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Archive for the ‘Public Records’ Category

Request for Jindal’s 2010 travel records met with stoney silence

Posted in Governor's Office, Public Records, Transparency on February 28, 2011| 4 Comments »

Louisiana Voice/Capitol News Service has made three separate formal public records requests of the “most transparent administration in Louisiana history” and so far, not a peep has been received in response. Only silence.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

The most ethical administration ever has been strangely quiet when asked to give an accounting of its own actions.

We requested documentation of the number of days Gov. Bobby Jindal was out of the state during calendar year 2010. We even went so far as to stipulate the purposes for his extended absences for him: campaign appearances for fellow Republicans, fund raisers for his own re-election campaign, and promotional appearances to hawk his self-serving book, Leadership and Crisis, the autobiography that he hopes will catapult him into the U.S. presidency. Or not.

We can only assume the Louisiana public records law, R.S. 44:1 applies to the governor’s office. After all, the definition of a “public body” is clearly spelled out in the statute as “any branch, department, office, agency, board, commission, district, governing authority, political subdivision, or any committee, subcommittee, advisory board, or task force thereof, or any other instrumentality of state, parish, or municipal government, including a public or quasi-public nonprofit corporation designated as an entity to perform a governmental or proprietary function.”

The definition also includes “all books, records, writings, accounts, letters and letter books, maps, drawings, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, memoranda, and papers, and all copies, duplicates, photographs, including microfilm, or other reproductions thereof, or any other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information contained in electronic data processing equipment, having been used, being in use, or prepared, possessed, or retained for use in the conduct, transaction, or performance of any business, transaction, work, duty, or function which was conducted, transacted, or performed by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of this state, or by or under the authority of any ordinance, regulation, mandate, or order of any public body or concerning the receipt or payment of any money received or paid by or under the authority of the constitution or the laws of this state, are ‘public records’, except as otherwise provided in this Chapter or the Constitution of Louisiana.”

The statute does exempt “any documentary material of a security feature of a public body’s electronic data processing system, information technology system, telecommunications network, or electronic security system, including hardware or software security, password, or security procedure, process, configuration, software, and code.”

“To be ‘public,’ the record must have been used, prepared, possessed, or retained for use in connection with a function performed under authority of the Louisiana Constitution, a state law, or an ordinance, regulation, mandate, or order of a public body,” according to the Public Affairs Research Council (PAR). “This definition covers virtually every kind of record kept by a state or local governmental body,” PAR says.

We thought perhaps we did not meet the criteria to request the records or maybe our request was for the wrong reasons. But, it turns out, we qualify on all counts. “In Louisiana, any person at least 18 years of age may inspect, copy, reproduce, or obtain a copy of any public record. La. R.S. 44:32. The purpose for the document request is immaterial, and an agency or record custodian may not inquire as to the reason,” PAR adds.

To be completely fair, we know these things take time.

We only began our requests in January, after all.

But wait. It turns out that the statute also covers that, or in current parlance, there’s an app for that. If the public record being requested is available, “it must be given to you immediately” and if it is not available, the custodian of the public record “must let you know this in writing.” And if it is not deemed to be a public record, the custodian “must respond within three business days,” according to PAR.

Maybe Jindal’s office simply did not receive our request. But wait! That can’t be because with the first request we submitted, we also asked for the number of state-issued cell phones assigned to the governor’s office and that information was provided.

Well, then, the only other logical explanation for the most transparent, most ethical administration in Louisiana history to not produce the requested records is we waited too long and the records possibly have been shredded or deleted.

Oops. It turns out the statute also covers that contingency. Public records “must be kept for at least three years,” it says.

What to do?

PAR says if five or more business days pass from the time the written records request was made and there is no response, one should contact the Attorney General’s office or the local district attorney, or both. Another option is to retain an attorney and sue the custodian and the public body.

“Custodians (or their public body) who violate the law may have to pay legal fines, damages, and the suing person’s legal fees,” PAR said, adding, “Custodians who violate the law also may be required to serve time in prison.”

