Showing posts with label Bobby Jindal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bobby Jindal. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

WILL BOBBY JINDAL IMPLEMENT MEDICAID EXPANSION?

From blogger CenLamar: 
The Dumbest Decision in Contemporary Louisiana History

In less than thirty days, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal will make a final decision on whether he wants to accept, according to a report published by his own Department of Health and Hospitals, as much as $25 billion from the federal government in order to guarantee and expand health care coverage for as many as 653,000 poor and working class Louisiana families and individuals.
....

"The fiscally, socially, ethically, and morally responsible thing to do would be to accept the Medicaid expansion dollars to which we are already entitled. The fiscally, socially, ethically, and morally responsible thing to do would be to champion and embrace the promise of lifting hundreds of thousands of our neighbors and fellow citizens out of despair and hopelessness, to provide them with the very basic opportunity to access affordable and quality health care. It is profoundly decent, but even more than that, it is also represents the single most important and transformative investment in Louisiana’s workforce in modern history."
What are the chances that Jindal will do the right thing?  Slim to none I'd say.  The governor wants to remain pure in the eyes of his Tea Party fans, and anything that involves a link with Obamacare would render him impure.  So what if hundreds of thousands of the poor and working class in Louisiana remain without health insurance?  The governor's ideology trumps health care.

A number of Republican governors have set aside ideology and implemented the Medicaid Expansion as a no-brainer because it will not cost the states a dime for nine years and then only 10% of the costs thereafter.   In addition, perhaps the governors may have been ashamed to so blatantly put their political ambitions above the welfare of the poor and low income people of their states.  Such a lack of compassion in a man who claims to be a Catholic Christian but chooses to ignore Roman Catholic social justice teachings about preferential treatment of the poor is puzzling to me.  Has he ever heard or read the words of Pope Francis?

How healthy are the people of Louisiana?  Are the citizens of the state so far above the rest of the country in good health that we do not need the Medicaid expansion?  Indeed not.  There we are in our usual place in the group of least-healthy states, tied for 49th place with three other states.

Click on the chart and map for larger views.

 


Monday, November 18, 2013

EXTREMIST REPUBLICAN LOSES ELECTION IN LOUISIANA

When Republican Rodney Alexander resigned from Congress a few months ago, there wasn’t any real doubt that his Louisiana district would remain in GOP hands. The only question was which Republican would replace him in Louisiana’s ruby-red 5th district.
State Sen. Neil Riser (R) looked like he’d win easily – he received endorsements from Alexander, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the NRA, and nearly all of Louisiana’s Republican congressional delegation. But then the votes were tallied in Saturday’s run-off election, and Vance McAllister (R), a first-time candidate, crushed Riser by nearly 20 points.
Take that Neil Riser, Bobby Jindal, and Eric Cantor!  Follow Gov. Jindal's advice and stop being the stupid party.   Of course, it's quite likely that none of you has any idea how to change direction.

As reported in the Times-Picayune, McAllister favored implementation of the Medicaid expansion section of Obamacare.  The expansion is a no-brainer for Louisiana. The federal program would cover about 400,000 low-income people who have no health insurance, and would not cost the state one cent for 9 years, when the state would assume only 10% of the cost. The good news is the extremist Republican didn't win.  Gov. Bobby Jindal's approval ratings were at 28% in August of this year, and McAllister's election confirms that many citizens in Louisiana do not approve of Jindal's extremist policies.  Keep in mind that the area in which McAllister was elected is conservative, but the extremist candidate was too much for the voters to swallow.
In fairness, it’s worth emphasizing that Rep.-elect McAllister didn’t exactly run as a progressive on health care – the Republican said he’d prefer to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But he nevertheless stuck to a fairly pragmatic line and told the far-right what it didn’t want to hear – repealing the entirety of the law is unrealistic and Medicaid expansion in Louisiana is a sensible move, even if Bobby Jindal pretends otherwise.
In this district, that was a risky move, and it led Riser and his allies to make the race a referendum over health care. And then McAllister won by about 20 points anyway.
National Republicans would be wise to take note. For many in the party, grunting “Obamacare bad!” is a sure-fire recipe for electoral success. Indeed, GOP leaders have started to think it’ll be easy – tie rival candidates to the controversial health care law, watch voters recoil, and wait for the landslide victories to commence.
Republicans may find that they have to dredge up other issues besides Obamacare if they want to win elections. Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi!?  Also, Republicans out there who think Bobby Jindal's support is an asset might want to think again.  If Jindal and his friends and advisers still live in the fantasy world that sees him as having a chance of being nominated or elected to a national office, it's time for them to wake up and take their places in the real world.  

