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Need a high interest payday loan? Louisiana has over 2,000 storefront outlets: π-yush and other pols got theirs at no cost

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Lobbyist, Louisiana Purchase, Politicians, Public Records, Transparency on August 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

You’ve seen them mostly in the seedier parts of town, those quickie payday loan storefront operations that specialize in small, short-term, high-interest loans against a customer’s next paycheck. Their clientele consists mainly of the working poor who, for whatever reason, can’t quite make that last paycheck stretch to the next one.

Louisiana has 18.7 percent of its families living below the poverty line, third-highest in the country. The state also ranked third in the nation in the percentage of households earning less than $35,000 (33.3 percent).

Not surprisingly, Louisiana has the fifth-highest payday loan usage rate in the nation at 10 percent.

Louisiana allows lenders to charge annual rates of up to 567 percent for a two-week, $100 payday loan. Most borrowers do not understand the true cost of the loans and use them for recurring expenses rather than one-time uses.

Incredibly, of the nine states with the most payday lending in the U.S. Louisiana, with 2,059, had the highest number of payday lending storefronts.

Texas, ranked ninth in payday loan usage at 8 percent, has 1800 payday lending storefronts and Missouri has 1,275. The next highest number of payday loan outlets was 781 in Kentucky.

The rankings of the nine states with the highest percentage of payday storefront activity, in order, are Oklahoma, Missouri, Washington, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas.

About 120 million payday loans, with an average interest rate of 455 percent, are made in the U.S. to low-income customers each year. The Center for Responsible Lending found that 76 percent of the $3.5 billion payday loan volume comes from “churning,” which is repeat borrowing by customers who paid off their loans but because of high interest rates, are forced to borrow again before their next paycheck.

Many of the payday lenders, who are financed by the nation’s larger banking institutions, have upped the ante in lobbying and campaign donations in response to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which is attempting to pass more rigorous regulations the industry.

So it should come as no surprise that recipients of the biggest campaign donations from the payday loan industry are Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), vice chair of the House Financial Services Committee and Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama), chairman of the House Financial Service Committee, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee.

In April, all that lobbying and financial investment in the legislative process paid huge dividends when the House Financial Services Committee voted to gut the CFPB budget.

But those are not the only beneficiaries of the payday loan industry’s largesse.

Louisiana got in on the action in a big way.

Cash America of Fort Worth (with five convenient locations in Baton Rouge) contributed $38,500 to 17 legislators and former legislators, a mayor, the Louisiana Republican Party and Gov. Piyush Jindal. And that’s just in Louisiana. Nationwide, Cash America has spent $707,000 on political campaign contributions in the first seven months of this year alone.

The breakdown of Louisiana contributions by Cash America is as follows:

• Gov. Piyush Jindal: $7500;

• Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego): $1500;

• Sen. Conrad Appel (R-Metairie): $500;

• Rep. Jeff Arnold (D-New Orleans): $1000;

• Sen. Norbert Chabert (R-Houma): $500;

• Former Sen. Joel Chaisson (D-Destrehan), now St. Charles Parish District Attorney: $500;

• Sen. A.G. Crowe (R-Slidell): $1500;

• Former Sen. Ann Duplessis (D-New Orleans): $1500;

• Former Sen. Nick Gautreaux (D-Meaux): $1000;

• Sen. David Heitmeier (D-New Orleans): $500;

• House Speaker Chuck Kleckley (R-Lake Charles): $1000;

• Rep. Joseph Lopinto (R-Metairie): $500;

• Former Sen. Rob Marionneaux (D-Livonia): $500;

• Sen. Daniel Martiny (R-Metairie): $1500;

• Former Sen. Mike Michot (R-Lafayette): $3000;

• Sen. John Smith (R-Leesville): $500;

• Sen. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi): $500;

• Former House Speaker Jim Tucker (R-River Ridge): $500;

• Mayor Cedric Glover (D-Shreveport): $5000;

• The Louisiana Republican Party: $5,000;

Payday One of California also contributed an additional $5000 to Jindal and Paycheck Loans contributed $3000 to Rep. James Armes (D-Leesville).

