House speaker regrets handling of raise

By remarks made after Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed a doubling of Louisiana legislators' salaries to full-time pay, at least a pair of state lawmakers shows they still don't get it, lending clues as to why legislators as a whole were so incredibly myopic on this issue.

Facing constituents, House Speaker Jim Tucker, widely viewed as the driving force behind the effort to boost annual pay for a position defined in the Constitution as part-time to a level higher than the annual median family income in the state, and state Rep. Jeff Arnold defended their actions to vote for it through a mishmash of curious if suspect  supportive arguments, sob stories, and actual dissembling.

Tucker argued that such a large raise was needed because the Legislature needs people from all walks of life. He cited a story about how educators, attorneys, professionals, and those in medicine turned him down as he solicited candidates for last year legislative races, allegedly proving higher pay as needed.

All such a statement shows is Tucker doesn't know who is in the very body he runs, is rather dismissive of them, and can't even think about the issue logically. I count 26 attorneys in the House, as well as two in the medical field (pharmacy), two educators (and four more who are retired from that profession), and several people in what are considered professional fields. So it would seem that enough people from these walks of life are throwing themselves out there even as others decline; where's the problem?

Tucker empirically could have had a better case if he had had noted that among the 26 attorneys, three agricultural operators, 24 business owners, two educators, eight managers, three executives, nine in the financial industry, two pharmacists, six in sales, five self-employed, and 11 retirees that you didn't see a lot in the way of clerks, construction workers, unemployed, welfare recipients, etc. who make up a vastly larger cross-section of the population than those from occupations listed by House members. Naturally, he couldn't, because he knows (or maybe if he doesn't he should) that defeats his very argument.

If one argues that to attract a cross-section of the public requires the offering of a full-time salary, you must argue that if you get them to run and elected because of the salary, they no longer are representative of some segment of the population because their natures have been changed. They cease being clerks, construction workers, unemployed, welfare recipients, etc. because now they have been changed into full-time legislators. That is, you …
Read More...

Jindal signs autism bill into law
(WAFB)

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has signed a bill mandating health insurance coverage for children with autism.

The bill was sponsored by State Representative Franklin Foil, who is the father of an autistic child.

The new law will require health insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism disorders in patients under age 17. The benefits could not exceed $36,000 per year and $144,000 per lifetime.

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday vetoed a bid to let voters in Iberville Parish decide whether to build a horse-racing track and slot machine complex in St. Gabriel.

The governor’s vetoes of House Bill 937 and Senate Bill 398 were expected.

Jindal made it clear early in the legislative session that he opposes the expansion of gambling.

Parties fight over process

Rep. Don Cazayoux, he who rode an "I'm a Democrat but don't really vote like one" mantra to a narrow special election win for his current job, is finding he can't dance fast enough to obscure the contradictions inherent in that strategy.

As his state legislative record indicated, Cazayoux is a conventional liberal who tries to cast a conservative vote here and there to make his conservative district think he isn't. In a low-stimulus special election last month, it was enough to win. But as we approach the more-followed regular election season with qualifying for it just a couple of weeks away, attention is being brought to what he says and what he does come a-cropper.

Republican groups and sympathizers are running ads and messages pointing out how the Democrats who run Congress in the House are using procedural votes to defeat Republican attempts to consider commonsensical means by which to increase U.S. energy independence and to bring down high gasoline prices. Cazayoux is voting with Democrats to prevent these measures, which include increasing ability to extract oil from U.S. resources, from coming to votes amended to legislation.

Like always, Cazayoux tries to have it both ways. Despite these votes he claims he really is for things like increased domestic drilling capacity as evidenced by a recent vote, but that is misleading if one doesn't understand how business gets conducted by the House Democrat majority. Essentially, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets a vote count on legislation that matters to her. As long as she can get a majority (preferably 218) on a matter, she then allows for enough Democrats to vote against their leadership so that it does not endanger the party's victory on the issue. Cazayoux had permission to vote that way because she had the votes to spare on S. Con. Res. 70 - barely.

