Groups attack cable TV changes

One reliable way to find out political motives - especially when somebody is claiming they are doing something for reasons other than this - is to follow the money. And when money is involved, you can be sure the citizenry is getting the short end of a deal.

This basic principle explains why the Louisiana Municipal Association and the Police Jury Association of Louisiana are suing to try to prevent changes in how cable provision is achieved in the state. The new law allows any operator to acquire a statewide cable franchise valid anywhere in the state, while apportioning out monies received from the franchisee to continue to go to the local area at the same 5 percent maximum rate of the deal.

What's to object about this: local governments still can get the same maximum of the revenue? And current providers, almost all cable companies, don't have any real objection to the deal. What's got the local governments upset is that they no longer will be able to restrict entry into their marketplaces and use that leverage to pass through stealth fees to consumers.

The past law did not mandate local governments in awarding a franchise to accept offers as good or even better than what an existing franchisee had. Further, by deliberately limiting competition, it could set things up so the sole franchiser could claim certain costs that then could be levied on behalf of the government and shoot these right into its coffers, shaped around market-interfering requirements imposed. Now these governments have no leverage to force these things out of a single franchisee and consumers and cannot block competition that will cause sweetheart revenue pass-throughs courtesy of a monopoly provider to disappear.

It's not about contractual fidelity as these organizations claim. It's really all about an obscured means for local governments to milk money out of its citizenry that uses these services. Hopefully the judiciary will see through this and/or decide, since the state ultimately controls all actions of local governments, that shifting contracts to the state level is consistent with the jurisprudence defining state and local government relations. For which consumers in Louisiana would be grateful.

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Landrieu wary of McCain; Kennedy courts McCain
(The Advocate)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger John Kennedy are taking different stands when it comes to campaigning with their party presidential nominees in Louisiana.

Landrieu said Monday that she would welcome time to hunt for votes with Barack Obama, who is expected to land his party’s presidential nomination in Denver this week, but questions how likely that is.

“Should he come to the state I will be campaigning with him. But Louisiana is not a battleground state,” said Landrieu, who is in Denver.

“His visits will be very limited, if at all,” she added.

Kennedy said he is eager to share the state stage with U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is expected to win the GOP presidential nomination next week in St. Paul, Minn.

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday announced plans to divert $10 million to help pay monthly electric bills for some low-income customers, according to a news release by the governor’s office.

Jindal and state Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish said in the prepared statement that $10 million would be split between two programs: half would go weatherize homes and the other half would help an estimated 12,700 families pay their energy bills.

The PSC declared an “energy emergency” on Aug. 12 to invoke a little-used law that would allow some low-income senior citizens and others to postpone paying the sharp increases in their electric bills.

At the same time, Campbell asked Jindal to find some state money to help an existing federal program pay utility bills.

Jefferson sure he'll survive primary

Quite a salient question is whether Rep. Bill Jefferson on Sep. 6 will make the Democrat primary runoff for his current position. Things would get quite interesting if he did, but chances are that he won't despite his opinion to the contrary.

Certainly a poll commissioned by opponent Troy Carter's campaign, on top of a previous poll that showed Jefferson battling with other at the 12 percent mark, casts doubt on Jefferson's ability to continue into another term. In it, Jefferson's not even cruising near the top; it says he languishes in the single digits of support. At the same time, it bears recalling that Jefferson was considered embattled in his last election as rumored indictments swirled around him yet pulled out the win.

But conditions have changed in two years. Rumor has turned into fact, along with accompanying indictments of other politically-connected Jefferson family members. His caused the stripping of any positions of influence from him within Congress. As important although not generally recognized as such, the change from the blanket primary to closed primaries also will not work to his advantage.

Before Hurricane Katrina, with the winner of the district by the numbers almost certainly having to be a black Democrat, Orleans parish political organizations in the black community were the main jousters in this competition. Leading the Progressive Democrats, Jefferson could at worst compete with anybody easily for this office and other organizations knew it and did not seriously compete for it.

