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Archive for the ‘Teague’ Category

Excrement hits oscillating air circulation device in flap over alternative fuel tax credit: Revenue Secretary takes the fall

Posted in Exemptions, Incentives, Governor's Office, Legislature, Legislators, Revenue, Teague on June 16, 2012| 7 Comments »

The unlikely scenario reads like something out of a Woody Allen parody (for some reason, Sleeper comes to mind.):

State representative in 2009 introduces House Bill 110 that offers generous tax credits (up to $3,000) to those who purchase certain types of automobiles that operate on clean-burning alternative fuels.

Legislative Fiscal Office in its fiscal notes on the bill, project a total five-year cost to the state of $907,000.

Besides the original sponsor, 83 other House members sign on as co-sponsors of the bill. It passes the house, coincidentally, by a vote of 84-12. In the Senate, the vote is 34-0.

Governor, who never met a tax exemption he didn’t like, signs HB 110 into law as Act 469, creating the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit. Everyone is happy.

Fast forward two years to 2011: House member who authored HB 110 is term limited so she decides to seek a Senate seat, thus circumventing the term limitations law as so many others have done.

She loses her race despite an infusion of $2,500 from the governor himself.

The governor, nonetheless grateful for her no-taxes stance in her doomed Senate campaign, in January of 2012 awards her with a job as the second in command of the state’s Revenue and Taxation Department. This despite the fact that she has zero experience and/or qualifications in matters of revenue and taxation; her background is that of a school teacher who also once completed a course in “school principalship.”

Fast forward to April 30: Secretary of Revenue and Taxation and presumed boss of former representative-now-assistant-secretary-of-revenue-and-taxation issues Declaration of Emergency as a means to adopt a rule to administer the tax credit for conversion of vehicles to alternative fuel usage “as provided under R.S. 47:6035.”

R.S. 47:6035, of course, is the number of the state statute pursuant to the passage of HB 110 and its signing into law by the governor as Act 469 of 2009. The statute (R.S. 47:6035) says so. The statute also says in Section G: “The secretary of the Department of Revenue in consultation with the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources shall promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act as are necessary to implement the provisions of this Section.”

So, on April 30, the secretary of Revenue issued her Declaration of Emergency in accordance with the statute, written by her under-secretary, passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. The declaration lists 112 models of cars and trucks that qualify, far more than originally anticipated, because of the emergence of “flex fuel” factory vehicles designed with the ability to burn ethanol.

Fast forward to mid-June: The anticipated cost to the state, originally estimated at $907,000 by the Legislative Fiscal Office is now 100 times that, or $100 million, according to the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Senate president, who voted for the measure three years before and who kept himself busy in his CPA firm filing tax amendments so his clients could claim the credit, was apparently unaware of the ramifications until after a fellow senator blew the whistle.

That senator, who also voted for the bill in 2009, says he alerted the secretary of the Department of Revenue and the commissioner of administration to the potential costs to the state if the bill were allowed to stand (after, of course, filing for his own $3,000 tax credit for a vehicle he had purchased). But neither informed the governor.

Neither did the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee–not even after he had filed for the $3,000 tax credit on each of the two vehicles he had purchased (does anyone see a trend here?).

As might be expected, the excrement hits the Westinghouse oscillating air circulation device and the governor’s office more closely resembles a chicken house invaded by an unwelcome possum than control central where cooler heads are expected to prevail. There is gnashing of hands and wringing of teeth (they can’t even seem to get that right) as everyone runs around wailing, “The sky is falling! What to do? What to do?”

Suddenly, someone came up with the obvious answer. Too bad the person has to remain anonymous because the solution was so obvious: fire the secretary of the Department of Revenue who was so brazen as to issue such an insane directive—or at least force her to resign—but don’t leave any marks; it must be a clean kill.

Never mind the fact she has served three governors during her tenure and no matter that she was carrying out her job to the letter of the law: somebody’s gotta go and it may as well be her. The governor can then appoint the assistant secretary, his old political crony, to the post—just the way he planned to all along. Let the secretary take the fall. What could be better? Brilliant!

