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LouisianaVoice reader pens open letter to all 144 members of Louisiana Legislature: asks each, ‘What are you going to do?’

June 4, 2015 by tomaswell

 

THEY'RE ALL UNFIT(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Dear Legislators:

“Jindal Vows to Bankrupt State to Preserve Conservative Credentials” (Comment on nola.com)

LEGISLATORS:  What are YOU going to do about that?

The state of Louisiana is facing bankruptcy – this was utterly predictable and almost feels deliberate.  Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Kline and you will shocked all right, to see that jindal has pulled off an economic coup that has made Louisiana no more than a Third World economy.

I am addressing this to legislators, because YOU are to blame for the coming collapse of state government.  YOU, state representative or senator, put political party, out-of-state organizations and misguided individuals ahead of the people of Louisiana in violation of your oath of office.

You legislators are the only people in the state who have the power to fix the mess you have created.  The foolishness we are seeing during this legislative session shows that many of you are still abdicating any semblance of responsibility for the common good for our citizens.

A majority of you have played along with Jindal’s disastrous fiscal policies for your own selfish reasons.  Just a few of you have stood boldly and courageously in opposition from the beginning of this reign of (t)error.  You have allowed an annual fiscal mess that has created a huge corporate welfare state and left us with crippling cuts to government agencies that serve our citizens.  Every one of you should hang your head in shame for what you have done to the people of the state you were elected to represent.

You chose to allow us to truly suffer the consequences of Jindal’s sociopathic, narcissistic, self-serving ambition.  He is finally about to be honest about running for president, and the ever-absent governor will be completely MIA in the state that is paying his salary.  Just as he did when he took his salary as a congressman while running for governor.  Forgot about that, didn’t you?  Jindal is a serial thief via payroll fraud.

Here are things you can and should do to help make Louisiana a decent place to live, work and raise families:

One: Impeach Jindal.  Pay attention to what the public thinks.  People are ready for Jindal to go and they are not content to wait until January 2016.  Everyone knows he’s stealing his salary and rent on the mansion.  Do what the citizens want.  Get rid of him now.  Impeach him for cause.  There is plenty of it.  There is great public will for drastic action on YOUR part.

Get rid of the tyrant NOW.  He does not need to finish the last few months of his term.  Impeach him now and you will save yourself a lot of trouble at the end of the session, because if you are responsible enough to actually pass provisions to raise needed revenue, Jindal has clearly and unequivocably stated that he will veto them all because of his loyalty to Grover Norquist, not the people of Louisiana.  He has stated that he will not let you raise revenue.  “Revenue neutral” is complete bull.  We need more revenue, not the same amount we have now; that IS the problem.

Criminal grounds? Start with blatant payroll fraud, malfeasance and dereliction of duty.  Public payroll fraud is a felony in Louisiana.  Jindal long ago stopped performing the duties that he was elected to do, but continues to draw his handsome salary and his family still lives in the taxpayer-owned governor’s mansion. He has completely shirked his responsibilities to the state, and his slavish loyalty to Grover Norquist and powerful business interests, and his total lack of care and compassion for Louisiana people have driven us to brink of bankruptcy.  Then there’s the theft of state trust and reserve funds, and sale of properties belonging to We the People.  The list goes on and on…

While you’re at it, get rid of Jindal’s hatchet people.  There is probably some jail time in their futures for malfeasance in office, fraud and criminal actions having to do with ignoring state laws on contracts, procurement, employment, etc.

 

Two: Many of you signed Grover Norquist’s destructive and completely unrealistic no-taxes-ever pledge, and you must now pay the price for your misplaced loyalty.  You might want to google Grover Norquist.  Ultra-conservative Glenn Beck recently revealed that Norquist is widely thought to be a closet Muslim. Norquist’s former business partner is in federal prison for financing Al Queda terrorists.  Norquist is married to a devout Muslim woman thought to have terrorist ties.  Norquist’s real agenda appears to be destruction of our nation from within. You should take time to research him and decide if that is where your loyalties should lie.  You sold us out to a Muslim economic hit man/terrorist.

