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Want LSU football tickets? Just get elected and use your campaign funds; that’s the way 51 state legislators did it

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, LSU on April 2, 2012| 3 Comments »

The Louisiana Board of Ethics is grappling with the task of establishing parameters that would spell out which types of campaign expenditures are and are not permitted.

But don’t look for the Louisiana legislature to provide any guidance on the issue.

The seemingly reform-minded lawmakers appear eager to reform education, prisons, Medicaid, group benefits and state employee retirement programs but seem to be incapable or unwilling to tackle campaign spending reform.

That’s because no fewer than 51 current and former legislators have spent more than $400,000 in campaign funds for LSU athletic events since 2007.

And that figure does not even include ticket costs to other state college and university athletic events, various membership dues to civic clubs, country clubs and Mardi Gras krewes and even a few isolated cases of ethics fine payments from campaign funds. Some elected officials have even used campaign contributions to hire baby sitters and to purchase vehicles, including in one instance, a Jaguar.

Chief ethics administrator Kathleen Allen said her staff will use federal rules as well as compiling its own list of expenditures considered as non-allowed personal use of campaign funds in an effort to come up with new rules.

Allen said the Ethics Board has suggested that the 2012 Legislature change state law to be more specific about how campaign contributions may be spent. Present law says that contributions “shall not be used, loaned, or pledged by any person for any personal use unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of public office.”

Allen said federal and state laws regarding campaign expenditures are essentially the same but that the federal rules go a bit further by setting parameters for permissible use of campaign money.

She said Ethics Board members would proceed with rule-making even if the Legislature punts on the issue as it has historically done.

The board made recommendations to the legislature in the past have been largely ignored. It again this year sent a list of 20 proposals to both the legislature and to Gov. Bobby Jindal.

But of 1,033 bills filed in the House and another 639 in the Senate, not one addresses limiting the expenditure of campaign funds to purposes related to running for or holding office.

“I just wonder how much they (legislators) look at them, board member Cedric Lowrey of Alexander said of the recommendations.

The board, among other things, is recommending:

Giving the board’s investigatory staff authority to conduct random audits of personal financial disclosure reports;

Changing the time frame required to enforce ethics laws (current law starts the clock from the time a complaint is filed; the board wants to change that to the time it receives notice of an alleged violation);

Eliminating the filing of redundant election day expenditure reports;

Clarify the roles of the Board of Ethics and the Ethics Adjudicatory Board as it relates to policing of campaign disclosure laws.

If campaign expenditure reports are any indication, it would seem the legislature would want to get its own house in order before reforming a multitude of other state programs just because Gov. Bobby Jindal, like Chicken Little, keeps telling us the sky is falling.

Take for example the Louisiana Election Code (Title 18:1505.2-I, paragraph 36 on page 36): “No candidate, political committee, person required to file reports under this chapter, nor any other person shall use a contribution, loan, or transfer of funds to pay a fine, fee or penalty imposed (by the State Ethics Board.)”

Yet The Louisiana Board of Ethics web page list no fewer than 56 separate instances in which ethics fines were paid with campaign funds. Some of these were paid by political action committees (The Alliance for Good Government paid $1,600 from its campaign funds and the Better Government Political Action Committee paid $5,000 from its campaign funds), some by lobbyists and these, by current or former legislators:

• Rep. James Armes, III (D-Leesville)—$2,600 (two fines);

• Former House Speaker Charles DeWitt (D-Alexandria)—$5,000;

• Former Rep. Tom McVea (R-St. Francisville)—$720;

• Former Sen. Walter Boasso (D-Chalmette)—$1,000;

• Former Rep. Irma Muse Dixon (D-New Orleans)—$600;

• Former Rep. Dale Sittig (D-Eunice)—$800;

• Former Sen. Joel Chaisson, II (D-Destrehan)—$5,000 (two fines);

• Sen. Richard Gallot (D-Ruston)—$1,000.

