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LouisianaVoice set to launch online newspaper ‘Louisiana Free Press’ to be devoted exclusively to state political news

Posted in Attorney General, Auditor, BESE, Boards, Civil Service, Commissions, Contract, Contracts, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Jobs, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Privatization, Public Records, Recovery School District, Regents, Retirement, Revenue, State Agencies, Taxes, Transparency, Veto, Vouchers, Waste on August 10, 2012| 19 Comments »

LouisianaVoice will soon have a sister publication in the form of an online state newspaper, according to publisher Tom Aswell.

The new feature, which will be published online in newspaper format, will be a weekly publication geared exclusively to Louisiana political news.

“This will be a free-subscription publication because we want everyone in Louisiana—and elsewhere—to have access to what elected and appointed officials are doing that affect the daily lives of Louisiana’s citizens,” Aswell said.

The name of the new publication will be Louisiana Free Press and will be accessible via the link http://www.louisianafreepress.com, Aswell said.

Louisiana Free Press will be supported 100 percent by advertising revenue and our coverage will be broadened from publishing a single story at a time. There will be multiple stories posted each Friday and the coverage will vary greatly.

Several writers will be contributing coverage of many more agencies than have historically been covered by LouisianaVoice.

These writers will be covering the Louisiana Supreme Court proceedings, Louisiana Attorney General opinions, audit reports of all state and local agencies as they are provided by the Legislative Auditor’s office. Moreover, coverage of agencies will be increased—agencies like the Department of Health and Hospitals, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Board of Regents, University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors and the Public Service Commission, the governor’s office, the lieutenant governor, state treasurer and the legislature, as well as other more obscure state boards and commissions.

“We feel it is important that Louisiana’s citizenry remain informed about what their public officials are doing in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and elsewhere,” Aswell said.

“This is an ambitious endeavor but for too long, too many agencies, board and commissions have operated under the radar of the media,” Aswell said. “We anticipate that is about to change.

“That is not to say that everything we write will be of an investigative nature or that each story will be some major exposé. Most will be of a routine nature but will provide news otherwise not available to the public.”

LouisianaVoice will issue further updates as the schedule for launching Louisiana Free Press develops.

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Shane! The land baron/cattle rancher/banker has taken over our town; where are you now that we really, really need you?

Posted in BESE, Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Transparency on August 2, 2012| 6 Comments »

Shane is no doubt one of the all-time quentessential western movies.

Starring Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon DeWilde and Jack Palance, the flick has stood the test of time and has been remade in various shapes, forms and titles by such Hollywood legends as John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Clint Eastwood. Perhaps the closest any movie has come to capturing its true appeal is one that came along half-a-century later—2003’s Open Range, starring Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner and Annette Bening.

Even the most casual movie-goer knows the storyline: mild-mannered stranger rides into town—not looking for trouble but invariably finding it in the person of the villain, a ruthless land baron/cattle rancher/banker. Said land baron/cattle rancher/banker has brought in hired guns from out of town to maintain tight control over the local populace, usually personified as honest but helpless homesteaders who only wish to care for their families by trying to scratch a living out of mother earth.

The hired gun, of course, is obligated to ridicule or otherwise demean the weakest among the local homesteaders who, upon attempting to defend himself, is summarily gunned down as an example to the others.

The lesson, of course, is to toe the line or be eliminated in like fashion. This heavy-handed tactic, of course, helps to consolidate the power and control of the land baron/cattle rancher/banker.

Now fast forward to a certain southern state in the years 2008-2012:

A new land baron/cattle rancher/banker has appeared on the scene in the form of an egomaniacal governor who fancies bigger and better things for himself—perhaps even thinking of himself as presidential timber.

But he doesn’t leave anything to chance by bringing in a single hired gun; he hires an entire posse. He surrounds himself with subordinate hangers-on who feed his presidential aspirations like any loyal sycophant, while at the same time cautioning him to keep saying he has the job he wants over and over ad nauseam.

These toadies, or hired guns, if you will, are mostly from out of town, much like the hired guns in Shane and its many clones. They don’t wear guns any more, of course, but the threat they hold over the homesteaders, in this case state employees, is their livelihoods—their jobs.