But the storm weakened all of these organizations and Jefferson's suffered an additional blow with his legal troubles. However, with the advent of the closed primary, other organizations for this office were able to re-coup (yes, bad pun for those of you who know something about New Orleans black democrat politics) some of their strength because their powers became more concentrated. That is, relative now to a primary where Republicans cannot compete, these organizations no longer have to account for the vagaries of GOP voters in an election, and also a fair chunk of the white vote has disappeared as well, leading to the same favorable outcome for these groups.

But the Progressive Democrats will have a much harder time controlling parts of the electorate because of the blows to Jefferson's reputation. That much was clear when, gunning for the state Senate, his daughter former state Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock got trounced by one of her less-prominent colleagues, now state Sen. Cheryl Gray.

The impact of the closed primary also has an effect separate from interaction with …
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Jefferson sure he'll survive primary
(The Advocate)

NEW ORLEANS — Indicted U.S. Rep. William “Bill” Jefferson has a one-word response to critics and political rivals who suggest he may not survive the Sept. 6 Democratic Party primary.

“Foolishness,” said Jefferson, 61, a nine-term incumbent and the first black congressman elected in Louisiana since Reconstruction.
The 2nd Congressional District — safely Democratic since 1891 — includes nearly all of New Orleans, the West Bank portion of Jefferson Parish and south Kenner.

Leaving a candidate forum hosted by the community activist group ACORN in Mid-City, the incumbent recalled his 2006 re-election campaign.

He faced 12 opponents then, led by state Sen. Karen Carter, a fellow Democrat.

Demos: Biden is a friend to N.O.

(Times-Picayune)

WASHINGTON -- Louisiana's delegates to the Democratic National Convention are giving high marks to Barack Obama's choice of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate.

"I think he's a very solid choice," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.

In addition to his foreign policy experience, Landrieu said that Biden, whose daughter attended Tulane University, has shown a commitment to help the state with its post-Katrina needs.

It was Biden, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who helped Landrieu pave the way for foreign contributions to reach intended recipients along the Gulf Coast after Katrina.

Landrieu said that Biden, a Catholic, will help Obama compete in heavily Catholic Louisiana, though probably not enough to turn it into a battleground state.

Sheryl Abshire from Lake Charles, a convention delegate, said that Biden's résumé will help ease concerns about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience.

EBR GOP Snubs 2 Hopefuls

State asks nonstate agencies to meet new demands

It took the media almost three weeks to catch on, but Gov. Bobby Jindal has dropped the other shoe regarding funding of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Months ago, and with some criticism later in the process, Jindal added much more transparency in what requests for state money would be legitimate in his eyes. Now, he will force recipients to be much more accountable in their expenditures of the funds.

Believe it or not, until Jindal became governor, tens of millions of dollars every year of state taxpayer money was being sent to organizations that had to reveal nothing about themselves and who could spend the money practically for any reason. Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco at the very end of her term did request a little information about the recipients, but exercised virtually no enforcement on the quality of the requests.

First, Jindal informed the Legislature that he would veto projects that failed to meet certain criteria, implicitly daring it to reverse any offending items coming his way, and enforced those criteria in a fairly even-handed way. Now, he has strengthened the process by making more formal the distribution process in a way that forces more accountability in the use of state dollars.

Not only did he specify, in one executive order, stringent standards in reporting the nature of the expenditures, but he required that in most cases the state issue the money only as reimbursement after such reporting and proof of expenditure for that purpose. Further, in another executive order he mandated the releasing of funds would occur as part of a contractual agreement that requires repayment to the state if the organization does not use the money for the purposes intended in a process to be monitored by the Division of Administration prior to any agency responsible for disbursing funds actually doing so.

This has brought howls of protest from legislators used to stuffing a pet concern into the budget with no real oversight of it. This is because the combination of these orders likely will reduce dramatically the numbers of NGOs seeking such funds. Many will opt out of forwarding requests to legislators because they are unwilling to provide the information required by the order, or do not want to be put at risk for paying back funds not used exactly for the purpose outlined, or both. Without such largesse to slice out of the taxpayer to send back to their districts built-in constituencies, the recipients, to perpetuate a legislator's stay in office will evaporate which …
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Democratic hopefuls address forum

Fourth District of Louisiana Democrat frontrunner Paul Carmouche had just one mission to perform in mopping up resistance to his nomination during the forum for that party's candidates - say nothing specific without sounding like an empty suit - and to the casual Democrat voter probably pulled it off. Whether thinking voters bought the act is another matter entirely.

