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Francis Thompson: Water Water Everywhere….but we need more

Posted in Budget, Economy, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Transparency, Water Reservoirs on August 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

State Sen. Francis Thompson is not only the family employment champion among state lawmakers (a news report from the 1980s claimed that he had more relatives on the state payroll than any other member of the legislature) but he also appears perfectly capable of siphoning off millions of dollars in state revenue for pet projects. Those projects primarily include ground water reservoirs in more than a dozen parishes costing taxpayers more than $163 million since 1997.

In a state teeming with hundreds of lakes and reservoirs while reeling from dwindling tax revenues, Sen. Thompson has managed to convince fellow legislators and three governors of the necessity of constructing even more. With the passage of each piece of legislation to appropriate funds for a new reservoir Thompson’s brother, former Delhi mayor Mike Thompson, secured a $100,000 per year consulting contract from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). That’s $100,000 per year per reservoir project.

Mike Thompson earlier this year was sentenced to 18 months after having been found guilty of one count of using district employees to work on his home in Delhi and charging the Poverty Point Reservoir District for the labor in violation of the Hobbs Act. The Hobbs Act was enacted by Congress in 1951 to combat racketeering in labor-management disputes but is often invoked in cases involving public corruption. He could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and prosecutors did argue for a sentence of 41-50 months. He was scheduled to report to prison on Monday of this week.

Francis Thompson’s older brother, Clyde Thompson, currently employed as executive director of the Madison Parish Port Commission at $49,207 per year, once served as second in command to DOTD Secretary Paul Hardy during the administration of former Gov. Dave Treen.

Monroe engineer Terry Denmon just as consistently was awarded engineering contracts for each of the reservoir projects undertaken. His contracts ranged from $200,000 to more than $700,000. Like Francis, Mike, and Clyde Thompson, Denmon is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and as recently as 2007 was chairman of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

None of the reservoir projects has proved as expensive to the state and profitable—and troublesome—to the Thompsons and Denmon as the centerpiece of all of Francis Thompson’s reservoirs, Poverty Point Reservoir in Richland and Madison parishes. That project alone has cost the state more than all the others combined in priority 1, or first-year, funding. From 1997 through the 2010 regular legislative session that adjourned on June 21, Poverty Point has cost state taxpayers at least $81,855,000. That compares to $81,257,000 for all the other reservoir projects combined.

Not that the Bayou Dechene Reservoir project in Caldwell Parish isn’t in the running. The cost of that proposed lake to date is $40,650,000 in priority 1 funding—and counting.

Even as the state budget was swimming in a sea of red ink that forced major cutbacks to higher education and health care this year, the legislature plowed ahead, appropriating nearly $8.1 million in funding for Thompson’s reservoir projects in 2010. That amount included $3,152,000 for Poverty Point and $4,940,000 for four other reservoir projects in Allen ($800,000), Caldwell ($1,415,000), Washington ($2,625,000), and LaSalle ($100,000).

Those figures can be misleading because if bonds approved are not sold or funding appropriated for a project are not spent, the project must obtain renewed approval the following year. Bayou Dechene, for example, has received approval of identical amounts of $1,415,000 in each of the last seven years, including 2010.

What is not misleading, however, is how the Thompsons, through the efforts of Francis, have ensconced themselves in profitable recreational lakefront property development largely at the expense of taxpayer dollars. Francis Thompson even convinced the state in 2006 to take control of the 439-acre Black Bear Golf Course which is part of the Poverty Point Reservoir development and to install Mike Thompson as administrative director of the golf course.

But more significantly, was the plan to develop an elaborate retirement community at Poverty Point Reservoir. After purchasing the land and constructing elevated berms on which the state constructed roads and cul de sacs that would extend outward as island lots into the still-to-be-built lake, Thompson, then serving in the House, pushed through HB 1136 in the 2001 session which called for the state to purchase 2,586 acres that would become the Poverty Point Reservoir, excluding of course mineral rights and the berms that would make up the residential island lots on which Francis and Mike Thompson planned to develop a retirement community. That sale was consummated in early 2003 when the state paid the Poverty Point Reservoir District more than $2 million. The state, according to a 2002 state audit, also paid $1.2 million to develop the island lots, one of which was sold to a neighbor of Francis Thompson for $621,200. The state also paid $2.2 million for a keyed-gate entry private road to the lots and another $300,000 for an office burglar alarm system.