A few members of the Louisiana congressional delegation also got a share of the booty:

• Republican Sen. David Vitter: two separate donations of $2000 each in 2010 and 2012;

• Former Republican Cong. Richard Baker who served as chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee: $4000 in 2006 and another $1000 in 2008;

• Former Democratic Cong. Charles Melancon: $500 in 2004;

• Former State Sen. Willie Mount (D-Lake Charles), who lost her bid for Congress: $500 in 2004;

• Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu: $1000 in 2002.

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On-LSU-presidents-revenue-secretary-and-the-proper-use-of-hyphens: it’s-just-another-day-in-the-Piyush-World-of-Oz

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, BESE, Boards, Governor's Office, Higher Education, LSU, Politicians, Regents, Revenue, Transparency, Vouchers on August 17, 2012| 12 Comments »

Baton Rouge has always been a city rife with favoritism and appointments bordering on the outrageous and absurd. But now, with a new level of exorbitant salaries pitted against wholesale layoffs of rank and file employees during Piyush Jindal’s administration, the intensity of rumors, hyphens, retreads and big salaries from the “do more with less” governor has been ramped up a notch.

You may wish to sit down to prepare yourself for what may well be the most astounding appointment in Jindal’s tenure—one that should have every LSU alumnus and every LSU professor and instructor, active and retired, metaphorically storming the Governor’s Mansion with torches and pitchforks.

The object of their outrage, however, won’t be there of course.

But before we get too far into the latest developments surrounding the world’s largest state monument to corruption and excess (that would be the 24-story State Capitol building), we are going to go out on a limb and predict that the latest boy genius, State Superintendent of Education John White, is going to realize just how inept and unqualified he is for his job and will be gone by this time next year.

He has quickly become Boy Blunder to Jindal’s Batty Man.

Meanwhile, the Jindalista continues to pillage the state with layoffs, cutbacks, sell-offs and closures, all the while continuing to add to the already top-heavy administrative payroll with more appointments at ever-dizzying salaries.

Jindal apparently is making his appointments these days by remote control because he is rarely in Louisiana to attend to pressing state business.

The latest example of Jindal’s spot-on imitation of Nero was the announcement on Thursday, Aug. 16, that Jindal has been given a speaking role at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, later this month.

It’s odd to the point of being downright bizarre that on the 35th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, the Republican Party would carry out such a public suicide attempt. The obvious question has to be: What the hell were they thinking? Doesn’t anyone in a decision-making position remember that dreadful 2009 response to President Obama’s State of the Union address?

Now Comedy Central and Youtube will have two separate clips to (pick one) amuse/embarrass/nauseate us.

We can almost hear him now as he blathers on to bored, drunk, or in at least one case, womanizing delegates: “Two things…,” “At the end of the day…,” “Three things…”

Meanwhile, Rome, aka Louisiana, continues to burn at the altar of spurned federal grants, Medicaid and higher education cutbacks and the tragicomedy now known as school vouchers…er, scholarships.

So, how has the state’s Émigré Executive addressed these problems?

For one, he dredges up former staff member Jim Barfield to appoint as the new Secretary of Revenue at more than double the salary of former Secretary Cynthia Bridges who was forced out for doing her job after Jindal signed an alternative fuel tax credit that threatened to break the bank even further.

Then, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), led by Wondering Woman Penny Dastugue and Chas Roemer, appointed Heather Cope, who appears to be even younger and, if possible, more unqualified than White, to the post of BESE executive director.

But more important than either of these is the rumored appointment of current Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LED) Steve Moret as LSU president/chancellor.

The fix is reportedly in already for Moret’s appointment to replace former LSU President John Lombardi who was fired in April at Jindal’s behest (despite any protestations to the contrary) after being openly critical of budgetary cutbacks to higher education.

Interim President Bill Jenkins, of course, denies the report, but what else could he be expected to do? He didn’t get the call to come back after Lombardi’s firing because of any independent streak of his own. Jindal, as is well known by now, simply does not tolerate independence, candor or free thinking on the part of subordinates.

Jindal already had a solid majority on the LSU Board of Supervisors—quite possibly one of the more politically-charged and possibly the most controversial board in state government—when it voted to fire Lombardi in April. Now he has solidified that majority with the appointments last month of Scott Ballard of Covington and Lee Mallett of Iowa to the board.

Ballard’s company, WOW Franchising, parent company of WOW Café & Winery, contributed $5,000 to Jindal’s campaign in 2007.

