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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Governor's Office, Notable Quotables, Politicians on November 5, 2012| 2 Comments »

“I’m not familiar with the safety recommendations.”

—Former Secretary of Natural Resources Scott Angelle (now a candidate for the Public Service Commission in Tuesday’s election), responding to Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) during questioning about the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent disastrous oil spill.

“You haven’t analyzed the recommendations?”

—Congress Ed Markey.

“I have not.”

—Angelle.

“Given your job, don’t you think you should’ve looked at those safety recommendations?

—Markey.

“I have not analyzed those recommendations, sir.”

—Angelle.

“Could you analyze them and give a set of responses to the safety recommendations back to the committee?”

—Markey.

“Sir, I have not analyzed all those recommendations.”

—Angelle.

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Angelle’s performance before congressional committee embarrassing; Ponti embellishes his accomplishments

Posted in BESE, Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Governor's Office, Politicians on November 5, 2012| 11 Comments »

Editor’s note:

Within a couple of hours of posting this story, LouisianaVoice received a telephone call. The display on our phone indicated it was from one Holly Boffy. Boffy is the District 7 member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). That is in the southwest corner of Louisiana. Why would she be calling us? we wondered.

It turns out that it was a robocall on behalf of the candidacy of Scott Angelle for the District 2 Public Service Commission seat.

So, why was a BESE member from the Lake Charles area allowing her telephone to be used on behalf of a Public Service Commission candidate from the Baton Rouge area? In all likelihood, she doesn’t know bean dip about the machinations of the Public Service Commission.

The answer is simple.

Boffy, of Youngsville, Louisiana, received two $2,500 campaign contributions in her run for office last fall from Jindal—one on Aug. 25 and a second on Aug. 29. Angelle was originally appointed by former Gov. Kathleen Blanco but held over by Jindal as Secretary of Natural Resources—until he abandoned his post in the middle of the crisis over that toxic sinkhole on Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish.

Connect the dots.

The Piyush Jindal dynasty won’t be satisfied until it has complete control of the state, every agency, board and commission, from top to bottom.

Read on:

Whatever your sentiments about the resumption of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, voters in Louisiana Public Service Commission District 2 would do well to examine the records of the top two contenders in Tuesday’s election to replace retiring commission member and Vice-chairman James Field.

In spite of the erroneous claim by one crackpot blogger that Scott Angelle faked that TV ad showing him addressing thousands of rabid supporters (oh, wait; that was LouisianaVoice, wasn’t it?), it is still worthwhile to take a close look at the candidate. His performance before a congressional committee nearly a year following BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 men and injured 17 others and which produced a oil spill that spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the gulf over a three-month period would be comical were it not so pathetic.

At the time of his questioning by Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) during the March 16, 2011, hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee, Angelle was Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

He recently resigned that position in the midst of the still-ongoing Bayou Corne sinkhole disaster in northern Assumption Parish to seek the District 2 Public Service Commission seat, leaving it to others to grapple with a potentially disastrous situation that has produced the sinkhole that is now more than five acres in size and which has caused the evacuation of scores of residents.

Nor has his former boss, Gov. Piyush Jindal shown his face at the sinkhole site despite his propensity to seek camera face time anytime an oil spill or hurricane threatens the state. That’s because the Bayou Corne situation came about because of permits issued on his watch.

And lest we be accused of being a shill for his leading opponent, State Rep. Erich Ponti, rest assured we have some pointed remarks about his misleading TV ad campaign as well.

Besides touting his business acumen, Ponti makes the claim in his ads that he balanced the state budget which, for those even vaguely familiar with the Louisiana legislative process, is an outrageous claim, a preposterous misrepresentation.

First of all, state law mandates that the legislature pass a balanced budget. Unlike Congress, the legislature is forbidden from approving a deficit budget. So, Ponti and his 104 colleagues in the House and the 39 in the Senate in reality had no choice in balancing the budget. It is a claim that each of the other 143 legislators have just as much right as Ponti to make—none.

Second, Ponti is not even a member of any of the House committees that consider the budget before it goes to the House floor. He is chairman of the House Commerce Committee, but it does not consider the budget. Neither does the House Committee on Homeland Security or the Joint Committee on Homeland Security, on both of which he sits. Nor does the Capital Region Legislative Delegation or the Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation, the two caucuses of which he is a member.