Renounce your anti-tax pledge to Norquist publically – NOW.

 

Three:  Accept the fact that government should not be the personal piggy bank for corporate interests.  There should be no profit motive in provision of government services.  Privatization requires profit, which is fine when businesses are truly private interests.   Governments abdicate their responsibility to citizens when services are privatized.

If you think the private sector always provides better services than lesser-paid public employees, take a look at the recent revelation about the Blue Cross Blue Shield takeover of the Office of Group Benefits. BCBS has paid millions in fines for poor performance. You did not hear a lot of complaints when OGB staff operated the plan. Ask the patients at the state’s few remaining mental health hospitals if they are getting enough to eat from the private contractor that now feeds them, after replacing the low-paid state employees who worked in those hospitals. After public complaint after complaint, you have still allowed those patients to go hungry because the contractor does not prepare enough food. Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU.

Government services provide for quality of life and public safety.  Today state services in every area are jeopardized, from police and fire safety, water safety, food inspection and public health to libraries, state parks, and highway safety. Medical services for the less fortunate and accessible higher education may be niceties of the past.

Please read Matthew 25:36-40 – that’s The BIBLE, y’all, the book that some of you wanted to make the Louisiana state book (which, apparently, many of you have not bothered to actually read).

Education is a key component that creates a prosperous middle class.  Public education in Louisiana is in jeopardy, from pre-K, K-12, to higher education.  I am disgusted with hearing about “government monopoly schools.”  Public education was established by the earliest Americans to provide opportunity for all, not just the wealthy.  Now there is talk of privatizing our universities along with the K-12 grab.  Those institutions belong to us – We the People of Louisiana – the same as our state parks and historic sites, museums, libraries and other state properties.   Are you actually going to allow the state of Louisiana to close universities, community and technical colleges, or price them out of reach of all but the wealthy? Do you really choose to let our state sink to the level of a Third World country?  (I spend time in such a country every year, and believe me, Louisiana already looks much the same.)

While you have sort of passed some financial relief for higher education, some of us actually realize that it’s not over til the session is over, and some ploys like the SAVE tax credit insanity provides non-existent funding. Plus, everything is open to jindal’s veto.

 

Four: be courageous and get our fiscal house in order:

    • Just do it. Roll back the corporate welfare that makes the business community that takes the profits and runs out of state a larger entitlement group than the poor. Jindal is now complaining about corporate welfare, which is laughable. He practically invented the idea.
  • Immediately cancel ridiculously expensive contracts such as Magellan and the five Bayou Health contracts that steal money by providing little or no services, services that were previously provided by mid-pay range state employees who actually got the work done.
  • Un-privatize the public hospitals, Office of Group Benefits operations, food service in the few remaining mental health hospitals, etc., so the money spent will actually pay for services to people, rather than profit for out-of-state companies. Don’t think you can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again? Look carefully at the history of the Office of Group Benefits and you will see that it has been done before.

 

  • Reinstate reasonable taxes on business and individuals, such as the Stelly tax. The People voted it in, and y’all eliminated Stelly without asking The People if they agreed. We didn’t. Consider that an additional, temporary one-percent income tax on the top one or two percent earners, until our budget house is back in order, may be necessary. (I’m probably in that number, so I have “skin in that game.”) We have to accept the fact that we must pay for the services we need and want. Take a look at the tax bases of the good quality-of–life states, like Minnesota. They levied a small, temporary income tax hike – result: the state is rolling in revenue and business is booming.

Five: re-gain the trust of our citizens by re-defining YOUR loyalties.  Is your loyalty to a delusional sociopath named jindal, to selfish, to self-serving out-of state entities such as ALEC, the greedy Koch Brothers machine and Grover Norquist, or to the people of Louisiana who elected you and whom you are supposed to serve?

