honey_pot

Yesterday, at a hearing by a sub-committee of the State Streamlining Commission, State Treasurer John Kennedy exposed another huge source of state earmarks/patronage that dwarfs the money spent by individual leges’ on their pet NGOs.

In the State Department of Education’s budget for FY 2008-09, alone, over $130 Million was handed out to individuals presumably favored by The Rhodes Scholar-in-chief. Since 2005, the education department has spent over $600 Million on similar patronage.

Most of the money is for consulting contracts which were not publicly bid.

A lot of money was paid to private individuals to give speeches at meetings around the state. In this time of an alleged fiscal crisis, it would seem that a state with such a large number of employees as Louisiana, that some of these folks could deliver a speech.

To see the list of the 2009 patronage go here . The mere listing (not details) of the contracts is 135 pages. To get a taste of the pork go to these pages: 87, 88, 92, 95, 96, 98, 99, 101,102,103,104,105,108, 109,114,116,118,123,125,126,127,128,129,130,132

(If you have trouble opening the link above, go here to see the list: la-doe-contract-report-20091)

Regardless of the use of this money, it is clearly not going into the classrooms.

One can only imagine how much of our hard-earned tax dollars are handed-out in the rest of the agencies controlled by The Rhodes Scholar.

We are being told that the poor, elderly and young of this state will have to go without healthcare due to the lack of state money.  Obviously, those folks are a lower priority than the favored individuals being paid to give speeches, workshops, etc., around the state.

C.B.