He is not a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Nor is he a member of the Joint Budget Committee or even the Legislative Budget Control Committee.

So, any claim on his part that he had a hand in balancing the state budget is, at best, disingenuous and at worst, an outright lie.

But back to that hearing in March of 2011:

Here are excerpts from the questioning by Markey, the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, and Angelle’s responses:

• Markey, discussing safety comparisons that show better safety records for rigs in European waters than those in U.S. waters even though the same companies were operating in each, asked: “Don’t you think we need to insure that these rigs are operating safely in order to protect lives of workers on these rigs? Don’t you think that the safety recommendations of the BP Commission should be implemented?”

• Angelle: “I’m not familiar with the safety recommendations.”

• Markey: “You haven’t analyzed the recommendations?”

• Angelle: “I have not.”

• Markey: “Given your job, don’t you think you should’ve looked at those safety recommendations?”

• Angelle: “I have not analyzed those recommendations, sir.”

• Markey: “Could you analyze them and give a set of responses to the safety recommendations back to the committee?”

• Angelle: Sir, I have not analyzed all those recommendations. I will tell you that in my comments, I indicated it would not be business as usual and we support it not being business as usual.”

• Markey: “Does that include implementing the safety recommendations of the BP Commission?”

• Angelle: “I am not aware of all of the safety recommendations of the BP Commission.”

• Markey: “Are you aware of any of the safety recommendations of the BP Commission?”

• Angelle: “I am aware of some of the safety recommendations, yes sir.”

• Markey: “Are there any of those safety recommendations that you recommend be implemented? Can you tell us what those are?”

• Angelle: “I would just simply say that generally, I believe that repetitive safety measures as…blow out preventers and those kinds of things are very important. I certainly understand containment issues (as) being very, very important but I would say again that having the new regulations that have been promulgated, we are now at a point that the industry has demonstrated to the government the ability…”

• Markey: “Even though you are not familiar with the safety recommendations of the BP Commission, you’re ready to say it’s safe and people should go out there, is that what you’re saying?”

• Angelle: That’s not what I said. I said that it’s my understanding that the Bureau of Ocean Energy has promulgated new rules and regulations and the industry has demonstrated an ability to comply with those and now is the time to begin issuing permits inasmuch as industry has begun to comply with those recommendations.”

• Markey: “And they issued those recommendations last month. So we’re ready to go. Are you satisfied with the recommendations that were promulgated by the…”

• Angelle: “It’s not for me to be satisfied. I come here not to blame but to bring about a solution and that is the industry has demonstrated an ability and we need a sense of urgency in issuing permits.”

• Markey: “In your testimony, you say that seven rigs have already left the Gulf since the moratorium was declared. But according to the Department of the Interior, at least four of these seven rigs have returned to the Gulf in 2011 and five new rigs have already arrived or are scheduled to. Overall, there are 125 (rigs) in the Gulf of Mexico today compared to 122 one year ago. Doesn’t it misrepresent what is happening in the Gulf to only mention the rigs that have left without mentioning the new ones that have come in?”

• Angelle: I would say that whatever new ones that have come in, they are not working. It’s just inventory and it’s like having automobiles on a lot; you can have a lot of automobiles on the lot but if you’re not selling them, you’re not creating economic activity.”

• Markey: “But we have the new regulations and we’re ready to go and the administration is now issuing new leases and the rigs are returning. These companies are capitalists; they are returning and new ones are arriving, so it represents a confidence on the oil industry in what is happening or else they would not be returning and they would not be adding new rigs.”

• Angelle: “The Obama administration is not issuing new leases. The Lease sales scheduled for this year have been cancelled.”

• Markey: “I do not think oil companies are sending rigs back just to sit idle. That’s not how oil companies operate. They’re sending them back because there are new opportunities for them.”

So what this race boils down to—or at least what it should boil down to is these two questions:

• If Scott Angelle would walk into a congressional hearing totally unprepared to discuss something as important as proposed safety regulations for offshore drilling—an issue that was certain to impact the Louisiana economy and hundreds of jobs for Louisiana workers—what makes voters think he would adequately prepare himself for such matters as utility rate increases and regulations for, say, the trucking industry in Louisiana as a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission?