Thursday, September 12, 2013

EDWIN EDWARDS ON LARRY KING NOW


Crusty old James Gill, whose columns I've read seemingly forever, and whom The Advocate managed to steal away from the New Orleans Times Picayune when Advance Publications decided to reduce the paper edition to only three days a week, writes about Edwin Edwards' appearance on Larry King Now.
Edwards told King that he has finally “found something good to use Republicans for — sleep with them.” He would have expressed that sentiment less politely in the days before a Republican became his third wife and mother of his infant son, Eli.

One Republican got no sympathy whatsoever in Edwards’ interview with King: “I don’t understand the man,” Edwards said of Gov. Bobby Jindal. “He’s sitting on a program which would provide immediate health benefits for 300,000 to 400,000 people in Louisiana, and he refuses to sign onto it. He’s a different sort of person.”
Former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, the crook, is indeed a better man than the fine, upstanding Catholic Christian Bobby Jindal, who denies health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens to further his own political ambitions.  Edwards would never have refused to implement a program such as Medicaid Expansion which would provide health benefits to many low income people in the state.  With Edwards, I don't understand a man such as Bobby Jindal.

Has Bobby Jindal ever read one word of Roman Catholic social justice teachings?  Does Jindal pay any attention at all to Pope Francis' many statements about preferential treatment for the poor?  How could he and remain so focused on his own selfish political ambitions even as the people of Louisiana go wanting for decent health care?  Shame on you, Bobby Jindal.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

STILL THE STUPID PARTY

A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office.
....

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.
Republicans in Louisiana have not heeded Governor Jindal's advice to stop being the stupid party.  The poll results demonstrate a classic example of Louisiana Republicans' disregard for facts. Everything is Obama's fault.  Facts, dates, history, none of that matters. Unfortunately, it's not just Republicans in Louisiana who live in the unreality bubble.

People here and throughout the country cannot accept the fact that Obama is president, because he is black and because he is a Democrat, thus the birthers who blather endlessly about the invalidity of the president's birth certificate. Racism plays a large part in the disdain for Obama, but, if you observe the commentary about Hillary Clinton from certain quarters, you see it's not entirely about racism.

Indeed, Jindal himself has not followed his own good advice advice.  He spent $800,000 of state money trying to pass his program to eliminate state income taxes an impose a sales tax to replace the revenue which was wildly unpopular and went nowhere in the legislature.

The next debacle was the administration's attempt to fund private schools by using public school money, which prompted a lawsuit that cost the state who knows what amount of our tax money to defend the suit.  In the end, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided that the use of public school funds violated the Louisiana constitution, so Jindal had to scramble to find money that was already committed to pay tuition in private schools for low income families and return money to public schools.

And now the latest in the state's privatization of health care.
A private company that took over management of state behavioral health programs last year has not complied with contract terms, a state audit released Monday found.
The $354 million two-year contract with Magellan Health Services allows the state Department of Health and Hospitals to impose sanctions, but none have been, the Louisiana legislative auditor wrote.
The company doesn't pay claims in a timely manner.  A friend who is a psychologist told me that before he read the article, he know the company would be either Magellan or another company known for not paying claims on time.  Kathy Kleibert, head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says:
The program has been successful, she said, by allowing DHH to expand access to care for more people and provide better service. It allowed DHH to increase the number of providers from 800 to 1,700.
All well and good, but if the providers don't get paid, they will not continue to provide services.  Duh. 

I'm sorry for us, the citizens of Louisiana, that Jindal and his cohorts have failed us in so many areas of governance, which leads me to the governor's latest poll numbers from Public Policy Polling.  Only 28% of voters in Louisiana approve of Bobby Jindal's performance, while 59% disapprove.  Three years ago Jindal's approval rating was at 58%, with 34% of voters disapproving of his performance.  The governor's numbers are sinking like a stone.

UPDATE: For more on Jindal's polling numbers see CenLamar

Saturday, June 29, 2013

WHERE LOUISIANA'S VOUCHER MONEY GOES, OR IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?

Brilliant post by CenLamar exposing the lack of responsibility and oversight of the school voucher program, a pet project of Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent of Education, John White, part of a plan to destroy public education in Louisiana.
Yesterday, after more than a year of sustained criticism in the state, national, and even international media, Louisiana Superintendent John White (no relation) announced the Department of Education was banning the New Living Word School in Ruston, Louisiana from participating in the so-called Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program (the SSEEP), more commonly known as the school voucher program. Under the direction of Governor Bobby Jindal and the majority Republican state legislature, Superintendent White is responsible for rolling out and implementing the most expansive school voucher program in the nation’s history, a program that potentially qualifies as many as 56% of Louisiana students.
Read it all, and weep for the children of Louisiana.  Note especially the leaked email from White to "muddy up the narrative," rather than deal with the revelations about the inadequacies of New Living Word School long before now.