Oh, well. Maybe the custodian will be sent to one of the governor’s privatized prisons. No rehabilitation programs. No educational courses. Just lock and feed.

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Time for Hebert and Sibille to resign from the University of Louisiana Board of Trustees–in open session

Posted in Higher Education, Lobbyist, Public Records, Regents, Transparency, tagged , , , on February 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

The late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, speaking of open meetings and above-board actions of elected and appointed officials, once said that sunshine is still the best disinfectant.

A metaphoric observation, of course, but nonetheless applicable in the case of the recent first-ever joint meeting of Louisiana’s five higher education boards.

Apparently at least two members of the University of Louisiana System Board of Trustees don’t see the necessity of making board decisions in the open and in public view.

Strangely enough, it took a suggestion from an outsider to inadvertently elicit remarks by the two ULS trustees that perhaps Louisiana should have no open meetings laws on the books.

Their utterances, whether made out of arrogance or ignorance, should anger every voter in Louisiana. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “transparency in government” long ago turned into a sick joke, so there’s no need to add insult to injury.

Terry MacTaggart of the national Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (yes, it turns out even university governing boards have their own national lobby), served as moderator for the event and suggested to board members that they hold a “pre-meeting” in order to formulate policy.

Such “pre-meeting” would be in direct violation of the state’s open meetings laws which expressly prohibit any public body meeting in secret to discuss business. Board of Regents Chairman Bob Levy of Ruston, who also serves as district attorney for the Third Judicial District of Louisiana that includes Lincoln and Union parishes, was quick to set MacTaggart straight. He told MacTaggart, who works out of Washington, D.C., that Louisiana law strictly prohibits such activity.

It was at this point that ULS board member Gerald “T-Boy” Hebert and board Chairman Winfred Sibille contributed their opinions that should demand their immediate resignations.

Hebert, a major financial contributor to the University of Louisiana Lafayette, responding to Levy’s reminder of the requirements of the state’s “vigorous open meetings law,” hinted that perhaps a “joint effort to lobby the Legislature will change the law.”

Wait. What?

Did he really suggest weakening or worse, abolishing the state’s open meetings law? Sounds that way to us.

But in a statement that dripped with irony, Sibille said, “The worst thing that can happen at a board meeting is a surprise.” That remark in itself was something of a surprise. Apparently all public meetings are supposed to go smoothly with no debate or open discussion. Sibille then underscored that sentiment when he added, “All problems should be resolved before the meeting.”

Perhaps not since the days of Huey Long has anyone been so brazen as to suggest that public input be shut out of the decision-making process by any public body in Louisiana.

Open political debate has been the hallmark of this country’s government since its founding nearly 235 years ago. In New England they still have town meetings which are nothing like the orchestrated, controlled town meetings held by presidents Bush and Clinton and our current governor. Those are sound bite opportunities. New England town meetings are the bedrock of democracy. At those events, local citizens actively participate in policy-making decisions. To suggest otherwise to the citizenry there would be an open invitation to a new American Revolution.

If Hebert and Sibille are so arrogant as to have even a scintilla of conviction in what they said in that joint meeting, they should resign immediately.

If they are so ignorant as to not realize the ramifications of their remarks, then they have no business serving on any public board—certainly not the self-parody of a board of higher education—and they should resign immediately.

In short, there is no logical reason for either man remaining on any board.

There is no room for public men to advocate private decision-making by a public, taxpayer-supported board out of the sight of the taxpaying public. Their comments should incite outrage among voters.

Conversely, Louisianans owe a debt of gratitude to both Regents Chairman Bob Levy and ULS board member Jimmy Faircloth.

Faircloth, former executive counsel to Gov. Jindal, fired his own volley when he said board members get agendas and background information prior to the meetings so they should be prepared to discuss issues going in. But the public doesn’t always get the full story, he said. “Some of the substance is not discussed in meetings,” he said. “News about higher education is distributed through carefully-tailored press releases.”

