Posted in Civil Service, Governor's Office, Health Care, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Notable Quotables, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Privatization on October 17, 2012| 2 Comments »
“I believe I’d have a coronary if they went against the governor on this.”
—A longtime political observor, commenting on the upcoming joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees to consider Gov. Piyush Jindal’s proposed privatization of the Office of Group Benefits (OGB).
Posted in Attorney General, Budget, Civil Service, Governor's Office, Health Care, House, Senate, Jobs, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Privatization on October 17, 2012| 10 Comments »
Members of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee were being lobbied heavily by both sides on Wednesday in the final hours leading up to Thursday’s joint committee meeting to consider the privatization of the Louisiana Office of Group Benefits (OGB).
State Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) said on Wednesday that she was concentrating on members of the House Appropriations Committee “because the concurrence of both committees is required.”
She said by mid-morning there appeared to be four undecided votes on the House committee.
“We need two votes,” she said, to block the move by Gov. Piyush Jindal. “Neither side can say it has the votes,” she added.
For those who might be interested in getting in their two-cents worth, here are the links to the names, phone numbers and email addresses for the members of each of the committees:
http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Cmtes/H_Cmte_AP.asp
http://senate.legis.louisiana.gov/Finance/Assignments.asp
The privatization, which would have Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBS) take over the operations of the agency’s Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), was approved by the State Civil Service Commission in August but State Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) requested and got an attorney general’s opinion that said the administration must obtain the concurrence of the legislature to finalize the transfer.
BCBS already serves as the third party administrator (TPA) for OGB’s HMO program.
OGB has accrued a fund balance in excess of $500 million over the past six years since Tommy Teague took over as director of OGB. But he was fired on April 15, 2011 when he did not get on board the Jindal privatization plan quickly enough. His successor lasted only six weeks before he, too, was gone.
Jindal has claimed that a private TPA would be able to run the various health and life insurance plans of about 225,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents.
A Legislative Auditor’s report, however, said that privatization could lead to increased health insurance premiums because of a private insurer’s higher administrative and marketing costs, its requirement to pay taxes on income and its need to realize an operating profit. The state does not pay taxes nor is it required to turn a profit.
The Jindal administration has employed tactics bordering on the clandestine in efforts to shore up its position. At one point it even refused to release a report by New Orleans-based Chaffe & Associates with which it contracted to determine the “fair market value” of OGB’s business.
When a copy of the report was released, however, questions arose immediately because of conflicting dates given by the Division of Administration (DOA) as to its receipt date and by the fact that none of the pages of the report was date-stamped.
DOA routinely date stamps every page of documents it receives to indicate the date and time the documents were received.
This led to speculation that there may have been two Chaffe reports. Even so, the one that was leaked to the Baton Rouge Advocate said that a private insurer would be required to build in the extra costs of taxes and profits when setting premiums.
Once considered a slam-dunk for approval, the vote now appears much closer on the eve of the meeting of the two committees.
Much of the reason for the change may have to do with growing resentment on the part of legislators who have seen hospitals and/or prisons closed in their districts, actions they say were taken by the administration without the benefit of giving lawmakers a heads-up.
Jindal, in closing prisons and hospitals, has done so while leaving it up to area legislators to try and explain to constituents why they will be out of work or why health care will be either cut back or unavailable.
Only this week, notices went out to 41 employees at E.A. Conway Hospital in Monroe that they would no longer be employed after Nov. 30—just in time for the Christmas holidays. Twenty-five of those were nurses.
Similar cutbacks have taken place at health care facilities all over the state and in August, Jindal abruptly announced the closure of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, effective this month, throwing some 300 employees out of work.
Moreover, with the earlier closure of a mental health facility in New Orleans, the entire area of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St.
Bernard, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany will be without access to mental health treatment at a state facility.
The proposed privatization of OGB will put about 120 workers out of work.
“It’s going down to the wire,” Jackson said of the vote to turn the PPO over to BCBS. “It’s going to be close.”
Posted in Budget, Campaign Contributions, Economy, Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Transparency on October 15, 2012| 6 Comments »
Gov. Piyush Jindal had barely recovered from the bitter disappointment of being snubbed for a spot on Mitt Romney’s ticket than he was off and running for yet another national office—that of president.
