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Edwards administration renegotiating disastrous hospital contracts even as rating service gives grades of ‘F’ to two

May 23, 2016 by tomaswell

Baton Rouge Advocate political reporter Elizabeth Crisp has reported that Gov. John Bel Edwards is in the process of renegotiating the state’s contracts with private partners that have taken over operations of the state’s system of charity hospitals. http://theadvocate.com/football/neworleansprepfootball/15861820-123/state-renegotiating-public-private-hospital-contracts

It’s too bad Crisp’s story was published when it was—last Saturday, May 21. Typically, stories published on weekends don’t get the attention they deserve and this was one of those cases.

You may remember the Jindal administration, working through its rubber-stamp LSU Board of Supervisors, inexplicably approved a contract for transfer of state hospitals in North Louisiana which contained 50 blank pages. https://louisianavoice.com/2014/05/04/jindal-lsu-board-civil-service-commission-must-share-the-blame-for-lsu-hospital-debacle-but-legislature-not-culpable/

That was way back in 2013—three years ago—and despite Jindal’s and his Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols’ insistence that everything was all right and that the 50 pages would be “filled in later,” things have only gotten worse.

Much worse.

First of all, predictably, lawsuits were soon filed of operation of the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe by the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana (BRF). Who saw that coming?

It’s not that LouisianaVoice didn’t try to call attention to the obvious: that a contract isn’t a contract without a few specific provisions. https://louisianavoice.com/2013/06/04/lsu-board-of-stupevisors-gives-away-store-with-improbable-blank-contract-for-private-operation-of-four-state-hospitals/

Edwards, who as a state representative, was in regular contact with LouisianaVoice over the status of the approval or rejection of the deal by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), now says as Governor that a savings must be achieved.

To that end, the administration is taking a hard look at the public-private partner contracts that Jindal touted as a savings of millions of dollars to the state. That quite simply, has not happened and the private partners recently testified that they are not making money off the state.

In what would appear to be a classic understatement, Edwards said the deals “were too hastily put together.”

And while Crisp wrote that most people agree that health care services have improved under the partnership but Rep. Lance Harris (R-Alexandria) says financials of the partners were never reviewed going into the deal. Harris says the state should be questioning the profit margin for the hospitals.

But a news story that never got any play anywhere in Louisiana has revealed that all is not well at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport or Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

It’s bad enough that some now say the formerly state-run medical school no longer is considered among the nation’s elite. But Becker’s, an online news service geared to the hospital industry, released a story from the Leapfrog Group way back last Oct. 30 that listed 34 hospitals nationwide that received a grade of “F.”

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/where-are-the-34-leapfrog-f-hospitals-103015.html

Four of those are in Louisiana and two of those four are University Hospital in Shreveport and Lake Charles Memorial. University is being operated by BRF and Lake Charles Memorial took over operations of Moss Regional Hospital, formerly one of the state-run charity hospitals.

The grades were provided by the Leapfrog Group and calculated by patient safety experts and are peer-reviewed.

Leapfrog, founded in 2000, is a national nonprofit organization that collects and reports on hospital performance. The Leapfrog Safety Score, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

Leapfrog, which releases safety score updates twice a year, said “D” and “F” hospitals have a 50 percent higher risk of avoidable death than those with a grade of “A.”

Approximately 33,400 lives could be saved if all hospitals had the same level of performance as “A” hospitals, Leapfrog says. http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/a-grades-up-f-grades-down-in-updated-leapfrog-hospital-safety-scores-5-things-to-know.html

Perhaps those contract renegotiations should be stepped up a bit.

 

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments »

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

May 23, 2016 by tomaswell

“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.”

—Financier, U.S. Senator, and Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War for one year Simon Cameron (erroneously attributed at various times to Lyndon Johnson and Huey Long, among others). Cameron resigned from Lincoln’s cabinet because of notorious corruption. When he demanded That Thaddeus Stevens take back his statement to President Lincoln in which Stevens said, “I don’t think he would steal a red-hot stove,” Stevens obliged by then saying to Lincoln, “I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back.”

 

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments »

What’s the price of your legislator? It depends on the issue, but Edmonson’s confirmation sale was comparatively cheap

May 23, 2016 by tomaswell

Rumor has it a newly-elected legislator from North Louisiana was told by a lobbyist friend there was so much at the Capitol that “You could just pick it up off the floor.”