Otherwise, he toes her line like the obedient lapdog to liberalism that he is. He follows the standard party line that "drilling is not a short-term solution," (which is not entirely accurate) knowing full well that a long-term solution is needed as well but would rather put his eggs in the basket of all sorts of impossible alternative solutions (except, of course, the one alternative that has any realistic chance of providing in the intermediate term, nuclear power). This is the tactic of liberals to create an energy crunch …
Read More...

State Supreme Court nixes contract tax collectors
(Times-Picayune)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously overturns New Orleans' use of private attorneys to collect overdue property taxes. It also says it's unconstitutional to charge penalties and collection fees for late payments.

The practice began in 1998 under former Mayor Marc Morial.

The justices say tax sales are the only constitutional way to collect delinquent property taxes in Louisiana. They also say the state constitution does not allow penalties or a collection fee for those debts.

EBR Sheriff Sworn

(The Advocate)

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux was sworn into office Tuesday on the first day of the four-year term he was elected to in November, promising again to add more deputies to the street and strengthen ties with the community.

Gautreaux was also sworn into office on Dec. 4 to fill the unexpired term of Sheriff Elmer Litchfield, which ended Monday. Litchfield was succeeded by former Sheriff Greg Phares, whom Gautreaux defeated in November.

After being sworn in Tuesday by Judge Duke Welch of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Gautreaux swore in Col. Ricky Adams, his chief criminal deputy, and 20 new deputies.

State's boards hit hard

Jindal vetoes ethics changes

Some puzzled why their names were dropped

Jindal does about-face on raise veto
(Times-Picayune)

BATON ROUGE -- Facing unrelenting public pressure, Gov. Bobby Jindal suddenly reversed course Monday and vetoed a controversial bill that would have doubled the pay of state lawmakers.

Jindal had said he opposed the raise as excessive but had promised lawmakers he would not interfere in their business and run the risk of derailing some his future "reform programs."

Lawmakers react to legislative pay raise veto

(WAFB)

Here is how several Louisiana lawmakers reacted to news that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has vetoed legislative pay raises:

House Speaker Jim Tucker, Republican, Terrytown (voted FOR raise): "I respect Governor Jindal's veto of Senate Bill 672. Our goal was to assure that citizens from all walks of life could afford public service. The Louisiana State Constitution currently requires that the legislature set its own pay and this should be changed. As Speaker, I and the members of the House are committed to working with the Governor to continue the unprecedented reforms we have achieved in the past six months."

State Senator Jody Amedee, Democrat, Gonzales (voted AGAINST raise): "I am happy the governor vetoed it and did the right thing.  Now, the state can go forward.

Governor vetoes additional state money for Shreveport film center

Leaders: Jindal breached trust with veto

$9.3 million in projects cut from supplemental budget

Lost in all the hoopla about Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's veto of the legislative pay raise, an issue on which he made contradictory promises, appeared to take the side of 76 legislators instead of 2.8 million voters, then reversed himself to veto, was in contrast the unswervingly decisive way in which he handled certain line items tucked into HB 1287, the supplemental appropriations bill concerning which his veto decisions were announced along with that of the failed raise. On Apr. 30, he set out standards by which many of these items would be judged. Two months later, judgment day came for some of them based on those criteria.

Several items he excised arguing there were alternative ways using existing pools of money to fund them. Some others (with Republican Livingston Parish state Rep. Rogers Pope and state Sen. Dale Erdey bearing the brunt) he axed because they were purely local government concerns and should get funding from that source. Most of the others, dealing with nongovernmental organizations, in his mind failed at least one of his four-part test outlined previously: the item (1) must have statewide or substantial regional impact, (2) must have been presented/openly discussed during the legislative session, (3) must be a state agency priority, and (4) must have the proper disclosure form published online prior to consideration for funding (consistent with information provided in the House disclosure form).