Since the Louisiana State Legislature is responsible for enabling this type of scam, I blame them for supinely bowing before the governor to pass legislation allowing the mad voucher scheme to go forward.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

THAT'S OUR BOBBY

Funding for the disabled and arts programs fell out of the $25 billion state spending plan Friday with the stroke of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s veto pen.

The governor deleted $4 million aimed at whittling down a waiting list for home-based services for the developmentally disabled. Parents of disabled children pleaded with legislators during the session to shorten the list. Some could wait 10 years before receiving services.
....

After issuing the vetoes, the governor flew to California for Republican National Committee meetings.

Jindal also stripped money for children’s clinics, family violence programs and an organization that helps the disabled become more independent through technological tools.
Do your dirty work and run, Guvna.  You don't want to be in Louisiana, anyway.  The trail of wreckage you leave behind is so ugly that maybe even you don't want to look.  What's next once your term is up?  Since you have your eyes on a prize on the national scene, why not now?  Is there a powerful Republican out there who will make you an offer you can't refuse right at this moment?  Not every governor completes her/his term.  Take Sarah Palin.  I'm sure a good many people in Alaska thought, "Take Sarah Palin.  Please!" 

Saturday, June 1, 2013

JINDAL'S TENURE LAW DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL - ON TO THE LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT

One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature laws that makes it harder for teachers to earn and retain a form of job protection, called tenure, was declared unconstitutional Monday.

State District Judge R. Michael Caldwell, of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, who in December upheld the tenure part of a sweeping education law, reversed himself after hearing new arguments from both sides.

The ruling was a victory for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. The LFT filed the lawsuit and said that the 2012 measure would essentially end teacher tenure in Louisiana.

The decision also could throw a wrench into sweeping new teacher evaluations, which are under way in public schools for the first time.
Of course, Jindal will file an appeal, so we'll wait to see how the Louisiana Supreme Court rules.  I'm not against educational reform, but I don't want reform in the hands of Jindal and the present legislature. Apparently, they do not do not overly concern themselves with following laws already in the Louisiana Constitution when they write new legislation, and the experiment with vouchers to private schools is not going well.  Who advises the governor and the legislators on constitutional issues and apparently tells them what they want to hear, rather than what will pass the constitutional test?  I assume Jimmy Faircloth, the lawyer for the state who will lead the appeal, is one of the advisers.  Perhaps, if the advisers stepped into the real world and left behind the Republican fantasy world, they'd give wiser advice about legislation.  Ah, but then they might be dismissed from their positions by the governor, who brooks little or no dissent within his inner circle.
State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite and an opponent of the tenure law, said Monday that, during House debate on the measure, he and other opponents warned that it was legally flawed but that Jindal and his legislative allies “ramrodded it through.”
Jindal is good at ramrodding legislation through.  His policy: Pass the legislation quickly before too many people have a chance to examine it closely and find the flaws.  

Sunday, May 26, 2013

THE VAUNTED VOUCHERS, OR IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?

As Gov. Bobby Jindal tries again to fund his controversial school voucher program, new test scores indicate that many of the current students educated with public money in private schools are not thriving. Or at least they aren't yet.

Released Wednesday, LEAP scores for third- through eighth-graders show only 40 percent of voucher students scored at or above grade level this past spring. The state average for all students was 69 percent.
....

[Superintendent John] White said the 2013 scores for voucher students were low because of the large influx of students from failing schools.
That's right, Superintendent White, blame the public schools for the less than stellar results of the brilliant plan by you and Governor Jindal to improve education in Louisiana by privatization.  I'm not at all surprised at the results.  At least some of the voucher schools teach junk science and junk history.  What do you expect?  Roman Catholic schools do a creditable job of educating children, but it appears that a good many of the new "academies" that sprang into existence when vouchers became available to private schools are not the solution to poor performance by educational institutions in Louisiana.

Public schools have been struggling from cuts in funding from the state since Jindal took office in his first term, and, were it not for the Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that paying for vouchers from public school funds was unconstitutional, the schools would have suffered further as more and more voucher money was siphoned away from their budgets.  Keep in mind that private schools can weed out troublesome students and students with challenges, but public schools must accept all who apply.
Why not focus on improving public schools?
"Anytime you start something new, it's going to take some time to grow," White said. "Nearly two thirds of the kids taking tests in those schools had only been there six months."