Mallett had separate contributions of $5,000 each in 2003 and 2006 and five of his companies contributed another $20,000 between 2007 and 2011.

Moret was appointed head of Economic Development when Jindal took office in January of 2008 and has presided over the giveaway of $5 billion a year in corporate tax incentives and exemptions that have been putting the state deeper into the fiscal abyss with each passing year.

Before coming to LED, Moret had a lackluster tenure as president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, though at the time of Moret’s appointment, Jindal’s spindoctors lauded his accomplishments at the chamber.

Like Jindal, Moret is an alumnus of the McKinsey Group, a Washington, D.C., think tank that consults with governments and corporations worldwide.

One of McKinsey’s more notable contributions was working with Allstate Insurance to train the company in the best way to deny claims stemming from losses suffered by Gulf Coast residents in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

That should square up pretty well with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) anyway.

Other than those two entries on his curriculum vitae, Moret has little else to qualify him to lead the state’s flagship university. But hey, who needs an academic mind at the helm of a large university?

Such an appointment would further lower the school’s esteem, already pummeled by draconian budget cuts that forced tuition increases and threaten the very existence of the LSU School of Medicine and state teaching hospitals while reducing the position of president to nothing more than political puppet status—even more so than it already is—and heap ridicule on the state in general and LSU in particular.

Oh, well, there’s always football.

The LSU board will be on retreat Saturday (a legally-questionable procedure in that it appears to violate the state’s open meeting law—specific personnel matters certainly may discussed in executive session, but political bodies, including the LSU board, must first convene in public session and then vote to go into executive session) to discuss combining the jobs of president and chancellor.

Jenkins, responding to reports that the decision had already been made to select Moret, snapped, “That’s nuts!” he said, “irrational” that the board would pay a consultant and go through the motions of a national search if the decision were already made.

You could almost envision Jindal’s arm extending from Jenkins’ backside but you could still see Piyush’s lips moving.

Barfield worked as president and chief operating officer for the Shaw Group until becoming Jindal’s first secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission (formerly the Department of Labor) before being brought in to serve briefly as Jindal’s executive counsel.

While serving as secretary of the workforce commission, he helped Jindal to fight off legislators’ attempts to overturn Jindal’s rejection of $98 million in federal stimulus money for unemployment benefits–the first of hundreds of millions in federal dollars rejected by MIA Piyush.

Barfield left the administration in January of 2010 to become the chief development officer for Amedisys, a home health and hospice care company. Three months later, on March 17, he and Amedisys each contributed $5,000 to Jindal’s campaign and last December the company contributed another $1,000.

Barfield’s salary will be $250,000 a year, more than twice the $124,000 being paid Bridges and $83,000 more than the $167,000 per year he was earning in his last job in the administration. That $83,000 bump, by itself, could pay the salaries of a couple of laid-off state employees.

Because state law prohibits a cabinet member appointed while the legislature is not in session from making more than his or her predecessor, Jindal simply “created” through slick political subterfuge the position of executive counsel for the Department of Revenue and set the salary at $126,000 in addition to the $124,000 that was paid Bridges.

How’s that for transparency, openness and accountability?

But it does pose three intriguing questions:

• Since Barfield will now be his own legal counsel, does he have a fool for a client?

• Is the proposal to combine the positions of LSU president and chancellor being put on the table for the same reason as creating the position of executive counsel for Barfield—to double the salary for the new appointee to be named by Jindal’s rubber-stamp proxy, the LSU Board?

• And finally, is there any level to which this governor will not stoop to get what he wants, even to the point of circumventing the law?

BESE, meanwhile, apparently was unable to find anyone in Louisiana qualified for its executive director’s post despite Jindal’s oft-expressed desire to “keep the best and brightest in Louisiana.”

Heather Cope comes to us from Seattle, the same place where Jindal reached out and touched Bruce Greenstein for the position of secretary of Health and Hospitals.

Cope brings a boatload of qualifications, none of which would appear to apply to her new post. She reportedly has a desire to expose the problems in education, which led her to work for an education think tank, the prestigious League of Education Voters, which calls itself an advocate of systemic changes in public schools. Ever heard of it? Didn’t think so.

She also enjoys “immersing herself in foreign cultures (domestic and international).” So what, exactly would qualify as a “domestic” foreign culture? Other passions include watching historical dramas, quoting Monty Python sketches and giving lessons to co-workers on the proper use of hyphens.