His preference these days seems to be anything to avoid addressing the real problems that face Louisiana.
For a man who insists that he has the job he wants, he certainly seems to devote a minimal amount of time doing it.
Jindal’s travel miles this year alone have surpassed those of the James Brown extended post mortem farewell tour of a few years back.
Piyush is on the road again more than Willie Nelson.
His campaign appearances rival in number those of President Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney combined—and he’s not even an official candidate for anything. Yet.
He has the job he wants, which apparently is making more public appearances than the Harlem Globetrotters.
He’s more difficult to locate than Sasquatch.
When it comes to answering reporters’ questions, Jindal makes the late Marcel Marceau seem like a chatterbox.
So now, with the sound and fury of the vice presidential selection process behind him, he goes and gets himself picked to head up the Republican Governors Association next year—a job that will no doubt necessitate his absence from the state even more, if that’s possible.
The position is a plum in that it theoretically gives him a leg up on the Republican president nomination in 2020 (or 2016, should Romney lose in November).
He will chair the organization in 2013 and will be followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie the following year. The post is considered a springboard to higher office. Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry each served as chairman prior to launching their presidential campaigns.
The Associated Press speculated that the position could help Piyush gain momentum and support for a future White House bid, “if he’s interested.”
If he’s interested?
That’s like saying a hyena will attack a wildebeest if he’s hungry.
The same AP story notes that in five-plus years as Louisiana’s absentee governor, he has promoted his book, given campaign speeches, attended fundraisers and Republican events in 39 states and the nation’s capital. He has managed to pop up in key presidential primary or caucus states like New Hampshire and Iowa on numerous occasions—sometimes even being asked by the locals to leave. Quickly.
More than a third of his 160 or so out-of-state trips have taken place since January.
Ironically, most of his travels have been to support state candidates or Republican causes and to collect campaign contributions for Piyush Jindal.
His campaign trips on behalf of Romney, on the other hand, are merely an afterthought.
Rather like his occasional attention to matters in Louisiana—little insignificant matters like budget shortfalls, cuts to state hospitals, litigation over his education and retirement reform packages in Louisiana and growing resentment on the part of legislators over the closures of prison and health care facilities.
So basically, he believes he received a mandate in last year’s underwhelming re-election vote of 67 percent of 20 percent of the voters—against only token opposition, no less.
Piyush may want to consider the fact that 80 percent of the voters yawned their way to a state of languid indifference on the question of whether or not he should be awarded a second term.
And he’s going to try and parlay those results into becoming leader of the free world?
But he must first prove himself a leader of the nation’s Republican governors.
If his leadership of Louisiana is an indication of his capabilities, it should be fun to watch—if you like watching a delusional political wannabe.
Posted in Broadband, Internet, Civil Service, Commissions, Governor's Office, Higher Education, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, State Agencies on October 8, 2012| 6 Comments »
State Civil Service employees have gone without a 4 percent merit pay raise for three years now because of budgetary restrictions, brought on in large part by a Piyush Jindal administration that refuses to apply for federal grants for needed projects and by Jindal’s insistence on granting more and more tax breaks to corporate entities who take the money and, in at least one case, cease operations within a year or so.
No one is saying that grant money can be used to fund employee pay raises but when federal funds for broadband internet ($80.6 million), early childhood development ($60 million), and $5 billion a year in tax exemptions are taken out of the budgetary mix, the money must be made up from other sources.
Because of constitutionally mandated spending, there are only two areas where cuts may be made: higher education and health care. And of course, there is always the suspension of pay raises.
Accordingly, Curt Eysink, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC)–once known by its archaic nom de plume, the Department of Labor–sent an email to all his employees on Sept. 26 which informed them thusly:
Dear Fellow LWC Employees,
As you are aware, the LWC has experienced significant reductions in funding over the last four years as the demand for our services increased. That has put a lot of added pressure on many of you, and you should know that your efforts are greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, the combination of funding reductions and increased services also puts a tremendous strain on our budget, and we continue to struggle to maintain staffing levels in certain areas.
