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Archive for the ‘Transparency’ Category

‘Transparent & accountable’ House decides that legislator’s solitication letters on behalf of ALEC are not public record

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records, Transparency on July 18, 2012| 4 Comments »

There has been an interesting turn of events concerning LouisianaVoice’s attempts to obtain the names of recipients of Rep. Joe Harrison’s letter soliciting contributions of $1,000 to help defray the expenses of “over thirty” state legislators to attend a national conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Salt Lake City next week.

Harrison (R-Gray) mailed out a form letter on July 2 that opened by saying, “As State Chair and National Board Member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, I would like to solicit your financial support to our ALEC Louisiana Scholarship Fund.” ALEC Letterhead

The letter was printed on state letterhead, which would appear to make the document a public record so LouisianaVoice immediately made a public records request of Harrison to provide:

• A complete list of the recipients of his letter;

• A list of the “over thirty” Louisiana legislators who are members of ALEC.

ALEC membership, of course, is a closely-guarded secret but once the letter was printed on state letterhead—presumably composed on a state computer in Harrison’s state-funded office, printed on a state-purchased printer and mailed using state-purchased postage—the request for a list of members was included in the request for recipients of the letter.

Harrison never responded to the request despite state law that requires responses to all such requests.

LouisianaVoice then contacted House Clerk Alfred “Butch” Speer to enlist his assistance in obtaining the records and last Thursday, July 12, Speer responded:

“Rep. Harrison informs that his assistant will return Monday (July 16) and send the list of recipients of the letter.

“The names of legislators who serve on the task forces of ALEC is not a record of the state. Because joining ALEC is an individual decision for each legislator and does not involve expenditure of public funds, no record of the House is maintained relative to this membership.

“Monday, I will forward you the list of recipients.”

But when Monday came, things had changed dramatically.

On Monday, LouisianaVoice received an e-mail from Speer:

“I have looked further into your records request.” (Notice he omitted the word “public” as in “public records.”)

“Rep. Harrison composed the letter of which you possess a copy. Rep. Harrison sent that one letter to a single recipient,” Speer’s email continued.

“If that letter was distributed to a larger audience, such distribution did not create a public record.

“R.S. 44:1 defines a public record as a record: ‘…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…’

“My opinion is that the solicitation of donations for ALEC does not create a public record. The courts have been clear in providing that the purpose of the record is determinative of its public nature, not the record’s origin.”

It seems questionable, at best, to contend that the letter went out to only recipient. First of all, the letter’s began with, “Dear Friend:” It would seem logical to assume that if it went to only one person, Rep. Harrison would have at least extended the courtesy to make the salutation a bit more personal, as say, “Dear John:” or “Dear Mr._____:.”

Moreover, it would also seem highly doubtful that Harrison would be soliciting a single $1,000 contribution to cover the expenses of an entire contingent of “over thirty” legislators to attend the conference.

Still, Speer persisted, saying, “…it is my responsibility to consult with Representatives and make the determinations as to what records are or are not public in nature.

“…The contents of (Harrison’s) letter speak for itself….The origin of a document is not the determining factor as to its nature as a public record. The purpose of the record is the only determining factor. Whether the letter was or was not ‘composed on state letterhead, on a state computer, printed on a state-owned printer and mailed in state-issued envelope(s)’ (a list of assertions I do not agree with and which you cannot substantiate) does (sic) not, per force, create a public record. If the letter were concerning ‘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,’ then such a letter is a public nature.”

That interpretation flies in the face of past requests for records that included e-mail messages and jokes—and in at least one case, pornography—by state employees that had no relation to state business but which news media have obtained and subsequently published and/or broadcast.

Speer then offered a most curious interpretation of the public records statute when he said, “The fact that an official may be traveling does not place the travel or its mode of payment or the source of the resources used to travel ipso facto within the public records law. The purpose of the travel is the determining factor.”

Speer was asked by LouisianaVoice, “What changed between your e-mail of last Thursday (July 12) and today’s (July 16) decision?”

Again, Speer responded:

“I did as I promised. What information I gathered resulted in my e-mail to you.

“What Rep. Harrison was attempting is of no moment unless he was attempting some business of the House or pursuing some course mandated by law. Anyone’s attempts to raise money for a private entity is (sic) not the business of the House nor is it an activity mandated by law.