Then, during the 2002 legislative session, then-Rep. Francis Thompson struck again with what he probably felt would be the major coup. HB 84 of that session called for the exemption of a “developer of a qualified retirement community” from having to pay state or local ad valorem (property) taxes. The measure passed Senate by a 33-0 vote and the House with only seven dissents. Thompson might have been expected to abstain from voting on a measure that stood to benefit him financially—but he didn’t. Instead, he was among the 93 members voting in favor of the bill that eventually became Act 57 when signed by then-Gov. Mike Foster. Likewise, Thompson was one of 99 House members who in 2001 voted in favor of HB 1136, Thompson’s bill to sell Poverty Point Reservoir to the state for $2 million.

The only fly in the ointment was that the measure would have to go before the voters as a constitutional amendment in the Nov. 5, 2002 statewide election. It turned out to be a major problem when voters rejected the proposed amendment.

Thompson, upon being term-limited in the House, was elected Senator in 2007 to succeed similarly term-limited Charles Jones. Undeterred over the failure of the 2002 proposed constitutional amendment, he tried again, this time with SB 584, a bill identical in language to the 2002 House bill. This time, opponents were better prepared. The Legislative Fiscal Office provided estimates that the bill, if successful, would cost local and state governments as much as $600,000 per year in lost revenue.

Perhaps Francis Thompson, in voting in favor of HB 84 back in 2002, a bill that had the potential of enriching himself by as much as $600,000 per year was not joking when in his farewell address to the Louisiana House in 2007, he admonished fellow House members to “never allow ethics to get in the way of a good bill.”

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With the Thompsons, it’s a family affair

Posted in Ethics, House, Senate, Jobs, Legislature, Legislators, Transparency on August 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

With the elevation of Brant Thompson to interim commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, the question becomes how many of State Sen. Francis C. Thompson’s family members will end up in high-ranking positions in Louisiana state government?

Brant Thompson, one of Francis Thompson’s two sons who are employed by state agencies, served for a number of years as ATC deputy commissioner. He was promoted to interim commissioner after his boss, Commissioner Murphy J. Painter, resigned last week. Thompson’s salary before his promotion was listed at $84,864 per year. Painter, meanwhile, is under investigation by state police and the state inspector general’s office.

Among other things, Painter is being investigated for hacking into personnel files of employees and strangers alike, of sexual harassment, discrimination, and stalking.

Thompson’s other son, Todd Thompson, works for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture. Sen. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi) served for four years as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee before being term limited for his House seat and subsequently was elected to the Senate seat formerly held by similarly term-limited Charles Jones of Monroe. He now serves as chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development Committee.

Francis Thompson’s first cousin, J.S. “Bud” Thompson, is director of the Louisiana Office of Risk Management, which is being privatized over a five-year period. Bud Thompson’s wife recently retired from her position with the Louisiana Bond Commission.

An older brother, Clyde “Weasel” Thompson (as he was known when he coached P.E. at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in the 60s and ’70s) served for a time as second in command to Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Paul Hardy during the administration of former Gov. Dave Treen and more recently has been serving as Executive Director of the Madison Port Commission at a salary of $49,207 even though he reportedly rarely leaves home and even more rarely shows up at his office.

Finally, the senator’s younger brother, Mike Thompson, was formerly mayor of Delhi and later served as director of the Poverty Point Reservoir District.

Controversy seems to follow members of the Thompson family in their capacities as public employees. Besides Brant, who received his promotion at ATC by default, his brother Todd was ticketed six years ago for driving while intoxicated in Baton Rouge after being involved in an auto accident at 10:15 p.m. on July 7, 2004 while driving a Department of Agriculture vehicle.

The Baton Rouge city police accident report said that while the accident was not the fault of Todd Thompson, he was nevertheless cited for DWI after refusing a field sobriety test at the scene of the accident. Todd Thompson, despite his driving while intoxicated in a state vehicle at 10:15 p.m., remained in his job.

Francis Thompson has been the subject of considerable controversy with his proposed ground water reservoir feasibility studies around the state, including Poverty Point in Richland Parish, as well as Washington Parish, Lincoln Parish, and others. Poverty Point received appropriations totaling more than $3.1 million in this year’s appropriations and capital outlay bills.