Faircloth said none of the board members are elected but instead are appointed, so they should be prepared to make tough decisions and not be afraid of speaking their minds. “It would be healthy for open discussions to be on the record,” he said.

Levy was even blunter. Many board members are afraid of open discussions at open meetings, he said.

That begs the obvious question: Why are they afraid?

We’d be interested in hearing their answers.

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State contracts continue to proliferate

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Contract, Contracts, Education, Governor's Office, Higher Education, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Public Records, Transparency on February 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

The big news out of the nation’s capital last week was a Feb. 3 Washington Post story trumpeting the fact that the federal government spent $15 billion less on contracts for outside products and services during fiscal 2010, the first reduction since 1997.

The $15 billion cutback in contracted services will barely show up in the federal budget but the decrease from $550 billion to $535 billion is a start for those seeking ways to reduce the federal deficit.

The $550 billion spent on contracts during fiscal 2009 was more than double the amount awarded in federal contracts as recently as 2001. Federal contracts have gone unchecked for so long that the practice spawned its own organization. The Professional Services Council is a trade association (read: lobbyist group) formed specifically for the government professional and technical services industry.

Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Legislature might be wise to take their cue from Washington for a change instead of continuing to snipe at the Obama administration—at least on this one issue. Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget will propose an additional reduction of 10 percent in federal contracts. That’s another $50 billion or so in cuts, something that should make fiscal conservatives weep for joy.

For fiscal year 2008-09, the latest data available, Louisiana had 6,304 contracts for goods and services worth a whopping $5 billion, according to the state’s annual report for that year. That figure is somewhat misleading in that nearly $3.2 billion was in the form of 1,083 cooperative endeavor agreements ($2.9 billion), 468 interagency contracts ($213.4 million) and 495 intergovernmental contracts ($79.4 million). In other words, it was money simply shuffled between agencies.

But that still leaves 1,292 professional services contracts ($178 million), 160 personal contracts ($7.4 million), and 1,275 consulting contracts (an eye-popping $1.4 billion).

Like the federal contracts, state contracts have increased by 153 percent in dollar amount since fiscal 2005-06 when a paltry $2 billion in contract work was on the books. That amount made a quantum leap to $3.3 billion the very next year (a 64.6 percent increase), and jumped to $4.7 billion in 2007-08, an increase of another 44.5 percent.

Granted, much of that increase in 2006-07 was for contracts for recovery from two devastating 2005 hurricanes—Katrina and Rita—and granted, much of the money was from the influx of federal disaster relief dollars. But once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s hard to put her back. In 2008-09 the dollar amount nudged up another $337 million, helping to set the stage for the budgetary disaster now being faced by the Legislature and the Jindal administration.

The state has a $37.2 million interagency contract with the office of the attorney general for legal representation to various state agencies, boards, commissions, and departments but still sees the need for scores of private legal firms across the state to “provide legal services to various state agencies.” Only the top 50 contracts were listed in the report, but 41 of those totaled an additional $33.4 million. Eight of those contracts were for legal services totaling $18.3 million on behalf of indigents statewide, the report said.

Contracts, particularly professional service and consulting contracts are handed out by the state like so much candy on Halloween night and there appears to be little oversight. Fully half of all state contracts awarded during 2008-09 were not approved by the Office of Contractual Review (OCR).

The $5 billion for the 6,304 contracts approved by OCR is only part of the problem. Hidden away among all the numbers spewed out so far is another $655.5 million for 6,341 contracts that were awarded in fiscal year 2008-09 which were approved not by Contractual Review, but by the individual agencies awarding the contracts.

These contracts, awarded under an obscure state law that allows the OCR director to delegate authority to state agencies for approval of professional, personal, consulting and social services contracts. Typically, such contracts are for $20,000 or less but the statute also grants leeway to the OCR director to delegate that authority to any state agency as deemed appropriate.

