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Archive for the ‘Legislature, Legislators’ Category

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Notable Quotables, Politicians, Privatization, Transparency on September 6, 2012| 2 Comments »

“We’re the only state in the country that runs our own government-owned, government-operated hospitals. I’ll be the first to tell you that’s not the best way to provide health care. And we’re replacing that. We’re transitioning folks on our Medicaid program to privately-run insurance coverage.”

–Gov. Piyush Jindal, to Greta Van Susteren in a Fox News interview about his plans to dismantle Louisiana’s Medicaid program in favor of private insurers, neglecting to mention that those “government-run hospitals” also serve as teaching hospitals for medical students at both the LSU and Tulane university schools of medicine.

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π-yush completes packing of LSU Board of Supervisors with long-time Republican Party loyalist Chester Lee Mallett

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Politicians, Privatization, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency on September 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

Chester Lee Mallett of Iowa likes to spread his money around but his political involvement is mostly restricted to conservative Republican candidates at both the state and federal levels.

Described as a “well-established businessman” and “a true conservative,” Mallett has served on the board of Louisiana’s Citizen Insurance Company and the State Licensing Board for Contractors—appointed to both boards by Gov. Bobby Jindal. More recently, Jindal appointed him to serve on the LSU Board of Supervisors.

The reasons for Jindal’s continuing to call on Mallett to serve in various capacities are not difficult to understand. Like many of the governor’s appointees, he has proven himself to be a generous donor to Jindal’s campaigns through personal contributions ($10,000) and seven of his companies ($148,500) since Jindal’s first gubernatorial campaign of 2003.

Mallett does not limit his largesse to state political candidates (although he has chipped in another $61,000 to other Louisiana candidates). Since 2004 alone, he contributed an additional $166,400 to national Republican candidates, all but one of whom are from Louisiana, and three separate contributions of $30,800 each to the Republican National Committee and another for $5,000. Additionally, Brad Mallett of one of Lee Mallett’s companies contributed another $30,800 to the RNC.

Republican congressional beneficiaries include U.S. Sen. David Vitter ($6.400), congressmen Jeff Landry ($5,000), Charles Boustany Jr. ($5,000) and Bill Cassidy ($5,000). Other prominent Republicans receiving contributions from Mallett include Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin ($2,500), Newt Gingrich ($1,000), Texas Gov. Rick Perry ($2,500) and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney ($2,500).

Though a Republican loyalist, he did contribute $2,300 to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in 2007 and $3,700 to the State Senate campaign of Democrat Willie Mount of Lake Charles in 2004.

Described as “an avid social reformer,” Mallett counts as his greatest achievement the creation and operation of The Academy of Training Skills (ATS) in Lacassine. ATS, whose corporate offices are located at the same Iowa address of all of Mallett’s other companies, opened in 2008, and serves as an alternative facility for individuals who are at risk of going to prison. Those with non-violent or non-sexual offenses are given an opportunity to reside at ATS and to enroll in any of several training programs.

ATS, approved by the Louisiana Department of Corrections, takes residents by referral from local court jurisdictions. The facility’s web page says it is seeking accreditation from the American Correction (sic) Association (ACA) and that a trade school was planned for the site. The website also said plans were in place to expand to a 1,000-resident capacity.

The American Correctional Association, located in Alexandria, Virginia, confirmed that ATS received accreditation in 2010, an indication that the ATS website has not been updated for at least two years.

Claims by ATS that residents are trained for jobs and that they receive counseling and medical treatment for addictions, however, are in dispute.

While the ATS web page touts training in pipefitting, welding, electrical, millwright, heavy equipment operator and instrumentation fitter, at least one district attorney who refers offenders to facilities such as ATS said he has experienced numerous complaints about the program and no longer refers offenders to ATS.

A spokesman for the district attorney, who requested that he not be identified because of political implications, said all his referrals now go to Cenikor Foundation, a Houston-based center with facilities in Baton Rouge.

“We just stopped sending people to ATS,” he said. “The jobs they were getting our people were jobs hamburger flipping at fast food restaurants, not technical skills. The claims that they are providing medical treatment don’t seem to be valid, either, because our referrals told us they received no medical treatment.

“Moreover, ATS works these people and pays money into personal accounts for each resident, which is certainly an accepted practice,” he said. “However, without exception, when our referrals completed their programs there, instead of receiving the money in their accounts, they wound up owing ATS money.”