Bud Thompson was the catalyst in the privatization of the Office of Risk Management which was facilitated by what some employees felt was tweaking the evaluations of companies that bid on the contract so that an area private claims adjusting firm might win the contract. The outsourcing of the agency will either force employees into working for the private firm or taking early retirement. Those who move into the private sector will have their retirement seniority interrupted in some cases decades before employees are eligible for retirement though Bud Thompson, in his own words, will still have his job.

Mike Thompson was indicted and subsequently convicted in federal court for using Poverty Point Reservoir District employees to perform work on his private property.

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Enough Already!

Posted in Budget, Ethics, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Revenue, Transparency on July 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

            Apparently oblivious to the state’s spiraling financial plight, 22 Louisiana legislators accounted for the expenditure of more than $47,000 in state funds attending legislative conferences in Kentucky, South Carolina and California—with each receiving $159 per day in per diem payments over and above travel, lodging, and registration fees.

            The travel comes at a time of shrinking state budgets and on the heels of state employee layoffs, program eliminations, and deep budget cuts to higher education and health care, coupled with runaway pork barrel spending during the recently completed regular legislative session.

Most of the expenses—registration fees, lodging, and travel—purportedly came from legislators’ $1,500 per month supplemental expense accounts which is part of the pay package for lawmakers. But with registration fees accounting for nearly half of that amount, the addition of travel and lodging expenses almost certainly pushed costs well beyond the $1,500 allocated per lawmaker.

Should all 22 legislators attend each day of the respective conferences, per diem payments would add another $16,854 to the cost paid by Louisiana taxpayers.

            State Rep. Joe Harrison (R-Napoleonville) and Baton Rouge Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, in fact, registered to attend two conferences with Dorsey scheduled for back-to-back conferences. She was signed up for the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) in Charleston, S.C., scheduled for July 31-Aug. 4 and for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in San Diego Aug. 5-8.

            Harrison attended the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) in Louisville, Ky. July 25-28 and the ALEC conference in San Diego.        Besides Harrison, those attending the NCSL event in Louisville included Reps. Jonathan Perry (R-Abbeville) and Patricia Smith (D-Baton Rouge).

            Those attending the ALEC conference in San Diego besides Harrison and Dorsey included Reps. Robert Johnson (D-Marksville), Austin Badon (D-New Orleans), Bernard LeBas (D-Ville Platte), Tim Burns (R-Mandeville), Thomas Carmody (R-Shreveport), John LaBruzzo (R-Metairie), Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge), Thomas Wilmont (R-Kenner), and Sen. Bob Kostelka (R-Monroe).

            Joining Dorsey in Charleston were Reps. Jim Fannin (D-Jonesboro), Jeff Arnold (D-New Orleans), Walker Hines (D-New Orleans), and Sens. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi), Butch Gautreaux (D-Morgan City), Gerald Long (R-Winnfield), Ed Murray (D-New Orleans), Buddy Shaw (R-Shreveport), and John Smith (D-Leesville).

            In Charleston, delegates, when not attending business meetings, attended a beach party and participated in a golf tournament at the Dunes West Golf & River Club sponsored by Reynolds American, the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

            One has to wonder just how arrogant and fiscally irresponsible our elected officials in Baton Rouge must become before the state’s citizenry draws the proverbial line in the dust and cries out in unison: “ENOUGH ALREADY!”

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An old story worth remembering

Posted in Civil Service, Ethics, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, Transparency on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

            Legislators have been working themselves into an emotional lather over the past several months in efforts to abolish what they mistakenly refer to as “automatic” 4 percent merit increases for state civil service employees. Lost in all the rhetoric, however, was another “automatic” increase that quietly kicked in last October 1—legislators’ per diem payments.

            With no debate and no vote, and even as the speechifying over state classified employee pay raises was ongoing, all 144 legislators’ daily allowance jumped $14 a day, from $145 to $159 for each day they meet in the Capitol. That’s because legislators several years ago passed a bill that ties their per diem rate to rates paid federal employees, making the legislators’ per diem increases truly automatic.  And that includes days they don’t even meet—37 days for each of the 144 House members and 39 Senate members—during this year’s 85-day session. That obscure law, however, could end if Rep. Jerome Richard (I-Thibodaux) has his way.

