Jindal continues to waste taxpapers' money

Friday, Bobby Jindal announced how he will once again deal with budget shortfalls totaling over $171 million. We should be immune to this behavior by now for it has been repeated 5 of the 6 years Jindal has been in office.

What Bobby did not tell you is how this shortfall could have been eliminated if he and his legislative minions hadn’t wasted taxpayers’ monies in pursuing one of his privatization of health care services deals, just to save face.

In 2012, the Jindal administration decided to reorganize the way behavioral health services were being delivered to our citizenry.  He privatized the services with a company known as Magellan Health Services for an initial two year contract totaling $357.6 million.  In August, 2013 a state audit report determined that the company had not complied with the contractual terms.  As part of that contract the state Department of Health and Hospitals had the right to impose financial sanctions for non-compliance, but the auditors also found that the state had imposed NONE.

Despite the negative audit of the Magellan privatization plan, Jindal and our astute legislators in February, 2014, extended the Magellan contract another year to February, 2015, and increased it by $187.2 million without any supportive justification.  This to a company deemed out of contract compliance by state auditors a year earlier.

Fast forward to November 21, 2014, when the media reports that the Magellan Health Services contract is being terminated with the state.  Kathy Kliebert, the director of the state Department of Health and Hospitals claims the reason for this action is that, “(Magellan) was not an acute health-care provider.”

I guess that means Magellan couldn’t provide the services as mandated in the initial contract.

However, it appears that all involved parties at the state level already knew this after the initial audit report in 2013, and instead of not renewing the contact in 2014, extended the contract and increased the amount to $544.8 million.

Why would our esteemed leaders make such a blatantly obvious poor business decision?

Perhaps, if they had logically acted on the supportive evidence and killed the contract, this would have highlighted the fact that part of Bobby’s privatization plan of health care services was a failure. Consequently, to avoid such an embarrassment, Bobby and the legislators just dumbed more taxpayers’ money into the contract in hopes that things would improve and Bobby’s plan would ultimately prevail.

Friday, I couldn’t wait to see where Bobby would cut back to address the latest shortage.  However, the $171 million that he seeks was already available in February in the amount of $187.2 million, the additional funds given to a company not in contract compliance.

But, as in the past, Governor Jindal will use funding sweeps, a practice in which he and state lawmakers take monies that are dedicated by vote of Louisiana residents for a specific purpose and use it instead to address the state's general budget, and further reduce supportive services for Louisiana residents, to plug his budget holes.

The really sad part is the present proposed cuts would not be necessary if the majority of our legislators had shown some fiscal responsibility and not assisted in protecting Bobby Jindal’s national image.

Jindal shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds him

 

These days Bobby Jindal spends most of his taxpayers’ paid working hours serving himself rather than Louisiana residents.  He crisscrosses our nation advocating the tea party chant about government waste and the need to reign in all, what he and his political friends term, the liberal left handout programs that have ballooned over the years.

What Jindal conveniently side steps is that his own state budget ranks the SECOND highest in the nation in its dependence on these federal funds.   Approximately 44% of the state budget is composed of federal  dollars.

According to the Wallet Hub, Louisiana is one big American freeloader, ranking 48^th (1= least dependent) in its dependency on federal monies.  Wallet Hub also reports that this pattern of freeloading is greater nationwide among Republican controlled  states vs Democrat controlled states.

However, our Republican governed state also has the distinction of being one of the states with the largest deficits in terms of what they get in federal help versus what they give back in tax dollars (Approximately $3 for every $1 in federal taxes paid).  So while Jindal continually touts the conservative banter about how U.S. citizens are over taxed by the Feds for federal hand out programs, this certainly isn’t true economically in his own state.

The interesting part of this seemingly hypocritical behavior of Bobby is his professed positon on cutting federal support dollars will most likely become a reality with the recent shift in the political climate thanks primarily to the Koch brothers.  However, this will completely devastate the state, due to Jindal’s budgetary practices which continue to substantially rely on federal hand out dollars. 

Looks like our esteemed governor has set up Louisiana for failure by not practicing what he preaches, but then again he has greater aspirations and could care less about the future of our state.  We all need to feel sorry for the next governor of Louisiana.