And he pointed out that the state did take seven schools off the voucher list. "After a period of time we cannot tolerate failure," he said.
Come now, Mr White, no more excuses for the poor results in the private school voucher program that you and Governor Jindal esteem so highly; take responsibility for the consequences of your grand plan.  If the two had their way, the end result would be the gradual destruction of public school systems in the state, and what would replace them?  More "academies"?

According to the article, White did not actually take seven schools off the voucher list; he merely stopped them from accepting new voucher students, so, in my book, he is still tolerating failure.

Oh, and lets not forget the earlier glitch in the effort by Jindal and White to provide quality online education by private companies to the students of Louisiana. 

When will Jindal and White have gone far enough down the road of poor results to give them a grade of  F in educational reform?   

Friday, May 24, 2013

THE MIRACLE OF PRIVATIZATION

The total operating expense associated with the privatization of nine LSU hospitals will hit $1 billion during the new fiscal year, Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols said Thursday.

That’s more than is in the current year’s budget — $955 million — for the state to operate the charity hospitals.

And more than the $626 million Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed for private companies to operate the public hospitals in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Nichols said the administration would submit amendments to the state Senate Finance Committee to close the funding gap, recommending using some money from hospital leases as well as other state and local revenues.
Kristy Nicholls says that the state will benefit in the long run, but I'll hold my applause until a source outside the Jindal administration breaks down the figures. As you may or may not know, in Jindal's plan to ditch personal and business income taxes and make up the difference in sales taxes, the math did not compute. I'm not sure what method the administration uses, but the numbers don't always pan out as presented.  When Jindal realized that his tax plan was DOA in the Legislature, he withdrew the mess at the last minute.

Further on Medicaid expansion:
Even though governors and lawmakers in five Deep South states oppose a plan to cover more people through Medicaid under the health care overhaul, 62 percent of the people in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina support expanding the program, according to a new poll.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/21/4248364/public-in-deep-south-supports.html#storylink=cpy

The level of support for expanding Medicaid – the state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled – ranged from a low of 59 percent in Mississippi to a high of 65 percent in South Carolina, according to the poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a leading research and public policy think tank that focuses on African-Americans and other people of color.
....

But the five states in the poll, all led by Republican governors, have decided not to participate. Ironically, Mississippi and Louisiana rank dead last among all states in the overall health of their residents, according to America’s Health Ranking, an annual report by the United Health Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the insurer UnitedHealth Group.
There you have it.  The voice of the majority does not prevail, and many of the citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi will go without health insurance, because their governors are ideologues who do not put the welfare of the citizens first.  Of course, when the governor has national ambitions, he has to keep one eye on the Tea Party and the other on Grover Norquist, with no third eye to look at the hardships he inflicts on the residents of his own state.

Thanks to Ann for the link to the poll.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/21/4248364/public-in-deep-south-supports.html#storylink=cpy

Friday, May 17, 2013

FAST TALK BY FASTPATH, OR IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?

John C. White
Southwood High School junior Randall Gunn is a straight-A student.

So when the school’s principal saw his name come up as registering to retake several courses online, it immediately raised a red flag. Gunn was called into a counselor’s office and told he was enrolled in three Course Choice classes — all of which he already had passed standardized tests with exceptional scores.

“I had no clue what was going on,” Gunn said. “I have no reason to take these classes and still don’t know who signed me up.”

More than 1,100 Caddo and Webster students have signed up to participate in what some say are questionable Course Choice programs. According to parents, students, and Webster and Caddo education officials, FastPath Learning is signing up some students it shouldn’t — in many cases without parent or student knowledge.
Our whiz kid State Superintendent of Education, John C. White, touts the course on the state website.
“This all goes back to all of the education reforms that were passed within eight days during last year’s session. This is what you get,” state Rep. Gene Reynolds, D-Dubberly, said of the apparent lack of oversight. “I’m not saying the idea was bad, but they are not doing it the way it should be done.”
Oops!  Oversight missing.   If you read the entire article at the Alexandria Town Talk, you will see that the tactics used by FastPath to sign up students are no more than flim-flammery on a scale which boggles the mind.  The Louisiana State Supreme Court ruled that public school funds cannot be used to pay for courses offered by private entities.  Last year, the purveyors of the courses were paid with funds taken from local public school districts, and apparently no definitive decision has yet been made by the Department of Education as to whether the company can continue to sign up students for the online courses with public school funds.
But that’s not the message Webster Parish education leaders are getting from Baton Rouge. Morris Busby, the district’s supervisor of secondary education, said he was “joyous, but cautiously joyous” with the court ruling. But the next day, he was still trying to get clarification from the state’s Course Choice counselors and got the impression state education officials are “bent on going ahead."
If they believe they can get away with it, Jindal and Co. appear determined to circumvent the court ruling against using public school funds to pay private entities of one kind or another to "educate" the children of Louisiana.