Accordingly, 5,334 of those contracts awarded under the delegation of authority were for amounts below the $20,000 threshold. Those 5,334 contracts totaled $51.7 million, an average of $9,700 per contract. Another 1,007 contracts totaling $603.7 million, however, were also awarded under the delegation of authority.

More than half of that amount, $330.9 million, was accounted for in 383 contracts awarded by the Office of Group Benefits.

Group Benefits had another 32 contracts totaling $898 million approved by OCR. Other contracts approved by OCR included 282 for the Office of Economic Development ($629.6 million), and 1,080 awarded by the governor’s office through the Division of Administration ($2.3 billion).

One contract, for $68.9 million was apparently a major windfall for Cypress Realty Partners of Baton Rouge. The contract was for an alternative housing pilot program for the Louisiana Recovery Authority. An internet company profile of Cypress Realty said the company employed six people and had annual revenues of $410,000.

Two other contracts, both intergovernmental, were with out-of-state universities and totaled more than $900,000. Jackson State University of Jackson, Mississippi, was awarded a contract in the amount of $536,435 to “recruit, select and train teachers for placement in high need local education agencies/school systems.”

Clemson University of Clemson, South Carolina, was awarded a $375,000 contract to develop “active, selective catalysts for the conversion of natural-gas derived syngas (synthetic gas) to ethanol.”

Several contractors were paid to represent the state in other countries. Pathfinder Team Consulting received a $690,000 contract to provide foreign representative services in Europe while Access Marketing got a $234,000 contract to serve as a foreign marketing representative in Ontario Province and western Canada for the Office of Tourism.

A contract for $148,500 was awarded to Louis Bowden, dba Asia Capital to provide foreign representative services in China. Steve Lee and Hernan Gonzalez each received $75,000 contracts to provide foreign representation in Taiwan and Mexico, respectively. Ofihotel S.A. had a $60,000 contract to provide foreign representation in Central America.

Following is a partial list of contracts for fiscal year 2008-09:

• V- Vehicle Company, Ouachita Parish ($87 million);

• Foster Poultry Farms, Union Parish ($50 million) as inducement to purchase and operate poultry production and processing plant and provide 1,100 jobs;

• Lafourche Parish Council ($24.8 million), repair, rebuild, replace hurricane-damaged infrastructure;

• Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District ($17.5 million) to clear debris from Bayou Lafourche;

• Lafourche Parish School Board ($480,000) to provide academic assistance in literacy and/or math, enrichment, recreation, technology, tutoring parental involvement and family literacy activities;

• Lafourche Parish Council, Office of Community Action ($319,964) to provide services and programs in accordance with the Community Service Block Grant Act of 1981;

• Terrebonne Port Commission ($10 million) for bulkhead, land improvements and other related infrastructure improvements, planning and construction;

• Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government ($2.2 million) to provide intensive residential treatment program, provide funding to assist with design of a ring levee to surround Chabert Medical Center;

• St. Mary Parish Government/Council ($3.55 million) to operate a 52-bed inpatient treatment programs to individuals with addictive disorders; to operate a 12-adult bed and 21-children’s bed for TANF-eligible women and their dependent children;

• Vermilion Parish School Board ($9.2 million), rebuild, repair, replace hurricane-damaged primary and secondary public school infrastructure;

• Vermilion Parish Police Jury ($5.5 million) to repair, rebuild, replace hurricane-damaged infrastructure;

• St. Martin Parish School Board ($302,784) to provide comprehensive/preventive services to registered students;

• Jefferson Davis Parish Police Jury ($310,821) to complete strategic prevention framework planning process for substance abuse;

• West Feliciana Acquisition, LLC ($6 million) for acquisition, improvement, and operation of a paper mill in St. Francisville, creating 200-375 jobs;

• City of Ville Platte ($675,000) to provide juvenile delinquency prevention/diversion services to youth;

• City of Hammond ($367,728) to provide juvenile delinquency/diversion services;