Arriving for his inauguration back in January, he walked up the 50 steps and into the Capitol rotunda. He was no sooner in the door when he spotted a $100 bill lying on the floor. He looked at it a moment and then grunted and walked past the bill, saying, “Hmpf, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. I’m not working on my first day in Baton Rouge.” (With apologies to the late comic Brother Dave Gardner.)

That said, what’s the price of a reliable legislator these days?

Obviously, the going rate depends on a lot of factors. If, for instance, 97 oil and gas companies want a lawsuit against them for destroying Louisiana’s coastal marshlands, the price is pretty high as evidenced by the millions of dollars poured into political campaigns and lobbying efforts.

The oil companies, with virtually unlimited financial resources, spent like a drunken sailor by spreading the money around among legislators and political action committees.

On other issues, the answer might be not so much.

Take, for example, the confirmation of Mike Edmonson as Superintendent of State Police. That price apparently is a little north of $76,000.

The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association obviously does not have the bottomless expense account enjoyed by the oil companies but it still manages to spread its money around pretty generously through its own political action committee, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ PAC.

But for the purposes of this one issue—the confirmation hearings last Wednesday on Edmonson’s reappointment by Gov. John Bel Edwards, we will concentrate on only a few recipients—members of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, the President of the Senate and a handful of key legislative caucuses.

Last week, we watched the pathetically transparent attempt by members of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee to avoid all questions about Edmonson’s record of allowing payroll fraud and other transgressions by those under his command. https://louisianavoice.com/2016/05/18/16942/

Somewhat puzzled by the collective amnesia of the committee (sarcasm) and its equally apparent determination not to thoroughly vet certain nominees while grilling others (realism), we thought we’d peel back the layers and take a peek at campaign contributions to members of the committee.

What we discovered proved interesting, to say the least.

Take committee Chairperson Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans), who also serves as Chairperson of the Louisiana Democratic Party:

  • Karen Carter Peterson: $3,100 in director contributions from the Sheriffs’ PAC;
  • The Women’s Caucus: $3,500;
  • The Louisiana Democratic Campaign Committee: $13,000;
  • The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus: $25,500.

Democrats and Republicans alike benefited from the sheriffs’ PAC:

  • Wesley Bishop (D-New Orleans), vice chairperson of the committee: $1,000;
  • Jean-Paul Morrell (D-New Orleans): $4,250;
  • Greg Tarver (D-Shreveport): $1,600
  • Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation: $8,800;
  • Jack Donahue (R-Mandeville): $2,000;
  • Jim Fannin (R-Jonesboro): $3,700;
  • Neil Riser (R-Columbia): $500;
  • Mike Walsworth (R-West Monroe): $4,700

And just in case you might think the sheriffs’ influence was concentrated on just the committee members, the PAC also contributed $4,800 to Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego). You think he may have whispered in the ears of committee members to go light on Edmonson?

Granted, we’re not talking about a lot of money here—especially considering some of the aforementioned contributions date back to 2003. But it’s a steady flow of contributions to legislators who are restricted by the amount from any one contributor during a single election cycle ($2,500) is never ignored by the recipient. While the amounts of their contributions are lower, so, too, are their expenses because their districts are not statewide. It’s also enough to discourage legislators from taking the chance of pissing off the Sheriffs’ Association.

And while $76,000 contributed since 2003 may not seem like a lot, when you take into consideration the Sheriffs’ PAC contributed more than $794,000 on all candidates since that time—the vast majority of those legislators—it’s much easier to see how much more influence is purchased when the money is spread across the political landscape.

And to be sure, the Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ PAC doesn’t overlook those other legislators. The list is long and nearly every member of the legislator has received at least one contribution from the PAC. Here is the complete list of SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION CONTRIBUTIONS since 2003.

What’s the price of your legislator?

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Corruption, Elections, Ethics, Legislature, Legislators, PACs, Politicians, State Police, Transparency | 2 Comments »

LSP report on the tangled mess in 4th Judicial District Court expected this week; should we anticipate ‘selective’ justice?