A couple of items appeared out of nowhere without any disclosure. The Gulf South Research Institute, a private contractual firm based in New Orleans for decades, got its $300,000 stricken, and a $750,000 gift that would be passed along by an LSU unit to the private firm TransGenRx met the same fate (maybe it was included to make up for the nearly $400,000 it has spent on lobbying in the in past three years).

Jindal also saw something he didn't like in a request to pay off the Maritime Institute for Emergency Monitoring and Response, requested by Republican Sen. Mike Michot to the tune of $396,500. Maybe it was because it was for a conference that already had been held and thus presumably paid for, or that it also had prominent Democrats participating, or that the end product from the conference was just too narrow in scope.

Sometimes it might have been too little. The Livingston Council on Aging, on Republican state Rep. Tom McVea's request, asked for $10,000 …
Read More...

Tuesday, July 1^st, 2008
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

DID BOBBY SEE THE LIGHT,

OR FEEL THE HEAT?

 You have to wonder who has been advising Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on the pay raise albatross around his neck these past few weeks.  The controversy against any raise took off like wildfire, and never slowed down.  If Jindal had not vetoed the raise as he did, a number of new recall petitions would have joined some 10 already underway.  So what made the difference?  Did common sense prevail, or did the dam of public opinion just overwhelm the new guy in charge?

 The Governor apparently has a staff of bright but young and inexperienced workers that put to much credence in their abilities to run the Bayou Ship of State based primarily on a successful gubernatorial campaign. But the election turned out to be a cakewalk with few major stumbling blocks along the way.  Jindal sewed up the election two years out by his crisscrossing the state post Katrina, and, simply by the stout of hard work, won going away.  Whatever the competency of his key advisers, the campaign allowed then Congressman Jindal, for all practical purposes, to coast into in the Governor's mansion with few real challenges along the way.  It's an understatement to say that it has all changed now.

 When Lyndon Johnson became vice president on the Kennedy ticket in 1960, he apparently was impressed with the new group of whiz kids surrounding the popular president.  He shared his admiration of the Kennedy team with his mentor and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, also from Texas.  After rambling on and on about the competency and intelligence of the new staff, Speaker Rayburn cut him to the quick by simply stating: "Yeah Lyndon, but not a damn one of them ever got elected anything or have actually governed."

 It is obvious that Jindal has been getting some advice without much experience behind it, and sometimes not much common sense.  And not just on the pay raise debacle.  The mass resignation of Board of Ethics members and staff has raised troubling concerns of just why a …
Read More...

Jindal vetoes legislative pay raise

In a defining moment in his early executive political career, Gov. Bobby Jindal showed that he got it when he vetoed SB 672 that would have given a huge pay raise to legislators to some of the higher levels in the nation. Who won and lost as a result?

Big winners: The original handful of legislators not only who opposed the raise but then refused to take it. They come out with their integrity intact and tremendous moral authority to offer themselves as true servants of the people, eschewing privilege at the people's expense. They were able to stick to principle and will be seen as heroes, giving their careers a boost.

Winners: Jindal. Yes, he may have in the future on some occasions rough times with the Legislature since he appeared to allow many of them to endanger their own political careers by permitting them to go the record as being for a raise and they will smart over that. But public opinion solidly on his side as a result of this veto will buttress his power to get his agenda through. It allows him to keep a campaign promise to oppose raises he called "excessive" and demonstrates he understands that as governor it also is his power and responsibility to prevent undesirable policy to be made when he can. Jindal's news conference, in justifying his veto and retraction of his vow not to interfere in legislative affairs thereby signaling he intended not to veto it, showed he understands these points and has the political maturity and wherewithal to make the right decision, even when difficult.