Yesterday afternoon, I submitted a request to Civil Service for the Layoff Avoidance Measure of withholding performance adjustment pay increases (or merit increases) for the upcoming year. I sincerely regret that this is necessary for a third year in a row, but I made this request to minimize the impact of budget pressures on our levels of staffing and on the agency.
I appreciate your dedication and patience as we work through these tough financial times. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Well, wasn’t that special? Eysink, in an effort to avoid layoffs, was willing to allow his employees to bite the bullet on behalf of the greater good by denying them pay raises, even though he “sincerely” regretted the action.
But wait. While he was sacrificing 4 percent increases for virtually his entire agency, Eysink was apparently attempting a backdoor salary bump of some $20,000 per year (40.8 percent), from $47,570 to $67,000, for a single employee.
Jonie Smith, Emerging Workforce Manager (for programs involving community action agencies, veterans and disabled workers), was approved by the state Civil Service Commission for an increase from $47,570 to $67,000 despite restrictions that would have limited her increase to only $53,000.
This is the same Civil Service Commission that rubber stamped the privatization plan for the Office of Group Benefits that will cause about 120 workers in that agency to lose their jobs. (Is it just us, or does anyone else see the Civil Service Commission as becoming just another Jindal dancing monkey in much the same mode as the Ethics Commission and the Louisiana Legislature?)
Not that one member, at least, didn’t try to discourage the big raise.
Briefly, here’s a recap of what went down:
Smith apparently got a job offer from the private sector and Eysink felt she was just too valuable to lose. Civil Service rules allow a state agency to match a private sector offer and in this particular case a match would have boosted her salary by $5,430, or 11.4 percent—nearly three times the 4 percent merit raise for state employees—if such raises still existed, which, of course, they don’t.
Even at that, agency officials lobbied for $67,000, causing commission member Scott Hughes to balk. Hughes observed that a lot of good employees have already been lost to layoffs. Another 1500 or so are slated to lose their jobs (just in time for Christmas, no less) through massive cutbacks in services by the LSU healthcare system.
“I’m not going to cast a vote to set a precedent for one employee,” he said, adding that other agencies might attempt similar moves. “I believe it’s a barn door we are opening that will not get shut.”
Commission Vice Chairman John McLure pooh-poohed Hughes’s concerns. “Given the current economic situation and the downsizing we have approved, we won’t see much of this,” he said somewhat incredulously.
Apparently, McLure has not been paying close attention to the news lately (see Tim Barfield, whom Jindal appointed Revenue Secretary at twice the salary of his predecessor).
It should also be noted that while Eysink pays the obligatory lip service to his employees by telling them how much he values and appreciates their dedication and patience, at least one staff member is valued and appreciated considerably more than the rest. Either that or he’s simply lying about how much he appreciates his workers in the first place. Of course, lying is certainly not new to this administration.
Remember Jindal’s disingenuous State Employee Appreciation proclamations the past three years? Were they not so cynical and such classic examples of sick humor, they’d almost be laughable. Almost.
Hughes did have one ally in Civil Service assistant director Jean Jones.
While Ashley Gautreaux, LWC human resources director described Smith, who has worked for the agency since December of 2010, a “critical” employee, Jones said based on Civil Service records, Smith barely meets minimum job qualifications for the job she is in.
The commission predictably went along with the $19,430 per year pay raise with Hughes casting the only negative vote.
One LWC employee emailed LouisianaVoice expressing an attitude of being quite “p—sed” at the action.
That’s certainly easy to understand. Jindal has completely ignored this state since his re-election (with the exception of opportunities for camera face time during Hurricane Isaac). He is rarely even in the state anymore even as a dangerous sinkhole has caused evacuations in Assumption Parish. He is nowhere to be found even as the state’s economy is tanking, causing cutbacks in medical care, budget cuts to higher education which in turn precipitated tuition increases for already financially-strapped students—all while he pumps up salaries for his appointees (see Tim Barfield), fires doctors and college presidents and attorneys and continues to campaign for president—a goal, by the way, that he will never reach.
The question then is, with more than three years left for him to turn his nose up at the citizens who elected him, how much more of this boorish behavior is the state citizenry—and the legislature—willing to take off this arrogant Alfred E. Newman lookalike?