Louisiana needs a guy in a white hat to ride in

Some folks just say it better, Letter to the Editor, The Advocate, November 15, 2014:

As I look at some of the highlights of our governor’s tenure, I am reminded of many a Western movie. Some of the highlights of his tenure are the gutting of money for higher education, i.e. our future; the raid on the insurance fund for employees and retirees under the guise of reducing premiums; the turning down of free money in order to maintain our same charity hospital system with contracts under the guise of creating a new system; the contracting out of care for the developmentally disabled so that private contractors can make a profit off the money we spend for the care of these folks; and the removal by a wave of the hand of the leaders of a supposedly separate and coequal branch of government who dare to disagree with him.

There are certainly more, and all of us have our own favorites.

The Western movies that come to mind are those depicting the townsfolk peering around the shades of their windows as the town boss and his gang act willfully without regard to law or decency. A courageous cowboy then rides into town, sees the injustices and is talked into cleaning up things, which he does. By way of analogy, it is Dodge City without Marshall Dillon, with Miss Kitty wringing her hands and watching helplessly.

Further analogy puts our state’s Legislature in the role of Miss Kitty. About all any of them have been doing while the “town boss and his gang” have been running rampant is peering around the shades and wringing their hands hoping that a courageous and decent cowboy (someone else) shows up. All of them should be honest with themselves and us and start wearing dresses like Miss Kitty.

Robert Boland
retired
Baton Rouge

No real concern for cost savings accountability

There is no shortage of criticism when it comes to some of the actions of our state legislators, but it’s also important to praise them when they truly represent the wishes of their constituents.

So kudos to all the legislators that rallied against the attempted OGB Hospitalization scam dreamed up by Kristy Nichols and crew.  Their hard work has produced a truly workable hospitalization plan for state employees, teachers, and retirees.

However, let’s not forget the root source of this scam, which enjoys its anonymity in the shadows.

All this mess began with a $4.2 million contract with an out-of–state consulting firm known as Alvarez and Marsal.  They were contracted by Jindal’s crew to make recommendations on how to save $500 million a year.

Since there are people already hired in state government who could do this job, namely, the State Legislative Auditor Department composed of Legislative Auditor Daryl Pupera and his staff, the irony of spending $4.2 million more of state funds to save money is self- evident. 

In actuality, Alvarez and Marsal’s cost saving recommendations weren’t necessary, for this past year the state legislative auditors have repeatedly produced data demonstrating the Jindal administration’s inefficiency, wastefulness, and neglect of duty, which easily could approach the $500 million savings goal.

Reports have focused on prisoners receiving food stamps, state Medicaid funds paid to companies to care for dead people, millions of dollars in oil and gas severance taxes uncollected, lack of oversight for schools receiving school voucher payments, wide disparity in property tax assessments reviewed by the state tax commission, a failure to collect state income taxes, a failure to collect ethic violations fines, inadequate eligibility monitoring of tax incentive recipients, and recently, the lack of sound financial controls in the Department of Public Safety leading to the misappropriation of funds from the DMV.

Basically, this data demonstrates Jindal’s hypocrisy when he talks about his concerns with the federal government spending wastes, and his desire for result-oriented management.  Additionally, these audits point, not necessarily to corruption, but continually to an administration claiming to not having adequate resources, but not best using those that it does have.

So why does Jindal keep ignoring in-house reports and continue to implement a plan by Alvarez and Marsal?  Because Jindal has no control over the state auditors and they often focus on the inadequacies of his ill-fated creative plans to save state money.  And with Alvarez and Marsal he can continue to cut where he wants while hiding his failures.

Let’s be perfectly clear; our Rhodes Scholar governor is not about real cost savings for this state, but instead about his political image. Thus this state will continue to suffer and waste money on unnecessary contracts.

'Perfect storm' building on Louisiana horizon

 

Louisianans need to brace themselves for the possibility of yet another round of education and health services funding cuts due to what I term, “the perfect storm.” 

The first phase of this storm began with the sudden drop in the price of crude oil.  While we rejoice with each visit to the pump, we need to remember that lower oil prices also take a chunk out of the state budget, since production royalties, severance taxes, and state land leases are the big moneymakers for this state.
 