But the real eye-opener is the list of expenditures for LSU athletic season and individual game tickets. Here are a few example of current members of the House and Senate who have dipped into campaign funds to pay for tickets and parking:

• Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego)—$8,022 in 2009 and 2011;

• Rep. John Anders (D-Vidalia)—$9,142 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. James Armes, III (D-Leesville)—$11,688 in 2008, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Jeff Arnold (D-New Orleans)—$3,000 in 2011;

• Rep. John Berthelot (R-Gonzales)—$7,770, all in 2011;

• Rep. Thomas Carmody, Jr. (R-Shreveport)—$11,556 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Sen. Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans)—$3,738 in 2009 and 2010;

• Sen. Norbert Chabert (R-Houma)—$3,015 in 2010;

• Sen. Sherri Smith Buffington (R-Keithville)—$10,798 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. George Cromer (R-Slidell)—$8,638 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge)—$6,394 in 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe)—$11,106 in 2008, 2010 and 2011;

• House Speaker Charles Kleckley (R-Lake Charles)—$17,492 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Bernard LeBas (D-Ville Platte)—$11,316 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Sen. Jean Paul Morrell (D-New Orleans)—$8,043 in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. James Morris (R-Oil City)—$2,735 in 2009;

• Sen. Dan Morrish (R-Jennings)—$2,978 in 2009;

• Sen. Jonathan Perry (R-Kaplan)—$16,653 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Stephen Pugh (R-Ponchatoula)—$5,900, all in 2011;

• Rep. Jerome Richard (I-Thibodaux)—$2,678 in 2009;

• Rep. Joel Robideaux (R-Lafayette)—$11,889 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. John Schroder (R-Covington)—$1,708 in 2009;

• Sen. Gary Smith (R-Gonzales)—$14,952 in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Regina Barrow (D-Baton Rouge)—$5,238 in 2008 and 2009;

• Rep. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero)—$8,448 in 2008, 2010 and 2011;

• Rep. Mike Danahay (D-Sulphur)—$10,156 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Sen Daniel Martiny (R-Metairie)—$7,466 in 2007, 2009 and 2011;

• Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell)—$3.010, all in 2010;

• Sen. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi)—$8,955 in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

But for sheer audacity, none even came close to the $150,000 man, former Rep. Noble Ellington, who spent $32,380 of his campaign funds since 2007, more than $8,000 of which was spent in 2011 when he did not seek re-election.

Ellington, you may remember, is the immediate past national president of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and within weeks of leaving office, was named the second in command at the Louisiana Department of Insurance at $150,000 per year, a position which will greatly enhance his retirement benefits at the same time Gov. Jindal is asking state employees to work longer, pay more in employee contributions and accept fewer benefits-and at the same time more than a dozen classified employees in the Department of Insurance are being laid off.

Other former legislators who found no problem soliciting campaign contributions from supporters only to use the money to purchase LSU athletic tickets included:

• Former Rep. Bobby Badon (D-Carencro)—$8,448 in 2008, 2010 and 2011;

• Former Rep. Damon Baldone (R-Houma)—$8,865 in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011;

• Former Sen. Nick Gautreaux (D-Meaux)—$3,060 in 2010;

• Former Rep. Walker Hines (R-New Orleans)—$5,688 in 2010;

• Former Sen. Mike Michot (R-Lafayette)—$14,797 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Former Sen. Rob Marionneaux (D-Maringouin)—$6,075 in 2010 and 2011;

• Former Rep. Billy Montgomery (R-Bossier City)—$4,075 in 2011 (Montgomery has not served in the legislature since 2008.);

• Former Rep. Ricky Templet (R-Gretna)—$8,638 in 2009, 2010 and 2011;

• Former Rep. Ernest Wooton (R-Belle Chasse)—$4,755 in 2009 and 2011;

• Former Rep. Troy Hebert (D-Jeanerette)—$4,580 in 2010;

• Rep. Nickie Monica (R-LaPlace)—$9.670 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;

Some of the current and former legislators listed their expenditures as “donations,” but the “donations” often were in multiples of $1,010: $1,010, $2,020 and $3,030. Interestingly, other legislators listed identical amounts, but their reports said the expenditures were to purchase tickets which would seem to bring the claim of donations into question.

Another question that the legislators might want to address to constituents: would they have made those same ticket purchases if they had not had the campaign funds at their disposal.

But don’t expect any answers to that question. It’s not likely they will even acknowledge the need to reform campaign expenditure rules.

It will be interesting to see which of these current legislators will cave to the governor’s pressure to support retirement reform and how many will grow a set and stand up to Jindal, aka Nixon Redux.

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Members take the money and run on two education bills; LouisianaVoice compares campaign contributions, votes

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Campaign Contributions, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Teague on March 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

BATON ROUGE (CNS)—The influence of lobbyists and campaign contributions was never more in evidence than in last week’s House votes on two separate education bills being pushed hard by the Jindal administration.