• If you’re head of the state’s highway safety program and you oppose the governor’s attempt to repeal the state motorcycle helmet law? Gone.

• If you are criticized for the way in which shelter conditions are administered following a hurricane? Goodbye.

• If you are a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and you don’t agree 100 percent with the governor’s education program? So long.

• If you are a state employee who testifies against his plan to streamline government? You’re history.

• If you are a legislator who happens not to agree with his royal decree? Kiss your committee chairmanship goodbye.

• If you are president of a university who disagrees with cuts to higher education? Take a hike.

By the same token, if you are a recently out-of-work politician who was smart enough to align yourself with the governor, not to worry: you have a nice state job waiting for you at a six-figure salary.

These hired guns, with names like Plotkin, Palmieri, Greenstein, Steckel, Vallas, Levine, Zachery Jiwa (DHH chief technology officer), and John White, each brought in from places like Seattle, Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Alabama and Florida, roam the corridors of state government, making certain that no dissention will be tolerated from lowly state employees. They are to keep their heads down and noses clean if they like their jobs.

If a few naïve state employees, namely teachers, do show up to testify before a legislative committee, there is always a friendly legislator who will insist that they reveal not only their name and agency, but whether or not they took annual or sick leave to attend the committee hearing, or if they are on their own time.

If a few state employees wish to participate in a rally against closure of or cutbacks to their agency, there is always an agency head who can be coerced into telling the employees—illegally—that they are not allowed to participate in said rally.

Then, of course, the governor can always call on more than 200 campaign contributors who coughed up more than $784,000 to his 2007 election campaign and appoint them to plum positions on important boards and commissions. And in case anyone tries to pass a bill requiring him to divulge that information, he can always call on compliant legislators to kill the bill.

Finally, to maintain an unyielding grip on his political power, this governor must not allow any federal encroachment, such as helpful federal grants, to tarnish his own stellar reputation. Thus:

• Grants to bring broadband internet to rural parishes must be stymied in the name of private enterprise;

• Grants to build a high speed rail system between Baton Rouge and New Orleans must be discouraged because of accompanying maintenance costs;

• Grants for early childhood development must be rejected because of federal oversight. Besides, let the little darlings attend one of the voucher schools where they teach that the Loch Ness monster really exists and that the earth is only 6,000 years old. That’s all the early childhood development they could possibly need.

This land baron/cattle rancher/banker is so confident of his unchallenged power that he now feels it is not even necessary that he remain in the town much. Instead, he chooses to hop scotch all over the country auditioning for bigger and better things.

The little town is simply holding him back so he spends all this time away from his office even though the town back home is drying up; education and health care are undergoing drastic cuts because he has given all the money needed to support them to his corporate friends in the form of tax incentives.

But why settle for being a local land/baron/cattle rancher/banker dominating a comparatively small spread when there is an entire nation out there over which he can hold sway?

Normally, in a situation such as this, we would summon the Lone Ranger. But not this time: one masked man is more than enough.

But we can almost hear the last line of that great old movie: “Shane! Come back! We need you!”

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Is it us, or does announcement of Southeast Louisiana State Hospital closure carry certain familiar smell of incredulity?

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Governor's Office, Health Care, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Transparency on July 22, 2012| 3 Comments »

State Sen. Jack Donahue’s expressions of shock and surprise notwithstanding, the handwriting was on the wall more than a year ago as to the fate of the 60-year-old Southeast Louisiana State Hospital in Mandeville—thanks in part to a bill he authored four years ago.

It was in May of 2011 that then-parish president Kevin Davis revealed that he was working with the state to have St. Tammany Parish purchase 1,442 acres adjacent to the hospital in an effort to prevent the low-lying land from being developed in the future.

That sale was consummated last month at a price of $6.45 million. The land was appraised for $14.7 million in February 2011, according to records of the Office of State Lands. Davis, however, said in 2011 he felt the correct value of the land was nearer $10 million. He added that the Division of Administration had verbally agreed to the $10 million figure.

There was no explanation as to why the ultimate selling price was more than 35 percent lower than the reported agreed upon price and less than half the original appraised value.