“Your personal interpretation of the law is not determinative of the actual scope of the law.”

Speer apparently was overlooking the fact that the House and Senate combined to pay 34 current and former members of the two chambers more than $70,000 in travel, lodging and registration fees for attending ALEC functions in New Orleans, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Austin between 2008 and 2011.

Of that amount, almost $30,000 was paid in per diem of $142, $145, $152 or $159 per day, depending on the year, for attending the conferences. The per diem rates corresponded to the rates paid legislators for attending legislative sessions and committee meetings.

ALEC advertises in pre-conference brochures sent to its members that it picks up the tab for legislators attending its conferences. That would raise the question of why legislators were paid by the House and Senate for travel, lodging and registration costs if ALEC also pays these costs via its ALEC Louisiana Scholarship Fund.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in BESE, Education, Notable Quotables, Recovery School District, Transparency on July 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Because the facilities master plan was in a period of decision-making, and thus not finalized, FEMA delayed payments.”

–State Superintendent of Education John White, explaining how the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans ran up a debt of $7.8 million to a private contractor, $6.6 million of which was delinquent, for the transportation of RSD students in post-Katrina New Orleans. White did not explain why the facilities master plan remained in a period of “decision-making” six years after Hurricane Katrina.

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Bureaucratic shuffle begins (or New Orleans may be struck by another hurricane before Katrina recovery is completed)

Posted in BESE, Education, Public Records, Recovery School District, Transparency on July 16, 2012| 4 Comments »

The Recovery School District (RSD) is in denial about a demand letter from a transportation contractor demanding payment of $7.8 million, including $6.6 million now considered delinquent.

A member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, however, claims to have a copy of the letter.

The contractor, Durham School Services of Warrenville, Illinois, isn’t talking.

State Superintendent of Education John White, who was the RSD superintendent during much of the time for which Durham says it has not been paid, says it’s not his fault and that payment was supposed to come from FEMA funds. White further said that a payment agreement has been reached.

Meanwhile, those most affected, about 140 school bus drivers and 30 monitors employed by Durham are about to be laid off.

But part of the layoff could be attributed to the fact that RSD has nearly 2,000 fewer students to be transported—which raises the question: where did they go?

A New Orleans television station recently aired a story that showed RSD’s $10.5 million contract with Durham School Services is costing the district up to three times as much per student for transportation of RSD students as in some other parts of the country.

Considering all the money wasted on FEMA trailers, blue tarps and cleanup costs following Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans, could the transportation contract be yet another example of the cavalier manner in which federal dollars have been sucked into a black hole of corruption with few of the benefits actually going to the victims of the storm?

Durham retained the services of the politically-connect Jones Walker Law Firm of New Orleans and Jones Walker attorney Michael DePetrillo in February sent a letter of demand to the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) and RSD for payment of $7.8 million, of which $6,568,694 was said to be past due. The last payment made to the company was on September 20, 2011, and the past due amount is now said to be $6.6 million.

DePetrillo did not return a call to his office.

Nor has Durham returned phone calls even though one spokesman for its New Orleans office promised that someone from its corporate office would “call right back.”

RSD public information officer Kizzy Payton has denied that the district is in possession of any such February letter from Durham or Jones Walker.

Former RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas said he inherited a “terrible” bus transportation system when he was hired in 2007 and he promptly hired Durham which, in the 2008-09 school year bused 7,500 children. For the school year just completed, only 5,700 children were transported by Durham, placing the cost at $1,800 per student.

The Hinds County (Jackson) Mississippi School District contracts with Durham to bus 4,000 students at a cost of $3.6 million, or $900 per student—half of what the RSD-NO pays, or is contracted to pay. Indianapolis also contracts with Durham, as does Memphis. In Indianapolis Durham transports 28,000 under a $15 million contract ($535 per student) and in Memphis, it buses 35,000 students at a contract price of $18 million ($514 per student).

So this means in Memphis, Durham is being paid 58.3 percent more to transport more than six times as many students as it does for the RSD.

Put another way, the company is being paid 65.7 percent less to transport 29.8 percent fewer students in Hinds County.