Of course all this leaves a few unanswered questions:

• Why did the senator not go to the governor with his concerns in the first place?

• If the secretary of the Department of Revenue has to go because of her failure to pass the word up the line to the governor, what about the commissioner of administration? Is he not equally complicit or derelict?

• What about all those high-salaried lackeys with whom the governor surrounds himself—his communications director, his chief of staff, his executive counsel? Don’t their jobs include the monitoring of pending legislation and its effects? Where were they when all this was going down?

• And the Senate president should have seen the writing on the wall with all those tax amendments he was filing on behalf of his clients—unless he was too preoccupied with making money from his fees.

• How about the governor himself? He signed the bill creating the law with which his revenue secretary was complying.

None of that matters, of course, in this bizarre script. The revenue secretary must be the scapegoat and fall on her sword.

After all, that’s the way this governor likes to do things.

Name one time he has admitted a mistake—from the ill-conceived berms, to the firing of good public servants (too many to name here as the toll keeps mounting), to the privatization of the Office of Risk Management (a fiasco in its own right), to attempts at public employee retirement reform, to issuing hundreds of vouchers to “schools” that are all but non-existent, to backing Rick Perry for president.

His is the finely-honed practice of accepting credit and assessing blame.

As a final twist to this plot, the governor now says that he can’t promise that any outstanding applications for credit on amended returns from 2009, 2010 and 2011 will be honored, leaving open the possibility of litigation by auto buyers who have filed or will file amendments in good faith in accordance with a law already on the books–that the governor signed.

Sorry, folks. Woody Allen just sent word that he has rejected the script as being far too improbable for any moviegoer to believe.

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Update: Gov. Piyush Jindal absent from civics class on Separation of Powers Day at Baton Rouge Magnet High

Posted in Legislature, Legislators, Teague, Uncategorized on June 14, 2012| 7 Comments »

Every high school student in Louisiana public schools is required to take a year of civics as part of the Department of Education’s social studies curriculum.

Gov. Piyush Jindal, who attended Baton Rouge High Magnet School (a public school), was apparently absent on Separation of Powers Day.

On Thursday, Rep. Jim Morris (R-Oil City) became the second legislator to be removed from a vice-chairmanship by Jindal through Speaker of the House Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles).

In March, Rep. Harold Ritchie (D-Bogalusa) was demoted from his vice-chairmanship of the House Committee on Insurance after voting against Jindal-backed House Bill 969 that gave tax rebates for those who donate money for scholarships to private and parochial schools. Richie’s vote came while he sat as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Kleckley, like any good puppet, did not have the courage or candor to explain his action, saying instead, “My discussion on the vice chairmanship will remain a personal discussion,” whatever that may mean.

On Thursday, Morris was removed from his vice chairmanship of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee by Kleckley.

Morris was among a group of conservative House Republicans who unsuccessfully fought Jindal in the recent legislative session as the governor chose to use one-time money to fund recurring expenses in the state’s General Budget.

Morris also opposed Jindal in his efforts to secure a statewide voucher program that will use state taxpayer dollars to send children to private schools.

The dispute over the use of one-time money to balance the budget and the subsequent smack-down of Morris smacks of blatant hypocrisy on Jindal’s part. It was Jindal, after all, who in 2008, made a big deal of opposing the use of one-time for recurring expenses. He compared it to using a credit card to pay the mortgage, calling the practice fiscal irresponsibility.

Jindal mouthpiece Kyle Plotkin, naturally denied that the governor’s office had requested Morris’s demotion. Believe that, and we have some lovely beachfront property in North Dakota you may find attractive.

Kleckley, of course, would not say why Morris was demoted, choosing instead to at once flaunt his and Morris’s constituents and to knuckle under to the governor who has taken on all the characteristics of someone who has morphed from a spoiled brat to a pouting tyrant with his despotic heavy-handedness.

In no other state does the governor have the power to dictate who will serve as Senate president, House speaker or who presides over committees. Theoretically, under the separation of powers, those are strictly legislative matters.

