forgotston.com

Our state’s Rhodes Scholar-in-chief (a.k.a. “Roads Scholar”) has been spending a lot time out of the state raising campaign money for his reelection as governor.   Despite The Scholar’s rhetoric about “transparency” when asked for details of the fundraisers, the media has been met with non-transparent “stone-walling.”    Perhaps now we know why.

Obviously, The Scholar has been less than discreet from whom he takes money.   It was just reported that the co-chair of one of The Scholar’s fundraisers in Florida has been disbarred and charged with running a billion dollar Ponzi scheme.  ( See story here.)

Why would such a person have an interest in who is the governor of Louisiana?

While other politicians are rushing to return the money they received from the same person, The Scholar remains silent and opaque.

It makes one wonder what else The Scholar is hiding.

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am

Gov. Haley Barbour

Here’s some startling news.   A governor is actually doing his job.

Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Mississippi, is proposing solutions to Mississippi’s revenue shortfalls without a streamlining commission.   He is also suggesting that colleges be merged without a “Tucker Commission.” See story here.

Perhaps The Rhodes Scholar needs to take some lessons in common sense from this Ole Miss graduate.

C.B.

1 CB 9:19 am

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.

1 CB 9:00 am