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LA lege performing for governor

In a previous commentary I mentioned two leges discussing the recently ended lege session on Eric Asher’s radio talk show on WIST-AM in New Orleans.

There was another topic of the discussion that is worthy of mentioning.

According to Senator J.P. Morrell and Representative Walt Leger, a big problem with them being able get things accomplished is the fact that the governor possesses too much power.

These two bright, articulate, young, successful, lawyers claimed that the governor’s power is a result of our state constitution. However, neither of them offered any evidence to support that contention.

Morrell and Leger suggested that the solution to the problem is a constitutional convention to completely rewrite our state constitution.

Power from the constitution?

The only really powerful gubernatorial tool in our constitution is the line-item veto. Interestingly, the governors of 43 other states also possess the line-item veto and we don’t hear leges in other state’s blaming their inability to do their jobs on the “people’s document” or their low pay.

The primary power of the leges, besides passing laws, is the ability to appropriate money.

While the governor can recommend a budget and can strikeout individual items in the budget, the governor cannot spend money without an appropriation from the leges.

The ability to appropriate money is the key to exercising control over every facet of state government.

Both are these leges are too young to recall that the 1974 Constitution, if anything, reduced the power of the governor.

A huge power the governor possessed prior to 1974 was the appointment of judges to fill vacancies in Louisiana. In 1973 at least 75% of the judges at every level of the bench had, initially, been appointed by a governor.

As such, most sitting judges owed their jobs to the governor. Not only did the governor control the Executive Branch of government, but had effective control over the Judiciary.

The 1974 Constitution eliminated that power of the governor. Now the State Supreme Court makes appointments to judicial vacancies.

Governor’s real power

Most of the governor’s power in Louisiana comes from it being given to him directly by the leges (statutorily), abdication of their responsibilities (Allowing the governor to pick the presiding officers of the House and Senate.) or prostituting themselves to him (for “bacon”, NGOs, etc.).

During the 2011 Regular Session, the leges couldn’t even muster enough votes to require the governor to share the state’s financial information with them. That only required a statute and a majority vote.

Leges have been controlled to more or lesser extents by governors of Louisiana long before the current constitution existed. Some have exercised more independence that the current group of leges.

In the 1940s, the New Orleans Item editorialized that the LA leges “have about as much independence as trained seals.”

Solution

If Morrell and Leger believe the constitution is the reason that the governor is so powerful the solution is easy.

As leges, they can introduce constitutional amendments to reduce the power of the governor. The governor does not have veto power over such amendments. They go straight from the leges to the people.

However, one cannot legislate independence. Independence requires the leges to exercise the power that they already have.

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am

LA Lege Coat of Arms

Last week, I was listening to Eric Asher’s radio talk show on WIST-AM in New Orleans.

Asher had on two leges discussing the just-ended lege session. I won’t name them because their comments are reflective of the attitudes of most of the recently-elected members of the lege.

Problem?

One of the issues raised during the radio show was how Team Jindal managed to AGAIN pull the wool over the leges’ eyes. The discussion was about the $1.6 Billion “fiscal cliff” that simply evaporated.

The leges’ response was that the governor’s staff is full-time, but leges don’t make enough money to devote the time necessary to be informed on the budget.

This was the first time that I have ever heard the excuse that the leges aren’t paid enough to do their jobs properly. Both of the leges voted for the massive raise in 2008 that Bobby Jindal vetoed after pressure from the public.

It begs the question of why both of these leges are seeking reelection? The pay will be the same for the next four years as it was the last four.

Thanks to the voters passing an amendment to the constitution last November, the leges are prohibited from giving themselves a pay raise during the same term in which it passed. (LA Const. Article III, Section 4(G))

Full-time lege staff

Omitted from the discussion was the fact that the leges also, have their own full-time fiscal staff. Unlike the governor’s staff, the lege staff doesn’t have the added responsibility of running the day-to-day operations of state government.

The House and Senate each have its own fiscal staff and both bodies share the staff of the Lege Fiscal Office. All of these staffers are full-time, very knowledgeable and compensated appropriately.

The real problem

For the most part, leges don’t choose to devote the time necessary to understanding the budget. Most are not courageous enough to ask the governor’s staff the tough questions.

The leges prefer to ingratiate themselves with the governor and in exchange for “handouts” for their districts. They don’t bite the hand that feeds them.

Specious argument

Nobody is drafted into the lege. They all asked to be given the honor of representing us.

Never was it considered that the leges give up their “day jobs” in return for the massive pay raise in 2008.

Not one lege quit when Jindal vetoed the pay raise. One, however, quit his “day job” to be a full-time lege.

Thus, all this talk about not having enough time because the pay is too low is insulting to our intelligence.