Of the 62 House members who are current or former members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) or attended ALEC conferences, accepted campaign contributions from corporate members of ALEC, from education reform lobbyists or from Gov. Bobby Jindal himself, 46 voted in favor of HB 974 and 43 voted for HB 976.

In all, more than $523,000 was doled out in campaign contributions to 50 House members—an average of more than $10,000 each—by lobbyists or corporate entities affiliated with ALEC who supported the bills or from Jindal’s own campaign funds.

Even more telling, of those 50 campaign contribution recipients, only five voted against both bills and two others split their votes. Reps. Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles), Jim Morris (R-Oil City), Andy Anders (D-Vidalia), Joe Harrison (R-Gray) and Dorothy Hill (D-Dry Creek) each voted no on both bills.

Rep. Gregory Miller (R-Norco) voted in favor of HB 974 but against HB 976 while Rep. Patrick Williams (D-Shreveport) voted for HB 976 but was opposed to HB 974. Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge) did not vote on HB 974 but voted for HB 976.

Both bills have been criticized by newspapers throughout the state, as well as teachers as being too hurried and not well conceived by the administration.

One of the criticisms by proponents and opponents alike is the problem of classroom space for students wishing to transfer from so-called failing schools to charter schools, with tuition being paid by state-funded vouchers.

Another question, raised in the House Education Committee by Rep. John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) was the state’s power to redirect local tax money for purposes other than the uses approved by local voters.

HB 974, by Rep. Stephen Carter (R-Baton Rouge), addressed teacher tenure, pay-for-performance and teacher evaluations. It passed by a vote of 64-40 with Greene not voting.

HB 976, also by Carter, provides vouchers, or to use Gov. Jindal’s terminology, scholarships, for education excellence, allows parents to transfer their children to charter schools and provides for charter school authorizers and course providers. It passed by a 62-43 vote.

Another mostly unspoken criticism of the bills, besides Jindal’s move to fast track them through the legislative process, is that of financial influence, or pressure, from special interests, particularly that of the American Federation of Children (AFC) and its Louisiana affiliate, the Louisiana Federation of Children (LFT).

The LFC recently did an extensive mail-out in House District 72, represented by Edwards in which it accused Edwards of attempting to stymie the education of children in grades K-12.

Additionally, Baton Rouge attorney Bryan Jeansonne, a law partner of Jason Dore, executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, has submitted a public records request for all email correspondence between Edwards and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) or any of its employees, a move that could be construed as intimidation, given Jindal’s propensity to fire or otherwise punish those who disagree with him.

Jeansonne also made a request to the Tangipahoa Parish School Board for a list of all the system’s teachers and home addresses. Edwards said his wife is a teacher and a member of the LFT.

AFC was formerly an organization called All Children Matter and both organizations were and are run by Dick and Betsy DeVos of Michigan. Dick DeVos owns Amway and Betsy DeVos is the former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party. Her brother, Erik D. Prince, is the founder of Blackwater USA, the private security firm that made international headlines in 2007 when its guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians and then attempted to bribe Iraqi officials to quell criticism of their actions.

In 2006, All Children Matter was fined $5.2 million for funneling campaign money into Ohio through the organization’s various state networks. All Children Matter also was fined for illegal political activity in Wisconsin. A “527” organization, its legal problems prompted a change in name to the American Federation for Children.

Betsy DeVos, writing in an op-ed piece for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, said, “I know a little something about soft money as my family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”

All Children Matter contributed $71,000 to 32 House members between 2007 and 2011, records from the Louisiana Board of Ethics show.

House members who voted for both bills and the amount of contributions received from all sources includes:

• John Berthelot (R-Gonzales), $8,000;

• Christopher Broadwater (R-Hammond), $47,000;

• Timothy Burns (R-Mandeville, $29,500;

• Stephen Carter (Chairman of the House Education Committee and author of House Bills 974 and 976), $24,675;

• Simone Champagne (R-Erath), $45,000;

• Patrick Connick (R-Marrero), $7,500;

• Gregory Cromer (R-Slidell), $13,250;

• Raymond Garofalo (R-Chalmette), $15,000;

• Kenneth Havard (R-Jackson), $35,000;

• Lowell Hazel (R-Pineville, $11,000;

• Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe), $40,500;

• Paul Hollis (R-Covington), $10,000;

• Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles, Speaker of the House), $15,000;

• Nancy Landry (R-Lafayette), $7,000;

• Christopher Leopold (R-Belle Chasse), $7,500;

• Gregory Miller, $17,500;

• Erich Ponti (R-Baton Rouge), $7,000;

• Stephen Pugh (R-Ponchatoula), $6,000;

• Clifton Richardson (R-Baton Rouge), $17,000;

• Joel Robideaux (R-Lafayette), $13,600;

• Clay Schexnayder (R-Sorrento), $27,500;

• Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport), $25,750;

• Thomas Carmody (R-Shreveport), $1,500;

• Cameron Henry (R-Metairie), $2,500;

• John Schroder (R-Covington), $4,500;

• Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell), $2,500;

• Nick Lorusso (R-New Orleans), $6,500;

• Anthony Ligi (R-Metairie), $26,700;

• Jack Montoucet (D-Crowley), $6,000;

• Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge), $6,000;

• Austin Badon (D-New Orleans), $4,000;

• Neil Abramson (D-New Orleans), $3,500;

• Steve Pylant (R-Winnsboro), $2,500;

• Walt Leger (D-New Orleans), $3,500;

• Karen St. Germain (D-Plaquemine), $2,500;

• Dorothy Hill (D-Dry Creek), $2,500;

• Andy Anders, $2,000;

• Charles Chaney (R-Rayville), $1,000;

• Ledricka Thierry (D-Opelousas), $500;

• Robert Billiot (D-Westwego), $1,000;

• Frank Howard (R-Many), $1,000;

• Anthony Ligi (R-Metairie), $1,000;

• Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge), $1,000;

• Patrick Jefferson (D-Homer), $1,000.

Greene, who did not vote on HB 974, received $13,000 in contributions from supporters of both bills.

Thibaut, who voted for HB 974 and against 976, received $4,500;

Those receiving contributions from supporters of the bills but who voted no on each included Joseph Harrison (R-Gray), $1,000; Geymann, $6,000, and Morris, $13,750.

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House ready to rubber-stamp Jindal’s education reform package, but read about campaign contributions anyway

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, BESE, Campaign Contributions, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist on March 22, 2012| 14 Comments »

The Louisiana Legislature, beginning with the House today, is about to take one of the most hurried, most ill-conceived actions in its long and notorious history when it passes House Bills 974 (teacher tenure/due process) and 976 (school vouchers, charter schools).

The votes are in, both bills will pass with comfortable majorities—some say perhaps by as much as two-thirds.

There also will be a surprise for House members who don’t read the bill closely enough: there have been a few last minute surprise amendments that will pull the rug out from under the bills’ opponents if they’re caught off guard.

If you still think there’s a snowball’s chance of the bills being defeated, consider this: at least eight political action committees that have poured more than $800,000 into the campaign funds of at least 103 of the 144 members of the Legislature—including 32 of the 39 Senate members.

Each one of these PACs has a vested interest in the passage of Gov. Jindal’s education package. Besides the Louisiana Federation For Children (an affiliate of the American Federation of Children) and its predecessor, the scandal-tainted All Children Matter, there are four separate PACs run by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). You do remember, don’t you, that Jindal unveiled his education reform package at the LABI’s annual convention? Finally, there is FuturePAC and LAMP, the latter being the lobbying arm of the Louisiana Manufacturers’ Association.

FuturePAC, LAMP and the four LABI PACS, EASTPAC, WESTPAC, SOUTHPAC AND NORTHPAC are all affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has been tutoring and coaching legislators, including a double handful of Louisiana lawmakers, for a number of years now on how to pass legislation on privatization, state retirement reform, Medicaid reform and yes, education reform.

The votes are in. They have been for some time and it was evident at last week’s Senate and House Education committee meetings. With the exception of a few like Reps. Patricia Smith (D-Baton Rouge) and John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) and Sen. Eric LaFleur (D-Ville Platte), members were simply going through the motions of rubber-stamping Jindal’s rashly conceived idea of education reform.

There are those who defend Jindal’s reform package because, they say, the system is broken and needs fixing. We are willing to concede that point, but the way this plan is drawn up is, to use a very old adage, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There are so many wrong-headed ideas being bandied about by the administration that it is impossible to pick a place to start.