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, states if the low oil prices begin to affect oil rigs along the Gulf of Mexico, "For every dollar that the price of oil drops, the state loses $12 million dollars in the general fund."
 

The second phase of this storm comes from the recent passage of amendments 1 and 2 by the voters of this state protecting private nursing homes and hospitals from budget cuts at the expense of colleges and universities, and in-home health services for the elderly, disabled, and those with special needs.
 

The first phase of this perfect storm could be somewhat nullified if we had not been saddled with a budgetary reckless governor.   In states with visionary wisdom such as Texas, rainy day funds were setup to offset any oil revenue fluctuations.  Monies are set aside over the years to be used in emergency situations.  Louisiana had such an account until Bobby came on board.
 

The rainy day fund, formally called the Budget Stabilization Fund, was tapped by Jindal’s minions in recent years to help close state budget gaps.  Bobby has spent over $300 million with legislators’ approval.
 

Consequently, the state can’t afford this perfect storm, for if the price of crude oil continues to remain low, legislators will have to go back and cut the only entities not protected by constitutional amendment.  Since passage of amendments 1 and 2 just removed two more entities from possible funding reductions, those that remain, education and medical services, will receive even more draconian cuts.
 

Just remember voters, you reap what you sow!

Yet another embarrassment !

Once again I am embarrassed for my state.   Years ago we elected a member of the KKK to our state senate, a year later when this same individual ran for the U.S. senate, he lost, but got 43% of the vote, and after that he received 32% of the vote in his try for governor of this fine state.

And let’s not forget about our esteemed convicted governor and his present drive for re-election to public office, Senator David Vitter and his flirtations with the D. C. Madame, or former senator, William Jefferson, with the $90 thousand in the freezer.

Now we can add a confessed crook, Eric Dangerfield, to our embarrassment list, for he has been elected to serve some children of this state as a member of the Tangipahoa School Board. Talk about a total disrespect for our children.

In May Mr. Dangerfield and his wife pleaded guilty to operating a criminal enterprise designed to siphon dollars from the Louisiana Medicaid Program and evade paying state taxes.

Cassandra N. Dangerfield pleaded guilty to one felony count of racketeering and two felony counts of state tax evasion. Her husband and business partner Eric Dangerfield, who served on the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA to six counts of misdemeanor theft and two misdemeanor counts of tax evasion.

As a result of this crime, Mr. Dangerfield received a 4 year suspended sentence on the condition that he and his wife pay $3.5 million in restitution, fines and penalties for the racketeering and theft charges. The Dangerfields must also pay the Louisiana Department of Revenue $74,000 in back taxes and investigative costs in relation to the tax evasion charges.   Additionally, Eric Dangerfield was ordered to immediately resign from the Tangipahoa School Board.

To date, they have paid back only $200.00 and a hearing is scheduled to be held in December to determine if this constitutes a violation of his probation, which could result in his going to jail.

But some Tangipahoa voters saw fit to re-elect him to the school board. Disgraceful !

Let’s pray that national news doesn’t get hold of this story.  This state doesn’t need any more embarrassments.

Does Bobby Jindal really want to make things right?

Here we go again. Bobby got caught with his pants down, so to speak, and has decided that because he overstepped his authority and didn’t follow state law, traits he attributes to our President, he had better refund some money to Office of Group Benefits hospitalization plan enrollees.

It is estimated to cost the state about $4.48 million.  But don’t get too excited just yet.  You may have to file an appeals request form to get your share.  If you are computer savvy and continually check the OGB website you will notice a letter explaining your eligibility and how, in some situations, appeal request forms must be completed to receive your money. This applies to both incurred pharmacy and medical costs.

The absurdness of this procedure once again demonstrates Jindal’s intellectual  arrogance and his administrative staffs’ out of touch with reality in dealing with the citizens of this state.

Who in their right mind regularly checks the OGB website and some may not even subscribe to the daily newspapers that ran the article explaining this procedure.  Some retirees may not be computer literate or even own a computer.

Let’s hope all those eligible kept their doctors’ and pharmacy receipts from three months ago.  Additionally, I find it curious that these documents are titled ‘appeal forms’ rather than ‘refund requests.’  Appeals can be denied!  Maybe Bobby just really doesn’t want these folks to get their money back after all.

Jindal’s slickness never ceases to amaze me.