Jindal, like Louisiana, running last

Finally some positive news for Louisiana.  Wednesday, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion released the results of their most recent McClatchy-Marist Poll regarding voters’ choice of candidates for the 2016 presidential contest.  Among Democrats sampled nationally, including Democratic leaning independents, the clear choice was Hilary Clinton with a total of 63%.  No big surprise there. 

 

But among Republicans, and Republican leaning independents, there was no clear winner. Chris Christie was first with 15%, followed by Paul Ryan with 13%, Marco Rubio with 12% and Jeb Bush with 10%.  Pretty tight race. 

The good news was, guess who was LAST with only 1%?  Our beloved governor, Bobby Jindal.

Even though Jindal continues to submit treatises to various ultra-conservative politico blogs nation-wide, served as the chairman of the Republican Governors’ Association, and is mostly absent from the Governor’s mansion crisscrossing our nation attempting to woo Republican conservatives, it is apparent that most Republicans, nationally, could care less about him when it comes to consideration for a Republican presidential candidate.

However, my elation was short lived, because I sadly remembered all the damage Jindal has done to the citizens of this state in his obsession to gain this presidential nod: the health care workers, the elderly, sick, mentally ill, and disabled, the state retirees, the Medicaid recipients, the special needs children, the public elementary, secondary and college students, the state college and university professors and instructors, and the public elementary and secondary teachers. Please forgive me if I omitted some.  

It also saddened me to come to grips with the reality that this latest poll may only serve to make Jindal try even harder in his delusional quest, and consequently wreak more havoc until his final day in office.

Testimony from someone on the front lines

This letter appeared in the Baton Rouge Advocate, July 19, 2014:

I am writing in response to your editorial titled “Jindal Alone on Core” to express my concern as a parent about the politics being played with education in Louisiana, specifically the attempts to sabotage the adoption of Common Core and PARCC.

I am a mother in a military family. When we received orders to head to Louisiana, my biggest fear centered on the education my children would receive. Louisiana trails in academic achievement nationwide, ranking 48th in the country. Leaving DOD schools and transitioning into Louisiana schools, my kids were more than three years ahead of the curriculum being taught.

That means the majority of Louisiana’s children today graduate high school three years behind other students in the country. This is seen in lower ACT scores and lower retention rates in college. This handicaps Louisiana children who are competing for college acceptance and scholarship dollars, attempting to complete degrees and ultimately to secure jobs. It damages the state’s credibility and makes Louisiana unattractive to the growth-oriented, well-paying, and economically desirable businesses we want to attract.

Mr. Jindal, your current wind vane stance on educational standards and assessments and your pandering to political backers is a game of chicken being played with our children’s futures and the future of Louisiana. Don’t pretend to speak for me as a parent or to represent my interests when it’s evident that what you’re truly representing are your own political aspirations.

Amanda Stenson

New Orleans

Don’t Throw Stones if You Live in a Glass House

Now days, Bobby Jindal spends most of his time crisscrossing our nation speaking to anyone who will listen about the waste of taxpayers’ money due to the ineffectiveness of the Federal government and how he can rectify this waste if elected president.

Perhaps if he spent more time in the governor’s mansion and actually governed this state, he would realize that his administration is also a major source of waste of our hard earned cash.

A recent audit of SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, found that Bobby’s staff provided benefits totaling over $1.1 million to ineligible people in prison during 2011 to 2012.  Additionally, another $100,000 in benefits was paid to ineligible drug felons.

Another audit found more waste of federal dollars by the Louisiana Health Department totaling nearly $2.7 million in Medicaid payments to more ineligible state prisoners.

However, the latest reported error, which will have the most impact on the quality of life for Louisiana citizens, was the intentional or unintentional overstating of the number of children eligible for bonus payments under the children’s health insurance program component of the state’s Medicaid Program.

This error process started shortly after Jindal became governor and continued through 2011 until discovered by outside sources.  A federal inspector general’s report concluded that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are owed more than $7 million by the state of Louisiana.  The report concluded that, “if the state agency had calculated its current enrollment in accordance with federal requirements, the current enrollment would not have exceeded baseline enrollment…..”

As Bobby did with his privatization plan for the LSU Hospital System, which was also rejected by CMS, and now may cost the state over $300 million, he decided he could ignore the rules and do it his way.  As a result, CMS wants their $7 million back.

I bet the $307 million that our Rhode’s scholar has jeopardized on these two projects alone would help plug the educational funding shortfalls.  Just how much more his actions have cost Louisiana remains a mystery, for they have eluded both public and media scrutiny due to Jindal’s repeated vetoes of  legislative bills that would make his office more accountable for public information requests.

Oh, and by the way, Jindal has already paid over $1 million of state money in legal fees to ONE outside attorney alone to defend some of his other blunders.

Statistics and other useful lies

With all this discussion about the Common Core Standards one has to wonder if Louisiana really does need them.  Particularly since John White, State Superintendent of Education, just bragged about how the number of seniors earning a composite score of 18 on the ACT, a test of college readiness, is steadily increasing.  He is so elated about this that he states, “This news goes to prove that when we open the doors to opportunity, raise expectations and allow our kids to take a test,……our kids rise to the occasion.” This test is used by many colleges throughout the nation as part of their application for college admission. 

What White fails to tell the public is that in Louisiana there are only 5 four year state colleges or universities that will accept students with a composite score as low as18.  The reason for this is that an ACT score of 18 correlates to the 35^th percentile nationally.  Meaning that only 35% of all the high school seniors taking the ACT test nationally scored lower than 18, and, conversely, 65% scored higher. 