Author Robert Caro, in his multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, noted that when Johnson was elected vice president in 1960, he intimated that he intended to continue participating in legislative proceedings as president of the Senate.

In those days the vice president did serve as president of the Senate but could only vote to break a tie. Johnson’s intentions, however, were to be more involved in the day to day activities of the Senate until senators reminded him that he was no longer a part of the legislative branch of government but the executive and thus forbidden to take part in legislative matters.

If a powerful politician such as Lyndon Johnson could not defy the Constitution, it defies logic how this petulant governor can do so.

Former Sen. Butch Gautreaux said when he served as Chairman of the Senate Retirement Committee, Jindal complained about his not supporting the governor’s agenda but Senate President Joel Chaisson “never considered removing me.”

Gautreaux said Jindal even attempted to have him evicted from his Pentagon Barracks apartment but again Chaisson refused.

“This legislature has completely forgotten that there are three branches of government,” Gautreaux said. “I’m embarrassed for them. They are too weak to be embarrassed for themselves.”

Perhaps Kleckley should grow a pair and inform Mr. Transparency and Accountability that we still have three branches of government.

Cowardice, after all, is not pretty to watch.

At least Morris had the courage of his convictions and did not allow Jindal’s $2,500 contribution to his election campaign last fall sway him from voting his conscience.

Perhaps our most ethical governor is of the belief that a bought politician should stay bought.

And just in case Piyush, aka Richard Nixon reincarnate, has forgotten, the three branches of government are Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

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Four years and counting: Piyush reign of terror expands and no agency director or department head dares to be candid

Posted in Governor's Office, Teague, tagged , , on April 30, 2012| 20 Comments »

Remember how during his first term of office, Gov. Piyush Jindal hop-scotched all over north Louisiana in that state helicopter to witness his Christian faith at all those Protestant churches from Shongaloo to Dry Prong, from Farmerville to Plaucheville, from Winnfield to Winnsboro?

Sorta gave you a warm fuzzy to see the leader of the state professing his love for his fellow man—unless, of course, you offend him by doing something really audacious, like thinking for yourself or formulating an opinion of your own.

That seems to be where the trouble begins and Christian charity abruptly ends.

After what we’ve seen in four years-plus of this governor, what administrator would ever be bold enough to give a straight answer to a legislative committee?

Let’s review:

• January 2008—The echo of his first oath of office had barely died out when it was learned that Jindal was being fined $2,500 for failure to disclose more than $118,000 in direct mail expenses the Louisiana Republican Party made on his behalf.

He subsequently pushed through a bill that literally gutted the Ethics Board by transferring power to an ethics adjudicatory panel, prompting the resignations of all but one member, including Ethics Administrator Richard Sherburne who resigned in protest on June 26, 2008.

Not that Jindal holds a grudge or anything, but a whole four years later, ethics board Chairman Frank Simoneaux of Baton Rouge was mysteriously snubbed for a second term on the board after he had been critical of interaction between the ethics board and the ethics adjudicatory panel to which Jindal had orchestrated the power transfer in 2008.

• March 26, 2008—Jim Champagne, executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, was fired barely two months into Jindal’s first term. His sin? He opposed Piyush’s campaign promise to repeal the motorcycle helmet law.

• May of 2008—Jindal successfully fights for repeal of Stelly tax plan which has cost the state about $300 million per year in revenue.

• September 15, 2008—Ann Williamson, Secretary of the Department of Social Services, is forced out after criticism of shelter conditions following Hurricane Gustav and problems with a post-storm food stamp program.

In what would be a prophetic utterance, Jindal promised more changes “sooner rather than later.”

• 2009—It’s learned that Jindal has appointed more than 200 campaign contributors who donated more than $784,000 to his election campaign in 2007 and 2008 to positions in state government. Jindal sought to prevent the divulging of the information by helping to kill a bill that would have required him to disclose the names of campaign contributors appointed to government posts.