He also said ATS appears to have difficulty in retaining facility directors. “There’s a lot of turnover there,” he said. “No one seems to stay more than a few months. Some of the directors seemed to try to do what the program advertises but they don’t last long before they’re gone.”

Now, it appears that Mallett may be expanding his operations to include online classes as part of the Louisiana Department of Education’s (DOE) Course Choice Program.

The Course Choice Program ostensibly provides students at failing schools the opportunity to take the online courses instead of continuing in their old schools. All the classes are online and providers are allowed to set their own course fees.

One of those approved by DOE is ATS Project Success of Michigan, which claims on its web page to offer courses in 41 states, including Louisiana. Academy of Training Schools (ATS) of 21089 South Frontage Road in Iowa, which is the same corporate address as Mallett’s seven other enterprises (including Academy of Training Skills), appears to be the Louisiana ATS entity through which courses are to be offered.

The Academy of Training Schools also contributed $6,000 to Believe in Louisiana, a 527 tax-exempt political organization founded by Baton Rouge Business Report Publisher Rolf McCollister.

McCollister was Jindal’s campaign chairman in his successful 2007 run for governor and served as chairperson of Jindal’s transition team.
Julio Melara, president of the Baton Rouge Business Report, was appointed by Jindal to the Louisiana Stadium Exposition District (Louisiana Superdome) Board in February 2008, a month after Jindal first took office.

Jindal appointed Mallett, a Republican insider, to the LSU Board in July and all the pieces now appear to be in place for Jindal to do whatever he wants with LSU in general and the LSU Medical System in particular. The recent firing of Dr. Fred Cerise and the reassignment of Dr. Roxanne Townsend would seem to support that theory.

Jindal said as much on July 2 in an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News:

“We’re the only state in the country that runs our own government-owned, government-operated hospitals. I’ll be the first to tell you that’s not the best way to provide health care. And we’re replacing that. We’re transitioning folks on our Medicaid program to privately-run insurance coverage.”

Jindal, of course, neglected to mention that those state hospitals, particularly Charity Hospital in New Orleans served, not only as a medical safety net for indigent citizens of the state and as teaching hospitals for both the LSU and Tulane University schools of medicine.

Charity was never reopened after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 even though only the basement of the 21-story facility was flooded and more than 200 military and medical volunteers restored the hospital to conditions that many said were superior to the hospital’s pre-storm state. For whatever reasons, however, electricity, which was working in the hospital, was ordered turned off and the doors were locked.

With all but one of the LSU Board members appointed by Jindal, the governor now has carte blanche to bulldoze ahead with dismantling the state’s Medicaid program—just as he promised he would in his interview with Van Susteren—in favor of privately-run insurance coverage, most likely administered by large campaign contributors.

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Oops! He did it again! π-yush removes Roxanne Townsend, CEO of Interim Louisiana Public Hospital in New Orleans

Posted in Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, State Agencies, Teague on September 5, 2012| 9 Comments »

No sooner had we posted our account of the planned firing of LSU System Office General Counsel Raymond Lamonica than we learned that the Piyush Jindal administration has also relieved Dr. Roxanne Townsend of her position as CEO of the Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans, a position she has held since 2009.

LouisianaVoice learned from independent sources that she was called into the office of Dr. Frank Opelka last Friday and informed that he planned to go “in another direction” with the LSU health care system. Opelka was named head of the health care system on Aug. 26 following the firing of his predecessor, Dr. Fred Cerise.

The “direction” alluded to by Dr. Opelka is apparently to remove from positions of responsibility anyone who does not bow and scrape at the Piyush pewter image. (For those who don’t know, pewter is defined as a dull, malleable alloy comprised mostly of tin; ergo, the Tin Man—with no heart.)

Dr. Townsend, a native of Pennsylvania, graduated from the LSU School of Medicine-New Orleans in 1992 and did her post-graduate training in Internal Medicine in Baton Rouge and also served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge.

She has served as CEO of the Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans since 2009. She previously worked for Dr. Cerise as the Chief Operating Officer at Earl K. Long and upon Dr. Cerise’s departure for the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), she was named Interim CEO. In July of 2004, she moved to DHH as Medicaid Medical Director where her responsibilities included oversight of all aspects of DHH’s Disease Management and Clinical Quality activities.

