_commissioner.html

 

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Gov. Bobby cuts staff numbers and salaries but still has too many warm bodies with decorative titles, uncertain duties

Posted in Budget, Finances, Governor's Office, Layoffs on February 11, 2015| 8 Comments »

In the five years we have been posting stories about Bobby’s administration, we have, from time to time, had to backtrack and admit we were wrong or were rash in our judgment. This is one of those times.

Except we may be incorrect in saying we were wrong. Got that? Read on.

Through a diligent search of payroll records, we have found that Bobby, while imploring state agencies to “do more with less,” has at least set an example of fiscal restraint for others to emulate.

Six months after taking office, the payroll in the governor’s office stood at a whopping $5.9 million. Today, a leaner and meaner staff (if indeed, it is possible to be any meaner) in the governor’s office is costing Louisiana taxpayers “only” $3.9 million in salaries.

As of June 30, 2008, Bobby had 92 full time employees drawing $5,659,800 in salary (an average of $61,519 each), not including medical and retirement benefits. He also had 34 part-timers for an additional $267,900, an average of $7,879 each, according to figures obtained by LouisianaVoice.

Where the governor’s office had 92 full time employees in 2008 drawing $5.66 million, today he has only 64 full-timers making $3.66 million, records show.

The number of part time employees also has decreased from 34 in 2008 to only 21 today, but their average salaries have increased considerably.

But wait! Things are never as they seem. It turns out that several former employees were quietly moved around to other agencies and are still on the state payroll. Chance McNeely, who went from a $65,000 per year policy analyst for all of nine months to a $102,000 position as head of environmental compliance at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), comes immediately to mind.

Stephen Winham also provided this interesting information: It seems that in Fiscal year 2008-2009, there were two transfers from the governor’s office to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the following year,  two more transferred from Bobby’s office to the Board of Regents and 11 more to DEQ to prepare a place for Chance McNeely. And in FY 2012-2013, three more left the fourth floor and moved across the street to the Department of Education. Winham’s source for his information is this link: http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/OPB/pub/ebsd.htm

“You are giving them too much credit for position and funding elimination,” Winham says, “since these positions and funding were simply transferred to other departments in the state budget. Based on your information, I’m guessing that at least 64 percent of the savings you show was really just transferred out,” he said.

So, before you get too excited over the apparent good news, we have to offer our disclaimer that the numbers are somewhat misleading.

Some of those reductions could also be employees who see the writing on the wall and are simply bailing out before the end of Bobby’s term of office expires in about 11 months. In such cases, departures would have nothing to do with Bobby’s efforts to reduce his own staff numbers while gutting needed state agencies of key personnel and leaving unqualified administrators in place.

Because we were interested only in the numbers and salaries of staff members, none of the figures included Bobby’s own salary of $130,000 per year.

Nine of those full time employees in 2008 earned $100,000 per year or more. Those nine combined to earn just over $1.2 million, or an average of about $134,800 each.

In addition, the governor’s office and governor’s mansion combined to employ 20 security personnel from the Department of Public Safety (State Police) at a per diem rate of $92.32 over and above their normal salaries. Because all 20 were not on duty at the same time, it was impossible to determine the total amount paid in per diem to the security personnel.

Today, the per diem rate remains the same but we could only account for 19 security personnel, one less than in 2008. Most the other numbers, however, have decreased significantly.

One major exception is the salary of Bobby’s executive counsel. In 2008, it was Jimmy Faircloth who resigned to run unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Supreme Court. His salary then was $167,000 per year.

The current executive counsel, Thomas Enright, who supposedly advised Bobby last June to sign that bill giving Superintendent of State Police Mike Edmonson that retirement increase that was subsequently ruled unconstitutional, currently earns $165,000 per year, $2,000 less than Faircloth.

But where there were nine employees earning $100,000 or more in June of 2008, today there are “only” seven combining to make just over $900,000, or an average of $128,585 each.

Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell was making $165,880 per year in 2008. Apparently his brother, Taylor Teepell, doesn’t have the same value to Bobby at $130,000 per year as Deputy Chief of Staff. His $130,000, incidentally, is the same that Bobby makes as governor in absentia.

Kyle Plotkin is something of a success story in Bobby’s administration. Beginning in November of 2008 with his appointment as press secretary, he was named as Special Assistant to the governor at $85,000 per year on July 26, 2011 but is now Bobby’s Chief of Staff at $165,880 per year, more than double his salary of just three years ago.

