Louisiana Voice

If there’s a single word that could describe both the political and fiscal plight of Louisiana, that word would be chaotic. Absentee governor also comes to mind.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, when he’s not flying off to any of a growing number of other states to campaign for Republican candidates, is telling cabinet members and department heads to lead and to stop “whining” about proposed budget cuts that threaten to further stymie the state’s already stagnant economy and to gut higher education.

College presidents from one end of the state to the other are grappling with ways to keep from shutting down academic programs and laying off professors and teachers. The college presidents challenged Jindal’s Facebook criticism of the state’s colleges and universities for “underperforming” and for their “inefficiency.”

Professors also are entering the fray, openly criticizing the governor for everything from chronic absenteeism to insensitivity toward higher education as manifested by the administration’s deep budgetary cuts.

One legislator, perhaps with some measure of justification, or perhaps with an eye on the governor’s office in next year’s election, likewise accused Jindal of being absent from the state in a time of crisis.

Rep. John Bel Edwards of Amite described Jindal as absent without leave during “the most serious budget crisis in our history.” Edwards, a Democrat, said that Jindal “is not minding the store” and has been less than honest with Louisiana’s citizens about problems facing the state.

Edwards isn’t alone among legislators in offering criticism of the governor’s repeated optimistic proclamations on his statewide “Building a Better Louisiana for Our Children” tour. Press releases from the governor’s office quote Jindal as saying his administration is “doing more with less” and has “significantly cut government spending and reduced the size of government—while pursuing innovative programs that are more effective at providing services for our people.”

Several state senators, however, have called Jindal to task for what they feel is a lack of candor. The said he should be more straightforward about the types of severe budget cuts that will be necessary in order to balance next year’s budget. They said Jindal has been misleading the public in talking up cost savings and office consolidations while refusing to acknowledge the far-reaching budget cuts that will be needed to close the budget gap.

The president of the LSU student body gained national publicity recently when he wrote to a newspaper in New Hampshire where Jindal was campaigning. The letter asked the governor to return home and address the budgetary problems facing higher education. Only when J. Ryan Hudson’s letter got national attention did Jindal finally agree to meet with students to discuss cuts to higher education.

More recently, an LSU professor voiced similar sentiments, saying Jindal should do his job and “stop playing games.” A.R.P. Rau added that the governor, while critical of university sabbatical policies, failed to appreciate the irony that he is often “absent without leave from the state, neglecting it for his personal national aspirations.”

Perhaps the most significant criticism, however, came from Ed Steimel, retired president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). Steimel, calling himself a longtime supporter of Jindal, now describes the governor as “a major disappointment” and said he no longer supports him. Steimel-perhaps with tongue in cheek, but perhaps not-even suggested that Hudson and Jindal swap jobs.

State Treasurer John Kennedy, sounding more and more like a potential 2011 challenger to his fellow Republican, has offered his own plan to balance the state budget now estimated to be more than $100 million in the red. Kennedy said his 16-point plan would produce an overall savings of $2.6 billion.

The governor’s office, even as it was responding to the college presidents, launched a web page dedicated to criticizing Kennedy’s proposals, with Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater saying that the state treasurer’s ideas were “unworkable.” Kennedy angrily responded to Rainwater, saying, “Tell me you don’t want to do it. Tell me you don’t have the political courage to do it. But don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

When he became governor, Jindal increased the size of the Louisiana Board of Ethics by more than two-thirds, from 23 to 39 staff positions but now has directed the agency to cut staff by 35 percent. Ethics Board Chairman Frank Simoneaux said personnel cuts would be “particularly egregious to us.” He said the board already in understaffed for it to perform the duties it is charged by law to do.

Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein sent an Oct. 22 agency-wide email in which he said Jindal was “committed to providing the core health-care services and programs that our residents need.” At the same time, however, Greenstein announced a reorganization that “will lead to a reduction in staff.”

Even as Greenstein was parroting Jindal’s commitment to needed health-care services, physicians and legislators alike leveled stinging criticism of Jindal’s decision last week to scrap CommunityCare, a program which mainly serves children in providing primary-care physicians for Medicaid patients throughout Louisiana. By eliminating the extra $3 per patient per month paid physicians to coordinate care of individual Medicaid patients, Jindal said he hopes to cut spending by $16 million.

Nor is the governor the only one to incur the wrath of some observers. The same growing feeling of general frustration was also directed at the legislature.

A Baton Rouge retiree offered a proposal which isn’t likely to get many takers. He suggested that whenever cuts are necessary, legislators should be first in line to sacrifice. Bill Fontaine of the Baton Rouge suburb of Central said that would mean that salaries, staff, perks, and any other costs of making the legislature run must be cut proportionate to any cuts to higher education. “….imagine the legislators working for free when there is no budget to pay them…..” he said.

“But you see,” he added, “I’m a pessimist about legislative courage. I don’t think they have the courage to forgo some pay and/or benefits for the good of the people. They are just cowards and greedy grabbers….”

Even the Associated Press is beginning to call attention to Jindal’s growing propensity to speak of Louisiana’s economy in more glowing terms than its citizens back home can see.

Saying that the governor seems more focused on his own political future than on problems back home, AP points out that Jindal conveniently leaves out the bad news about the state’s finances when describing his administration’s accomplishments during appearances in other states.

The latest example of Jindal’s apparent propensity to embellish his image of the state came as recently as Oct. 27 in Wisconsin.

Appearing on behalf of eventual winning gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker, Jindal and Governors Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Haley Barbour of Mississippi told Wisconsin voters that their strategies of cutting taxes and shrinking government worked in their states. Their pronouncements prompted Walker to call the three his inspiration when he is asked how he will create jobs and make government smaller. Calling them “great leaders,” Walker said, “They did it and we’re going to do it.”

Jindal boasted that Louisiana’s economy improved when he cut or repealed tax increases passed under his Democratic predecessor Kathleen Blanco, adding that Americans need leaders who can balance budgets, create jobs, and cut taxes. (Actually, the Stelly Plan to which he was apparently alluding, was passed in 2002, the final year of Republican Gov. Mike Foster’s administration.)

The “improved” economy of Louisiana is wrestling with the current budget deficit of $106 million. As if that were not sufficiently severe, next year’s deficit is pegged—by the Jindal administration itself—at $1.6 billion while others project an even bigger budgetary shortfall.

Back home in Louisiana, however, Jindal said it will be necessary for cabinet members and department heads to deliver better value with fewer dollars. “We don’t need whining. We do need leadership,” he said at a Capitol press conference. Then, apparently satisfied to leave the leadership to others, he immediately left for Pittsburgh to attend a fundraiser for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania.

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