But back to the here and now.

In House District 72, represented by Edwards and which encompasses all or parts of Tangipahoa, St. Helena and East Feliciana, the Louisiana Federation for Children has sent a slick mailer out to every household.

The mailer bears the headline, “John Bel Edwards is holding back our kids,” and it goes on to say the legislature “is proposing a scholarship (read: vouchers) program for children in grades k-12. This bill provides students in low-performing schools with scholarships to attend the school of their parents’ choice, including private and parochial schools.”

The flyer fails to address the results at a dozen Baton Rouge schools taken over as charter schools and promptly saw their test scores and grades plummet ever further than when they were run as public schools.

Not that details of that nature have ever stood in the way of this administration’s pressing forward with its agenda.

It wanted the Office of Risk Management privatized and it was. Today, it is being run by the third private company in just over a year and has yet to post its annual report on line—an annual report that normally comes out in September. Could it be that the privatization has not realized the savings it trumpeted to the legislature and the administration does not want anyone to know that?

But let’s get back to that Louisiana Federation for the Children. On the front of the flyer, in small print is the statement that “LFC is a special project of the American Federation for Children” and above that: “Paid for by American Federation of Children.”

But who is the American Federation of Children? To borrow a phrase from Gov. Jindal: short answer, it’s a re-creation of All Children Matter after All Children was fined $5.2 million for funneling campaign money into Ohio in 2006 through the organization’s various state networks. All Children Matter was also fined for political hanky panky in Wisconsin. A federal “527” organization, it changed its name to the American Federation for Children after its legal problems.

Who is American Federal for Children and who was All Children Matter?

Both organizations were and are run by Dick and Betsy DeVos. They started the organization in 2003 to recruit, train, and fund candidates who would promote vouchers across the country. Dick DeVos owns Amway.

Betsy DeVos is the former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party. Her little brother, Erik D. Prince, is the founder of Blackwater USA, the private security firm that made international headlines in 2007 when its guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians and then tried to bribe Iraqi officials to quell criticism of their actions.

In 1997 she wrote an op-ed for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call: “I know a little something about soft money as my family is the largest single contributor of soft monty to the national Republican Party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”

These are the people who want to tell the citizens of Louisiana how to run education and our governor is eating out of their hands. He, in turn, is spoon-feeding pablum to legislators.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Let’s now take a look at some of the big money winners among the House and Senate members who will be deciding the fate of teachers and public education in a completely “impartial, pragmatic, and unbiased manner” in the days to come:

• Sen. Conrad Appel (R-Metairie and the author of SB 597 and SB 603 which are virtually identical to HB 974 and HB 976)—$22,000 in combined contributions;

• Sen. Gerald Long (R-Natchitoches)—$$25,000;

• Sen. Daniel Martiny (R-Metairie)—$10,500;

• Sen. A.G. Crowe (R-Pearl River)—$9150;

• Sen. Jonathan Perry (R-Kaplan)—$$14,500;

• Sen. Bodi White (R-Central)—$4500;

• Sen. Ronnie Johns (R-Lake Charles)—$6500;

• Rep. John Berthelot (R-Gonzales)—$8000;

• Rep. Christopher Broadwater (R-Hammond)-$37,500;

• Rep. Timothy Burns (R-Mandeville)—$7500;

• Rep. Stephen Carter (R-Baton Rouge, Chairman of the House Education Committee and author of HB 974 and HB976)—$22,175;

• Rep. Simone Champagne (R-Erath)—$21,500;

• Rep. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero)—$7500;

• Rep. Gregory Cromer (R-Slidell)—$10,250;

• Rep. Raymond Garofalo (R-Chalmette)—$15,000;

• Rep. Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles)—$6000;

• Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge)—$12,000;

• Rep. Kenneth Havard (R-Jackson)—$32,500;

• Rep. Lowell Hazel (R-Pineville)—10,000;

• Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe)—$8400;

• Rep. Paul Hollis (R-Covington)—10,000;

• Rep. Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles, House Speaker)—$13,000;

• Rep. Nancy Landry (R-Lafayette)—$4500;

• Rep. Christopher Leopold (R-Belle Chasse)—$7500;

• Rep. Gregory Miller (R-Norco)—$15,000;

• Rep. James Morris (R-Oil City)—$13,250;

• Rep. Erich Ponti (R-Baton Rouge)—$6000;

• Rep. Stephen Pugh (R-Ponchatoula)—$6000;

• Rep. Clifton Richardson (R-Baton Rouge)—$17,000);

• Rep. Joel Robideaux (R-Lafayette)—$$11,100;

• Rep. Clay Schexnayder (R-Sorrento)—$25,000;

• Rep. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport)—$7000;

It must be more than a little frustrating to know PAC money roars like a lion in the House and Senate chambers while a $25 donation from a constituent who opposes the bills goes unheard and unappreciated.