A lot hangs in the balance for you personally and for the rest of us.  For you, there is your continued ability to be elected to public office and to maintain the respect of people around you, not to mention the state of your own immortal soul (read The Bible some more and see what the Lord has to say about people to whom much is given, etc.).  You are playing with fire….eternal fire… and I think it is very appropriate to point that out, since so many of you claim to be devout Christians.  Christians who want to legislate your personal religious beliefs into laws affecting everyone of all faiths and no faith, effectively turning our state and nation into a theocracy, in violation of the U.S. Constitution (which you claim to revere).

And now we find that many of you voted in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 2 that would endorse a “Convention of States” seeking to eliminate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes that the United States Constitution, federal statutes and treaties are “the supreme law of the land.”  The Supremacy Clause is the bedrock that binds the states together a one nation.  This proposed convention of the states is a far-reaching plan to make radical changes in the federal government that will not benefit ordinary citizens. If that resolution was sold to you as a way to undermine a Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, think again.  Pay attention for once, since you have admitted to voting for bills and resolutions because someone told you to, when you have not even read them.  Wake up to what you are doing.  The “convention of states” would begin the descent into anarchy as each state makes its own rules.  No more United States of America.  Welcome to 50 Shades of Pray.

Do the right thing.  Step up to your responsibilities as elected representatives of the people.  Make the right decisions for Louisiana, not a political party, an individual or organization. Get our house in order.

Believe me, we are all watching.

Sincerely,

Earthmother

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, Guest Columnist, Legislature, Legislators | 38 Comments »

Retired State Budget Office Director: finding consistent clear, unambiguous state finances data nearly impossible

June 3, 2015 by tomaswell

 

Editor’s note: (Even as Bobby Jindal is preparing for the publication of his second ghostwritten book, we at LouisianaVoice are working to complete the manuscript for our own book about the Bobby Years which will most likely offer a slightly different perspective on his eight years in the governor’s office. We hope to publish our e-book about the same time as Bobby’s epic. Until then, we will probably be posting less frequently and instead depending more on knowledgeable people like Stephen Winham to make contributions like the one below.)

By Stephen Winham (Special to LouisianaVoice)

“Figures don’t lie, but liars figure” – attributed to Mark Twain [and others]

Every day we are bombarded with numbers about our state and its finances.  We are told one day there is a $1.6 billion dollar structural deficit in Louisiana’s budget.  A few days later we are led to believe it is all but fixed – just a little tweaking and fiscal legerdemain at the end and we will be okay – for a little while, at least long enough for the governor to move on.

Governor Jindal tells us the number of state employees has been reduced by over30,000, but we are not told how many of them (the vast bulk) are still being paid by the state via contracts with private companies.  Not only that, we can’t find documentation among civil service or other official records to substantiate the 30,000 number itself.  The governor also claims to have reduced the budget by 26%, but we can’t figure out how he came to that percentage either.

One day we are told Governor Blanco left a $1.2 billion surplus that has now been squandered.  The next day we are told it was $800 million and that it wasn’t squandered.  One day we are told the budget is now and has always been in balance.  Then, we look at the Governor’s own Executive Budgets and see financial statements clearly showing operating budget deficits in 2 of the 3 first years of the Jindal administration (and as recently as FY2013-2014 – the last year the audited total is reported – when a subtle format change enabled use of the undesignated general fund balance to show a positive bottom line – more on this shortly).

We even read conflicting reports of the size of the budget.  The State General Fund, on which the most focus was placed before we started “sweeping” dedicated funds, is one number.  Total state funding from all sources is another, the total budget including federal funds is another and spending including double-counts resulting from interagency transfers by individual departments is yet another.  All these numbers get reported at different times by different sources.

So, are we being lied to, or is that too strong a term?  One thing is for sure – finding clear, consistent and unambiguous data about state finances is next to impossible.

Over a quarter of a century ago, state leaders agreed there was a need for one set of numbers upon which everybody could agree for things like how much revenue we could expect, how much spending could be expected to grow based on trend data, how many state employees there were, etc., etc..  After all, everybody was entitled to their own opinions, but there should be but one set of facts, right?  Right, but has this become a reality?  Obviously not.

Let’s take just one example of what I am talking about here – the Blanco surplus and what happened to it during the Jindal administration.  Examining this one issue requires me to bombard you with even more numbers, but I hope you will see why this is necessary to make my point.