Matthew Parker, Timmy Teepell’s brother-in-law, pulls down $120,000 as one of 15 “directors” in the governor’s office, though we’re unsure as to what he directs.

In 2008, the 34 part time employees combined to make $267,900 and while the $243,300 being paid to 21 part time employees today is $24,600 less than in 2008, the average salaries of the part-timers has increased from $7,879 per year to $11,585.

In 2015, we found a couple of staffers drawing pretty good chump change considering their listed status as part time employees. Bobbie Johnson, an “assistant,” was listed at $18,574 per year and “Executive Assistant” Megan O’Quin was listed at $30,420.

But those were nothing compared with a couple of part time salaries we discovered for 2008. Michael Wascom, a part time “special counsel,” was listed at $31,949 per year while James T. Ryder, was pulling down $156,000 per year as a part time “special counsel,” just $11,000 per year less than his boss, Faircloth.

All this is well and good, Bobby; you’ve set the pace for asceticism. You slashed your staff from 126 to 85, a 32.5 percent reduction and cut the combined salaries accordingly, by 33.9 percent. Good for you.

But still, the question must be asked: does it really require 85 people to run your office when apparently it isn’t even necessary that you be there half the time? I’ve been to the fourth floor of the State Capitol. There is not room for 85 people to maneuver in that space with any efficiency.

While you have reduced the number of warm bodies in your office and while you have cut salaries significantly, we still have to wonder at the necessity of 85 people bumping into each other and apparently  getting very little done, based on any real accomplishments during your time in office.

Besides the 15 directors, there are four deputy directors, two assistant directors, two executive directors, one project director, one representative, two managers, one project manager, one executive administrative assistant, three administrative assistants, eight executive assistants, one administrative staff officer, four advisers, four coordinators, a specialist, five assistants, one executive counsel, two assistant executive counsels, a law clerk, a chief of staff, two assistant chiefs of staff, one deputy chief of staff, along with a few clerks, receptionists, a single garden variety deputy, and one housekeeper.

But just what are the duties of a director? A specialist? An administrative assistant? An executive assistant? An executive administrative assistant? An advisor? What does a coordinator coordinate? What’s the difference between a director and a project director? What does either direct? What’s the difference between an assistant director and a deputy director? And what does a manager manage that a director can’t direct? Deputy? Deputy what? And just one housekeeper to clean up after all those people?

And just one more note, Bobby: You may pull the wool over the eyes of an old worn out news reporter but it’s difficult to fool a retired budget officer.

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Bobby so out of touch on Morning Joe that he missed LSU tuition by half; state subsidies revealed for state colleges

Posted in Governor's Office, Higher Education, LSU, Media, Politicians on February 10, 2015| 7 Comments »

Bobby just keeps on taking hits from the national media.

First it was Politico, then the Washington Post and the New York Times.

On Tuesday, Bobby made the unwise decision to appear on Morning Joe on MSNBC and got him appropriately scalded.

While he did his best to squirm out from under the host Joe Scarborough’s scrutiny of looming budget cuts of up to 40 percent for LSU and tuition costs that have already risen by 90 percent at the state’s other public colleges and universities, he kept getting steered back to an estimated $350 million in budget cuts anticipated for the entire state university system, including about $141.5 million just for LSU.

That means about $210 million for the other schools, or an average of about $21 million each.

All the latest budget cuts are on top of $460 million in cuts imposed by Bobby, who obviously failed economics while enrolled at Brown, since he took office seven years ago.

As further evidence of his disconnect since abandoning the governor’s office in his shameless quest for the GOP presidential nomination, when pinned down by Scarborough on the proposed university budget cuts, he stammered and sputtered and finally claimed that it cost “less than $10,000” per year for housing, fees and books at LSU.

When Bobby took office in 2008, tuition and fees at LSU were around $5,000 a year. That was then. This is now. Because Louisiana has experienced sharp increases in tuition over the past five years because of Bobby’s policies, it now costs not “less than $10,000” but $20,564 per year to attend the state’s flagship university, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. http://theadvocate.com/news/11567837-123/jindal-stumped-with-lsu-tuition

C.B. Forgotston, king of the subversive bloggers, noted that Bobby’s spokesperson Shannon Bates Dirmann claimed that her boss was not referring to housing costs in his estimate of fees but in a review of the video, Bobby clearly included housing in his estimate.

