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Leadbelly video of ‘Goodnight Irene’

February 5, 2011 by tomaswell

Below is a video link to a Louisiana legend: Leadbelly.

Leadbelly is featured in my book, Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock & Roll. He is just one of about 300 Louisiana artists profiled in the book. Born in Mooringsport near Shreveport, his real name was Hudie Ledbetter. He was incarcerated for murder in the Texas state penitentiary where he is rumored to have sung his way out of prison. He sang for the governor of Texas who then pardoned him. Leadbelly later was sentenced to Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana for another murder. It was there that he was discovered by folklorist John Lomax who got him another pardon, hired him as his driver, and promoted his singing career.

Record executives tried to turn him into a blues singer which he hated. He considered himself a folk singer and often appeared in concert with another folk singer, Pete Seeger.

Leadbelly wrote four songs which most people will recognize immediately. The first is Good Night Irene, featured in the video below. The other Three are The Rock Island Line, The Midnight Special, and In New Orleans. The latter three are each listed among the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll,” as compiled by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame although In New Orleans is listed by its more familiar title, The House of the Rising Sun, a song made famous by the British group The Animals in the mid-60s.

You may learn more about my book by logging onto:

wwwlouisianarockstomaswell.com

Posted in Book Review | Leave a Comment »

Too Big to Fail

February 4, 2011 by tomaswell

By John Sachs
Guest Columnist

In his book Too Big To Fail, Andrew Sorkin provides the reader a blow-by-blow account of the words, actions, and intrigue surrounding the financial crisis in the fall of 2008. The book does not delve into the financial products and practices that led to the crisis. Sorkin has left that task to others, including me, as you will see in the text below. He deals extensively with the personalities of the participants who managed the crisis by providing details as to what each one said and did in the heat of battle. This particular battle, like all battles, revealed the real measure of each man or woman.

Keeping up with the characters, the institutions they represented, and their responsibilities was confusing, or at least it was to me. Nevertheless, I found that if I kept reading and “listening” to each character, the real story unfolded. And it is a story that reveals a truth about all of us: among us, there are good and intelligent folks — and then there are those who are not so good or intelligent.

The following is my brief sketch of the origins of the financial crisis.

The crisis had been festering for a number of years. For more details, I recommend that you read Wikipedia’s account of FNMA and FHLMC, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as they are more commonly known.

Unlike GNMA (Ginnie Mae) which provides a secondary market financing source only for federally insured mortgages, Fannie and Freddie were free to provide mortgage financing funds to mortgage loan originators through the purchase of, among others, pools of risky subprime loans. And as many of you know, unscrupulous lenders were making home loans to borrowers who had little or no chance of repaying those loans unless their homes appreciated — and/or the rates on their adjustable rate mortgages stayed at or lower than the rate at origination.

Those subprime loans were combined (pooled) to form what is known as securitized loan packages. Then those securities were sold in the financial marketplace to the public: folks like you and me and our 401(k) retirement accounts, banks, mutual funds, etc.

Then along came 2006 and 2007 when many adjustable rate mortgages repriced at significantly higher rates than the borrowers could afford. That led to foreclosures. A significant number of foreclosures created a glut of available housing, and the laws of supply and demand came into play. Housing values fell. When values fell, those homeowners who needed or wanted to sell their homes found that the value of those homes had fallen below the amount they still owed on their mortgages.

Being “under water” led to more foreclosures, more of a housing glut, and then even lower home values. The line of dominos began to fall.

The collapse in the housing market then led to a collapse in the value of those securities that had as their basis the value of the pools of mortgages. Matters continued from bad to worse not only in actual home values, but also for investors who owned the securitized mortgages on those homes — as well as those who had insured the repayment of the loans. It was huge. It was unprecedented. And it continues to this day even though the federal government has come to the rescue of nearly everyone who was affected. The government’s involvement reduced a worldwide financial crisis to simply a terrible ongoing problem with which we continue to cope.

However, not everyone involved in the crisis was destroyed. Those folks not harmed had had the good judgment to recognize the risks associated with the fallacious assumptions that housing prices would always go up and that interest rates on home mortgages would always stay low. They had prudently managed their risks by not loading-up on risky, high-yield, mortgage-backed securities.

Those firms that did not get greedy and that managed their risks wisely included Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs. Those that bet the bank and lost included Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, and AIG.

This brings us to the point I wish to make and that is that all too often the virtuous suffer because of the faults of others. How so, you may ask? In this instance, the global financial markets are dominated by only a very few institutions. As much as we wish that they themselves could police this critical marketplace, they cannot and will not — if for no other reason than they are housed in and regulated by numerous countries, and in some instances managed by greedy and/or incompetent managers who cannot be controlled by others.

Then there is the matter of associated risk and its management. We know now that some financial products are too complex and involve significant risk for even the most sophisticated investors. Such products should be placed off limits to other than avowed gamblers and even then only in manageable amounts. No regulated investment banker, broker dealer, or government entity should be allowed to involve itself in such risky product markets.