• Is Scott Angelle simply being opportunistic in trying to set himself up for a run at the governor’s office in 2015?

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Governor's Office, Health Care, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Teague on November 2, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Everything they (legislative committees) do is scripted. I’ve seen the scripts. They hand out a list of questions we are allowed to ask and they tell us not to deviate from the list and not to ask questions that are not in the best interest of the administration.”

—Rep. Joseph Harrison (R-Gray), on his removal from the House Appropriations Committee by House Speaker Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles) on Friday, one day after Harrison voted against the Jindal administration on the proposed contract between the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBS).

“I was elected by the people of (House) District 82 on a platform of fiscal responsibility. It is the job of legislators…to ask difficult questions necessary to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and wisely.”

—Rep. Cameron Henry (R-Metairie), on his removal from the House Appropriations Committee on which he served as vice-chairman following his vote against the Jindal administration on the proposed OGB contract.

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Caroline Fayard was right: some Republicans eat their own; π-yush teagues 2 GOP Appropriations Committee members

Posted in Ethics, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Teague on November 2, 2012| 13 Comments »

House Speaker Chuck “The Eunuch” Kleckley Friday removed House Appropriations Committee vice chairman Cameron Henry (R-Metairie) and Appropriations Committee member Joe Harrison (R-Gray) one day after each voted for a motion by Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) that the administration opposed.

(Eunuch: (1) a castrated man placed in charge of a harem; (2) a man deprived of the testes or external genitals (3) one who lacks virility or power—Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.)

Henry was reassigned to the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee while Harrison was moved to the House Commerce Committee.

When Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) jokingly referred to himself as the “former member of the Senate Finance Committee” during Thursday’s joint hearings by the House Appropriations and the Senate Finance Committee, he was closer to the truth than even he wanted to admit.

Claitor had just objected to a motion by Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego) to defer action on the proposed contract between Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS) and the state that called for BCBS to take over as third party administrator for the Office of Group Benefit’s (OGB) Preferred Provider Organization health coverage plan.

His objection forced a vote on Alario’s motion and the motion subsequently passed by a vote of 11-3 but the House never got a chance to vote because Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols pulled the contract from the committees’ agenda before the House members could vote on Rep. Katrina Jackson’s substitute motion to reject the contract.

Claitor, at this writing, still has his seat on the Senate Finance Committee but that, as Jindal has shown, is subject to change on very short notice.

The latest purge brings to four the number of legislators Gov. Piyush “The Putsch” Jindal has teagued this year for having the temerity to oppose the state’s absentee chief executive. Earlier this year, Reps. James Morris (R-Oil City) and Harold Richie (D-Bogalusa) were removed from the vice-chairmanship of their respective committees.

Morris was demoted from the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee for opposing Jindal’s decision to use one-time money to fund recurring expenses in the state’s General Budget. Richie opposed tax rebates for those who donate money to private and parochial schools.

Jindal has made it abundantly clear on several other occasions that dissention will not be tolerated in his administration. There is simply no room for dialog. This incredibly petulant governor has never learned that politics is the art of compromise. He has fired department heads, university presidents, physicians, attorneys, board members and rank and file employees at the slightest hint that they are not 100 percent on board with his agenda.

Jindal spokesperson Shannon Bates, of course, issued the standard denial that the administration had requested (read: demanded) that Harrison and Henry be removed.

The administration did provide a prepared statement from the governor who, as usual, is campaigning, ostensibly, for Mitt Romney in Ohio: Speaker (“Eunuch”) Kleckley is a fair-minded and proven leader,” Piyush (or Timmy Teepell or Kyle Plotkin—who knows who writes this stuff?) said. “We support the Speaker and the decisions he makes regarding the organization of House committees.”

While he didn’t say so, it is rumored that Jindal also has some ocean front property in Kansas that he’s willing to sell.

Just how long the legislature—and the state’s citizens—will stand for his unabashed grab for absolute control of every facet of state government is anyone’s guess but Henry and Harrison were livid over their ouster.

Harrison, interviewed by LouisianaVoice, said the occupants of the State Capitol’s fourth floor “are not people of good character. Their word is no good.”

