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Currently, we are witnessing a break-down of democracy in Louisiana as a result of an abuse of power by our leges giving themselves an obscene pay raise.

War against the citizens

The current situation in LA is almost as if the leges have declared their own constituents the enemy. Our transgression? Being Americans. Standing up and speaking out against government.

The leges, to a person, remain defiant, combative and deceitful. They have hunkered-down believing this issue will blow over in a few weeks.

Separation of Powers

Bobby Jindal says he will not get involved in the lege pay raise issue (He referred to it as a “hot potato.”) because of the “separation of powers.” Outrageous!!!

As I understand it, the “separation of powers” is a political doctrine under which the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government are kept distinct, to prevent abuse of power. Inherent in that doctrine is the system of “checks and balances.” Otherwise, one branch of government may become too powerful, resulting in tyranny.

Appealed refused

We citizens have appealed to Bobby to exercise the power granted him by the people in our constitution to “check” the lege branch. That power is the veto.

Bobby turned his back our pleas. He tells us he made a deal with some leges and refuses to honor a written pledge to 4.2 million Louisianians.

Action needed

We are witnessing firsthand what General Charles de Gaulle warned about: “The politician plays the servant in order to become the master….”

We cannot allow this to continue. We must restore democracy to Louisiana.

We must each confront our individual representatives and senators and continue to demand that the pay raise be repealed. We must not stop until it is done.

We cannot lose this fight.

C.B.

1 CB 9:15 am

I’ve been reading and hearing about the leges who took the massive lege pay increase (SB 672) but who are planning to donate the increase to charities and non-profits in their districts.

Sounds noble, but it is really just a bogus gesture in an attempt to the calm the public outrage.

Giving money to non-profits, charities, etc. in their districts is merely using public money to fund their reelection campaigns.

If (and that’s a big if) the leges actually donate the increase in their salaries to charity, it means that they will get very nice deductions on their Federal and State Personal Income Taxes. Depending on their tax brackets, the result could be that they actually take home more money than they did previously.

If the lege is eligible for membership in the state retirement systems the additional pay, even though donated to charity, will count toward their base pay for the purpose of calculating their retirement benefits.

Who will check to see if these leges actually gave money to the charities and how much?

Promises are easy. Just ask “Chicken Bobby.” How will we know if any charities benefit from these grandiose, self-serving, meaningless, charade to deceive the public.

How long, folks. How long will we continue to allow the leges pee on our collective legs and tell us it is raining.

C.B.

1 CB 7:30 am

It seems that members of the lege cannot stop trying to fool their constituents.

In today’s Daily Monopoly in a story about the obscene lege pay raise is written:

Meanwhile, Reps. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville; Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe; and John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, filed affidavits declining the raise. (Left to right in pictures above.)

They may have filed affidavits, but it is too late. They cannot legally refuse the pay raise. (See LA R.S. 42:459) The legal deadline for doing so expired on Tuesday, June 17.

None of these leges filed the affidavits timely according to the LA House. See list here: http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Misc/Press_Rel/PDF/2008_REPRESENTATIVESWAIVINGSALARYINCREASE.pdf

These leges aren’t stupid, but they damn sure think we are stupid.

Stop the deceit!

C.B.

1 CB 8:19 am