Many consider the best measure of the surplus for a given year the Undesignated Unreserved General Fund Balance shown on the balance sheet of governmental funds contained in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) prepared by the Division of Administration in accordance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules and audited by the legislative auditor.  This number reflects how much money was available in the general fund in a given year, how much we spent or firmly obligated, and how much was left.  But, as we will see, using this source is problematic, particularly since recent practice has been to use dedicated funds as if they weren’t and the CAFR reporting format has changed.

Blanco’s last budget submission was the one for fiscal year 2007-2008.  However, Governor Jindal took over the last 6 months of that budget year and the budget changed dramatically by fiscal year end.  For that reason, we could say 2006-2007 was Blanco’s last full budget.  The CAFR surplus as defined above for FY 2006-2007 was $1.158 billion.  The total fund balance line shows $1.778 billion.  The comparable numbers for FY 2007-2008 were $442 million and $783 million.

The Governor’s Executive Budget proposal includes a comparative statement each year that shows the audited budget for the prior year, the estimated budget for the current year, and the governor’s recommended budget for the coming year.  The audited actual prior year numbers appearing on these statements seem to be the most consistent budget numbers of those currently available.  Those statements show operating surpluses of $1.088 billion for fiscal year 2006-2007 and $865.7 million for 2007-2008.

So, how much of a surplus did Blanco leave Jindal?  It apparently depends on where you look, when you look, and how you define surplus.  For lack of a better source, I would choose the ACTUAL column of the Comparative Statements in the Executive Budget documents for the time being.  But, because budgets cross one year of administrations, it may be hard to come up with a definite answer from any source.

What happened to the surplus?  Well, using the governor’s own budget documents, we see the surplus decreased by $790 million (from $865.7 million to $76 million) between FY 2007-2008 and FY 2008-2009.  The subsequent statements show a deficit of $108 million at the end of the next fiscal year, and a deficit of $14 million the next year.  The statement shows a zero balance the following year (FY 2011-2012).  That analysis, and the fact we raided every fund we could to “balance” the budget in recent years tells me it got spent.  It would appear most of it was spent on capital outlay projects (the statement for FY 2008-2009 shows a reservation of $782 million for FY 2009-2010 capital outlay appropriations).  This is a good use, so let’s hope that’s where it went.  But, if so, why would anybody want to deny the surplus was used in the budget, much less that it ever existed in the first place?

If you find all of this confusing, join the club – it’s a big one.  Does it have to be this way? No.  We, all of us, could demand a governor back up his statements with hard evidence.  We could ask questions like this of his budget people, “When was the last time our budget was really balanced, and what can you show me to prove it?”

Somebody knows exactly how many employees no longer show up on the state’s payroll, but were shifted to private sector jobs paid for through state contracts.  Even if you don’t care about that, wouldn’t you like to see hard evidence of how many people actually work for the state?  Believe it, or not, that would seem to be currently impossible.

There are a lot of good data out there.  Look at the publications of the Legislative Fiscal Office and the House and Senate fiscal staffs for proof.  These folks are providing a lot of excellent information right now that is being ignored by most of the very people they work for, along with the mainstream media.  Go to their websites and see for yourself.  You might be amazed at the amount of understandable fiscal information you find there.  But our legislators and the press take the easy way out – they accept far too many ad hoc statements from almost anybody as fact without questioning them as to the basis.  As a result, we are ALL done a great disservice.

The truth is out there.  We simply need to agree on what the truth is and demand to see it and to see it consistently reported.

A warning to our next governor:  You are walking into a fiscal nightmare.  Find some good people – Consider the staffs of the legislative agencies above and look closely for career employees currently working at the Division of Administration and elsewhere who are competent, brave, and have the inside knowledge you desperately need. Do not look entirely for sycophants who put numbers together to please you. You certainly need moral support for your positions, but you have a greater need for people who will tell you the truth.  By retaining them, you, and we all, will be well-served.

(Stephen Winham is the retired Director of the Executive Budget Office for the State of Louisiana.)