Perhaps Hammond attorney C.B. Forgotston said it best when he said it is time for us to move on because Bobby has. “It’s time for us to admit the truth: Bobby Jindal is finished with Louisiana,” he said.
“Bobby’s future is beyond the borders of Louisiana and he shows it every day. It’s time for the legislators to determine what type of state in which they want to live, not what Bobby leaves us.”
Posted in Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Politicians, Transparency on October 5, 2012| 5 Comments »
Thursday’s meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Health and Welfare was a critical meeting in that committee members were considering massive cutbacks to the LSU healthcare system and the impending layoffs of nearly 1500 employees at seven of the 10 hospitals in the LSU system.
One might think that a meeting such as this might important enough to merit the testimony of Bobby Yarborough, member and former chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors.
One would be wrong.
Yarborough, who also served as campaign finance chairman for Jindal’s re-election campaign last year (he’s a busy man), might also have spoken up in his capacity as chairman of the University Medical Center Management Corp. Board.
But he did not.
Nor did anyone from the administration of one Piyush Jindal appear to justify cuts of more than $300 million that will necessarily cause significant reductions to the availability of health care to Louisiana’s uninsured poor—and even insured Louisiana residents who are geographically depending on facilities such as Bogalusa Medical Center, one of those slated for cutbacks.
Instead, Dr. Frank Opelka, chief of the LDU system health care, was left to defend the cuts and to withstand withering questioning from members of the joint committee.
It might also be expected that for a meeting as important as this one was, all members would be in attendance, but that also was not the case.
Absent from the entire four-hour session were Sens. Dan Claitor (R) and Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb (D) of Baton Rouge and ex-officio member Rep. Walt Leger (D-New Orleans).
House members attending the meeting included committee Chairman Scott Simon (R-Abita Springs), Frank Hoffman, vice chair (R-West Monroe), John Anders (D-Vidalia), Kenny Cox (D-Natchitoches), A.B. Franklin (D-Lake Charles), Lance Harris (R-Alexandria), Kenneth Havard (R-Jackson), Bob Hensgens (R-Abbeville), Dorothy Sue Hill (D-Dry Creek), Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe), H. Bernard LeBas (D-Ville Platte), John Morris (R-Monroe), Rogers Pope (R-Denham Springs), Lenar Whitney (R-Houma), Patrick Williams (D-Shreveport), Thomas Willmott (R-Kenner) and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, ex officio (R-Lake Charles.
Senators present on Thursday included Chairman David Heitmeier (D-New Orleans), Fred Mills, vice chairman (R-New Iberia), R.L. “Bret” Allain, II (R-Franklin), Sherri Smith Buffington (R-Keithville), Dale Erdey (R-Livingston), Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), Ben Nevers (D-Bogalusa), and Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego).
Even more difficult to understand, however, was the early exit of many of those who did attend. Several were there long enough to qualify for their $149 per diem checks, plus 55.5 cents per mile (round trip) for travel, but were not present near the conclusion of the session when Nevers attempted to push through a resolution requesting the LSU Board of Supervisors and Dr. Opelka to delay implementation of any cuts until all plans have been finalized and presented to the legislature.
While there was a sufficient contingency of senators to mount a quorum, more than half the House members had departed, leaving Simon with no choice but to disallow any vote on Nevers’s motion under House rules.
Rep. Rogers Pope (R-Denham Springs), one of those who stayed until the end, said he could not speak for those who left and did not know the reasons for their departure. “They may have had things to do but you know, this is an important issue and we were elected to look out for the best interests of our constituents. I took an oath of office and I felt obligated to remain until adjournment.”
Pope said he is fully aware of the budgetary crisis, but said health care for the poor is imperative. “There are going to be cutbacks in services rendered but we need to make wise decisions on what is cut and where.
“I don’t like a lot of things this governor is doing,” he added. “I especially do not like what he has done and is doing to education in this state.
“Sure, we have problems in education, but you don’t scrap the whole system. We have bad governors in this country, too, but we can’t just throw them all out and start over. It’s not that easy. You work within the system to improve it; you don’t destroy the system.”
Pope said he was aware that Jindal does not like criticism. “But I’ve criticized him in the past so I know I’m among those on the outside.”
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