There were many more who took lesser amounts from the PACs. But you can bet the donors and Jindal will be watching to see how each of the recipients of their money votes. And if past is prologue those who dare go against the governor will incur his wrath. Cherished committee seats will be lost and construction projects back home run the risk of the governor’s veto.

That’s the sordid, seamy side of politics and until something is done to rein in PACs, it’s never going to get better.

If this is accountability and transparency and the standard of good ethics, then Uncle Earl was correct when he said, “One of these days we gonna get good guvment and the people ain’t gonna like it.”

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More of the same: Jindal, ALEC contributions invested in selected House, Senate Retirement Committee members

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Campaign Contributions, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Retirement, Teague on March 20, 2012| 23 Comments »

State employees hoping to avoid Gov. Bobby Jindal’s state retirement reform, aka reverse gang rape, would be wise to contact the Louisiana State Employee Retirement System (LASERS) Member Services Office as quickly as possible.

Jindal, working in lock step with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), is attempting to ram through the ALEC-sponsored retirement reform that could potentially leave many state employees in dire financial straits.

ALEC is a national organization underwritten by dozens of major U.S. corporations, including Koch Industries, which drafts legislation favoring business and industry and passes the proposed legislation along to state lawmakers to take back to their respective legislatures and state assemblies for passage.

One 38-year-old state employee earning $100,000 per year has worked for the state for 15 years and planned on working 15 more years before retiring at approximately $75,000 per year.

Under Jindal’s plan, that employee would only qualify for an annual pension of $17,000 after 30 years, a loss of $58,000 per year, or 77 percent.

Another state employee, 41 years of age with 20 years is presently making $52,000 per year. That employee planned on working another 10 years and retiring at 75 percent of that salary, or $39,000.

That worker is now facing an annual pension of $6,000 after 30 years under Jindal’s plan, a loss of $33,000 per year, or almost 85 percent.

Jindal is seeking an additional 3 percent contribution from state employees but the money would not be used to close the gap on LASER’S unfunded accrued liability (UAL). Nor would it go to increased retirement benefits. Instead, the 3 percent will go directly into the state general fund to help fill holes in Jindal’s budget.

Jindal’s plan also would require state employees to work until age 67 to qualify for full benefits.

Finally, he is seeking to convert from a defined benefits retirement plan to one of defined contributions.

Any one of the three that is subsequently approved by the legislature and signed into law is all but certain to face litigation on the theory—by LASERS officials and courts in Arizona and New Hampshire—that the U.S. Constitution forbids lawmakers from diminishing or impairing a contract.

LASERS contends, and the courts in those two states have agreed, that promises made to employees upon their hire constitute binding contracts and cannot be broken arbitrarily.

State employee morale is at an all-time low, largely due to the policies implemented by Jindal’s minions.

Over at the Department of Health and Hospitals, Carol Steckel, former Commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid Agency, was hired by Jindal to head up health care reform efforts in Louisiana. Her efforts to fire 69 information technology workers and contract their jobs out to the University of New Orleans was thwarted by the Civil Service Commission because commission members did not buy into the rosy numbers she gave them.

Only last week, UNO President Peter Fos said in a letter to DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein that he was disinclined to sign the proposed contract until his concerns “are addressed and resolved to my satisfaction.”

Fos, who is new to the job, obviously does not know how things work in the Jindal administration. Underlings do not question the master; it’s surprising that he has not been Teagued already.

Steckel, who while in Alabama, left out of her budget appropriations for the purchase of artificial limbs for low-income Alabama amputees, saying the funds were optional, not mandatory. She has lost no time in pursuing reprisals against her employees who had the temerity to resist being fired.

The first thing she did was to discontinue flex time, whereby employees had the option of working four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days.

On the heels of that move, she began refusing to grant annual leave to employees.