Posted in Budget, DOA, Finances, Governor's Office, Legislature, Legislators | 8 Comments »

Louisiana Inspector General issues power puff scolding of Jindal for presidential campaign letter on state web page

May 29, 2015 by tomaswell

You have to hand it to Inspector General Stephen Street. When he finds Bobby Jindal in violation of the law, he comes down hard. With all the force of a powder puff.

Reacting to a complaint from C.B. Forgotston over Jindal’s use of his office’s taxpayer-funded web page and public salaried employees of the governor’s office to issue a press release critical of Republican presidential nomination candidate Sen. Rand Paul on Thursday, Street took all of two days is issue a less than scathing report on the matter. Statement from Inspector General 5-29-2015

Jindal, who is expected to announce his candidacy next month, issued the press release that said Rand was “unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief” for saying American foreign policy was instrumental in the creation of ISIS.

Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Stephen Handwerk called for an investigation by Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and Forgotston filed a complaint with Street’s office.

Jindal, for his part, defended the release through mouthpiece Mike Reed who offered one of the lamest of the lame in defenses in saying, “Matters of national security are very important to Louisianians, and Louisiana is home to many American soldiers. The suggestion that the governor of Louisiana cannot or should not comment on matters of national security is without merit.”

What? Mudslides, drought, forest fires and earthquakes are important to the folks in California. Floods are important to those unfortunate people in Texas and Oklahoma and at least a dozen states have been plagued with tornadoes. Why doesn’t he issue a press release criticizing nature?

It wasn’t the first time Bobby defended a really bad idea. Remember those $250 million berms he insisted on building in the Gulf to catch all that oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster? Despite advice from all the experts that the idea was a bad one, he plunged ahead (no pun intended) and what happened? The berms and the bulldozers hauled in to build them up simply disappeared into the depths of the Gulf waters. And even after all that, he continued to insist the berms were a good idea.

Too bad Jindal has not been as tuned in to the matters of fiscal insecurity that are also important to Louisianians. If he were, perhaps the state wouldn’t be finding it necessary to slash higher education and health care budgets. Health care, after all, is pretty important to Louisianians, too—especially to those who don’t have it because of Bobby Jindal. So are our roads and bridges and coastal erosion—things a sitting governor should be devoting his attention to instead of remarks by a potential political rival.

Forgotston, prior to Street’s crushing blow to Jindal, wrote, “While you are working on the response to my complaint about the governor violating the state constitution, please include your position on his violation of this felony statute:

  • R.S. 18:1465.  Prohibited use of public funds
  • A.  No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated to a candidate or political organization.  This provision shall not prohibit the use of public funds for dissemination of factual information relative to a proposition appearing on an election ballot.
  • B.  Whoever violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, or both.

Street, for his part, showed all the backbone of a jellyfish in his Friday release that followed his thorough, two-day investigation of Jindal’s taxpayer-funded campaign release tirade.

After reprinting Jindal’s statement, Street went on to say, “It is a matter of record that Senator Rand Paul has announced his candidacy for President of the United States and has a website…through which he is raising money to support his campaign. However, as qualifying for the Louisiana Presidential Primary will not take place until December of 2015, it is unclear at this time whether Senator Paul is a “candidate” as contemplated by …the Louisiana Constitution.

“Louisiana Revised Statute 18:451 reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

  • A person who meets the qualifications for the office he seeks may become a candidate and be voted on in a primary or general election if he qualifies as a candidate in the election.

He also cited a statute which, while defining the word candidate, “specifically excludes those seeking the Presidency of the United States from the definition.” He said inasmuch as that provision is in the chapter dealing with campaign finance, it is unclear how broadly it applies to the Louisiana Constitution).

Street, while dancing around the issue, did acknowledge that the applicable section of constitution “is intended to protect public funds and therefore raises questions about the use of public funds in this instance that resulted in the complaints filed with this office. The governor’s office could have easily avoided such questions by issuing the statement through means that did not involve the use of public funds or employees,” he said, adding that his office “recommends that in order to avoid confusion and any appearance of impropriety in the future, any such statements by the governor be issued through non-publicly funded means rather than through his publicly funded and maintained state website.”