The only thing missing to wrap up the Miss Congeniality title was world peace but there apparently was enough there to qualify her for a salary of $125,000 per year.

Most of the cabinet level positions pay more than the state’s top elected officials, including Jindal, receive in salary.

A quick review of a partial list of cabinet level salaries in the Piyush Jindal administration as reported by the Baton Rouge Advocate:

• Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret: $320,000;
• Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein: $236,000;
• Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater: $204,400;
• Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Peggy Hatch: $137,200;
• Louisiana Workforce Development Executive Director Curt Eysink: $137,000;
• Department of Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc: $136,700.
• Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham: $123,600.

And that doesn’t include the secretaries of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation and Development, Veterans Affairs, Commissioner of Higher Education, Superintendent of Education and all those former legislators (including two cabinet level positions—Veterans Affairs and Wildlife and Fisheries) appointed to all those six-figure income positions.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

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Piyush lags in eliminating state jobs; did it cost him snub from Mitt Romney as his vice presidential running mate?

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Charters, Civil Service, Economy, Education, Governor's Office, Jobs, Layoffs, State Agencies, Transparency on August 14, 2012| 6 Comments »

(Editor’s note: at least one person failed to detect the parody in a recent posting about the Delhi Charter School, so leaving nothing to chance, we’re letting everyone know up front that the headline is tongue-in-cheek as are a couple of comments in the body of this story.)

Not only was Gov. Piyush Jindal not among the top six finalists in the recent Mitt Romney Vice Presidential Sweepstakes, it now turns out that Louisiana’s absentee governor is not even among the top 15 in what he does best: eliminating state jobs.

That may explain in part why Romney, who once said he likes to fire people, did not include Jindal on his short list of five potential running mates whom he called last week to let them know he had decided on Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Jindal was so far down that list that he didn’t even warrant a courtesy call.

Even though the Governor in-Abstentia has eliminated more than 6,000 state jobs during the months between June 2011 and June 2012, that wasn’t good enough to put him in the top 15 for placing workers in the unemployment lines who have mortgages, tuition costs, and other living expenses, according to a report just released by the National Governors’ Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO).

Apparently, the 6,400 positions cut in this year’s budget were not factored into the equation. If they had been, that almost certainly would have vaulted Piyush to within a heartbeat of the presidency. State job losses, after all, appear to translate to economic gains in the eyes or our globetrotting governor.

“States go to great lengths to avoid layoffs,” NASBO Executive Director Scott Pattinson said, exposing the naked truth that he has not been to Louisiana since 2008.

For that matter, the Disappearing Governor hasn’t been in the state much since then himself.

Pattinson also pointed out that laying off employees is not always the best fiscal strategy. “Firing state government workers often does not result in money saved in the short term. Once required benefits and severance (unemployment payments) are included, states may not see savings for at least a full fiscal year.”

The study attributed the widespread layoffs of state government employees to a stalled recovery from the recession and “shifting political pressure.” That shifting political pressure alluded to may be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is very up front in its advocacy of massive state employee layoffs and equally impressive tax breaks for corporate friends of all politicians of a Republican stripe.

To that end, Jindal, the Incredible Vanishing Governor, invisible to the naked eye, has been most compliant. While many corporate tax breaks and incentives were already in place well before he assumed office in January of 2008, he has nevertheless encouraged the continuance and expansion of those breaks—to the state treasury’s financial detriment of approximately $5 billion per year.

But have no fear, Ghost-Governor Piyush the Magnificent, upon his return—if he ever does return—is almost certain to pick up where he left off. With the announced closure of prisons and state hospitals, teacher layoffs in virtually every parish because of his ill-conceived voucher scheme, and deep cuts to the LSU medical school’s programs, he is sure to begin cutting into the lead of the states ahead of Louisiana in the layoff game.

If Piyush truly is a disciple of “trickle-down economics” (and Rush Limbaugh did refer to him as the next Ronald Reagan), then we can anticipate additional layoffs at the local level—by parish and municipal governments—as the excrement begins to flow downhill.