• Southeastern Louisiana University TIP Comptroller’s Office ($2.1 million) to provide a continuum of family preservation, community based family support services;

• Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center ($785,000) to provide Ryan White Care Act Aids Drug Assistance program;

• Grambling State University ($106,601) to provide educational opportunities for persons committed to entering or continuing in the field of child welfare;

• Louisiana Tech University ($1.2 million) to provide lessons to youth ages 11-14 to prevent/reduce addictive disorders;

• Southeastern Louisiana Area Health Education Center ($5 million) to provide system point of entry services for St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes;

• First Steps Referral and Consulting ($2.8 million) to provide system point of entry services and provide site development workshop training to school leadership and teachers in Acadia, Evangeline, St. Martin, and Vermilion parishes;

• Families Helping Families at the Crossroads of Louisiana ($2.7 million) to provide point of entry services in LaSalle, Avoyelles, and Winn parishes;

• Youth Empowerment Project ($1.3 million) to provide system point of entry services for reintegration services for youth and counseling for families in Acadia, Evangeline, St. Martin, Vermilion, Jefferson Davis, and Allen parishes.

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State can’t wean itself of golf course involvement

Posted in Budget, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records, Taxes, tagged , , , , on February 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The State of Louisiana just can’t seem to wean itself of its involvement in the golf course business.

Even though several golf courses in Louisiana have gone under in recent months, the state continues to invest its resources into the construction and management of several facilities across the state.

Most recently, the Office of State Purchasing received proposals for the management of the Black Bear Stay and Play Lodge at the Poverty Point Reservoir State Park near Delhi.

While the proposed bid opening was on Jan. 4, no contract has been awarded, nor has any information been forthcoming as to the bidders’ identities or if the bid opening was even held on schedule.

The 7,100-yard, 300-acre course was designed by Bechtol Russell Golf of Austin, Texas, and constructed by Weitz Golf International. It is operated under the administration of the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism (DCRT).

The request for proposals (RFP) stipulates that lodge personnel shall include a “first-class” hotel manager, meaning that he or she must be knowledgeable, experienced, and effective, and that the contractor shall submit a detailed monthly accounting of all transactions.

The lodge includes 17 guest rooms, a swimming pool and fenced tennis court and maintains a 61 percent occupancy rate, according to the RFP, which also said the DCRT “intends to work diligently with the successful proposer to ensure the profitability of a Stay and Play Lodge operation at Black Bear Golf Course. The economic, professional, social, and recreational elements critical to the success and image of a quality golf environment are foremost in consideration.”

The RFP also said the State Legislative auditor, federal and internal auditors of the Division of Administration “shall have the option to audit all accounts directly pertaining to the contract for a period of five years” after the contract goes into effect. “Records shall be made available during normal working hours for this purpose,” it added.

A check of the Legislative Auditor’s web page could find no instance of an audit ever having been conducted of either the Black Bear Golf Course or Poverty Point Reservoir State Park.

The Louisiana Legislature last year appropriated $301,000 for the Black Bear Golf Club and since 1997 the state has poured more than $141 million into golf courses all over the state.

The Black Bear course was constructed on private property owned by the Poverty Point Development Corp. under the auspices of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development as part of a retirement community developed by State Sen. Francis Thompson and his brother, Mike Thompson. Once completed, the golf course was donated to DCRT with the proviso that a “professional manager” be appointed to administer the day to day operations of Black Bear.

The manager who was initially appointed was Mike Thompson. Thompson was convicted in federal court in January 2010 for violation of the Hobbs Act and in July, he was sentenced to 18 months in the federal correctional facility in Pollock. Specifically, Thompson was charged with having an employee of the Poverty Point Reservoir District perform work on Thompson’s private property during the time the employee was on the clock at the district.