Six months after the negotiations for the land were announced, Davis, who was term-limited and not eligible to seek re-election as parish president, was appointed by Jindal as director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) at a salary of $165,000 per year.

He contributed $3,000 to Jindal election campaigns in 2003 and 2008 and Donahue gave $1,500 to the governor’s campaign in 2007 and 2011.

Jindal in turn, contributed $2,500 to Donahue’s campaign last year.

Both Donahue (R-Covington) and Rep. Scott Simon (R-Abita Springs) claimed that the announcement of the closure caught them off guard. Simon is chairman of the House Committee on Health and Welfare, making the decision not to inform him even more curious.

It was revealed during last year’s negotiations between the state and St. Tammany that the parish had been given first refusal on purchase of the 1,442 acres in a 2008 bill authored by Donahue.

Donahue’s bill also stipulated that proceeds from the sale of the land adjacent to the hospital must go toward the restoration, renovation, construction or maintenance of the hospital.

Davis said he had initially persuaded the state to construct a new hospital on parish-owned land north of I012 but those negotiations cratered when Bruce Greenstein was appointed secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH).

He also said at that time that the state had decided not to close the hospital.

DHH issued an announcement late Friday, however, that the 348-bed hospital would be phased out of operation beginning in October despite those assurances of more than a year ago that it would remain open.

Patients at the facility will be transferred to East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson with some possibly going to Central State Hospital in Pineville, placing a strain in terms of finances and logistics on families of patients who help care for the patients.

The move will also eliminate 300 positions at the hospital, one of the largest employers in St. Tammany Parish.

In addition to keeping the land free from development, Davis said he hoped to turn the property into a mitigation bank which would help pay the cost of acquiring the land.

St. Tammany is required to contribute matching funds for various state and federal road projects, Davis said. Some of the land used for those projects consists of wetlands and he said he wanted the parish’s financial contributions to go into the mitigation bank in exchange for credits that would allow wetlands construction.

The parish, he said, did not have available funds to purchase the land outright, so he had initiated negotiations with officials from the Trust for Public Land in and effort to get the trust to purchase the land on the parish’s behalf with the parish paying back the trust in a minimum of five years.

Now that the 1,442 acres adjacent to the hospital has been sold for less than half its appraised value and now that the official announcement of the hospital’s closure has been made, the question that remains is what now becomes of the remaining 500 acres and the hospital buildings?

Southeast Louisiana State Hospital, a psychiatric treatment facility, was established 60 years ago, in 1952, on 2,235 acres of land (later reduced to 1,900 acres). In 1959, it received international, if unwanted, attention as a brief stopping-off point for Gov. Earl K. Long in his odyssey across the southwestern U.S. during his celebrated mental breakdown.

Earl, still very much the state’s governor, fired state Hospital Board head Jesse H. Bankston and replaced him with Charles Rosenblum. Rosenblum subsequently persuaded the board to fire hospital head Dr. Charles Belcher and replace him with Dr. Jess McClendon. McClendon, a personal friend of Long, promptly ordered his release.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Governor's Office, Health Care, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, Notable Quotables, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Transparency on July 20, 2012| 4 Comments »

“The selection of a third-party is an important step toward providing quality care and service…”

–Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, defending the awarding of a contract to Blue Cross/Blue Shield to administer the state health care insurance plans. Announcement of the award was held off until near the close of business on Friday.

“It really is a shame that we will have to face the real cost of Bobby’s ambition for a very long time.”

–Former State Sen. Butch Gautreaux, responding to the awarding of the BCBS contract that will abolish 177 OGB positions.

“This is an opportunity to reform and modernize.”

–DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein, explaining how the federal cut of $859 million to the state’s Medicaid program is “doable.”

“I was surprised to see this on the table. I was told 15 minutes before the announcement was made.”

–State Sen. Jack Donahue (R-Mandeville), reacting to the administration’s announcement late Friday that Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville would begin closing down operations effective Oct. 1, resulting in the loss of 300 positions.