Excellent reporting by Vickie Welbord and Mary Nash-Wood at the Alexandria Town Talk.

H/T to Charles Pierce at Esquire.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

TRUE HEIR TO MARGARET THATCHER - BOBBY JINDAL

What she did do was redistribute the burden of taxation downward, cutting top income tax rates while raising consumption taxes, which fall most heavily on low incomes. Her downfall came with the poll tax, a drastically regressive tax — the same amount for everyone, regardless of income — that was too much even for her own party.

And what that means is that her truest heir in America is … Bobby Jindal, the not-so-whizzy whiz-kid governor of Louisiana, who proposed scrapping his state’s income tax and replacing it with sales taxes.
....

But strange to say, it’s not just Acela riders who hate this idea; so do the citizens of Louisiana, who disapprove by 63 to 27 percent. Jindal’s own approval has collapsed, so he’s having his own poll tax moment.
Bobby will be so proud.  Who knows but that Krugman's "tribute" might push Bobby's poll numbers up a bit?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

"JINDAL SCRAPS TAX PLAN"

SOMETIMES WE WIN!

Gov. Bobby Jindal bowed to public sentiment Monday and shelved his plan to immediately eliminate income taxes and raise sales tax.

The governor admitted defeat on the first day of the legislative session during a speech to a joint gathering of the Louisiana House and Senate.

Jindal said he heard the complaints that he moved too fast and that his approach was not the best one.

House Democrats, religious leaders, public research groups, the business community and even the governor’s own accounting consultant found fault with his proposal to eliminate the state’s personal income and corporate taxes in favor of a higher state sales tax rate and a broadening of the sales tax base.

“Let me do something politicians don’t normally do,” Jindal said. “We’re going to adjust our course. We’re going to park our tax plan.”
Jindal's withdrawal of the plan demonstrates what citizens can accomplish by working together.  Hardly anyone except Jindal and his close advisers liked the tax plan, which was poorly crafted, with numbers that did not add up.   Perhaps Jindal and his inner circle have learned a lesson about opening up their planning process to outside advice, rather than operating in secrecy and holding plans close to the chest until the eleventh hour before the legislature convenes.  Still, Jindal and cohorts are crafty, so citizens must must remain vigilant and not let down the guard, for further nefarious schemes are likely to emerge.

The people of Louisiana have won only a reprieve from the negative consequences of Jindal's tax plan and are left with many problems still to be solved.  Political leaders in the state need to accept the reality of raising revenue to prevent further depredations on programs, institutions, and infrastructure than have already happened during the first term of the Jindal administration, but I doubt the will is there in either the governor or the legislature.  The repeated rounds of mid-year budget cuts because of faulty projections of revenue must be addressed to enable state programs and institutions to operate with a measure of stability.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

ON THE HOME FRONT IN LOUISIANA

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration quietly released a new financial analysis that estimates the state could save as much as $368 million over 10 years by expanding Louisiana’s Medicaid program under the federal health care law.

The analysis was posted on the state Department of Health and Hospitals’ website this week with no fanfare. The department hasn’t touted the findings, and they were mentioned only briefly — and with little detail — during a budget hearing in which lawmakers pushed for more information about the expansion and Jindal’s refusal to participate in it.
....

The new DHH estimates say Louisiana could save anywhere from $197 million to $368 million over 10 years while covering more than 577,000 additional people through Medicaid. The savings can be attributed to lessening existing state costs for providing health care to the uninsured, largely through the public hospital system.
Oops!  Note the quiet correction.  Let's not blow up this teensy-weensy mistake way out of proportion.  Now the only barrier to implementing the Medicaid expansion is the governor's ideology.
Jindal opposes the expansion as inappropriate growth of what he says is an inefficient government entitlement program.
And I'm sure the people in Louisiana who are denied health insurance coverage will understand perfectly that Jindal cannot violate his principles.  He and his family are comfortably covered, but the rest of the citizens in Louisiana, especially the families struggling on low wages, are not entitled to health insurance coverage from "an inefficient government entitlement program".   Damn those entitlements!

And about the governor's proposed tax plan to eliminate income taxes for individuals and businesses and replace the revenue with a sales tax, which will give Louisiana the highest sales taxes in the country:
The state’s largest business lobbying group warned Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday that his tax proposal is unacceptable to the business community.

Dan Juneau, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, blamed problems with the plan on the Jindal administration drawing up the proposal in a very short period of time, resulting in a simple shift in tax burden.