Basically, colleges gauge the future success of a student graduating with a degree based upon the ACT score.  A college readiness score of 18 translates to a rather low chance of being successful in college.  LSU requires an ACT composite score of 22 and SLU requires a 21.  Nationally, these ACT required scores mean that 62 percent of the seniors are scoring lower on the test than the LSU applicants and 55 percent are scoring lower than the SLU applicants.  Certainly, these ACT requirements are a substantially higher predictor of college success. 

But by including a composite scores of 18 in their press release, Louisiana can inflate the number of students that are “scoring successfully on the test.” You be the judge whether this is successful or not. 

It is precisely this continual media blitz of reinforcement of mediocrity in Louisiana education that necessitates the adoption of the Common Core Standards, standards guided by what constitutes a good education based upon a consortium of educators, business leaders, governors and standards experts representing all the states.  

For generations Louisiana has failed many of its children in providing a competitive education. Children deserve the best education possible no matter where they happen to reside. The Common Core Standards just recently vetoed unilaterally by Governor Bobby Jindal sought to provide that kind of education.

Huey Long would be so proud !

Jindal’s hypocrisy was in full view Thursday when he told John White, State Superintendent of Education, that he would now have to get approval from state finance officials for any contract over $2,000.  In case you haven’t been following the latest scrimmage at the capital it’s all about Jindal trying to appease his ultra conservatives buddies by preventing the state from implementing the Common Core Standards, which he initially supported. He now supports those who want to protect our children from the what they deem is a government plot to control our children’s minds.  He has decided this posturing would tremendously enhance his chances for a presidential nod.  It has nothing to do with helping educate our children.

But, since our legislators, following the wishes of the majority of their constituents, didn’t go along with his foolish beliefs, and endorsed the adoption of the standards,  Jindal has unilaterally decided to cut off all funding for the project, ultimately, preventing its implementation.

However, when it comes to Bobby’s ability to spend taxpayers’ monies, he feels he needs NO control.

Both chambers of our legislature passed two bills giving them more oversight of state consulting contracts. The first one would have required most of the contracts with a price tag topping $40,000 to get approval from the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee. Last week Bobby vetoed that bill.

The governor also jettisoned the second bill aimed at giving lawmakers review of his administration's heftiest contracts. That bill would have required approval from the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee of most contracts topping $100 million.

State treasurer, John Kennedy, who sought the restrictions, said the vetoes mean Louisiana will "continue to waste money on frivolous, overly expensive consulting contracts."

In  his veto messages, Jindal said, “the contracting oversight could hinder the state's efforts to provide services, add layers of unnecessary bureaucracy and discourage businesses from wanting to contract with the state.”  Guess none of those excuses apply to John White, only to everyone else at the capital.

It’s amazing how times have changed for John White due to his support of the Common Core Standards.  In 2011, when Jindal  began his effort to stack the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) with his ‘yes’ people, it was all about getting John White hired as state superintendent of education.  At the time, Jindal praised White by stating, “ (He) is just the type of passionate, competent and committed educator we need as superintendent to build on our record of reform.”

Now in Jindal’s latest outburst he considers John White so incompetent that he doesn’t even trust him to order 500 boxes of pencils for students to use when they participate in state testing without his approval.

I’m sure the fact that BESE and John White last Tuesday decided to hire legal counsel to evaluate whether or not Jindal would need their approval to withdraw from Common Core implementation had nothing to do with Jindal’s latest tantrum.  After all, who do they think they are that they should even question the King’s authority.  But, I guess he showed them, and at the same time reinforced the fear that he has instilled in our legislators which ultimately resulted in the removal of a part of their body; their spines.

Raymond Gram Swing, in The Nation (January,1935) wrote the following about one of our other governors, Governor Huey Long, “He is not a fascist . . . He is a dictator. He rules, and opponents had better stay out of his way. He punishes all who thwart him with grim, relentless, efficient vengeance.” Guess that description suits King Bobby Jindal just fine, for this will be Jindal’s legacy.

Legislators Choose Impotence

My father once told me that, “If you don’t use the authority you were given, you will eventually lose that authority.”   I never really understood what he meant, but maybe the Louisiana legislators’ historical behavior will unravel the mystery.

Over the course of our great state’s legislative history there have been many bills and state projects approved by a majority vote of our senate and house representatives.   In many cases these legislators were casting their votes in accordance with the wishes of the people they represented.

But, as was just recently the case with Governor Jindal, many governors influenced by large campaign donors or strong PACs line vetoed many of these previously approved items.  This year it was the Tea Party of Louisiana, the Koch Brothers, and the Louisiana Family Forum that Bobby obliged by veto hoping to better position himself for a presidential nomination.

In an attempt to prevent government by monarch rule, our state constitution included procedures whereby the true wishes of the people could eventually prevail.  If the governor uses he/her veto power, a special legislative session can be scheduled to  override the governor’s vetoes and restore the original intent of the people.  It requires only a simple majority vote of both legislative chambers to set this in motion.

 In Louisiana, since the enactment of our current state constitution, it has been over four decades since a special veto session was last held.

I guess our legislators just don’t want to miss a day of fishing, boating, or bathing in the sun.  After all, our state’s slogan is “Sportsman’s Paradise.”

So, for the many that continue to lament that Governor Bobby Jindal is one of the worst governors this state has ever elected, and cringe at the fact that he would even be in consideration for a presidential candidate, I suggest you look at the others in this state that share the blame for this situation.

if our legislators had the guts to stand up to the bully and override some of his damaging vetoes, not only would it benefit their constituents by improving their quality of life, but most likely would have the additional benefit of completely removing his chances for presidential consideration.

Never have our representatives used the authority they were given.  Please, remember that when they run for re-election.