In case you may be curious, in no particular order other than alphabetical, here are the top 15 states in layoffs:
• Alabama
• California
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Ohio
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Washington

It should be pointed out that there was no significant edge for one political party over another in the layoff Race to the Top (where have we seen that before?): The party representation is as equal as possible, given there is an odd number of ranking states. Eight of the top 15 states have Republican governors and seven of the governors are Democrats.

And lest political observers worry about the state’s rankings, not to worry.

We’re pretty sure that Louisiana easily ranks No. 1 in the number of days in which the Phantom of Governor’s Office has been out of state.

That’s gotta count for something.

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Piyush: the clock has run out, the train has left the station; but at least you’re still able to say you have the job you want

Posted in BESE, Broadband, Internet, Budget, Campaign Contributions, Charters, Civil Service, Commissions, Economy, Education, Ethics, Exemptions, Incentives, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Politicians, Prison, Privatization, Regents, Retirement, Revenue, State Agencies, Taxes, Transparency, Vouchers, Water Sales on August 13, 2012| 13 Comments »

The clock has run out on Gov. Bobby Jindal and like the Honey Badger, he’s now yesterday’s news insofar as any aspirations either one may have had for bigger and better things.

Realistically, time had run out on Louisiana’s wunderkind some time ago even though like a loyal trooper, he keeps soldiering on—perhaps hoping for a prestigious cabinet position like Secretary of Health and Human Services, something he denies aspiring to.

“I would not consider a cabinet post,” he sniffed like the spoiled little boy that he is after being passed over for the vice presidential nomination by Mitt Romney. “I consider being the governor of Louisiana to be more important and the best job there is.” Well, it is the only job he has for the moment and if he doesn’t challenge Mary Landrieu in 2014, we’re stuck with him through 2015.

Break out the champagne.

We can only surmise that Secretary of Education is out of the question since both Romney and Paul Ryan advocate that department’s abolishment in favor of state and local control (read: vouchers), although Romney has tempered his position somewhat.

But Jindal’s real quandary is not that he was passed over for vice president, but that he needs desperately to advance his career quickly—before all his “reforms” as governor come crashing down around him, doing even more damage to his reputation than that disastrous response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address in 2009.

That image as the crusading reformer who gets things done against all odds is already beginning to wear thin in Louisiana and it’s only a matter of time before the national media begin to take a critical look at his administration. The Washington Post and New York Times already have.

Beginning with his repeal of the Stelly Plan only a few months into his first term—the move is costing the state about $300 million a year while benefiting only couples earning more than $150,000 per year or individuals making $90,000 per year—through this year’s veto of a car rental tax renewal for New Orleans, Jindal his consistently found ways to cut taxes while doling out tax breaks to corporate entities.

In 2011, the legislature could not muster the votes to override a Jindal veto of a cigarette tax renewal and the renewal had to go before voters in the form of a constitutional amendment—which easily passed.

While he defiantly categorizes tax renewals as “new taxes,” to which he is adamantly opposed, he has no compunctions about cutbacks to higher education that force colleges and universities to increase tuition. He considers the tuition hikes as “fees,” not taxes.

While turning up his nose at federal grants for early childhood development ($60 million), broadband internet installation in rural parishes ($80.6 million) and for a high-speed rail system between Baton Rouge and New Orleans ($300 million), Jindal, upon slashing funding for parish libraries throughout the state, apparently saw no inconsistency in suggesting that the libraries apply for federal monies in lieu of state funding.

The grumblings began ever-so-slowly but they have been growing steadily. The legislature, albeit the right-wing Tea Party splinter clique of the Republican Party, finally stood up to Jindal toward the end of this year’s legislative session and refused to give in on the governor’s efforts to use one-time revenue to close a gaping hole in the state budget.

Other developments that did not bode well for the governor include:

• A state budget that lay in shambles, resulting in mid-year budget cuts of $500 million because of reductions in revenue—due largely to the roughly $5 billion per year in corporate tax breaks;

• Unexpected cuts to the state’s Medicaid program by the federal government which cost the state $859 million, including $329 million the first year to hospitals and clinics run by Louisiana State University—about a quarter of the health system’s annual budget. Those cuts will mean the loss of medical benefits for about 300,000 indigent citizens in Louisiana;

• Failed efforts to privatize state prisons, even though he did manage to close two prison facilities and a state hospital without bothering to notify legislators in the areas affected—a huge bone of contention for lawmakers who, besides having their own feathers ruffled, had to try and explain the sudden turn of events to constituents;