“There’s got to be winners and there’s got to be losers,” Juneau said. “The business community has become the designated loser.”
Oops again!  I welcome any and all allies to stop the stinking pile of compost aka known as Jindal's tax plan or anything like it from making its way into law.  Those who have the means and live within a reasonable distance of a bordering state will leave Louisiana to shop for goods and services.  Those who do not have transportation will suffer.  Of course, the governor says the poor will be exempt from sales taxes, but, as the demand for exemptions pile up, the math will not work, if it ever did.  (See above on the costs of the Medicaid expansion.)  The Jindal administration is not known for superior math skills.  

Saturday, March 23, 2013

LOUISIANA CLERGY SPEAK OUT ABOUT JINDAL SALES TAX PLAN

Bishop Morris Thompson
Religious leaders from across Louisiana complained Friday that the math behind Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax proposal is flawed.

Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith, a Shreveport-based religious organization, said the Jindal administration underestimated the expected tax burden on families by omitting part of a proposed state sales tax hike from calculations.

The Rev. Melvin Rushing
“This is about more than just numbers on a page. This is about integrity and people’s lives,” the Rev. Melvin Rushing, of Baton Rouge, said during a news conference at the State Capitol.

The Rev. Morris Thompson, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in New Orleans, said the governor should withdraw his sales tax proposal. He was among ministers from around the state drawing attention to the governor’s tax overhaul proposals.  (My emphasis)

“Our numbers are growing,” Thompson said. “Our voice of justice is being heard.”
The math doesn't add up.  The governor won't answer questions, nor will he give full details of the sales tax plan.   Jindal is known to hold details until the last minute, just before the vote, so that the legislators don't have time to do a proper review.  What could possibly go wrong if Jindal's plan becomes law?  Will the legislators once again submit meekly to the governor's wishes in a last minute rush?

Thanks be to God that the clergy in Louisiana are speaking out against the injustice and fuzzy math in Jindal's proposed tax policy.
[Tim Barfield, executive counsel for the state Department of Revenue,] concluded his statement by appearing to blame the ministers’ complaints on misinformation spread by the Louisiana Budget Project, which he called a liberal special interest group.
The liberals are out to get them.  But wait!  The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and The Council for A Better Louisiana are also critical of the plan.  They're all out to get you, Tim, but hang on and don't let paranoia get the best of you.  But wait again!  I had a thought: Does it ever cross your minds that it may not be "them", the people and groups who disagree with the tax plan, but perhaps the Jindal administration's plan on offer is just really, really bad? 

Thursday, March 21, 2013

CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST?

The Jindal administration on Thursday announced it has canceled a controversial contract that has come under scrutiny by a federal grand jury.

Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols issued a prepared statement announcing the decision affecting a $185 million-plus contract to process Medicaid claims with CNSI, a firm with ties to state health Secretary Bruce Greenstein.
....

Greenstein’s office directed media inquiries to Nichols’ office.
Gov. Bobby Jindal declined a request to be interviewed on Greenstein’s job status. Jindal’s office released a prepared statement from Paul Rainwater, the governor’s chief of staff, that said: “We have confidence in Bruce.”

The development occurred just hours after news broke that a federal grand jury was investigating the administration’s award of the contract.
Still the administration is not yet ready to say goodbye to Bruce. 
The company got the contract for Medicaid claims processing in 2011 amid some complaints that the firm “low balled” the price and made erroneous assumptions in its proposal.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
The CNSI contract has been amended once since it was signed, increasing its $185 million cost by about $9 million. A second contract amendment proposed by DHH that would have added another $40 million was sidelined recently by the state Division of Administration.
Oops!

The Jindal administration functioned for years with virtually no checks and balances.  Jindal and his closed circle of advisers operated in secrecy; the legislature went along with Jindal's proposals with little scrutiny; and Jindal brooked no dissent from the administrators of the various agencies.  Dissent publicly, and you're out.

The local press is given little access to the governor and his inner circle, but Jindal rarely refuses a request by national media for interviews and appearances.  Since the local press know more about what's happening in the state, they might ask hard questions, but the national media view Jindal as the new face of the Republican Party, possibly even presidential material, and the governor is eager to encourage the impression.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

WHY IS SHE SMILING?

Kristy Nichols
The Jindal administration kicked off a months-long state budget debate Friday by presenting a $24.7 billion budget that relies on the finalization of contracts involving public hospitals, property sales and other unresolved issues.

College tuition will increase, many parents will be required to make a co-payment for their children to receive therapy for developmental delays and the elderly no longer will get help receiving free prescription drugs.