In addition to its $10.5 million contract with Durham, RSD-NO also has a $500,000-a-year contract with Transpar Group of Memphis to design bus routes and to provide oversight.

Transpar, a Missouri company, worked with Vallas when he was chief of schools in Chicago and questions arose then about inflated contracts with the company.

Transpar, in addition to receiving $500,000 a year to draw up bus routes and to provide oversight, also is housed in the RSD New Orleans offices.

School officials in Memphis, Indianapolis and Hinds County, Mississippi, said oversight and route planning is either handled in-house or worked out with Durham and that the additional services of a company like Transpar are not needed.

The controversy over the money Durham says it is owed by RSD raises an even bigger question about the state’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funding for the Recovery School District.

Transportation costs are factored into the MFP appropriation for each school district, meaning the state appropriated funds to be used for the transportation of students in the RSD.

Capitol News Service has submitted public records requests to DOE in an attempt to ascertain what happened to the funds appropriated to RSD for transportation and why those funds were not used to pay the Durham contract.

White, in an email to CNS on Monday said, “You would have to ask Durham directly whether there have been layoffs and to what any layoffs are attributable. Durham has not informed the RSD of the state of any such action.”

Then, addressing the transportation costs, White said, “FEMA covers transportation costs for transporting students being served in modular campuses, such as is the case for many schools in post-Katrina New Orleans.

“Because the facilities master plan was in a period of decision-making, and thus not finalized, FEMA delayed payments.

“They have since re-started payment and the RSD and Durham have arrived at a payment agreement.”

He did not explain why the facilities master plan was still in a period of “decision-making” six years after Katrina hit New Orleans.

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Another potential member of the Teague Club: Jindal wants LLT board member Vallee gone for independent thinking

Posted in Governor's Office, Taxes, Teague, Transparency on July 16, 2012| 1 Comment »

Gov. Piyush Jindal has yet another dissident in his crosshairs.

This time it’s Louisiana Land Trust (LLT) board member Don Vallee of New Orleans who he wants to Teague.

This time, however, there could be a slight problem known as the State Constitution.

LLT, originally the Road Home Corp., is a publicly-chartered non-profit organization formed to manage properties purchased by the State of Louisiana under the current Road Home Program as part of the ongoing recovery effort from damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Once it takes title to properties purchased by the Road Home Homeowner Assistance Program, LLT has broad powers to receive and dispose of the properties, to accept funds “from any sources,” to borrow against the properties and to obtain payment for obligations under the guidelines set forth by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and to provide for financing as administered by the Office of Community Development (OCD).

Funding for LLT is provided through community development block grants (CDBG) funds administered by OCD.

LLT is governed by a seven-member board of directors with one member appointed from a list of three persons nominated by the president of the Senate and one appointed from a list of three nominated by the speaker of the House.

Donald Vallee, former president and general manager of Boland Marine and Manufacturing Co. of New Orleans, was nominated by then-House Speaker Jim Tucker and subsequently appointed by Jindal in May of 2008.

Vallee has occasionally clashed with other board members, even accusing one member of a conflict of interest. Vallee said in 2009 that he felt rents in New Orleans were artificially inflated by voucher rates.

In successfully lobbying the state Bond Commission for a temporary moratorium on new bonds for subsidized, affordable-housing construction in New Orleans, he said in September of 2009 that the city’s rental market “overbuilt.”

The Bond Commission hearing was prompted by a Bureau of Governmental Research report that supported Vallee’s position.

The report said that since Katrina, a larger share of New Orleans families received federal housing subsidies. It further suggested that the city may be in danger of having too much affordable housing, predicting that by 2012, if all proposed projects were completed, one in four households in New Orleans would be subsidized.

The rate was one in 10 prior to Katrina.

“What we don’t need is more construction,” Vallee reiterated. “We need reasonable rents.”

He said the moratorium on new subsidized housing was necessary because no one had properly studied the big picture. He called for the moratorium to remain in place until a comprehensive market study could be completed by an independent party—“someone without any skin in the game.”

Tucker also supported the moratorium, saying policymakers had been “flying by the seat of our pants” when making determinations of what housing subsidies were necessary in New Orleans. The result, he said, was an “excess supply.”

Added to the problem was the credit-market crash of 2008 stalled some developments and potential builders were unable to find investors to buy state-allocated tax credits.