The former Caddo Parish district attorney of long standing apparently has thoroughly studied the Democrat playbook for the South - on the very few issues where he can be in agreement with the district, play those up, and on the majority where he cannot be without risking the ire of the liberal party to which he has pledged his loyalty, talk about only in the broadest platitudes without giving away the specifics that either would reveal his liberal credentials.

Other candidates in the race, even if both black candidates more enthusiastically support the national Democrats, get the cold shoulder from the party in its quest to prop up a figure to fool enough voters in a conservative district. In fact, if you wanted a Democrat who sounded much better versed on the issues - and as a result sounded more liberal - local lawyer John Milkovich took that prize. But because he is too much a social conservative even if simplistically liberal on most other preferences, despite previous runs for this office the national party would never dare support him.

On several occasions Carmouche proved he had been well-coached to say just enough to obfuscate without inviting closer scrutiny for the casual voter. He talked about making health care more affordable and available by creating "larger pools" of the insured. Translation: government involvement leading to mandates on individuals and employers ultimately creating universal health care that would provide a lower standard of care than present. He spoke of making prescription drugs more affordable and available by having government negotiate prices. Translation: the clout of government buying power for its programs would destroy the free market in drug provision and create dictates that would dry up supply and drive up prices

Outside health issues, he would revise school accountability standards, which he called failures even as improvement continues, to put power of determining the meeting of goals into the hands of local school boards. Translation: reform away from changes that would cut out gamesmanship by districts that were not serious about educating students in favor of pursuing other trendy goals (like enabling teachers to put forth less effort for higher wages as his …
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Jindal to ley gay bias order die
(The Adovcate)

Calling the executive order unnecessary, Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he would not reissue a ban on discriminating against gays and lesbians in the workplace.

“We are not going to renew it and that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody,” Jindal said about the executive order signed by then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco in December 2004. The order, which some church groups and Jindal have criticized over the years, is set to expire Friday.

“The reason for allowing the order to lapse is that I don’t think it is necessary to create additional special categories or special rights,” Jindal said. State and federal law already prohibits discrimination, he said.

“We are firmly and strongly committed to fair treatment of all of our people and certainly don’t condone discrimination in any form,” Jindal said in an interview Wednesday.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter can use campaign funds to pay some legal costs from his involvement in an escort service scandal, according to a draft opinion prepared for the Federal Election Commission.

The commission is scheduled to take up the issue Thursday, when it can adopt the report, make changes or ask its staff to redo the recommendation.

The legal expenses stemmed from the Louisiana Republican being tied to a Washington, D.C., escort service operated by Deborah Palfrey, who was convicted of running a prostitution ring that catered to the powerful. She committed suicide about two weeks after her conviction.

Vitter has acknowledged involvement with the service and apologized for what he called a "very serious sin" but has dodged follow-up questions.

He was not charged in the case and attorneys ultimately did not call him to testify at Palfrey's trial, though they said they might.

Vitter's lawyers asked the FEC to rule on whether the senator could use campaign funds to pay about $207,000 in legal costs, and whether his campaign committee could reimburse Vitter $70,000 for fees he already paid.

Convention to hear Jindal

Thursday, August 21^st, 2008
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

THE MOST DYSFUNCTIONAL AGENCY

IN LOUISIANA

It looked like it was going to be a real horse race.  Who would win the title of being the most dysfunctional political body in Louisiana?  The final choices were whittled down to three. The mayors of both New Orleans and Mandeville made the final cut.  But when all was  and done, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company won the title of being the most inefficient, corrupt and dysfunctional agency operating in Louisiana state government.