In conclusion, where “Too Big To Fail” is a consideration, regulation must exist in order to manage the risks that affect everyone. We, the prudent masses, should never again be asked to bail out the greedy and incompetent few.

Like Louisiana Music? Be sure to check out Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock & Roll! This book is the only complete history of all genres of Louisiana rock and roll. Re-live all those great old songs that used to play late nights on WTIX, WNOE, KAAY. Learn about all the great artists like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, D.J. Fontana, Floyd Cramer, and Hank Williams who got their start on the Louisiana Hayride. Check your local bookstore or log onto http://www.louisianarockstomaswell.com.

Posted in Business, Economy | Leave a Comment »

State can’t wean itself of golf course involvement

February 1, 2011 by tomaswell

The State of Louisiana just can’t seem to wean itself of its involvement in the golf course business.

Even though several golf courses in Louisiana have gone under in recent months, the state continues to invest its resources into the construction and management of several facilities across the state.

Most recently, the Office of State Purchasing received proposals for the management of the Black Bear Stay and Play Lodge at the Poverty Point Reservoir State Park near Delhi.

While the proposed bid opening was on Jan. 4, no contract has been awarded, nor has any information been forthcoming as to the bidders’ identities or if the bid opening was even held on schedule.

The 7,100-yard, 300-acre course was designed by Bechtol Russell Golf of Austin, Texas, and constructed by Weitz Golf International. It is operated under the administration of the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism (DCRT).

The request for proposals (RFP) stipulates that lodge personnel shall include a “first-class” hotel manager, meaning that he or she must be knowledgeable, experienced, and effective, and that the contractor shall submit a detailed monthly accounting of all transactions.

The lodge includes 17 guest rooms, a swimming pool and fenced tennis court and maintains a 61 percent occupancy rate, according to the RFP, which also said the DCRT “intends to work diligently with the successful proposer to ensure the profitability of a Stay and Play Lodge operation at Black Bear Golf Course. The economic, professional, social, and recreational elements critical to the success and image of a quality golf environment are foremost in consideration.”

The RFP also said the State Legislative auditor, federal and internal auditors of the Division of Administration “shall have the option to audit all accounts directly pertaining to the contract for a period of five years” after the contract goes into effect. “Records shall be made available during normal working hours for this purpose,” it added.

A check of the Legislative Auditor’s web page could find no instance of an audit ever having been conducted of either the Black Bear Golf Course or Poverty Point Reservoir State Park.

The Louisiana Legislature last year appropriated $301,000 for the Black Bear Golf Club and since 1997 the state has poured more than $141 million into golf courses all over the state.

The Black Bear course was constructed on private property owned by the Poverty Point Development Corp. under the auspices of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development as part of a retirement community developed by State Sen. Francis Thompson and his brother, Mike Thompson. Once completed, the golf course was donated to DCRT with the proviso that a “professional manager” be appointed to administer the day to day operations of Black Bear.

The manager who was initially appointed was Mike Thompson. Thompson was convicted in federal court in January 2010 for violation of the Hobbs Act and in July, he was sentenced to 18 months in the federal correctional facility in Pollock. Specifically, Thompson was charged with having an employee of the Poverty Point Reservoir District perform work on Thompson’s private property during the time the employee was on the clock at the district.

Posted in Budget, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records, Taxes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Department of Corrections to receive prison phone bids

February 1, 2011 by tomaswell

Vendors who wished to provide prison pay telephone service were scheduled to have submitted their bid proposals this week, according to information received from the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

Prison telephone service is big business, profitable to the vendor and to the Department of Corrections but has been a source of controversy across the country for several years.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has been conducting a long legal battle against what it terms as inflated collect phone call rates and “kickback commissions” paid to states.

Louisiana’s contract, awarded on a competitive bid basis, does not approach CCR’s claim of charges levied against prisoners’ families who are the ones who ultimately pay the cost of the phone calls. While CCR maintains that some phone services charge up to $6 per minute for calls (in California, the rate is about $3.50 per minute), Global Tel Link Corp. charges from 9 cents to 25 cents per minute, depending on the distance and time of day.

In addition to the per-minute charge, there is a surcharge for each phone call placed from any state correctional facility that varies from 80 cents to $4.50, depending upon whether the call is local or person-to-person collect. All charges are paid by the call recipient, not the prisoner and therein lies the rub.

CCR and an organization called the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice feel that the exorbitant charges are not only wrong, but illegal. New York State receives 57.5 percent of all profits from prisoner phone charges. That comes to about $200 million per year for New York. Global Tel Link pays Louisiana 55 percent under its contract.

Some of Louisiana’s commissions are spent on computer software and security.

“We are not challenging how the commissions are spent,” CCR said. “But the high rates for prison phone calls are being paid by the families of incarcerated people.”

Louisiana’s 12 prison facilities grossed slightly more than $3 million during fiscal 2009-2010, netting the state more than $1.6 million, state records show.