• May of 2009—Jindal opposes and eventually succeeds in killing House Bill 169 which would have extended the Public Records Act to the governor’s office. Jindal, aka Mr. Transparency, said the bill would violate executive privilege.

• May of 2009—Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere is called upon to resign after he sent a public records request to a Republican legislative leader who was critical of Jindal. This act would be repeated in 2012.

• June of 2009—Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Tammie McDaniel, was asked by Jindal to resign because she didn’t agree with some of the administration’s public education policies. She resisted until Feb. 11, 2010, when she finally acquiesced.

• August 21, 2009—Despite backing for the project from businessmen, Gov. Jindal rejects federal stimulus funds to construct a light rail system between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

• October 1, 2009—Melody Teague, a Social Services grant reviewer, testified in opposition to Jindal’s plan to streamline government during legislative hearings. She was fired the following day, ostensibly not for her testimony but for her overall job performance. She appealed and got her job back six months later.

• February 5, 2010—Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) Secretary William Ankner fell on his own sword when he resigned after Coastal Bridge Co. filed a lawsuit against the state after Boh Bros. Construction Co., with a high bid and the longest time for completion, was nevertheless awarded a $60 million contract to widen a stretch of I-10 in Baton Rouge.

Robert S. Boh, one of the company’s owners, and the company itself combined to contribute $11,000 to Gov. Jindal’s gubernatorial campaigns between 2003 and 2011.

Coastal Bridge, meanwhile, contributed $5,000 to Jindal’s campaign between 2003 and 2010. Perhaps Coastal felt it was entitled to at least half the work.

• August 13, 2010—Gov. Jindal demands the resignation of State Alcohol and Tobacco Control Secretary Murphy Painter after Painter twice refused to comply with directives from the governor’s office to issue a permit to SMG, the New Orleans Superdome management company, that would allow Budweiser to erect at large tent and signage in Champions Square.

Budweiser had offered $300,000 to the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District to sponsor the tent for tailgating parties at Saints home games. Painter, who said SMG never addressed compliance requirements of his office, was not only fired, but was subjected to sexual harassment and stalking charges. Nearly two years later, however, criminal proceedings still have not been initiated against Painter.

• April 15, 2011—Melody Teague’s husband, Tommy Teague, was canned as director of the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) despite the fact he had taken the agency from a $30 million deficit to a $500 million surplus in a scant five years. The problem was he didn’t jump on board the administration’s privatization plan quickly enough. His successor, Scott Kipper, lasted six weeks before leaving in disgust.

At issue was the $49,999.99 Chaffe Report on the advantages and pitfalls of the proposed OGB privatization. At first, Jindal refused to release the report to a legislative committee but eventually it was “leaked” to the media. Trouble is, the administration had said the report was received on May 25, 2011, but was confidential. The “leaked” copy was signed off on by the administration on June 7, two week after it said it received the report. Moreover, none of the pages of the report were date stamped, which is strictly against policy. This cast doubt on the validity of the “leaked” report and led to speculation that there may have been two versions of the Chaffe report.

• May 2011—Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein refused to divulge to a legislative committee who the winning bidder was on a $300 million contract with his agency. It was learned later that the winning bid came from a firm for whom Greenstein once worked and despite his denials that he had discussed the bid with his old company, emails subpoenaed by the committee indicated otherwise.

• October 19, 2011—Gov. Jindal refuses to apply for a federal grant that could have meant $60 million in early childhood education funding for Louisiana.

• October 27, 2011—Bryan Jeansonne, law partner of State Republican Executive Director Jason Dore sends emails to parish school superintendents throughout the state making a public records request of all emails between the superintendents and school employees.

• October 27, 2011—It was learned that the state lost an $80 million federal grant to expand the reach of broadband Internet to rural and poor areas of the state. Jindal rejected the grant after a political contributor was forced to resign from the Board of Regents when it was revealed he had a contract with the Regents for a high speed fiber optics internet project. Jindal said he felt the job could be done by the private sector. It was also learned that AT&T, a Jindal supporter, had opposed the grant.