It is the option of supervisors to grant or refuse annual leave even though it is earned by employees. Generally, the reason for not granting annual leave is that it is essential that the employee be at work on that day.

These, however, are employees she has been trying to fire—the same employees who were blocked out of their computers minutes after being informed in December that they would not have jobs in January and now she says they are needed at their desks. One of the IT workers at DHH has had enough and announced plans to retire.

In other agencies and other offices, state employees who are retirement-eligible are calling LASERS to schedule appointments with LASERS Member Services to plan their exodus from state government.

State Civil Service employees are eligible for retirement after 30 years of service at any age, after 25 years of service at age 55, and after 10 years of service at age 60.

LASERS data show that there are 3,000 rank-and-file employees under the age of 55 but with 25 or more years of service and another 1,100 who are 55 or older with 25 years or more of service.

Moreover, of the 47,000 rank-and-file Civil Service workers, about 9,900, or 21 percent, are eligible for immediate retirement—and they aren’t waiting around for the proverbial shoe to fall.

While it normally requires only a three- to five-week waiting time for an appointment with Member Services, the wait is now about three months—or until late June at the earliest. And as the retirement nightmare approaches reality with the advancement of Jindal’s bills, that line is inevitably going to grow longer and more crowded.

And lest one believes passage of the retirement bills out of the House and Senate retirement committees is not likely, let’s harken back to Rule One:

Follow the money.

Just as in the case of the House and Senate education committees, Jindal has complete control and he is going to go full throttle with his bills through those committees. And the fuel, once again, is money.

Between Jindal and ALEC, a grand total of $182,450 has been invested in 13 members of the two committees.

It turns out Jindal was not running around all over the country raising unnecessary money for a re-election campaign that he already had in the bag; he was fundraising to grease the skids in the Legislature with his own campaign donations.

Illegal? No. Unethical? Probably not. At odds with his squeaky clean public image he so cherishes and burnishes outside the borders of Louisiana? Absolutely.

With that said, let’s take a look at those contributions to select committee members with names of the legislators listed first, followed by the total campaign contributions and the source—Jindal or ALEC corporate members, or both.

House Retirement Committee members:

• Kevin Pearson, Chairman (R-Slidell)—$2500 from Jindal;

• Nick Lorusso, Vice Chairman (R-New Orleans)—$6500 from ALEC corporate members;

• Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe)—$2500 from Jindal, $12,800 from ALEC corporations;

• Anthony Ligi (R-Metairie)—$5000 from Jindal, $20,700 from ALEC corporate members;

• Jack Montoucet (D-Crowley)—$6000 from ALEC corporate members;

• Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport)—$2500 from Jindal, $11,750 from ALEC corporate members;

• Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge)—$5000 from Jindal.

The total for the seven House Education Committee members: $17,500 from Jindal, $57,750 from ALEC corporate members.

Senate Retirement Committee members:

• Elbert Guillory, Chairman (D-Opelousas)—$7500 from Jindal, $45,200 from ALEC corporate members;

• Page Cortez, Vice-Chairman (R-Lafayette)—$2500 from Jindal;

• Conrad Appel (R-Metairie)—$2500 from Jindal;

• A.G. Crowe (R-Pearl River)—$2500 from Jindal, $4500 from ALEC corporate members;

• Gerald Long (R-Natchitoches)—$2500 from Jindal, $35,000 from ALEC corporate members;

• Jonathan Perry (R-Kaplan)—$5000 from Jindal.

The total for the Senate Education Committee members: $22,500 from Jindal, $84,700 from corporate members of ALEC.

Larusso, Hoffmann, Ligi, Montoucet, Seabaugh, Talbot, Crowe and Long are all members of ALEC and the organization paid for travel, registration fees, hotel accommodations and meals for members Hoffman, Seabaugh, Crowe and Long to attend ALEC conferences.

Rule Two: See Rule One.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Lobbyist, Notable Quotables, Transparency on July 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“The public has a right to know who is lobbying whom and for what. When the penalty for breaking ethics laws is a small fine or a slap on the wrist, the whole system becomes a joke. Severe offenses must be punished by expulsion and/or criminal charges.”

—Gov. Bobby Jindal, on his proposed ethics reform during his 2007 campaign for governor.

“We must demand an honest government that puts the residents of our state first and the special interests last.”

—Gov. Bobby Jindal, on his “Ethics Frform: Ending Corruption” web page.

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