Apparently Vallee’s independent streak doesn’t sit well with Jindal, who has expressed his wishes to replace him.

Apparently, whenever one stands between Jindal and tax credits, it gets Piyush’s hackles up.

But Vallee said he will fight his attempted ouster because he believes that Jindal lacks the legal authority to replace him.

“We’re not a state agency,” he said. “We are a private, non-profit corporation. I was not selected by the governor. He did appoint me but it was on the nomination of the Speaker of the House.”

Part of Vallee’s problem could be that unlike many of Jindal’s appointees, he has never contributed to any of the governor’s political campaigns.

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Piyush privatization at work: LOSFA advertising for $76,000 in-house procurement position after laying off 58 employees

Posted in Higher Education, Privatization, Transparency on July 11, 2012| 12 Comments »

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pursuant to our public records request of Wednesday, July 11, LOSFA informs us that the number of positions eliminated was actually 58–not 47 as first reported. The number 47 was based on earlier figures released by LOSFA. We have updated the numbers accordingly.

LouisianaVoice was the first to break the news of the 58 classified employees were to be laid off, effective June 30, at the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA).

Now that that messy little item has been taken care of and those 58 employees are gone, LOSFA is advertising on the state’s civil service web page for a new job opening that will pay up to $76,000 per year.

The opening is for the position of Procurement Director 1 and the salary range is $3,023 to $6,361 per month, or $36,276 to $76,332 per year.

But none of the recently laid off employees need apply; the civil service announcement is quite specific in saying the new position is promotional only. “You must be an employee of the Office of Student Financial Assistance in order to be considered for this position,” the announcement says—in bold lettering.

Interpretation: Someone in the LOSFA is about to receive a promotion and a sizable pay bump.

LOSFA, besides serving as the guarantor for student loans, also supports the state’s TOPS and START programs, the Early Start Program, the Rockefeller State Wildlife Scholarship, the State Matching Funds Grant, Go Grant, Chafee Education Training Voucher Program, the Volunteer Firemen’s Tuition Reimbursement Program, John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program, Financial Literacy for You (FLY) and College Knowledge.

The 58 employees lost their jobs because of the privatization of LOSFA and at the time that LouisianaVoice first learned of the layoff plan, agency Executive Director Melanie Amrhein promised us she would inform us who in the office would be retained.

She never got back to us, but we learned through other sources that three unclassified employees, each making approximately $100,000 per year, would not lose their jobs. Those were, besides Amrhein, Deputy Executive Director Sujuan Boutté, Assistant Executive Director for Fiscal and Administrative Affairs Jack Hart and Assistant Executive Director for Marketing and Outreach David Roberts.

The agency justified its layoff plan to the Department of Civil Service in April by saying:

• A reduction of overhead was necessary to maintain support of state programs;

• An attrition of staff leads to ineffective administration and further strain on generating revenue;

• Contracting services will potentially result in higher performance on portfolio while allowing the agency to retain a higher net income with reduced overhead;

• The timeline provides an orderly conversion from in-house functions to managed contractor operation;

• Adversely-affected employees will be given time to fine new employment.

(Just not with us, the justification might have added.)

So, just what will the new Procurement Director 1 be doing?

According to the civil service position announcement, the lucky person will “direct and coordinate all aspects of a procurement program for a small agency in the central procurement office or satellite field facility.”

That’s a pretty ambiguous description at best although the announcement does go on to say that the new person will be responsible “for approving emergency acquisitions of commodities,” although it’s just not clear what “commodities” LOSFA will be acquiring.

Around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, we attempted to contact Amrhein, Boutte, Roberts and Hart as well as LOSFA general counsel George Eldredge but no one answered either of the five phones.

The new position is administrative in nature, but with all those 47 employees now gone, who will this new Procurement Director 1direct/administer?

But wait! We get further clarification in the job description. It seems that whoever is promoted to this position will “establish goals and objectives and monitor performance to improve efficiency for the procurement process of the department” and will also “assist agency staff by providing data for establishment of goals and objectives.”

Well, that certainly clears up a lot of questions relative to the overall merits of privatization (read: layoffs) and it certainly is consistent with the administration’s rock solid policy of transparency and accountability.

Just try explaining that to 58 former employees.

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