• February 1, 2012—Larry Dorsey, administrator of University Medical Center (UMC) in Lafayette, acting no doubt on orders from above, sent an email to his employees that they were not to attend a rally in protest of the elimination of 130 positions at the hospital, whether they were “on or off the clock.” Dorsey said that violation of his directive may result in disciplinary action.

Civil Service rules clearly allow state employees, particularly those “off the clock” to attend protests, carry signs and sign petitions.

• Also on February 1, 2012—The Civil Service Board rejected a proposal by DHH Center for Health Care Innovation and Technology chief Carol Steckel to abolish 69 information technology (IT) positions and to fire the employees because of inadequate documentation to justify the layoff.

Problem was, the IT employees had already been informed by teleconference that they would lose their jobs and upon returning to their work stations they found they were locked out of their computers. Because of the Civil Service Board’s action, they were reinstated but in a retaliatory measure because some had complained to LouisianaVoice, all annual leave applications by the employees were rejected.

• February 8, 2012—LSU Systems President John Lombardi obediently sent an email to his administrators to ask that they not complain about the proposed elimination of 2,837 positions in higher education. “…the administration does not think it helpful to have complicated or difficult or contentious higher education initiatives brought before the legislature,” he said, adding that the administration would appreciate it if higher ed officials recognize that the budget “gives higher ed special treatment and thank the administration for their attention and concern for higher ed.”

In theory, Lombardi was toeing the line and complying with the governor’s request that higher ed officials thank him for his benevolence. In reality, Jindal was dangling a carrot in the form of a promise of $100 million for higher ed should Jindal’s retirement package pass.

• March 6, 2012—Mary Manuel, executive director of the Office of Elderly Affairs, testified that she was never informed of Jindal’s intent to transfer her agency from the governor’s office to DHH. The following day she was fired. She said she was summoned to testify by Rep. John Berthelot (R-Gonzales). Berthelot, as expected, threw her under the bus by never coming to her defense.

• March 6, 2012—Rep. Harold Richie (D-Bogalusa), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, voted against a tax rebate for those who donate money for scholarships to private and parochial schools, a bill being pushed by Jindal. The next day he was stripped of his vice chairmanship of the House Committee on Insurance by House Speaker Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles). Committee Chairman Greg Cromer (R-Slidell) was not informed of the action beforehand nor did he have a voice in naming Richie’s replacement.

• March 14, 2012—State Rep. Nancy Landry (R-Lafayette), in a transparent effort to out teachers who took off work to protest the administration’s education bills, made a motion for all those speaking for or against the bills to tell their names, where they are from and whom they represent (normal procedure) to also inform the committee if they were present before the committee on annual or sick leave—something that committee member John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) pointed out was unprecedented.

Even when it was determined the committee could not refuse testimony if speakers refused to divulge that information, Landry proceeded to push her silly, petulant, toothless motion through and sure enough, when Gov. Jindal testified, he neglected to inform the committee if he was on annual or sick leave.

• March 26, 2012—As the debate raged over the administration’s attempt to force state employees to work longer and pay more for drastically reduced retirement benefits, Gov. Jindal was quietly buying back 2.2 years of time in order to enhance his own state retirement.

• April 25, 2012—Sen. Daniel Martiny (R-Metairie) proved that a hack is not always a taxi as he fought a bill by Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) which would have prevented legislators from leaving the House or Senate and taking six-figure political jobs in order to boost their state retirement.

Even as the administration was still trying to come up with a way to rape state employees of their retirement benefits, Martiny went into a snit against Claitor’s bill—possibly because he was one of a handful qualified to take advantage of the loophole.

The bill was defeated even as it became known that former legislators had been appointed to lucrative jobs for which they possessed few, if any, qualifications. Cases in point included Noble Ellington of Winnsboro, appointed to the second position in the Department of Insurance at $150,000 per year; Jane Smith of Bossier City, appointed to position of Deputy Secretary in the Department of Revenue at $107,500 per year; Troy Hebert of Jeanerette, appointed Commissioner of the Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control Board at $107,500 per year; Kay Katz of Monroe, named member of the Louisiana Tax Commission at $56,000 per year; Nick Gautreaux of Meaux, named Commissioner of the Office of Motor Vehicles at $107,000; Tank Powell and M. J. “Mert” Smiley, both named to the pardon board at $36,000 per year—Smiley to serve only until he takes office as Ascension Parish tax assessor; former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, named Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at $165,000, and former St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, new Director of Hazard Mitigation and Recovery at $150,000 per year.