            With the administration anticipating a deficit of $319 million this year, House members showed no qualms about accepting the per diem payments for 12 Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, plus Memorial Day—days during which both chambers are empty. For House members, that’s $611,832 in per diem payments for days that members are gone and for the Senate, the tab comes to $229,437 for a total payment of $841,269 for all 144 legislators for 37 days in absentia—43 percent of the 85-day session. Factoring in lower per diem rates for prior years and shorter, 60-day sessions in odd-numbered years, that still comes to about $6.5 million in payments over the last 15 years for days during which only the laughter of children and the sounds of tourists reverberate in the otherwise empty Capitol rotunda.

            The classic quotation by Everett Dirksen, the late U.S. Senator from Illinois, somehow seems appropriate for the Louisiana Legislature today: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” And we’re not even talking about special sessions.

            Legislators bemoan the fact that they are paid only $16,800 per year. But $159 per diem for an 85-day session adds another $22,896. Each legislator also receives an un-vouchered $6,000 per year expense allowance, up to $1,500 per month in other vouchered expenses (that’s $63,696 for a part time job, which is more than the average state civil service employee makes in his or her full time job). Add to that perks that include a laptop computer for the Capitol, a desktop computer for his or her district office, high-speed internet service, up to three telephones for each legislator’s district office, and up to $3,000 per month for the salary of a legislative aide. Additionally, Legislators serving on or before Jan. 1, 1997, or who were already participating in a public retirement system at that time, also are eligible for retirement benefits of 3.5 percent of the member’s annual salary for each year of service. State civil service employees receive 2.5 percent of their annual salaries.

            Richard, who represents Lafourche Parish, introduced HB 1390 on Tuesday that would divorce legislators’ per diem from the federal rate by freezing the daily payments at $159 in light of the anticipated fiscal shortfall facing the state. As of Tuesday, his bill had not been received a committee referral.

            Civil service employees will have their salaries frozen, effective July 1 after lawmakers railed against what some perceived as automatic 4 percent merit increases for state classified employees. The term automatic, however, is somewhat misleading. Merit, or step, increases are given based on job performance. If an employee fails to attain certain goals, there is no merit increase. Moreover, once a classified employee maxes out on his or her step increases, there are no more increases available under civil service unless that employee receives a promotion or changes jobs. There have been no cost of living (COL) increases for state workers since 2007. The last COL prior to that was during the Edwards administration.

            That hasn’t stopped lawmakers like District 77 Rep. John M. Schroder, Sr. (R-Covington) who has led a vendetta-like campaign against state classified employees. He has authored no less than six separate bills dealing with state civil service, none of which would appear to be favorable to state workers. All six of his bills were referred to the House and Governmental Affairs Committee.

            HB 752 would grant the legislature sole authority to provide for pay increases for state employees and state elected officials. The bill would include employees of joint state and parochial agency or joint state and municipal agency, “regardless of the source of the funds used to pay for such employment.”

            HB 753 would abolish the State Civil Service Commission and the Department of State Civil Service, effective Jan. 9, 2012. Though Schroder is proposing the abolishment of civil service, his bill offers no alternative that would protect state government from returning to the spoils system of political patronage. Civil service currently protects employees from being required to campaign for or contribute to political candidates as a condition of keeping their jobs. Without civil service, some fear a return of the “deduct box” of the Huey Long era.

            HB 754 would prohibit pay increases to state employees when there is a budget deficit, subject to a fine of up to $500 or imprisonment for up to six month, or both.

            HB 755 would require the legislature to determine prior to each fiscal year if pay increases may be granted to state employees and if so, the manner and amount of the increase. This bill would be a radical departure from allowing supervisors and managers to evaluate employees’ work performance and to make decisions on merit increases. Schroder’s bill does not explain how the legislature would be qualified to evaluate job performance of 60,000 individual state employees.

            House bills 752, 753, 754, and 755 are all proposed constitutional amendments and would have to be voted on in the Nov. 2 statewide election.

            HB 757 would require that certain employee reports be sent to the Department of State Civil Service, the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate. The reports would include employees’ names, addresses, positions, dates and place of employment, hours of work, and salaries.