• Revelation that he had refused to return some $55,000 in laundered campaign funds from a St. Tammany bank president;

• Failed efforts to revamp the state employee retirement system for civil service employees. State police were exempted—perhaps because they form his security detail. And despite questions about the tax or Social Security implications, Jindal plans to plunge ahead with implementation of the part of the plan that did pass without the benefit of a ruling by the IRS—a ruling that could ultimately come back to bite him;

• A failed effort by the Sabine River Authority to sell water to a corporation headed up by two major Jindal campaign contributors—Donald “Boysie” Bollinger of Lockport and Aubrey Temple of DeRidder;

• A school voucher system that is nothing less than a train wreck, a political nightmare. State Education Superintendent John White, after Jindal rushed the voucher program through the legislature, rushed the vetting process for the awarding of vouchers through the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, abetted by members Penny Dastugue, Jay Guillot and Chas Roemer—quickly turning the entire process into a pathetic farce;

• A school in New Orleans run by a man calling himself an “Apostle,” a school in Ruston with no facilities—classrooms, desks, books or teachers—for the 165 vouchers for which the school was approved, tentative approval of vouchers for a school in DeRidder that could not even spell “scholarship” on its sign and for a school in Westlake that teaches that the “Trail of Tears” led many Native Americans to Christianity, that dragons were real, that dinosaurs and humans co-existed at the beginning of time (6,000 years ago, the approximate age of earth, according to its textbooks), that slave owners in America were kind, benevolent masters who treated slaves well, and that the Ku Klux Klan was a helpful reform-minded organization with malice toward none (Don’t laugh, folks; this is what many of these fundamentalist schools who qualified for vouchers are teaching.);

• Then there’s that charter school in Delhi that held girls to a slightly higher standard than boys. Any girl who became pregnant was expelled and any girl even suspected of being pregnant may be ordered to undergo an examination by a doctor of the school’s choice. The boy who gets her pregnant? Nothing. No punishment, no responsibility. Only after being subjected to public exposure, ridicule and criticism did the school alter its policy;

• A state legislator who said she approved of vouchers for Christian schools but not for an Islamic school in New Orleans because this country was founded on the Christian principles of the founding fathers, neglecting for the moment that the founding fathers were for the most part, Deists;

• And to top it all off, White smiles condescendingly and tells us that the criteria applied for approval of vouchers for these schools is part of the “deliberative process,” a catch-all exemption employed by the administration when it doesn’t wish to provide what are clearly public records—an administration, by the way, that touts its so-called “transparency.” Fortunately for the public, the Monroe News-Star is taking White’s pompous behind to court over that decision. (Confidentially, it is the humble opinion of LouisianaVoice that White never had any criteria and that he is creating policy and criteria on the fly because he simply is in way over his inexperienced, unqualified head as the leader of the agency charged with the education of our children. And that perhaps is the most shameful aspect of the entire voucher system and the single biggest act of betrayal on the part of a governor equally overwhelmed by the responsibilities of public office—especially an absentee governor.)

So as the Jindal Express rumbles down the track like a bad motorcycle going 90 miles per hour down a dead-end street (with apologies to Hank Snow) and things begin to unravel on the home front, just where is this absentee governor?

Well, it seems that rather than remain in the state and address the problems that are piling up and growing more complex with each passing day, he seems to prefer to spend his time stumping for Romney—or auditioning for a cabinet position he says he won’t accept—after seeing his chances for the vice presidency fall by the wayside.

A mature governor, a caring governor, a capable governor—one who is truly concerned about the welfare of his state—would defer from flitting all over the country spouting rhetoric on behalf of his presidential candidate in favor of remaining at home and addressing problems that are very real and very important to the people who elected him. Romney, after all, never once voted for Jindal.

There could be only one motive for turning his back on nearly 600,000 voters who first elected him in 2007 and the 673,000 who re-elected him last fall: he doesn’t really care about Louisiana and its people; he cares only about Bobby Jindal and those who can help him in the advancement of his political career.

If Gov. Jindal was truly concerned about the welfare of Louisiana, he certainly would have provided us with an encore of his hurricane and BP spill disaster performances: he would have headed straight to Assumption Parish to grab some TV face time at the Bayou Corne sinkhole and then flown away in a helicopter even as a ghost writer busied himself penning a book sequel: Failed Leadership and Fiscal Crisis: the Crash Landing.