Solution

If a lege doesn’t like the current pay they can quit right now and they certainly shouldn’t to run for reelection. Otherwise, quit whining!

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am

Holding Bobby’s feet to the fire

THEN

When running for governor in 2007, Bobby Jindal made the following statements in his campaign brochure entitled “Government Reform: Controlling Runaway State Spending”:

Require ALL non-governmental entities seeking state grants to publicly file on-line specific reports detailing how their organization is structured, any relationships to elected officials or their families, and how state money would be used.

Any group asking the state government for taxpayer dollars must fully explain their organization and detail their spending intentions.

Require Legislators to publicly file specific reports in advance on ALL non-governmental entities for which they request funding.

If a Legislator pushes to direct spending to a certain group, then he or she must show explicitly why this is a good use of taxpayer money.

In recent state budgets Jindal has vetoed certain NGO funding that did not meet the above requirements.

NOW

On Friday, Jindal signed HB 2, the State Capital Outlay Budget, without vetoing a single project.

Just a sampling of the NGOs funded in Priority 1 (will definitely be funded this year) in HB 2 that did not post on-line any information about the organization or the projects are:

SOUTHERN FOREST HERITAGE MUSEUM AND RESTORATION CENTER Priority 1 $ 250,000
NORTHEAST LOUISIANA DELTA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM Priority 1 $ 25,000
EFFORTS OF GRACE, INC. Priority 1 $ 910,000
MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI Priority 1 $ 155,000
LIGHTHOUSE FOR BLIND IN NEW ORLEANS Priority 1 $ 1,100,000
YMCA OF THE CAPITAL AREA Priority 1 $ 850,000
TECHE ACTION BOARD, INC. Priority 1 $ 1,450,000
ARC OF NORTH WEBSTER Priority 1 $ 150,000
RECONCILE NEW ORLEANS, INC. Priority 1 $ 625,000
LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND Priority 1 $ 250,000
GREATER URBAN LEAGUE OF NEW ORLEANS Priority 1 $ 200,000
TANGIPAHOA AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM AND BLACK VETERAN’S ARCHIVES Priority 1 $ 50,000
LIVINGSTON PARISH FAIRGROUND AUTHORITY Priority 1 $ 250,000
OPTIONS, INC. Priority 1 $ 1,765,000
LOUISIANA MILITARY HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM Priority 1 $ 100,000
LOUISIANA ALLIANCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB Priority 1 $ 100,000
BOGALUSA YMCA Priority 1 $ 85,000
SHREVEPORT-RUSTON METHODIST CAMP Priority 1 $ 150,000
LOUISIANA BLACK HISTORY HALL OF FAME Priority 1 $ 350,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GREATER BATON ROUGE Priority 1 $ 50,000
RAGLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Priority 1 $ 25,000
FAMILY CENTER OF LIFE, INC Priority 1 $ 100,000
ARC OF GREATER NEW ORLEANS Priority 1 $ 150,000
HOME AWAY FROM HOME, INC. Priority 1 $ 90,000
NEW ORLEANS NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT Priority 1 $ 350,000
TRINITY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY Priority 1 $ 900,000
NEW ORLEANS MUSIC HALL OF FAME Priority 1 $ 800,000
TRIUMPH OF SPECIAL PEOPLE, INC. Priority 1 $ 370,000
LOUISIANA 4-H FOUNDATION Priority 1 $ 250,000
CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER Priority 1 $ 300,000
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMS Priority 1 $ 1,270,000
LOUISIANA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE Priority 1 $ 1,000,000
ALLUME SOCIETY Priority 1 $ 200,000
GRAND OPERA HOUSE OF THE SOUTH Priority 1 $ 1,040,000
ACADIANA ARTS COUNCIL Priority 1 $ 7,700,000
CENTENARY COLLEGE OF LOUISIANA Priority 1 $ 300,000
CHEZ HOPE, INC. Priority 1 $ 100,000
THE COLOMB FOUNDATION Priority 1 $ 370,000
WEST OUACHITA YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION Priority 1 $ 25,000
GENTILLY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT Priority 1 $ 600,000
LONGUE VUE HOUSE AND GARDENS Priority 1 $ 100,000
KINGWOOD HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION Priority 1 $ 140,000
LOUISIANA ARTIST GUILD Priority 1 $ 4,675,000
MERCY ENDEAVORS Priority 1 $ 405,000
RED RIVER REVEL ARTS FESTIVAL Priority 1 $ 250,000
MULTICULTURAL TOURISM COMMISSION Priority 1 $ 335,000
RED RIVER FILM SOCIETY Priority 1 $ 1,800,000
PROGRESS 63, INC. Priority 1 $ 90,000

To quote Bobby Jindal: “It’s time to match action to our rhetoric.”

It’s time to hold Bobby accountable.

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am