Following the closure of Charity Hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Lamonica, representing LSU, obtained a $474 million settlement with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), part of which was used to convert the former Hotel Dieu into the Interim Louisiana Hospital which, besides serving as a medical safety net for indigent patients, also trains 300 resident physicians—200 from LSU and 100 from the Tulane Medical School—and to get the University Hospital campus up and operative.

News of Dr. Townsend’s demotion comes on the heels of reports that the administration plans to fire Lamonica, the man who negotiated that FEMA settlement. Last April, the LSU Board voted to fire John Lombardi as president of the LSU system and followed that last month with the firing of Dr. Cerise.

Jindal presently controls all but one of the appointments of the LSU Board, so it is impossible for him to separate himself from board action, no matter how much his media mouthpiece Kyle Plotkin may try to deny it. Any board action must be considered to have been taken at Jindal’s behest.

Given Piyush’s ongoing putsch, the question must be asked: when are legislators going to gather sufficient stones between them to stand as a body and say to this tyrant: “ENOUGH! There is only so much we as a legislative body will take from you in exchange for appropriations for our districts. There comes a time when your personal ambition may no longer run roughshod over the state’s principles, dignity and respect and you long ago crossed that line.”

Where is that so-called independent legislature? You are needed more today than at any time in this state’s history. But your timid silence is deafening.

And where are the voters in these legislators’ districts? You are equally mute when you should be at your very angriest–and loudest.

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New LSU teaguing by π-yush may be imminent; Raymond Lamonica rumored on way out as System general counsel

Posted in BESE, Commissions, Education, Governor's Office, Higher Education, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Regents, Teague, Transparency on September 4, 2012| 5 Comments »

Reports out of the State Capitol on Tuesday has yet another state employee about to become a victim of the ongoing Piyush Purge.

LouisianaVoice has learned of plans by the administration to fire LSU System Office General Counsel Raymond Lamonica.

If true, Lamonica would be the third LSU official to be teagued by Jindal in less than six months. System President John Lombardi was fired in April by the LSU Board of Supervisors acting on directions from the governor and last month, Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system similarly dismissed.

Reached at home Tuesday, Lamonica acknowledged that he had heard the reports but had no additional comment. “Not yet, anyway,” he added.

Lamonica was appointed as United States attorney for the middle district of Louisiana in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. President Bill Clinton appointed L.J. Hymel to replace him in 1994. Prior to that, Lamonica worked as executive counsel to Gov. Dave Treen.

If the reports are accurate, Lamonica would be only the latest in a growing line of rank and file state employees, agency directors and cabinet secretaries who Jindal has either fired outright or, in the case of two legislators, demoted from committee assignments.

Besides members of board and commissions who are routinely replaced by governors with political allies and campaign contributors, Jindal has replaced, in order:

• March of 2008—Louisiana Highway Safety Commission Executive Director Jim Champagne, who opposed Jindal’s campaign promise to repeal the motorcycle helmet law;

• September of 2008—Department of Social Services Secretary Ann Williamson, after criticism of shelter conditions following Hurricane Gustav and problems with a post-storm food stamp program;

• June of 2009—Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Tammie McDaniel, after she disagreed with some of the administration’s public education policies;

• October 2009—Melody Teague, a social services grant reviewer, after testifying in opposition to Jindal’s plan to streamline government;

• February 5, 2010—Department of Transportation and Development Secretary William Ankner, after a company that contributed $11,000 to Jindal’s campaign was awarded a $60 million highway contract despite not having the low bid;

• August 13, 2010—State Alcohol and Tobacco Control Secretary Murphy Painter, after being accused of sexual harassment and fired after rejecting a permit application to SMG, the New Orleans Superdome management company, that would allow Budweiser to erect a large tent and signage in Champions Square. Budweiser had offered $300,000 to the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District to sponsor the tent for tailgating parties at Saints home games;

• April of 2011—Office of Group Benefits (OGB) Director Tommy Teague (husband of Melody Teague), after failing to display sufficient enthusiasm over Jindal’s plans to privatize his agency;

• June of 2011—Tommy Teague’s successor Scott Kipper, after apparently irritating his boss, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater over the number of OGB employees he would recommend to be laid off;