“Dirmann blatantly lied,” Forgotston said.

In a related matter, LouisianaVoice, with an assist from one of our readers and USA Today, came upon some interesting statistics that tie directly to one of our earlier stories about how the budget cuts might impact college sports.

Our earlier story, which was a bit more parody than serious, speculated on what would happen if budget cuts included the so-called “paper courses” that help keep student athletes eligible among the 1,400 classes LSU might lose.

Our reader suggested this web page to track the amounts schools all over the country receive in state subsidy funding. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/

We checked out the link and compiled the data for the Southern University and the nine schools under the University of Louisiana system.

                        ATHLETIC   ATHLETIC       ATHLETIC        PCT. ATHLETIC

SCHOOL       REVENUE    EXPENSES   ST. SUBSIDY      SUBSIDY

  1. TECH $18.5M            $18.44M                      $9.2M                49.6

ULM               $11.2M            $11.44M                      $4.1M                36.5

GSU                $6.3M              $7.85M                        $3.63M            57.9

SU                   $8.8M              $7.7M                          $4.75M             54.1

NWS               $11.8M            $12.34M                      $7.6M               64.7

SLU                $10.9M            $10.9M                        $6.54M            59.8

MCN               $9.7M              $10.3M                        $4.5M              46.3

ULL                $18.1M            $18.65M                      $7.7M               42.4

NSU                $6.96M            $6.96M                        $4.2M             60.6

UNO               $4.3M              $4.3M                          $2.96M          69.33

TOTALS       $106.56M        $108.88                         $55.18M          50.7% ave.

 

TEXAS           $165.7M          $146.7M                      0                   0

ALABAMA   $143.8M          $116.6M                      $5.79M             4.0

LSU              $117.5M          $105.3M                       0                  0

 

As you can perhaps see (the columns don’t line up precisely in our format), the state subsidized the 10 schools a total of nearly $55.2 million during 2013, which represents approximately 26 percent of the total combined cuts for the schools.

By comparison, we also included three other schools. The University of Texas had the largest amount of sports revenues in the nation at $165.7 million in 2013 against expenses of $146.7 million and received no subsidies from the State of Texas.

LSU, with a revenues of $117.5 million against $105.3 million in expenses, also is self-sustaining in that it received no subsidies from the state. The University of Alabama had revenues of $143.8 million and expenses of $116.6 million and received nearly $5.8 million, or 4 percent of its total revenue, from the state of Alabama.

Of the 10 Louisiana schools receiving subsidies, Louisiana Tech had the most at $9.2 million, which was nearly half (49.6 percent) of total revenues.

Though the University of New Orleans had the lowest amount in revenues at $4.3 million and the lowest amount of state subsidies at $2.96 million, its percentage of state support was the highest at 69.33 percent.

The University of Louisiana Monroe was third lowest in the amount of funding from the state at $4.1 million against revenues of $11.2 million for the lowest percentage (36.5 percent) of state subsidies of the 10 schools.

Grambling State University’s state funding of $3.63 million was second lowest but it represented nearly 58 percent of its total revenue of $6.3 million, the USA Today report said.

In all, the 10 state schools received 50.7 percent of their sports budget in the form of state subsidies, something the Legislature may have to consider when it convenes in April to tackle the projected $1.6 billion in budgetary shortfalls anticipated for the state budget.

Granted, that $55.2 million for the 10 schools won’t go far in filling the void, but as the late Sen. Everett Dirksen once said: “A billion her and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

But according to Bobby’s math, the deficit is probably only a couple of million dollars and can be made up by selling a state building or two or by laying off a few hundred more state employees. We just don’t really know what he’s thinking because he is never in the state anymore and gives all his interviews to Politico.

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Bobby is for immunizations but two years ago he discontinued health unit vaccinations for the poor

Posted in Budget, DHH, Economy, Exemptions, Incentives, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, Incentives on February 10, 2015| 19 Comments »

Well, at least Bobby took a stand. Sort of.

As an aside, we have arbitrarily decided to cease referring to Bobby Jindal by his elected title of governor. His behavior far more closely resembles that of his adolescent namesake from The Brady Bunch sitcom than a political leader. So we’ll just refer to him as Bobby from now on.