May 22, 2016 by tomaswell

By Ken Booth and Zach Parker

More than 28 months ago, then-Deputy Administrator of Louisiana’s 4th Judicial District Court Julie Cunningham raised flags about senior law clerk Allyson Campbell’s sometimes prolonged absences from work while still being paid based upon time sheets proclaiming her presence.

Those time sheets were submitted to and approved variously by judges Wilson Rambo, Fred Amman, or Wendell Manning among others for whom she may have been clerking at the time.

But an inspection of Campbell’s time sheets and e-mails revealed that on seven different days Campbell was paid for hours not worked. On one of those days, she had sent an email from her I-Phone from New York where she reported having been “bumped to 9 AM Tuesday.”

The Ouachita Citizen reports video surveillance footage for that Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, shows Campbell was never at the courthouse. But the New York number was crossed out and the seven hours were carried from a row for “total hours worked” to a row for “annual leave used.” Judge Wendell Manning signed off on that time sheet as well as sheets on two other days when Campbell had reported working seven hours.

Cunningham’s report outlined at least 12 days in which there were questions about Campbell’s work attendance.

At the time, court officials researched the issue and determined it was “illegal for a public employee to be paid for time not worked,” according to Judge Sharon Marchman in a lawsuit later filed against her fellow judges in federal court.

But a week after the Cunningham report was discussed at “several meetings” Marchman said the court changed its work attendance policy requiring “all law clerks” to sign in and out each time they enter and leave the courthouse.

Judge Marchman’s federal suit contends, “notably, shortly after the new rule’s implementation, Campbell refused to comply and falsified her sign-in-sheet.”

A subsequent routine state audit issued early last year cited possible payroll fraud in the matter.

In the meantime, Campbell’s time card issues and alleged destroyed or hidden court pleadings in a civil action handled by the law clerk came to light in a civil lawsuit filed by an attorney who claimed her actions had thwarted efforts on behalf of his client. Specific records cited were later discovered being used as an end table and under a couch in Campbell’s office; others were believed shredded and carried to a dumpster located between the courthouse and its annex.

The Ouachita Citizen filed a public records request with the court seeking any and all documents purporting to show what if any disciplinary action may have been taken against Campbell in connection with these allegations. The court refused to turn over the documents claiming they were private, personal, and could cause among other things, “embarrassment” to the individual and/or “loss of friends.”

The Court refused to turn over any such documents claiming it would violate the privacy of Campbell. The newspaper responded with a criminal complaint to the District attorney claiming a violation of La. R.S. 44: 1-41, the Public Records Act.

The court refused to turn over the documents claiming they were private, personal, and could cause among other things, “embarrassment” to the individual and/or “loss of friends.” Then, perhaps hoping to put a lid on all this, the Court sued The Citizen, making it a costly proposition to continue its pursuit of the issue.

Let that sink in. The court filed suit against a newspaper for making a routine public records request.

If there were true justice in the 4th JDC, the suit would have been randomly assigned to Judge Marchman. But what do you think were the chances of that happening?

Citizen Publisher Sam Hanna, Jr., told LouisianaVoice that his publication had been assessed court costs in the lawsuit but he has no intention of paying them. “They can come arrest me if they want, but I’m not paying court costs on this matter,” he said.

Putting things in perspective, it’s more than a little ironic that judges who are charged with forcing other public agencies to comply with public records requests can exempt themselves from those very same laws, thereby setting a dangerous legal precedent that can only breed deep distrust of all public officials, particularly the judiciary itself.

And we haven’t even touched on the blatant message of arrogance and smugness such a lawsuit conveys.

The Citizen may never have received an answer but Marchman’s federal lawsuit against the judges last month may have provided it.

Her petition reads:

            “On April 24,2014, the judges had a meeting and agreed en banc to remove Campbell from the position of ‘senior law clerk, to terminate her stipend, and to suspend her for one month without pay. Campbell was then given a warning and a reprimand regarding not only her attendance, but also her behavior during meetings with the human resources department.”

According to Marchman’s suit, it was during Campbell’s suspension in May of 2014 that 52 files which required Campbell’s attention were found underneath a couch in her office. At issue were Post Conviction Relief applications given to Campbell to address by Judge Carl Sharp. The oldest of these discovered documents was dated November 2, 2011, three years before.