Wow. Jindal must feel like Street jerked a half-hitch in his neck with that devastating report.

Posted in Elections, Ethics, Governor's Office, Media | 18 Comments »

Mystery cartoonist exposes LouisianaVoice as wishing for Jindal presidential candidacy for more column material

May 29, 2015 by tomaswell

 

Honorary Supporter(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Posted in Cartoons | 4 Comments »

Holy ethics violations, Batman! Now it’s Bobby Jindal in violation of law by using state web page to attack opponent

May 27, 2015 by tomaswell

No sooner did we call U.S. Sen. David Vitter out for potential improprieties for using his Senate franking privileges to gain an edge over his three opponents in this year’s gubernatorial election than our old friend C.B. Forgotston send us evidence of an even more flagrant misuse of his office for similar reasons.

It’s enough to make you wonder what the hell goes through these politicians’ minds except that we already know: they are so convinced they are above the law that they couldn’t care less what the great unwashed think about their flaunting of the rules.

We’ve previously reported Jindal’s acceptance of tainted campaign contributions from the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (non-profits are prohibited from making campaign contributions), laundered money from a St. Tammany Parish bank board of directors (without the 11 directors’ awareness they were “contributing” $5,000 each to Jindal) and the head of Florida’s largest-ever Ponzi scheme who funneled $30,000 in contributions to Jindal from himself, his wife and his law firm.

Within an hour of posting the story about Vitter’s use of franking privileges to promote his gubernatorial campaign, LouisianaVoice’s email exploded with messages about Jindal’s latest post on the governor’s web page, paid for by Louisiana taxpayer dollars.

The first email was from Forgotston, who has fired off a letter to Inspector General Stephen Street demanding an answer to his inquiry as to the legality of Jindal’s “press release” on Tuesday.

So what, exactly, is all the fuss about?

Quite simply, Jindal used the state computer and web page (and presumably a state employee) to gin out a “press release” personally attacking one of Jindal’s probable opponents for the Republican nomination for president under the headline “Gov. Jindal: Senator Paul unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief.” http://www.gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=4965

Paul, a U.S. Senator from Kentucky, is an announced candidate for the Republican nomination. https://randpaul.com/

And what did Paul do or say that prompted Jindal to ignore legal constraints on the use of state web pages? Apparently, Paul said something to the effect that ISIS exists because of the U.S. hawkish foreign policy—a claim, by the way, that we cannot entirely disagree with.

“This is a perfect example of why Senator Paul is unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief,” Jindal whined.

Except he did his whining on a state-funded web page and that immediately invoked the wrath of a number of readers and Forgotston, who once worked as a legal counsel for the legislature, is not the one you want to tick off when it comes to matters concerning the state constitution.

In his email to Street, Forgotston began by describing the Jindal press release as “a violation of Louisiana Constitution, Article XI, 4.”

In case you don’t want to take the time to open the link, it says that while there is no prohibition against the use of public funds to disseminate factual information about a proposition appearing on an election ballot, “no public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated to a candidate or political organization.”

“It (the press release) clearly urges a vote against U.S. Senator Rand Paul for President of the United States,” he said. “The press release was issued by state employees (the release contained the names of Shannon Bates Dirmann and Shannon, Deputy Communications Director for the Governor’s Office) and has no disclaimer that public funds were not used.

“If this is not a violation of the law, please advise why it isn’t,” Forgotston said. He ended his email by writing, in all caps, “A RESPONSE IS REQUESTED,” which he said “is not directed to any recipients of his email other than the State Inspector General.”

In case any of our readers also would like to submit a similar question to the OIG, here is Street’s email address: stephen.street@la.gov.

Forgotston said he will also share his concerns with Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.

As Forgotston himself is fond of saying: you can’t make this stuff up.

 

Posted in Auditor, Elections, Ethics, Governor's Office, Senate, State Agencies, Vitter | 15 Comments »

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