He repeatedly told us his big lie: that he had the job he wanted, yet he doggedly pursues a much higher prize—that of president. He long ago abdicated any of the responsibilities that go with that title—like performing his duties with the best interest of his constituents as a top priority.

Those duties would include seeing to fiscal well-being of the state. His persistent refusal to seek additional revenue to meet repeated shortfalls in the state budget have created a projected $1.6 billion budget hole for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. To address the problem, he is proposing yet another cut to health care and higher education—cuts that are certain to gut entire academic programs but almost certainly not athletics.

His giving away the state treasury in the form of corporate and industrial tax incentives have not paid off with desperately needed revenue. Quite the reverse has happened as companies have received five-year Enterprise Zone tax credits for locating Wal-Mart stores in affluent areas in open contravention of the EZ program’s intent.

Ten-year property tax exemptions have been granted in wholesale numbers to companies as they implement plant expansions but create no new jobs.

Movie tax credits return about 30 cents to the state for every dollar given in credits, certainly no bargain for Louisiana taxpayers.

There are others, like employee salary rebates and inventory tax rebates, all of which add up to billions of dollars deprived of the state treasury.

The health care of all citizens is another area of considerable responsibility that he has chosen to betray. Bobby’s decision to close Southeast Louisiana Hospital shut off mental health services to low income residents of the state’s most densely populated area. Then he privatized the state’s charity hospitals, a move which resulted in nothing short of personal and financial disaster. Baton Rouge Medical Center Mid-City is closing its emergency room next month because of the overflow from the closure of Earl K. Long Medical Center which will now place an additional strain on Our Lady of the Lake across town.

But while he has been chasing Islamics in Europe and chasing the presidency at home (using the term “home” loosely, as his base now appears to be somewhere in Iowa), Jindal has finally taken a stand in Louisiana, for Louisianans. Sort of.

Earlier this month, he took our collective breath away with his courage in saying he has “no reservations about whether or not it is a good idea and desirable for all children to be vaccinated.”

His courageous stand came out of growing concern over a measles outbreak at Disneyland in California because apparently one or more families who don’t believe in the measles vaccinations took infected children to the park, spreading the disease. A debate immediately followed as to the advisability of immunization because of belief in some quarters that the measles shots can cause more harm than good.

“There is a lot of fear mongering out there on this,” Bobby said, apparently referring to immunization rather than Islamic “no-go” zones in Europe. “I think it is irresponsible for leaders to undermine the public’s confidence in vaccinations that have been tested and proven to protect public health. Science supports them and they keep our children safe from potentially deadly but preventable diseases. Vaccinations are important. I urge every parent to get them. Every one.”

Again, let us stress that he also said “all children.”

But let us now flash back nearly two years to Feb. 22, 2013, when Bobby, acting for a change as governor, submitted his executive budget.

His proposed budget included his announced intentions to cease immunizing the state’s indigent children at parish health units throughout the state.

Instead, he said, private pediatricians would take over the duties of immunizing children under the state’s Vaccines for Children (VFC) program through which vaccines are made available at no charge to enrolled public and private health care providers for eligible children.

“Under the proposed restructuring, children who received immunizations at parish health units would be transitioned to receive immunizations by their private pediatricians or health care providers, where 92 percent of children already receive their immunizations through the program,” said a statement released by the Department of Health and Hospitals at the time.

Bobby’s most recent proclamation in support of immunization seemed more of an effort to set himself apart from the GOP frontrunners than any real concern for the welfare of Louisiana children. After New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned the wisdom of mandated immunization, Bobby’s utterance seemed contrived, almost comical.

But it wasn’t funny. In fact, given the state of critical mass into which the state’s finances have fallen, nothing Bobby does is funny anymore.

The national media have finally caught on with several extremely critical analyses of Bobby’s performance just in the last few days, a couple by usually conservative columnists.

Bobby, we aren’t really all that stupid down here. We well remember glib line of yours: “I have the job I want.” Seriously? You repeated it ad nauseam during your first term. We got sick of hearing it because we knew you were lying.

You lying to us, weren’t you, or do you really have the job you want?

If you were telling us the truth, then for God’s sake stay in Louisiana and do your damned job. If not, get the hell out and let someone who cares do it for you.

Resign, Bobby. Just resign. You quit a long time ago so now just make if official. We’ve grown weary of your adolescent Bobby Brady adventures. Like the sitcom itself, your act has grown stale.

 

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