Louisiana’s Inspector General Stephen says an investigation by his department along with detectives from the state police found nothing wrong with the work hours of a law clerk for the 4th Judicial District Court.

A state audit had pointed to possible payroll fraud when an inspection of time sheets revealed the chief law clerk had turned in time sheets for work on days she was not even at the courthouse. Those time sheets were approved by her supervising judges.

The allegedly falsified Campbell time sheets, said to have been borne out by courthouse security camera video showing she was a no-show there on the questioned ‘work days,’ and a subsequent allegation of cover-up by four Ouachita Parish District Court Judges, prompted a fifth District Judge, Sharon Marchman, to file a federal court lawsuit against all of them for retaliating against her for “trying to expose Campbell’s history of payroll fraud and document destruction” while acting under color of law.

Whether Marchman was aware is not known, but state Inspector General Stephen Street had by then already decided interviews his office had conducted at the courthouse led him to conclude “the available facts do not provide sufficient cause for the arrest of Ms. Campbell for any criminal office, [and] we are closing our file and taking no further action in this matter.”

In his letter to Ouachita-Morehouse Parish District Attorney Jerry Jones on April 15th, Street outlined how “several 4th Judicial District Judges, as well as other local attorneys, the current and former court administrator, employees of the Clerk of Court, (Louise Bond),” and other court employees and assistants as well as Campbell herself. Campbell, he wrote, had denied destroying or hiding or destroying any court records or pleadings.”

Street mentioned only that interviews had been conducted with the principals to the complaint and all had assured that nothing improper had taken place with respect to Campbell’s being paid based upon the time cards that tended to contradict that.

It is not clear from Street’s letter whether his investigator ever saw any documentary evidence supporting the original allegation of payroll fraud.

District Attorney Jones at the outset referred the allegations of wrong-doing to the state police who wound up working in concert with the OIG’s north Louisiana investigator, Heath Humble.

Since then, the DA has consistently referred all questions regarding the status of the case to the office of the Louisiana Attorney General, Jeff Landry.

Accordingly, a public records request for documentation or any statement regarding the status of the investigation long since closed by the local and state investigators was answered by Shannon Dirmann, an Assistant Attorney General who wrote on May 9th: “Our office is in the process of determining what, if any, records are subject to this request, and, if so, whether any privileges or exemptions apply. This may take some time. You will be notified whether records have been located and are responsive.” In other words, ‘we’ll get back to you.’

Interesting indeed, since Joseph Lotwick, the General Counsel for the Attorney General’s office had answered a similar records request on May 10—one day later—from LouisianaVoice with “I have enclosed a copy of the Inspector General’s April 15, 2016 letter to District Attorney Jerry Jones as it is a public record.”

“I trust that this response is sufficient.”

When a copy of an attorney’s lawsuit against Campbell was requested, it was learned it had been sealed.

In response to our own public records request the court administrator Judge Ben Jones, himself one of the defendants named by Marchman’s suit, produced a document showing Campbell has been awarded steady pay increases in spite of questions regarding her actions.

In the Ouachita court case there is documentation which appears to demonstrate false claims of work not performed, the hiding of at least 52 post-conviction release pleadings, and/or official court documents allegedly shredded or otherwise destroyed.

District Attorney Jones said he may have the official findings of the Louisiana State Police investigation this week.

That could prove embarrassing for either virtually the entire bench of judges at the 4th JDC should detectives actually detect payroll fraud has been committed—or for the LSP itself should that report find no wrongdoing took place.

That’s because it would fly directly in the face of LSP’s own actions taken against Lt. Paul Brady of Troop D in Beauregard Parish who his own agency determined had “padded time sheets” submitted by troopers under his supervision.

He was officially suspended for violation of the code of conduct and ethics, albeit only a near-meaningless 24-hour suspension. https://louisianavoice.com/2016/05/10/rank-and-file-lsp-display-more-integrity-than-supervisors-how-long-will-gov-edwards-tolerate-edmonson-liability/

LouisianaVoice cited at least five state troopers on May 10th who said Brady instructed them to pad their time sheets to reflect 12 hours even though they worked shorter shifts or were not even on duty.

One trooper told Internal Affairs that Brady tried coaching him on what to say if someone asked about the time. The Trooper reportedly informed Brady that he was not going to lie.”