• April 27, 2012—The LSU Board of Supervisors, knuckling under to the Gestapo tactics of Gov. Jindal, fires LSU system President John Lombardi. Two days before, Lombardi told the House Education Committee it was attempting to fix a problem that does not exist with a bill that would allow the state’s higher education boards to vary the state funding formula for college campuses by up to 5 percent. It was a bill favored by Jindal.

Lombardi has never been known for his diplomacy and the one cardinal sin one does not commit in Louisiana is upstaging Piyush.

One must now wonder if the governor may now withdraw that offer of $100 million he promised to higher ed from the savings he’d anticipated from his retirement reform.

It would seem now that it would be practically impossible to attract qualified candidates for Lombardi’s position. What university administrator with any intelligence would even entertain the thought of coming into this politically-charged atmosphere? It’s a dead-end job at best, rife with political land mines.

For that matter, what agency director of department head would dare give a candid account of his agency or department at this stage of the game? Heads roll far too easily for anyone to speak openly. The ambivalence was palpable just last week when cabinet secretaries testified about the future of their agencies.

Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Sherri LeBas, asked if her department was likely to lose engineers or truck drivers to the administration’s proposed retirement changes, said “It’s really hard to say.”

Really? The Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) knows. They would tell the secretary that employees are lined up to get retirement counseling prior to Jindal’s retirement changes being adopted—changes that the Legislative Auditor and LASERS each say are unconstitutional. That’s because LASERS is beyond the reach of a vindictive Jindal.

State Police Col. Mike Edmonson, ever the political/social climber, said legislators should not worry about the number of employees in the Department of Public Safety who might retire because if necessary, he would work traffic accidents. “Public safety is my number one priority,” he said. Yeah, right. That and photo ops with Jindal.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson (a former legislator who moved into his secure state job) said he would defer to his finance manager.

His agency’s undersecretary, Tom Burbank, said he is waiting to see the outcome of the final retirement legislation before taking the time to assess the situation.

LASERS has projected as many as 21 percent of all state civil service employees are eligible for retirement.

That’s candor you won’t find from an appointed state employee.

Thanks to Piyush’s ongoing reign of terror.

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It looked like a victory in the Senate Retirement Committee but don’t be fooled: it was extremely bad acting by Guillory

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Retirement, Teague on April 23, 2012| 6 Comments »

Opponents of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s retirement legislative package won a token victory Monday when the Senate Retirement voted down Senate Bill 17 by Sen. Barrow Peacock (R-Bossier City) that could have resulted in changing state employees’ retirement from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution.

The action, as was the delayed vote of committee chairman Sen. Elbert Guillory, was nothing more than bad theatre, however, as it was necessary to kill Peacock’s bill in order to keep Gov. Jindal’s retirement reform package on track.

In stage magic, the ploy is called misdirection.

The bill itself would not have mandated the conversion to a defined contribution plan but rather would have placed the matter on next November’s ballot as a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to make the switch if it so desired.

That conflicted with Jindal’s package, as presented in bills supposed authored by Guillory but in reality drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and which the administration contends is constitutional.

To vote a constitutional amendment out of committee would have been tantamount to what one witness described as passing a constitutional amendment on the premise that it serves as “backup” to another law that the administration believes may not stand up in court.

SB 17 was not part of the governor’s retirement reform package and was not an administration bill. The bills filed by Guillory in the Senate and House Retirement Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) accomplish statutorily what Peacock was attempting with his constitutional amendment.

Because the administration insists that its bills are constitutional, Peacock’s bill would have had the consequence of saying the constitution must be changed in order to switch from a defined benefit to defined contribution.