In some states, the practice appears to be more questionable. While Louisiana, with the largest rate of incarceration in the nation, generated only $3 million in phone bills in FY 2009-2010 charges to California prisoners’ families came to more than $120 million.

Not surprisingly, prison phone contracts are a prized commodity in other states. Some carriers offer California counties signing bonuses. In the case of Los Angeles County, the bonus for the 2004 contract was $17 million.

An investigation conducted by Associated Press revealed that California counties received more than $300 million in revenue from prisoner phone calls over a five-year period.

“It’s a gouging of family members, those who have never committed a crime, said Charles Carbone, an attorney with Prison Focus, a San Francisco-based prisoner rights group.

The California State Assembly passed a law in 2000 that would have required negotiating for lower rates but then-Gov. Gray Davis vetoed the bill, saying it would cost the state $30 million per year in revenue.

Like Louisiana Music? Be sure to check out Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock & Roll! This book is the only complete history of all genres of Louisiana rock and roll. Re-live all those great old songs that used to play late nights on WTIX, WNOE, KAAY. Learn about all the great artists like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, D.J. Fontana, Floyd Cramer, and Hank Williams who got their start on the Louisiana Hayride. Check your local bookstore or log onto http://www.louisianarockstomaswell.com.

Posted in Contract, Contracts, Prison, Transparency | 3 Comments »

Former Louisiana Budget Director says little has changed: politics still wins out over pragmatism

January 27, 2011 by tomaswell

The former state budget director says little has changed in the Louisiana Legislature’s spending mentality in the decade since he retired.

Stephen R. Winham, who served as the state’s budget director from 1988 to 2000 and as a budget analyst for the Department of Corrections budget, is also a vocal critic of the proliferation of professional service contracts.

“Back when the State Budget Office actually had some clout, budget analysts did a common sense review of professional services contracts,” he said. “But then Governor (Dave) Treen decided that the budget office had too much power and that no one should be questioning things his cabinet appointees did.”

Winham said after that, central oversight of state agency expenditures began to decline “and now nobody routinely second-guesses the need for professional services contracts above the agency level.”

The State of Louisiana Annual Report for 2008-2009, the latest report available, shows that the state issued more than $5 billion in contracts, fully 20 percent of the state budget. That figure is somewhat misleading because 1,083 contracts for $2.9 billion, nearly 60 percent, were in the form of cooperative endeavor agreements with other public agencies; $213.4 million was for interagency contracts, and $79.4 million was for intergovernmental contracts.

Still, the report showed there were 1,275 consulting contracts in the amount of $1.4 billion; 1,292 professional contracts totaled $178 million, 160 personal contracts came to another $7.4 million, and 1,531 contracts for social services came to $288.9 million.

Winham said during his tenure, his office presented an annual budget to the Legislature that cut funding to programs “below the line” of available funds. He said that list was a best effort at a fair representation of what people want and need from state government. “Every year the program ranked dead last on our list was funded,” he said. The program consistently ranked last by his office was an appropriation of about $3,000 for CODOSPAN (the Council for the Development of Spanish). It was the Spanish equivalent of CODOFIL (the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana),” he said. “Always last on our priority list and always funded.”

He said there were other local subsidies (now called Non Governmental Organizations, or NGOs) that were always funded, like basketball tournaments and festivals.

He said his worst experience was coming to realization that “when it comes down to a choice of politics and what makes the most sense, politics always wins. In a political environment, you can’t avoid that but when politics always supersedes everything else, it’s always frustrating.” His best accomplishment, he said, was getting the budgetary process automated and available on line. “We made the budget more accessible to the citizens.”

Given a choice, he said he would make a different career choice. “I felt I was spinning my wheels,” he said. “I would not do it over. I felt I was accomplishing things early on but I became less and less effective. The Joint Legislative Committee on Appropriations just started ignoring my presentations. Everything was just a formality,” he said.

“They say all politics are local, and they’re right,” he said. “That’s why (Gov. Bobby) Jindal goes all over the state handing out those little checks to local governments. It’s the same reason legislators want to protect their turf with those local appropriations and it’s also the reason Jindal won’t veto any of those appropriations.

“Jindal is always thinking about the next thing,” Winham said. “We need a governor who will think about the now.”

He said government is not a business. “When a candidate says he is going to make government operate like business, it’s just rhetoric. Government and business do not exist for the same purpose; government exists to serve the people and business exists to make a profit.”

Still, he expressed concerned about the Legislature’s apparent inability to rein in pork spending. He said he agrees with State Treasurer John Kennedy’s assessment that until individual legislators, working together in large numbers, begin to take their responsibility seriously, funding decisions will remain irrational, irresponsible, and reckless.

Winham said former Gov. Buddy Roemer was a strong fiscal conservative but where he cut in some areas, he added in others, so he never got credit for any cuts.

“I was surprised once when I did an analysis and found the least budget growth occurred during one of Edwin Edwards’s terms, his third term, I believe,” he said.

Posted in Budget, Contract, Contracts, Education, Exemptions, Incentives, Governor's Office, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Taxes, Transparency | 1 Comment »

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