The Brady suspension letter stated, “You signed the … timesheets knowing that they had worked less hours. You signed the … described biweekly timesheets knowing that the hours related to firearms transition were not accurate.”

Moreover, Chris Guillory, the Commander at Troop D who was Brady’s supervisor and who was transferred out of Troop D is said to have been aware of Brady’s padding of time sheets but took no action.

One would hope those 4th District Court Judges who approved their law clerk’s time sheets for work on days on which she was not present are paying attention. The events at Troop D amounted payroll fraud which in other (apparently selective) cases have resulted in criminal charges.

But Campbell has friends, or rather, relatives in high places which most likely makes the judges hesitant to come down on her. A sister is a prominent personal injury attorney in Monroe and their father is a powerful banker who is married to the daughter of politically active attorney Billy Boles.

So why else would we imply that criminal charges for payroll fraud are selective? Simply this:

https://louisianavoice.com/2016/03/13/dcfs-funding-slashed-necessitating-driveway-visits-but-overworked-caseworker-is-arrested-for-falsifying-records/

As they used to say in those “This-is-your-brain; This-is-your-brain-on-drugs” TV ads:

Any Questions?

 

Posted in Corruption, Courts, Ethics, Fraud, Judges, Lawsuits, State Police | 7 Comments »

Guest blogger tells legislators to keep promises, do your jobs, be adults; House, Senate positions, salaries probed

May 20, 2016 by tomaswell

Baton Rouge attorney Jimmy Napper, originally from my old stomping grounds up in Lincoln Parish, has written an open letter to members of the Louisiana Legislature. His letter, in italics, is followed by some financial figures I obtained through public records requests.

Please, please, Legislators!

Quit changing the rules. Stop moving the goal line and keep your promises!

You are ruining the State, and we should not tolerate it anymore!

The State took less revenue for many years, intentionally, to build a new, much-needed industry in Louisiana, the film and television industry, and established a complete infrastructure made up of tens of thousands of our citizens to service it and make it flourish—to the great consternation of Los Angeles and others who have dominated and monopolized it in the past.

Now, in your wisdom, you have decided to change the rules and renege on your promises—probably the clearest and most decisive way to kill this formerly thriving business in our state.  Investment—intense businesses, like the film and TV industry (and Wall Street too)—abhor and are deadly allergic to uncertainty. And you have been and are creating blinding uncertainty with your actions. The resulting declines are already evident.

Can’t you keep your promises? especially to people who want to invest millions of dollars in this State? especially when they are the driver for a nationally successful new industry?

And then there is TOPS, one of the most important and successful things ever done in a State which has suffered terrible educational outcomes for decades.

You blindly followed Bobby Jindal and caused the cost of TOPS to sky-rocket the last eight years by slashing State appropriations to higher and education and then endorsing the raising of tuitions. The unavoidable and readily discernable result was increasing the cost of TOPS. Now you now scratch your collective heads and try to feign surprise, declaring that “we just can’t afford it anymore.”  Oh, really?

Then, you whine and tell how hard it is for you to do your job, as you tell us the only solution is to change the rules and break promises to the best and brightest young people in this State, thereby placing an unbearable financial strain on their parents.  You now tell us: No matter what was said before and what you relied upon, we have to move the goal lines and adversely affect your education and lives. We’re sorry, but you just cannot imagine how hard it is for us to do this to you.

Can’t you abide by and keep the rules, keep your promises, and do your job? especially for the best and brightest that are already in Louisiana colleges and who now face a loss of what they were promised (by you) they would get if they worked hard and earned it?

Please, please, Legislators, stand up and figure out how to be adults and to keep your promises!

 

After reading Napper’s letter, I thought it might be interesting to see just how diligent the House and Senate are in practicing pecuniary responsibility in light of all the budgetary cutbacks imposed on the rest of the state, higher education and health care at the forefront.

Traditionally, the legislature flies well beneath the fiscal radar year after year with no one in the media bothering to hold lawmakers accountable for their own spending habits.

Here’s what we found:

The Legislature is comprised of 39 senators and 105 representatives—144 lawmakers in all.