The two mayors in contention, both in the greater New Orleans area, gave it their best shot and made last-minute efforts to show how inept and out of touch both could be.  New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who seems to create some major blunder monthly, is back in the daily headlines by trying to justify his way out of a rehab housing scandal that involves his brother-in-law.  There is plenty of evidence that private companies billed the city of New Orleans for demolition work that they  did not actually performed.  Nagin brushed off both the criticism and calls for investigations by saying that those who criticize are “hurting the recovery efforts.”He may soon be able to express his protests to a Grand Jury.

 And there seems to be a new revelation about Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price as the sun rises each day. Price has been alibiing his DWIs and squandering of city funds for months now.  And it’s hard to top his logic of misuse. When auditors raise questions about his using a city credit card to cover the cost of a cruise to Mexico and other personal travel, Price simply said that he is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week and (I love this part) "takes note of architecture and other things that provide a benefit to the city while he is on vacation."  I've been around public life in Louisiana for almost 30 years, and …
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Jindal cites $3.4 million grant to get principals
(The Advocate)

Gov. Bobby Jindal and higher education leaders on Tuesday announced a new $3.4 million grant to recruit and retain school principals.

The Wallace Foundation grant to support educational leaders statewide was made public by Jindal Tuesday at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, according to the governor’s office.

The grant represents a collaborative effort with the governor’s office, the Louisiana Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Board of Regents, and the University of Louisiana System to ensure the state is advancing in its ability to train qualified school principals.

“We know that the key to strengthening our children’s education is to put a good teacher in every classroom,” Jindal said at ULM, “and ensuring that we have innovative educational leaders is critical to supporting the efforts of our dedicated teachers.”

Jindal bucks tradition, gives up LSU tickets
(Times-Picayune)

BATON ROUGE -- The long-standing bond between Louisiana governors and the LSU football team -- once symbolized by Huey Long leading the school's marching band onto the Tiger Stadium field -- has been frayed.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has voluntarily relinquished the 10 tickets his office controls in the university's suite at Tiger Stadium amid concerns that it would create the appearance of impropriety for an administration that's made ethics a centerpiece of its early agenda.

Jimmy Faircloth, the governor's executive counsel, said that because Louisiana State University is indirectly under the control of the governor's office, the acceptance of the tickets could be viewed as a gratuity.

GOP forum tamely starts '08 campaign

As expected, the forum for the three Republican candidates for the Fourth District congressional seat revealed that little philosophical difference existed among then, only a few issue preferences really separated them, and that the main distinction they tried to create among themselves thereby comes the image they are able to convey to voters.

Minden physician John Fleming, Shreveport trucking executive Chris Gorman, and Bossier City attorney Jeff Thompson all made clear their conservative worldviews. Probably the most polished in terms of conveying a broad message was Gorman - which in fact was too broad in that he seemed most comfortable in falling back on platitudes rather than provide substance. Ironically, as he cautioned against politicians and their use of sound bites, he emitted them throughout.

By contrast, Fleming provided the most policy details, and in doing so generated the most controversy by preferences considered somewhat less orthodox. He broadly sketched a guest worker program for legal aliens that brought cautionary remarks from the other two. He voiced support for a balanced budget amendment and another providing the president with a line-item veto to control spending while the other two did not discuss anything really specific in that area. On a couple of occasions, Thompson actually drew a policy difference with him, while it was hard to tell with Gorman's generalities his thoughts of these issues.

Fleming said state and local government should back off on funding the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier Parish until there was more certainty whether the Air Force's Cyber Command would locate at Barksdale AFB, while Thompson indicated they should go full speed ahead confident enough Cyber Command components would come there. However, the issue of taxation really seemed to exemplify candidate distinctions at the forum. Fleming stated support for a national sales tax, to replace individual income taxes, while Gorman said it needed more study to determine whether taxes might not go up for some, and Thompson opposed it saying to be effective it would have to be almost twice the level Fleming advocated of 23 percent.

Actually, all three candidates whiffed on this one to some extent. A tax with exemptions for lower-income families could be realistic at 23 percent or close to it, as it has been well-studied, obviating both Gorman's and Thompson's concerns. However, its major problem is something only Thompson mentioned and just in passing, with enforcement. It likely would be easier to evade through barter or noncompliance and any significant leakage would either create a shortfall in revenue or …
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