For those who might still look upon the vote as a victory for opponents of Jindal’s retirement reform, consider this:

On the surface, the voted appeared to amount to wasted investments by Jindal and ALEC who, together with Jindal, contributed $95,200 to three of the committee members who voted no.

Three of the “no” votes came from Chairman Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), Sen. Gerald Long (R-Natchitoches) and A.G. Crowe (R-Pearl River).

Guillory received $45,200 from corporate members of ALEC and another $7500 from Jindal. Jindal’s contributions were in increments of $2500 each from August to November of 2011.

Long received $33,000 from ALEC corporate members and another $2500 from Jindal, campaign records show, and Crowe received $4500 from ALEC corporate and $2500 from Jindal.

Neither of the three would dare go against such generous benefactors—especially a governor who has already shown his predisposition to allow no dissention from his troops. And there’s no way Guillory was going to risk his chairmanship with the memory of the fate of State Rep. Harold Ritchie still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Ritchie, sitting as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, voted against legislation pushed by Jindal and was immediately stripped of his vice-chairmanship of another committee, the House Committee on Insurance.

His demotion came so lightning-fast that Insurance Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Cromer (R-Slidell) was not even informed of the action until after the fact.

It’s uncertain if Peacock’s bill was an inadvertent obstacle for Jindal or if it was intentional. Jindal had supported Peacock’s opponent, Jane Smith, with a $2,500 contribution in last fall’s elections

For added drama, however, Guillory was the deciding vote. Following a 3-3 vote and to provide sufficient drama to the moment, Guillory paused for several seconds before saying, “I’m going to vote no, so the bill is reported unfavorably.”

It looked for all the world as if Guillory was actually pondering all the pros and cons of Peacock’s bill when in fact, he’s just another bad actor in what has quickly become a very bad play that in spite of all the bad reviews, is going to run for 85 days.

Mary Patricia Ray, spokesperson for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, apparently felt the committee members were sincere in considering Peacock’s bill. She testified that amending the State Constitution should not be a “backup” plan in case the governor’s bills did not stand up constitutionally.

“If the members of this committee are willing to amend the Constitution on the premise that it serves as ‘backup’ to another law that they believe may not stand up in court, I think we’ve really got to re-examine what it means to amend our constitution,” she said.

Whether she misread the committee’s true intent or not, she still got a strong point across when she said, “My teachers don’t have social security to fall back on. They aren’t private citizens. They chose to dedicate their lives to teaching the children of this state.

“What we’re discussing doing here amounts to the complete opposite philosophy that we’ve been hearing this whole session and that is we absolutely respect our teachers and public servants.”

She said the bills “say we don’t value them; we don’t care what happens to them and their families when they retire and that we’re willing to continue a destructive patter of tax exemptions and other measures and ask state employees to foot the bill.”

She was referring to five-year revenue losses of more than $22.5 billion from various tax exemptions granted by the state since Fiscal Year 2009. More than a third of that amount, $8.1 billion was in the form of corporate income tax and corporate franchise tax exemptions and tax incentive and exemption contracts.

The combined unfunded accrued liability of the four state retirement systems is less than $19 billion, or nearly $4 billion less than the total tax exemptions granted by the state.

Stacy Birdwell, secretary-treasurer of the Professional Firefighters of Louisiana testified that even though Jindal’s current retirement reform package does not affect firefighters, if Jindal’s retirement reform passes, “we’ll be next.”

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Notable Quotables (In their own words)

Posted in Governor's Office, Notable Quotables, Teague, Transparency on April 17, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Here’s the commandment issued from the Governor’s Mansion: everyone shall sing the same notes from the Bobby Jindal hymnal.”

“If department heads or undersecretaries cannot candidly testify before Senate and House committees without the threat of reprisal from the governor, the hearings become a farce.”

–Jeff Crouere, a conservative political radio commentator from New Orleans and former Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the Louisiana Republican Party, discussing Gov. Jindal’s firing of Martha Manuel from her post as executive director of the Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs following her testimony before the House Appropriations Committee early last month.

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