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State Rep. Joe Harrison uses state stationery to solicit $1,000 contributions in order to support ALEC agenda

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Ethics, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Politicians, Prison, Privatization, Public Records, Retirement, Taxes, Transparency, Vouchers on July 5, 2012| 11 Comments »

It’s been awhile since we’ve written about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), but State Rep. Joseph Harrison (R-Gray) has proven himself a more than capable successor to former Rep. Noble Ellington (R-Winnsboro).

ALEC is a national organization comprised of hundreds of state legislators from around the country as well as corporations which fund the bulk of the organization’s expenses. Heading the list of those corporations is Koch Industries.

ALEC’s corporate members write “model legislation” for lawmakers to take back to their states for passage into law. Foremost among those are education reform, prison privatization, Medicaid reform, state employee pension reform and reductions of public services.

Ellington is the former state representative who served as national president of ALEC in 2011 and hosted ALEC’s national meeting in New Orleans last August. Ellington, after 24 years in the legislature, did not seek re-election last fall and upon leaving office in January, was hired as Chief Deputy Commissioner for the Louisiana Department of Insurance at $150,000 per year.

Now, not to be outdone, Harrison, the state ALEC chairman, has sent out a form letter on state letterhead soliciting contributions of $1,000 each to finance the travel of Louisiana legislative ALEC members to an ALEC conference in Salt Lake City July 25-28. The identities of the recipients of his requests for money were unknown.

The letter opens by saying, “As State Chair and National Board Member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), I would like to solicit your financial support to our ALEC Louisiana Scholarship Fund.”

But this letter wasn’t for college scholarships.

“Why does the scholarship fund need your support?” Harrison asked, perhaps rhetorically, in his letter of Monray, July 2. “With over thirty Louisiana Legislators serving on ALEC Task Forces, your support will allow the opportunity (for legislators) to attend conferences funded by the ALEC Scholarship Fund.

“These conferences are packed with educational speakers and presenters, and gives (sic) the legislators a chance to interact with legislators from other states, including forums on Medicaid reform, sub-prime lending, only privacy, environmental education, pharmaceutical litigation, the crisis in state spending, global warming, and financial services and information exchange. All of these issues are import (sic) to the entire lobbying community (note the reference to “lobbying community”).

“I, along with other members of the Louisiana Legislature, greatly appreciate your contribution to the scholarship fund. Your $1,000 check made payable to the ALEC Louisiana Scholarship Fund and can be sent directly to me at 5058 West Main Street, Houma, Louisiana 70360. ALEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization as designated by the IRS.”

It is no surprise that ALEC would be concerned about pharmaceutical litigation, environmental education, Medicaid reform and sub-prime lending since many of its corporate members comprise pharmaceutical companies, oil and chemical companies, medical providers and mortgage lenders.

Even though ALEC picks up the tab for legislators to attend conferences all over the nation, at least 16 Louisiana legislators filed expense reports with the House and Senate for reimbursement of more than $20,750 in expenses related to their attendance at last August’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Additionally, ALEC reimbursed many of those same legislators, plus 19 other members and former House and Senate members an additional $56,200 for other ALEC conferences in such locales as San Antonio, Chicago, San Diego and Washington, D.C.

It is not known if Harrison received any “scholarship” money to attend ALEC conferences, but records obtained from the Louisiana House of Representatives by LouisianaVoice show that he received $9,295.78 in expense reimbursements from the state to attend six conferences in New Orleans, San Diego and Washington, D.C. over a four-year period, from December 2008 to August 2011.

Those included:

• December 2008: Washington, D.C. ($1,896.43);
• September 2009: New Orleans “Out of the Storm Conference ($496);
• December 2009: Washington, D.C. ($1,981.24);
• August 2010: San Diego, California ($970.50);
• November 2010: Washington, D.C. ($2,031.14);
• August 2011: New Orleans ($1,920.97).

LouisianaVoice has submitted two public records requests to Harrison. The first asks for the names of the “over thirty” legislators who are members of ALEC and the second requests, since the contribution solicitation was made on state letterhead, that Harrison provide the identities of every person to whom the solicitation was sent.

It would also be of more than passing interest to know how much in state postage was spent on soliciting funds for a lobbying organization that denies it’s a lobbying organization.

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