Senator John Alario Shares the Shovel

Senator John Alario has been hanging around the state capital almost as long as the dinosaurs inhabited our earth.  Well maybe not quite that long, but since 1972.  He was twice speaker of the House before becoming Senate president.  A longtime Democrat who served in a leadership position under former Gov. Edwin Edwards, Alario became a Republican in recent years and joined the legislative leadership under Gov. Bobby Jindal.  Alario has faced no opponent since 2007.

Tuesday, Mr. Alario made the announcement that the present $1.6 billion budget shortfall can’t be fixed this legislative session because it is simply too big.  He admitted that, “We don’t have time now to come up with a long term solution.”  “The hard work will come next year.”  Consequently the cuts will be forth coming to health care and to a lesser extent education.  Mr. Alario’s statements make it appear as though he has no responsibility for this present mess, when in fact he and the rest of Jindal’s minions had 7 years to prevent this budget catastrophe, but instead chose to support Jindal’s “kick the can down the road” solution.  Something Alario is perpetuating yet again.

John Alario, as Senate president, was the point man for ALL of Bobby Jindal’s budgets including this year’s.  During those years he stood side by side with Jindal as he continued to dig the budgetary grave that has finally come to fruition this year.

Not once during the seven years of smoke and mirrors budgets did this man, considered by many as one of the most powerful lawmakers in the legislature, even remotely challenge Jindal.  In fact, he even blocked attempts to call special sessions to override Jindal’s vetoes of bills offered by some legislators to prevent the present budget collapse.  Alario has been a loyal puppet to Jindal and has been rewarded many perks for this loyalty.

However, he need not insult the intelligence of the Louisiana voter by acting as though he is trying to solve a budgetary situation that was simply handed to him by an incompetent governor.  John Alario shares equal responsibility with Jindal for the bankruptcy of Louisiana.

In six months the residents of Louisiana will get a chance to elect a new governor along with 144 legislators.  It's time to throw all these legislators out of office and start anew.

Let's get Serious About Finding Money for the State

From initial reports it appears that the 2015 Jazz and Heritage Festival will once again post record attendance figures despite the high ticket prices.  However, since the state years ago granted tax-exempt status to the operators of the festival, the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, an opportunity to score some significant cash for the state has been missed yet again.

When questions arise about the wisdom of this tax-exemption status the foundation always responds with the pat answer that they attempt to keep the ticket prices as low as possible and that sales tax would raise those prices for customers.   Obviously that is just B.S. because they continue to deal with the Ticket Master Corporation for the sale of online tickets which adds a sizable surcharge to each ticket purchase.  In fact, that fee is higher than my proposed 4% state sales tax additional cost.  Apparently, the Foundation has no problem with the Ticket Master increase.

Besides I am not suggesting that they pass the sales tax on to the customer, just pay it out of their profits.  Last year over 435,000 attended.   If sales tax had been assessed on these ticket purchases alone, over $1.2 million would have flowed into the state coffer.   Not bad for a seven day event.

The same can be applied to the Mercedes Benz Superdome and the Audubon Nature Institute, both of which also enjoy a tax-free status.  The dome charges $8.00 to $9.00 for a beer and yet NO sales tax is assessed on that purchase or on any food purchased along with it.  Again pay the sales tax out of the $8.00.

Just think of all the revenue the Zoo, the Aquarium, the Jazz Festival, the Saint’s games, and concerts could generate to plug the $1.6 billion deficit.  Bet our legislators won’t touch these sacred cows, but they have no problems cutting health care and education.

When is enough, enough?

While our esteem legislators waste precious time passing symbolic legislation resulting in miniscule budgetary savings to plug a $1.6 billion state funding deficit, they continue to allow spending that adds significantly to that debt.

A good example is Jindal’s unrestricted spending in his quest to derail the Common Core Standards.  Our legislators permitted our Rhodes Scholar governor to hire the Faircloth Law Firm, run by Jimmy Faircloth, Jindal’s former executive counsel, to handle the case.  However, since Louisiana already has legal counsels in house, known as the Attorney General’s Office, whose salaries are already being paid with tax payers’ money, I wondered why our legislators did not attempt to stop this.  From Jindal’s point of view, I guess the fact that Faircloth and his law firm donated over $25,000 to his gubernatorial campaigns had nothing to do with his decision to add to the state’s debt.

However, the Common Core legal spending is not the only example of our legislators turning a blind eye to the state’s spending spree with Faircloth.  His law firm has received more than $1.1 million in contract work during the past two years from Jindal appointees and various state agencies.  Several were NO-BID contracts.