Unfortunately, Jindal squandered political capital up to this point. His previous didactic statements about not vetoing, accusations of retribution if he did, and seeming insouciance at the prospect of it going through as a result of his failure to act left not only his supporters but everybody puzzled. His arguments about the sanctity of legislative independence and equating "non-support" with failing to sign bad legislation and letting it come into law instead of vetoing it convinced no one that he was doing the right thing.

Also in this category is a pair of legislators who publicly recanted their raise support came out looking a little better than worse. Their votes for it now do no harm, and they will have a leg up in integrity on the minds of the public for repudiation and calling on Jindal to veto (whether that made any difference to Jindal, they can hint that it did).

Losers: Legislators who said they were …
Read More...

Jindal Vetoes Pay Raise
(The Advocate)

Gov. Bobby Jindal announced moments ago that he vetoed the legislative pay raise.

Jindal's Legislative Director Resigns
(Times-Picayune)

Gov. Bobby Jindal's legislative director has resigned after serving fewer than six months with the new administration, which is embroiled in a controversy over the Legislature's large pay raise.

Tommy Williams, 65, said Sunday the decision to leave was his and that he left on good terms. He did not offer reasons for his departure, but said he plans to return to his career as a professional lobbyist.

"I cannot tell you how much I've learned and what a great opportunity I had," Williams said.

Williams' resignation comes at a moment of intensely strained relations between Jindal and the Legislature, which adjourned last week from its third lawmaking session this year. Although Jindal won virtually every initiative he wanted during those sessions, he did not prevent lawmakers from giving themselves a pay raise that more than doubles their base salary for serving in the Legislature.

BATON ROUGE -- After six months of rest, travel and writing, former Gov. Kathleen Blanco is easing back into Louisiana's public light with observations about the past and current political scene, including the legislative pay raise controversy.

In an interview last week, Blanco praised Gov. Bobby Jindal's support of higher education and teacher pay increases, children's health insurance, pre-kindergarten education and economic development projects, which also were priorities during her four years in office.

She attributed the legislative pay raise flap to inexperience on the part of the governor's office and the large number of freshman lawmakers.

Ethics Board loses two more

In the past week, most of the members of the Louisiana Ethics Board have resigned. This is no accident, and it is a positive, healthy development for enforcement of government officials' ethical practices in the state.

This year, three major changes, for the most part without qualification beneficial, have occurred concerning ethics administration in the state. First, board members must comply with ethics standards of increased rigor, which, while onerous, vitally assure the public that those who bring ethics charges against others themselves appear to be above reproach. Second, the board's adjudication power was spliced off, thereby removing it from the hands of political appointees into a professional system of trained bureaucrats which is considered best practice in other states. Third (and perhaps the only change that may not be for the better if the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program does not get the increased resources needed to pursue this; so far it has been), the standard of proof has been strengthened for bringing a case before administrative law judges which again aligns the state more in the direction of others.

To put it another way, the costs perceived for serving by existing board members have gone up and the benefits in their minds of serving have gone down. They now must take on the burden of extra reporting on financial information, and simultaneously they have lost the ability to visit punishment on officials and their discretion has been lowered in their ability to bring cases in any event. More bluntly, the position is less fun to them because they have lost political power and it requires more revelation of their personal lives.

Resignation explanations have not addressed this, of course, because none want to admit that an attraction of the job was the exercise of power. One member, a political opponent of Gov. Bobby Jindal who as chief executive appoints a majority on the board, attempted to deflect attention away from the obvious by implying that Jindal somehow was making life rough on the Board because it hit his 2007 gubernatorial campaign with a fine. But the absolute vacuity of that opinion is evident when considering Jindal immediately admitted fault (in fact, correcting the error on its own which made the matter open-and-shut) and tried as quickly as possible to take its punishment and move on. It makes no sense that Jindal would waste resources to bully and badger members to resign in retaliation when he had far bigger fish to fry over three legislative sessions, so this assertion by its weakness in fact verifies the idea that this is a cover story to deflect attention from the reality that the resignations …
Read More...