“We’re proud of this budget even though this budget certainly has been a challenge,” Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols told members of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
Ms Nichols is smiling because she says the Jindal administration presented a balanced budget to the Louisiana Legislature and the people of the state.  Nevermind that the budget includes one-time revenues that will not be available in future years.  Fiscal hawks in the legislature are upset about the use of the funds for programs that go beyond the coming fiscal year.

Nevermind that Jindal will turn over care of the poor to private hospitals, which he says will save money for the state, although all the contracts have not yet been signed, even as the administration phases out the operations of public hospitals.  Who will treat the poor and low-income people in Louisiana if the contracts are not completed? 
Several thousand state government workers could be out of a job....More than $1 million would be saved by no longer helping the elderly apply for free medicine through pharmaceutical company programs.
And what will be the consequences of the budget of which Ms Nichols is so proud?  Will the economy of the state grow in leaps and bounds?  Will unemployment numbers drop despite the thousands of state workers thrown into the ranks of the unemployed?  Where will the people who have lost their jobs find work in the weak economy?

What if the elderly can't afford their medications?  Too bad for them if they expect help from the state.

I hope the legislators keep in mind that Jindal's approval rating is at 37%.  The governor will veto any legislation that raises taxes, should such laws make it through the legislative process, and the chances of a legislative override are nil.  So what is a legislator to do?

Monday, February 25, 2013

ON THE JINDAL ROAD SHOW

From an opinion column In the Baton Rouge Advocate titled "Mr. Jindal, road scholar":
A state that consistently ranks at or near the bottom in key quality of life indicators sorely needs a full-time chief executive to address its challenges. In Jindal, we have a governor who treats Louisiana as a refueling station for his seemingly eternal road tour.

Jindal’s national political ambitions are clear. Whether he ever runs for president — and many people believe that he will — the governor is obviously passionate about national GOP matters and enjoys the national spotlight.
....

But true conservatism values personal responsibility, and Jindal’s first responsibility should be to the voters he pledged to serve as Louisiana’s governor. That’s good policy, and also good politics.
Ain't that the truth?  Kudos to the writer of the opinion and the headline writer.  I've mentioned several times that Jindal was a Rhodes Scholar.  What did he learn during his time at Oxford?  He graduated with an MA in public policy with an emphasis on health care.  Mercy!  My next post on Jindal will document that he is defunding public hospitals in Louisiana, even as plans for treatment of poor and low-income persons are not yet final.  Challenge or chaos?  Either way, Jindal needs to stay home and pay attention. 

Monday, February 18, 2013

BOBBY JINDAL - A TRAVELING MAN

During 2012, Gov. Bobby Jindal spent almost one day of every four — at least 86 of 365 days — out of the state, mostly campaigning for Republican candidates around the nation and speaking to conservative political groups.

Various GOP supporters and campaigns paid for Jindal’s hotel rooms and airfare for the campaign trips. Louisiana taxpayers, however, paid $65,000 to feed, house and, often, fly his security team. Those taxpayer dollars also often ensured that the governor’s luggage arrived ahead of him, allowing him to quickly move through airports.
The perks of being governor are, indeed, convenient, but they cost money, our money, of which the state has run short.  For Jindal to be gone from his office at least 25% of the time seems excessive to me.  The true percentage of time spent away from Louisiana is more than 25%, because when the governor doesn't stay overnight, the trip does not have to go on record.
Not all of the trips are represented in the available records.

For instance, Jindal flew to Grand Island, Neb., on July 14 to address the Nebraska Republican Party State Convention at a $500-per-person event. He called President Barack Obama “the most liberal president” and “the most incompetent president” since former President Jimmy Carter, according to reports published in The Grand Island Independent. He returned that night, according to a statement by his press office and newspaper reports.
And this, my friends, is the man the national media calls on for interviews about the new, not-stupid Republican Party.  Does the national press check out the governor's approval rating at home, (37% in the most recent poll) where the full effects of his conservative agenda are being felt? 

Friday, February 15, 2013

IS OUR GOVERNOR LEARNING?


A new national poll focused on Louisiana shows Gov. Bobby Jindal with only a 37 percent approval rating and it also indicates that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., leads several potential opponents in her 2014 re-election bid.

The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, of North Carolina, which conducts polls for Democrats and progressives, focused on Landrieu’s re-election chances, but also took note of Jindal, whom the firm polled at a 58 percent approval rating in 2010. The poll was not done for the Landrieu campaign.

The new poll that places Jindal at a 37 percent approval rating was conducted Friday to Tuesday by surveying 603 Louisiana voters through automated telephone interviews. Jindal had a 57 percent disapproval rating in the new poll.
From the Advocate today:
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Thursday everything is on the table as he tries to develop a plan that eliminates personal and corporate income taxes in a “revenue neutral” way.