• March of 2012—Office of Elderly Affairs Executive Director Mary Manuel, after testifying she was never informed of Jindal’s plans to move her agency from the governor’s office to the Department of Health and Hospitals;

• March of 2012—State Rep. Harold Richie (D-Bogalusa), demoted from his vice-chairmanship of the House Committee on Insurance after voting against a tax rebate for those who donate money for scholarships (vouchers) to private and parochial schools;

• April of 2012—LSU System President John Lombardi, after publicly criticizing massive budget cuts imposed on higher education by Jindal;

• June of 2012—Secretary of Revenue Cynthia Bridges after it became obvious that an alternative fuel tax credit law signed by Jindal which granted tax credits for the purchase of certain fuel-efficient automobiles would cost the state upwards of $100 million;

• June of 2012—State Rep. Jim Morris (R-Oil City), was removed from his vice-chairmanship of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee after resisting efforts by Jindal to use one-time money to fund recurring expenses in the state’s General Budget;

• August of 2012—Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system, after criticizing Jindal budget cuts which gutted the LSU medical system of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Piyush purge continues; head of LSU medical system is latest to be teagued for unpardonable sin of thinking for himself

Posted in Boards, Governor's Office, Health Care, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU on August 24, 2012| 16 Comments »

Add another name to the growing list of state employees teagued by Gov. Piyush Jindal.

This time it was Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system who was canned by this egomaniacal little man who simply cannot tolerate any subordinate who thinks or acts for himself.

It’s not as if LSU’s statewide system of hospitals and clinics which served the dual purpose of providing of healthcare for the poor and as teaching hospitals for medical students had not already been dealt crushing blows from devastating cutbacks.

And it’s not as if Jindal hasn’t gained complete control of the LSU Board of Supervisors, appointing all but one of its members and firing President John Lombardi earlier this year.

This egocentric governor must lie awake at night thinking of new ways he can consolidate absolute power in the name of all that’s good and wholesome. He must salivate when he thinks of another employee he can fire and the higher position his latest victim holds, the more titillating it must be for Piyush.

So, of course, when Cerise criticized Piyush budget cuts which gutted the LSU medical system of hundreds of millions of dollars, he had to go.

It was not a matter of whether or not he or Lombardi, or Office of Group Benefits former director Tommy Teague or anyone else was doing a good job; it was a question of blind, unquestioning subservience to sanctimonious Pope Piyush the Perfect. Fail that test, and you’re history.

Not even members of the legislature are immune to his wrath. Two crossed him and promptly were removed from their committee assignments.

Speaking of the legislature, isn’t it about time those 144 representatives and senators grew a collective spine and stood up to this Huey Long reincarnate? Wouldn’t there be some merit to being a member of a House or Senate that could truly call itself independent as opposed to simply existing to serve the whims of a power-mad, self-righteous narcissist?

It wasn’t enough that Jindal purged his administration of yet another person capable of being something more than just another pathetic, fawning sycophant in Piyush’s inner circle (with the exception of one who this week admitted that his boss was “delusional”), but he had the unmitigated gall to play the “who me?” card when asked about the firing.

True to form, Jindal did not give an interview about the latest dismissal. He rarely holds press conferences in other than tightly controlled settings and he never takes questions, preferring instead to stick to the stock prepared statement which neither takes questions nor answers them.

In just such a prepared statement, this man of action (when there is a TV camera to record his image at an oil spill or in a hurricane command center, that is) said through his imported press secretary: “That’s a decision for the board and the LSU System President. With the changing environment in healthcare today, LSU’s health system needs a leader who can implement reforms that deliver services more efficiently.”

Please, Piyush, can’t you be a little more original—and honest—than that?

Sen. Fred Mills (R-St. Martinville), a member of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, expressed concern over the firing of Cerise, who also served a stint as Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

“Where else in the state do you have a gentleman that’s worked in the health care system (as a physician at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge), been secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and leader in the LSU Health System?” Mills asked. “Where are you going to get a resumé to replace this type of gentleman?”

Adding to the absurdity of the entire situation is the fact that Cerise’s contract runs through 2015, so he will be kept on the payroll in another capacity.

His replacement, Dr. Frank Opelka, vice chancellor for clinical affairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, was named to replace Cerise—in the newly-created position (an increasingly familiar scenario for Jindal appointees) of executive vice president for health care and medical education redesign.

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