That’s the very least he could do.

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Jindal Staffer Kristy Nichols picked for Legislative Fiscal Officer? JLCB will consider nomination on Wednesday

Posted in Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Public Records, Transparency on August 11, 2012| 7 Comments »

The deteriorating relationship between Gov. Piyush Jindal and the legislature, already strained over the debate about Jindal’s attempt to use one-time revenues to help close a gaping budget hole during the last legislative session, may be about to become even more estranged.

LouisianaVoice has learned from two independent sources that Jindal will likely nominate Deputy Chief of Staff Kristy Nichols to the post of interim Legislative Fiscal Officer to replace the recently-retired Gordon Monk.

One other source, however, said the interim appointee might well be John Carpenter, recently resigned as Chief Administrative Officer to Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden. That source said the interim Legislative Fiscal Officer would be appointed only on condition that he/she not apply for the permanent position.

Carpenter worked for more than two decades for the House Fiscal Division and at one time was staff director of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget (JLCB), which will make the appointment of Monk’s replacement. Carpenter left the House fiscal post to work for Angéle Davis when she became Commissioner of Administration shortly after Jindal’s inauguration but subsequently left there to work for the Baton Rouge mayor whom he knew from when Holden served in the legislature.

The JLCB meets for two days this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, and sources say the committee will name an interim Legislative Fiscal Officer on Wednesday.

Jindal’s rumored effort to place Nichols in the position, whether on an interim or permanent basis, could be rife with controversy and stir even more resentment among legislators who have seen any semblance of independence from the governor’s office steadily erode during Jindal’s tenure. Unlike any other state, Jindal was able to name both the Speaker of the House and the Senate President and a compliant Legislature has acquiesced in every instance.

Monk, after 33 years in state government, finally became fed up earlier this month and announced his retirement citing increased workload, pressure, stress and infighting among legislators. He said the session, which began on March 12 with 18-hour days and ended on June 4 with budget battles, convinced him to walk away.

He announced on Aug. 3 that his last day would be Aug. 8 and the JLCB was originally scheduled to name his interim replacement on Aug. 6 but that announcement has already been delayed twice, creating speculation that this week’s committee meeting could generate rebellion among committee members.

Though the position of Legislative Fiscal Officer is one of the more low-profile positions in state government, the Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO) is one of the more important agencies in state government.

Employees are required to be present during the session, often working to midnight, to address questions about bills from legislators. The pace was stepped up this year when Jindal pushed through the majority of his education package before Easter.

The LFO, a counterpart to the State Budget Office, is responsible for analyzing the governor’s revenue and spending proposals for the Legislature and is charged with generating fiscal notes on every bill filed in order to provide legislators with its analysis of the potential financial impact of proposed laws. In theory, the LFO is independent but in reality, it answers to the House Speaker and Senate President–both elected at Jindal’s direction.

Fiscal notes that reflect potential financial impact considered too high have been known to kill bills in the past.

It is those fiscal notes that have generated considerable consternation in the governor’s office as more than once the LFO’s projected financial impact has clashed with Jindal’s optimistic projections and word around the Capitol is that the governor wants to control the LFO so that he can also control the all-important fiscal notes.

Senate President John Alario has already confirmed that the interim appointee will not be one of the existing employees—including Staff Director Evan Brasseaux and Chief Economist Greg Albrecht. Albrecht recently crossed Jindal by contradicting the governor’s rosy economic outlook by depicting the state as still struggling to recover from the recession. That flash of independence probably doomed his chances—even if Jindal had not already decided on Nichols.

Nichols previously served as Interim Director of Social Services, as Secretary of the Department of children and Family Services and as a policy advisor on health and social services initiatives to Jindal where she worked on the passage of Jindal’s health care legislative package. Prior to Jindal’s taking office, she served as a policy advisor for his transition team.

She was named to her present position in June of 2010.

She has a bachelor’s of administration in business from the University of Tennessee and a master’s in communication from the University of Louisiana Lafayette.

With her degree in communications, Nichols could likely be counted on to generate fiscal notes that are more governor-friendly.

Just another day of transparency, accountability, good government and selecting appointees “on the basis of what they know, not who they know,” courtesy of Piyush Jindal.

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