  • Between them, the House and Senate have 252 employees—1.75 employees per legislator.
  • The breakdown is 136 for the House and 115 for Senate (the number of Senate employees is 84.5 percent of that of the lower chamber even though its membership is only 37 percent of that of the House).
  • The combined payroll for those 252 employees is $18.9 million—$9.6 for the House and $9.3 million for the Senate. Together, the two chambers’ per-employee average salary is $71,175 per year, far higher than the average state civil service employee makes. (Of course that average is bloated with top-heavy salaries earned by administrative personnel and attorneys who comprise nearly half the total number of employees.)
  • The two chambers have 52 members (25 for the House and 27 for the Senate) who earn more than $100,000 per year—19 of whom (11 in the House and eight in the Senate) earn more than the governor’s $130,000 per year salary.

Has the legislature agreed to share the pain of other agencies who have been forced to endure deep budget cuts, resulting in layoffs? You can check that box “No.” Through the eight Jindal years and now into the Edwards administration, neither the Senate nor the House has once offered to cut their respective budgets.

Of course $18.9 million doesn’t represent much in the overall scheme of things but it would be a nice symbolic gesture if the legislature would at least offer to tighten its own belt.

Looking down the roster of employees, a few things jump out:

  • The House has an Assistant to the Speaker ($68,600), a Special Assistant to the Speaker ($93,250), an Aide to the Speaker/Inmate Coordinator ($56,800), and an Executive Counsel to the Speaker ($181,200).
  • There is a Director of Human Resources ($157,000), a Human Resources Manager ($83,000), two Human Resources Analysts ($75,000 and $72,000), and an Executive Assistant to Human Resources ($62,800).
  • Deputy Fiscal Directors? The House has two of them ($136,800 and $101,700).
  • No fewer than 12 Legislative Analysts ($141,700, $134,700, $130,800, $121,400, $114,900, $114,000, $110,000, $91,250, $88,300, $65,600, $44,200, and $35,800).
  • Five Division Directors ($162,200, $137,500, $117,000, $113,600, and $103,000).
  • Six Budget Analysts ($94,145, $86,700, $51,100, two at $46,800 each, and $45,000).
  • Six Caucus Administrators ($121,500, $102,800, $82,150, $78,100, $56,650, and $42,100).
  • And an Executive Director ($185,100).
  • Clerk of the House ($220,000), a Secretary to the Clerk, two Assistant Clerks ($84,800 and $72,800), and several assistant clerks.
  • Seventeen attorneys and a gaggle of Sergeants at Arms to go with communications specialists (2), a Television Audio Engineer, a Communications Director and a Deputy Communications Director, and a Communications Office Administrative Assistant.

While we’re not at all certain what those five Division Directors do, you’d think with two Deputy Fiscal Directors, 12 Legislative Analysts, six Budget Analysts, those Aides to the Speaker, and all those attorneys, the House would have a little better grasp of the state’s fiscal affairs.

The Senate likewise has:

  • Six budget analysts ($140,340, $137,000, $111,500, $104,600, $100,000, and $72,500) and a plain vanilla budget analyst ($61,700).
  • Two Senate Counsels ($134,300 and $104,300) and 12 Senior Attorneys (from $121,500 to $79,200).
  • Five Directors ($188,900, $170,900, $148,400, $128,200, and $120,500).
  • Special Counsel to the President ($118,600), Senate Counsel ($96,200), a Chief of Staff ($223,100), a Deputy Chief of Staff ($185,600), First Assistant Secretary of the Senate ($168,600).
  • A Chief Legislative Researcher ($112,000) and a researcher ($53,000).
  • A Chief Legislative Counsel ($130,800).

And all those researchers, lawyers, analysts and fiscal directors don’t even include offices, telephones, copiers, expense allowances, legislative salaries, per diem, and staff members for legislators in their home districts—all courtesy of state taxpayers.

With all that support staff, you’d think that members of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee would have requested a little background on Mike Edmonson before it held Wednesday’s confirmation hearing on his nomination for another term as Superintendent of State Police. But if you watched the proceedings, it was evident that they simply did not want any critical discussion of Edmonson’s professional record.

After hearing reports of senators and representatives assigning legislative staff to do research, homework and to even write school papers for legislators’ children in the past, perhaps staffers were just too busy performing those personal tasks for lawmakers to waste time on such petty matters as professional qualifications to lead the state’s law enforcement agency.

Posted in Politics | 15 Comments »

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