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J. Ryan Hudson and Time magazine had it right

Posted in Budget, Campaign Contributions, Economy, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records, Taxes, Transparency on October 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

J. Ryan Hudson made the most of his 15 minutes.

Just in case you haven’t been paying attention lately, J. Ryan Hudson is the LSU Student Body president who wrote the now-famous op-ed letter to the Keene (New Hampshire) Sentinel in which he opined that Gov. Bobby Jindal “is spending more time in your state than the one he was elected to represent.”

As class sizes at LSU have grown, higher education has undergone $280 million in budget cuts over the past two years and is facing another $290 million in cutbacks, prompting Hudson to write that Jindal should pay more attention to state budget shortfalls than spending time campaigning for Republican candidates in other states.

“On behalf of the students whose hopes for a brighter future will soon be crushed, I beg you to return to Louisiana and fix your state’s serious problems,” Hudson said. “You’ve neglected your constituents long enough.

“You’ll have a much better chance of becoming president if you save, instead of destroy, Louisiana’s universities,” he said, implying that Jindal may have a not-so-secret agenda aimed at seeking higher office.

To be sure, Hudson’s letter was brash, maybe a little rude, and certainly timely.

And, sadly, all too accurate.

Jindal, rather than anchoring himself to the Capitol’s fourth floor office, chooses to globetrot on behalf of Republican candidates most in Louisiana have never heard of while refusing to endorse Republican candidates in Louisiana. One can understand his reluctance to speak out in favor of David Vitter in his Senate race against Charlie Melancon given Vitter’s political baggage, but Secretary of State Jay Dardenne can’t wrangle an endorsement from Jindal even though Dardenne’s TV spots stress his wish to work with Jindal in promoting the governor’s programs.

Even more difficult to comprehend is Jindal’s reluctance to tackle state finances head-on. After all, hasn’t he been telling us over and over that he has the job he wants? If that’s true, then he should stay home and do that job.

Oh, sure, he pays lip service to reducing, or streamlining, state government. But as the state budget turns an ever-darkening shade of red, he stands adamant in his refusal to address a tax increase in the wake of dwindling state revenues.

Tax increases are never pleasant, especially with statewide elections only a year away, but neither is the prospect of a state becoming insolvent. That’s a very real prospect.

And Jindal, along with an out-of-control legislature, must shoulder the blame. The state had money, but the legislature, drunk with one-time revenue, went spend-crazy this year and Jindal wouldn’t—or couldn’t—summon the courage to rein in the insanity with his line item veto power.

Time magazine describes half the states as having joined the federal government “in the fiscal sick ward” as high unemployment and the recession combined with drastically reduced income to deliver a weakened economy that appears at times to be spiraling out of control.

Barely into its new fiscal year, Louisiana is already facing a $100 million deficit, thanks to depressed oil prices and reduced tax revenues, the magazine said. To deal with the crisis, the state has frozen hiring, deferred maintenance on state buildings and canceled $500,000 in new equipment. Legislators, meanwhile, are talking tax increases. “We’ve run out of windfall from Washington,” the state budget director lamented. “We’ve run out of exotic tax measures. Our economy has run out of gas, and in Louisiana, when you run out of gas, you run out of money.”

Sound familiar? The by now all too familiar theme should resonate with anyone who follows Louisiana politics.

But that story actually ran in Time on Nov. 8, 1982—almost exactly 28 ominously prophetic years ago when Ralph Perlman was budget director and Dave Treen was governor. Louisiana has held seven elections and has chosen five new governors since then. The more things change, it seems, the more they stay the same.

Today, nearly three decades after that story, Louisiana is wrestling with a $108 million budget deficit less than four months into the 2011 fiscal year than began on July 1. Even worse, the administration is anticipating a staggering projected shortfall of up to $2 billion next year.

It’s not as if the administration and legislators were not forewarned: Greg Albrecht, the chief economist for the Legislative Fiscal Office, said in May that he didn’t expect state income tax revenue to meet earlier forecasts.

Now, Gov. Bobby Jindal finds himself trying to find a way to cut state budgets yet another 35 percent—when he’s in the state, which is becoming more and more infrequent. Some legislators said they see the present fiscal malaise as a chance to downsize government in lieu of falling back on the usual accounting tricks to balance the budget.