In addition to the Common Core case, Jimmy Faircloth is handling other high profile cases that include the defense of the governor's signature education laws creating a statewide voucher program, the rewriting of teacher tenure and pay policies, the LSU Board of Supervisors' closed-door presidential search, and the legal battle over the termination of the Medicaid provider Client Network Services.  It is actually very difficult to assess just how much money the state of Louisiana has paid for Faircloth’s services due to the numerous state entities contracting with him.

In 2010 our legislators even allowed a no-bid contract by the state’s attorney general office to hire the Faircloth Law Firm to handle the state's litigation against BP PLC for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a continuing cash cow for Faircloth.

Legal contracts are only one example of the significant rise in outside contracts entered into by the Jindal administration over the past 7 ½ years. .  In 2012 alone Louisiana government spent $5.28 billion on professional and consulting contracts.  Most recently, the stupidest one was the no-bid $5 million contract to the out-of-state firm Alvarez and Marshal to find ways to save money.  Need I say more.

It is already clear from the early proceedings of this year’s legislative session, that our legislators have no intention of cutting to the chase and dealing with one of the major cost wastes at the Baton Rouge capital, patronage contracts.  While legislators continue to waste time in the legislative session, the dooms day clock for Louisiana’s colleges and universities continues to tick.

No Tigers without LSU

One thing Louisiana doesn’t have a shortage of is LSU fans.  Their exuberance for LSU athletics is stupendous; even among those who never attended the university.  Ask them a question about LSU athletic stats and you surely will receive a knowledgeable answer.  But, ask them a question about the current financial situation facing the university, and sadly, most of these same fans will simply respond with blank stares.  They have little or no knowledge of the dire financial consequences that are currently brewing with the rest of LSU.  

LSU is running out of money to operate as the premier research university in this state, and even the LSU students seem blasé about the seriousness of this situation.

The funding cuts currently proposed to stem the $1.6 billion deficit, which the Jindal administration along with our esteemed legislators have created, would reduce the  state funding for LSU next year from around $3,500 per undergraduate student to $660 per undergraduate student.

 

In response to this, LSU is considering filing for “financial exigency” or academic bankruptcy, something Southern University was recently forced to do. This status makes it easier for public colleges to shut down programs and lay off tenured faculty.  However, it also impacts a school's reputation, making it harder to recruit high quality faculty and students.   Yes, and that includes athletes.  No one wants to play for a school that has a bottom rung academic reputation.

Don’t take the attitude that all this bankruptcy talk is just grand standing and that our legislators would never let this happen.  Jindal has made it perfectly clear that he will veto any kind of revenue raising plan that is not what he has termed ‘revenue neutral’ and your legislators have no previous history of ever overriding any of Jindal’s vetoes.  If you don’t think Jindal will sacrifice even LSU for a presidential nod you are foolish.  Just look it all the other sacrificial lambs he has already served up on his quest.

If you like your LSU sports, you better get off your duffs and do something, because you can’t have a premier athletic program without a premier university. 

Women are not second class citizens

The Louisiana Republican gentlemen’s club has spoken-women are not equal to men in job worthiness.  Republicans on the House Labor Panel recently killed both bills aimed at providing equal pay to men and women with similar skills, performing similar jobs.

All nine Republicans on the committee voted against the measures.  I wonder if they’re man enough to tell their spouses about their discriminatory vote which perpetuates Louisiana’s  male/female pay gap rank as dead last nationally, another star ranking Louisiana can be proud of.

Doesn’t matter who you are, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, Native American, or Hawaiian, as long as you’re female you will make only 66 cents for every dollar earned by a male in the same job in this state.

For the past several years, the national Republican Party has worked very hard trying to shed its previous image as a party of ‘old white men’ to one that embraces all members of our society equally.

 

However, it looks as though Louisiana Republican males still haven’t gotten that message.  Many on the committee responded to criticism of their action by stating that such bills weren’t necessary because there are already laws on the books forbidding discrimination.   Yet they were still unwilling to legally solidify this when it comes to equal pay.

While Louisiana Republican males actively pursue the support of conservative women for their issues on “right to life”, “traditional marriage”, and “religious freedom”, sadly, deep down inside, beyond the superficial rhetoric, many continue to perceive all women as second class citizens regarding equal pay.  This is something all women need to carefully consider when they go to the polls at election time.

Once again it’s a sad day for the women of Louisiana.