“We don’t have a proposal yet,” Jindal said.

Jindal met briefly with local reporters following an event at the Governor’s Mansion honoring couples who had been married in excess of 70 years.

He fielded a half-dozen questions in his first availability to State Capitol reporters in about four months.  (My emphasis)
 Perhaps his low poll numbers got the governor's attention, and he decided to throw a bone to the local media and meet with them briefly and answer a few questions.

Note that Jindal's new tax plan is not yet ready.  The next regular session of the Louisiana Legislature will convene on April 8, 2013.  Will the tax plan be presented to the lawmakers at the eleventh hour and rushed through without giving the legislators time to examine the plan closely, as was the voucher bill for private schools, the financing of which has already been called into question by the State District Court?
Judge Timothy Kelley of State District Court ruled that the way in which the state finances its new voucher program violates the state Constitution, as it relies on money intended in “plain and unambiguous” terms solely for public schools.
As Jindal's minions in the legislature speeded the voucher bill through, Louisiana legislators, with few exceptions, meekly went along.  What could they do in the face of Jindal's awesomeness?  We'll see what happens to the tax plan.  When the lawmakers see the poll results for Jindal, they may begin to think for themselves when the time comes time to vote for a massive restructuring of the tax system in Louisiana.  Since the ideas of Jindal and his admirers in the legislature seem not to be firmly planted in reality, I don't see a good outcome if the tax restructuring plan, whatever it is, passes in the legislature and becomes law.    

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

TAKE THE MEDICAID EXPANSION FUNDS, GOVERNOR

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:
A varied group of organizations and individuals on Tuesday urged Gov. Bobby Jindal to agree to the Medicaid expansion included in the federal health care overhaul.

“Medicaid expansion could provide health coverage to 400,000 Louisianians, most of whom are currently uninsured, and bring in billions of new federal dollars. It will benefit Louisiana’s families, businesses, health care providers and the economy — all at little cost to the state budget,” the open letter to Jindal said.

Jindal — like other Republican governors — has consistently declined to embrace the key part of the Affordable Care Act, referred to as Obamacare. He claims it would be too costly for the state in the long run and there is not enough flexibility to design a program that meets state needs.

Jindal did not agree to be interviewed Tuesday, but his press office released a statement saying his position has not changed.

“Medicaid relies on an outdated model that costs taxpayers billions of dollars and produces poor outcomes,” Jindal said in the prepared statement. He said the expansion could cost Louisiana more than $1 billion in 10 years.
Other Republican governors are taking the Medicaid expansion funds because they realize that the money will benefit their people and their states, but Jindal is an idealogue, and the people of Louisiana be damned, Jindal must adhere to his philosophy.

As usual, Jindal is too timid to face the local media, because they might ask him hard questions about "the outdated model" and the "$1 billion in 10 years" cost of expanding Medicaid.  I'm not knowledgeable enough about budget math and charts, but I'd  like to see an independent source investigate whether the $1 billion over 10 years cost claimed by Jindal is accurate.

Last year, the conclusion to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reads as follows:
Conclusion

Contrary to claims made by some of the Medicaid expansion’s critics, the expansion does not impose substantial financial burdens on states. The additional state Medicaid spending that CBO expects to result from the expansion equals 2.8 percent of what states would have spent on Medicaid in the absence of health reform; this estimate includes the cost of covering individuals who are currently eligible but not enrolled. Estimates from other respected independent sources are similar or even lower — and both those estimates and CBO’s reflect state costs before factoring in state savings in areas such as uncompensated care costs and mental health services.

CBO expects that the expansion will result in 17 million more people being covered, which will significantly reduce state costs for uncompensated care and related programs and offset some or potentially all of the increase in state Medicaid costs.

In short, the federal government will pick up the overwhelming share of the costs of the Medicaid expansion, making it an extremely favorable deal both for states, as well as for their low-income uninsured residents.

The Medicaid expansion would come at a modest cost to the state with the federal government initially paying 100 percent for the first three years and then a small portion after that — never more than 10 percent, proponents wrote.
What I'd like to see is a breakdown by an independent source on why Medicaid expansion would be such a bad deal for Louisiana, when it appears to be advantageous to other states in ways that even Republican governors who don't like Obamacare can understand.

Among the groups and individuals who sent the letter to Jindal are the following:
AARP, the Advocacy Center, the Greater New Orleans American Association of University Women, Louisiana AIDS Advocacy Network, the Louisiana Budget Project, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (Mid South Division), and the National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana Chapter.