            Perhaps the most ominous bill, however, is HB 1296, which would require employees to use annual, compensatory, or unpaid leave for official holidays. Official state holidays include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Mardi Gras, Good Friday, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Inauguration Day once every four years in the city of Baton Rouge, and General Election Day every two years.

            Particularly galling to state employees are the 9 percent per diem increase for legislators and the $159 per diem paid lawmakers for three days per week that the House and Senate do not meet during the 85-day session while at the same time halting 4 percent merit increases and also considering a bill to take paid holidays away from workers.

            It was Schroder who initially raised the issue of “automatic” merit increases for state employees last year with House Speaker Jim Tucker quickly joining in the effort to thwart the increases. Many felt that Schroder and Tucker were simply doing Gov. Bobby Jindal’s bidding in attacking the civil service merit increases. The governor has mostly remained above the fray even while allowing six legislators sitting on his Commission on Streamlining Government to collect more than $17,000 in per diem payments during their consideration of ways to reduce government spending. Four private sector members of the commission received no payments though Barry Erwin, president of the Council for a Better Louisiana, did say, “We did get certificates to hang on the wall.”

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Return of the ‘Deduct Box?’

Posted in Civil Service, Ethics, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records, Transparency on July 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

            Give State Rep. John Schroder (R-Abita Springs) credit: once he got the idea that picking on state employees was popular with the general public, he has stopped at nothing to offer up State Civil Service as a sacrifice at the Altar of Bobby Jindal.

            Schroder was successful at obtaining committee approval of HB-1478 (originally HB-1296) which would mandate that state employees not be paid for up to 11 legal holidays. Legislators, however, will not be required to forfeit their pay for 37 days of the regular 85-day legislative session during which they do not meet.

            In its original wording, HB-1296 stipulated that state employees would simply be required to take annual or accrued leave time for legal holidays. Somewhere along the way, however, someone must have realized that scenario presented no savings to the state since employees would receive pay whether they worked or took annual leave. Accordingly, the bill was amended to force employees to take legal holidays without pay.

            The bill, which was changed to HB-1478, was approved without objection by the House and Governmental Affairs Committee and now goes to the House floor for approval.

            Schroder was subjected to a flurry of emails from outraged state employees after his original bill calling for employees to take leave for holidays became public. He repeatedly refused to answer specific questions, saying things like, “(I’m) not sure what games you are playing, but I don’t have the time. You have no idea what’s going on and it’s clear you have an agenda slanted to the unproductive side. Keep spewing your anger across the state. In the end, I am working to solve problems and those willing to learn and listen can contribute right along as we work to make La. a better state.”

            On another occasion, when a writer asked why he did not address questions directed to him, Schroder responded simply, “God bless you.”

            One of those questions asked if Schroder had accepted a $14 increase in per diem payments (from $145 to $159) that went into effect on Oct. 1, 2009, a 9 percent increase at a time when Schroder was leading the efforts to abolish what he called “automatic” 4 percent merit increases for state workers. Merit increases for state employees are not automatic and in fact, once an employee receives all the step increases allowed for that pay grade, there are no more increases unless the employee takes another job or is promoted to a higher pay grade.

            Another question which Schroder refused to answer was whether or not he had accepted the $159 per diem for the 37 days (12 Fridays, 12 Saturdays, 12 Sundays, and Memorial Day) during which neither the House nor the Senate convenes. The per diem for those 37 days comes to $5,883 per legislator, or $847,152 for all 144 members. Memorial Day is one of the holidays for which state employees would receive no pay next year if HB-1478 becomes law.

            Schroder was also asked, but again refused to answer, if he was the primary author of HB-753, which would abolish the State Civil Service Commission and the Department of State Civil Service, effective Jan. 9, 2012. That bill, which calls for a constitutional amendment to be decided at the Nov. 2 statewide election, would dissolve the only avenue available to state employees to address grievances. State Civil Service prohibits state classified employees from contributing to or participating in political campaigns on behalf of any candidate. One of the reasons for the existence of civil service is for the protection of state employees. In the days of the old spoils system, employees were beholden to those elected officials and it spawned what is known as the “deduct box” more commonly associated with the administration of Huey Long.

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