Sen. John Alario, D-Westwego, called the situation “a grand opportunity for us to scale back government.” Alario, the legislator primarily responsible for the often-criticized state’s $22 million purchase of the financially troubled Players Tournament Club golf facility in Marrero, said downsizing “could never be done if you didn’t have to be faced with this situation.”

Jindal, in lieu of raising taxes, seems intent on slashing higher education and health care. Meanwhile, he keeps popping up in Florida, New Hampshire, New York, Missouri, Georgia, California, Ohio, and Minnesota to campaign for GOP candidates.

Legislators say the anticipated budgets will close hospitals for the poor and cripple higher education while college presidents call the proposed cuts “catastrophic.” Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco says a 35 percent cut would effectively shut down government services and that education would undergo a “meltdown to mediocrity.”

Jindal says spending cuts are preferable to higher taxes and that additional privatization may be in store as a means to save the state money.

He missed his chance to cut spending at the end of the last regular legislative session when he could have exercised his line item veto power to bring the Capital Outlay bill more into line. He had the opportunity to veto more than $450 million in Priority One spending but chose to veto only $9.4 million—all in Priority Two, or second year spending. Among the Priority One appropriations in the Capital Outlay Bill that were allowed to stand were:

• $800,000 for land acquisition for the proposed Allen Parish Reservoir;
• $1.4 million for the proposed Bayou Dechene Reservoir in Caldwell Parish;
• $2.6 million for the Washington Parish Reservoir Commission Feasibility study;
• $17.2 million for Bayou Segnette Festival Park land acquisition and sports complex improvements;
• $28 million for modifications to the Performing Arts Center in Jefferson Parish;
• $2 million for construction of a playground Basketball Gym in Orleans Parish;
• $1.8 million for construction of the Little Theatre of Shreveport;
• $2.6 million for a new Westbank YMCA in Algiers;
• $2 million for the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame;
• $6 million for construction of a new courthouse in Baton Rouge;
• $2.8 million for the Dryades YMCA in New Orleans;
• $5.4 million for the Red River Waterway Commission;
• $7.7 million for the renovation of the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette;
• $2.5 million for improvements to the Coteau Water System in St. Martin and Iberia parishes;
• $2.4 million for the Union Parish Law Enforcement District;
• $1.8 million for construction for the Robinson Film Center in Caddo Parish;
• $12 million for construction of a convention center complex in Shreveport;
• $3.8 million for a new tennis center in Orleans Parish;
• $4.7 million for construction of the Louisiana Artist Guild Arts Incubator in New Orleans;
• $26.5 million for expansion and construction of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans;

Millions more were spent on construction projects that included recreational facilities, councils on aging, courthouses, sheriffs’ offices, jails, drainage projects, work on parish and municipal road and street construction projects, community centers, and water systems.

As if that were not enough, when legislators found extra money lying around, as they always seem to do during each legislative session, the House quickly pushed HB 76 through, appropriating an additional $33 million in local pork projects. Some of those expenditures:

• $150,000 for the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame in Winnfield;
• $500,000 for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities;
• $500,000 to “organizations which assist small towns and rural areas with their water and wastewater systems;”
• $250,000 for construction of an animal shelter in St. Charles Parish;
• $1 million to the Lafayette Parish Consolidated Government for infrastructure construction;

Of that $33 million, Jindal vetoed only 32 projects totaling less than $2.5 million.

That’s a sign of a weak governor—one who lacks the singular courage to scale back reckless spending by legislators when the very future of the state depends on it, demands it. As a result, higher education and health care will continue to suffer while golf courses, community centers, baseball parks, sheriffs’ offices, ground water reservoirs, and other local projects will flourish while legislators take the credit and bask in the gratitude of constituents back home.

The name of that 1982 Time magazine article that chronicled economic hard times for state governments?

“Living Beyond Their Means.”

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