Seven members of the Appropriations Committee are elected by members of the House—one from each congressional district—and Harrison was the leading vote getter for the position from the Third Congressional District when Kleckley (aka “Gelding”) approached him and asked that he withdraw as a candidate so that the second-leading vote-getter, Rep. Simone Champagne (R-Erath) could be on the committee. “He (Kleckley) said he would then appoint me and he promised that he would not remove me,” Harrison said.

Ironically, Champagne was promoted by Kleckley to Henry’s old vice chairmanship.

“I agreed and when he called me on the phone to tell me I was no longer on the committee, I reminded him of that. I said, ‘So, you are not a man of your word.’

“He didn’t even show me the dignity of calling me into his office to fire me; he did it over the phone. And he wouldn’t even give me a reason,” Harrison said of Kleckley. “He just said some other Republicans had complained about me. I asked, ‘Which Republicans, Timmy Teepell?’ He said, ‘I don’t take my orders from Timmy Teepell.’ I said, ‘Yeah, right.’”

Harrison lashed out at the administration, saying, “Everything they do (on the legislative committees) is scripted. I’m not making this up; I’ve seen the scripts. They hand out a list of questions we are allowed to ask and they tell us not to deviate from the list and not to ask questions that are not in the best interest of the administration.

“That is not how the State Constitution defines the three branches of government,” he said. “We no longer have a legislative branch of government.

“I don’t mind following men, but I don’t follow boys,” he said in obvious reference to the gaggle of young aides with which Jindal has surrounded himself. “We’re being directed by a bunch of youngsters on behalf of a man not even in the state. How can we, in the critical financial situation this state is in, have inept youngsters telling us what the governor wants when we don’t even see the man?”

He then singled out Jindal’s former chief of staff Timmy Teepell who resigned a year ago to hed up the Baton Rouge operations of OnMessage, a political consulting firm out of Maryland. OnMessage has no Baton Rouge address or phone number and Teepell apparently runs his consulting business from the governor’s office on the fourth floor of the State Capitol.

“Teepell is the puppeteer in this administration. How can you have a man serving as de facto head of state government who never went to school and who never interacted with other people while growing up? The man is anti-social,” Harrison said.

Henry was no less critical of Jindal.

“It is the job of legislators, particularly those serving in leadership roles, to ask the difficult questions necessary to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and wisely,” he said.

“I have been at odds with the speaker and the administration over fiscal issues for the last several years, asking questions about the constitutionality of the state budget; use of one-time and contingency money, fund sweeps and disastrous mid-year budget cuts that impact healthcare systems like LSU, as well as higher education.

“This action by the speaker and the governor demonstrates that they are afraid of having legislators do the job they were elected to do. The people of Louisiana are suffering as a result.”

He said what he called a series of “irresponsible decisions by the speaker and administration” demonstrate that they are not serious about fiscal discipline and following the Constitution.

“The State Constitution contains clear and strict limitations on the budget process for a very good reason,” he said. “These sensible limitations on deficit spending exist so that we can craft realistic, fiscally-responsible budgets through a transparent and deliberative process. Following the constitution is the only way to have a stable, sustainable budget that best serves the needs of the people, families and businesses of Louisiana.”

He said he was disappointed but not surprised at the administration’s action. He said Jindal and Kleckley were trying to ensure they had “yes-men and yes-women” on important committees who would trust the administration and not challenge it.

“We didn’t get elected to trust people. We got elected to ask questions,” he said.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Layoffs, Notable Quotables, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, State Agencies, Transparency on November 2, 2012| 3 Comments »

“A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

—Louisiana Federation of Teachers legislative director Mary Patricia Wray, quoting one of her high school teachers in her testimony Thursday before two legislative committees, in describing the lack of planning and accountability on the part of the Piyush Jindal administration’s proposal to contract with Blue Cross/Blue Shield for the administration of the Office of Group Benefits’ Preferred Provider Organization.

“A policy must not be to identify an emergency which government has either created or failed to prevent and then find a public servant to blame and punish while we promote so-called reform.”

—Mary Patricia Wray, during that same testimony.

“Policy makers keep finding more and more creative ways and more and more sorry excuses to support corporate tax avoidance over public good, privatizing over restoraton and feel-good initiatives over real solutions for our very, very valuable public insititutions.”

—Mary Patricia Wray, on a roll as she ripped into the Piyush administration during her testimony.

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