Portrait of a RINO

Bobby Jindal’s hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me. Most of the things for which he criticizes President Obama and the Democrats for doing on the national level, are initiated by Jindal in Louisiana.

The latest example of how he and the President govern alike is Jindal’s plan to bust the state’s “debt ceiling.”

Jindal is supporting Senate Bill No. 204 which allows the state to extend our debt by another $250 Million above the maximum allowed by law.

Higher Ed and Healthcare affected

Jindal wants to put future generations of Louisianans deeper into debt. Additionally, his plan will increase the amount of annual debt service.  That requires more recurring revenues.

More debt service means that there will even be even fewer dollars in the State Operating Budget for Higher Education and Healthcare.

Buying votes

Incurring debt and busting the “ceiling” on state debt both require a 2/3’s vote of the lege.

In order to get the requisite 2/3’s, for his fiscally-irresponsible effort, Jindal must get Republican leges to also follow the Obama playbook.

To get the needed Republican votes Jindal resorted to a method perfected by former Governor Edwin Edwards – buying votes.

If one looks through the legislation one will see projects for various leges throughout the state. That’s how Jindal buys votes.

The bill has already passed the Senate and is pending action on the House Floor.

The primary difference between Jindal and President Obama is that the President is taller.

C.B.

Lege wishful thinking

The House-passed version of the State Operating Budget spends $200 Million in revenues from a tax amnesty plan to replace non-recurring revenues.

The new money generated from the amnesty plan most likely will also be declared non-recurring revenues plus the plan hasn’t even passed the lege.

Historical background

Previously, the Revenue Estimating Conference (“REC”) has not recognized amnesty revenues for expenditure until after they were actually received. Nor has the REC declared such revenues to be recurring and thus not eligible to be spent in the State Operating Budget.

Tuesday, Dr. Jim Richardson the LSU economist on the REC told Tyler Bridges of The Lens that he considers the revenue from the proposed plan as “non-recurring” revenue.

All decisions by the REC must be unanimous.

In 1995, Richardson refused to recognize as recurring the one-time payment from the land-based casino in New Orleans. Then-governor Edwin Edwards had the lege pass one-time legislation to allow a 3/4′s vote of the REC to recognize the money as recurring. The leges could always try that.

Bad public policy

It’s bad public policy to offer a tax amnesty plan only four years after the last one. Offering for consecutive years is even worse.

Worse still is that the leges propose to spend the amnesty revenues on recurring expenses.

Yet worse is that the revenues have been budgeted for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Bad timing

There is a good possibility that the revenues from the amnesty plan, assuming it is enacted, will not even be received during the upcoming fiscal year.

Even those of us who aren’t delinquent on our taxes usually wait until, literally, the last minute to pay them.

Today is the due date for our state income taxes. Most of us will mail our checks today. As they are postmarked today the taxes are considered to be paid timely.

The checks won’t be received by the state, at the earliest, until Thursday. Those from out-of-state payers may not arrive until next week.

Consider someone who hasn’t paid their taxes in years. Under the proposed amnesty plan, they have until June 30, 2014, to pay their past due taxes and avoid interest and penalties. When do you think they will pay their taxes?

That means the revenues won’t be available for expenditures until after the 2014 Regular Session ends.

Not only are the leges are counting they chickens before they hatch, they haven’t even acquired a hen.

C.B.

Recently, as I was checking the lege website, it dawned on me how fortunate we are in Louisiana to have such transparency in the Legislative Branch of state government.

There is not a better, more user-friendly, governmental website in Louisiana and probably not in the nation.  It does everything, but ring one’s phone to announce a bill one is tracking is being debated.  They will probably add that soon.

If you haven’t used it yet, check it out here. You will get your money’s worth for your tax dollars spent on it.

Contrast with Executive

The lege site should be an embarrassment to the Jindal Administration which has gone backwards in the last 5 years in terms of transparency on every website in the Executive Branch. On many of their websites one cannot even determine the names of the top bureaucrats much less the names and contact information of the “worker bees.” Email addresses are virtually non-existent on the sites in the digital age.

Kudos to the lege staff who created and maintain the lege site.

Thanks to the LA leges who authorize such transparency.

C.B.

What does he have to hide?

Saturday morning a friend of mine sent me an email asking about Rep. Joe Harrison’s effort on Friday, during the debate on the State Budget (HB 1), to delete all funding for the State Inspector General’s Office.

My friend asked: “What are they hiding?”

This is Harrison’s second attempt in as many years to abolish the office. Fortunately, good sense prevailed in the House and the amendment failed.

The vote

Here is a copy of the vote on the amendment.

A “Yea” vote is to delete all the funding for the I.G. A “Nay” vote is to keep the I.G.’s office funded.  An “Absent” vote, except in the case of Rep. Jeff Arnold, means your representative chose not to participate.

As presiding officer of the “Committee of the Whole”, Arnold is not required to vote, except in the case of a tie.

Action needed

If your lege was among the 31 who voted “yea” you may want to ask them what they have to hide.

Please let me know what you find out.

C.B.

Where is it?

On Friday, as I watched the Louisiana House of Representatives debate the state’s FY 14 budget I couldn’t help, but wonder what happened to certain fiscal concerns that I didn’t hear addressed in the debate.

Some of those issues for which I missed the solutions are:

1. For years we heard concerns about the state going over a “fiscal cliff.”

This year that cliff was in the neighborhood of $1.2 Billion needed to maintain the status quo of state government.

If the cliff has been addressed, I missed it.

2. We were told that even after the mid-year reductions,  the current year’s (FY13) budget had an approximate $80 Million shortfall due to certain projected revenues not materializing.

The state constitution prohibits the state from incurring a deficit. The FY13 budget ends on June 30.

If that shortfall has been addressed, I missed it.

3. The Minimum Foundation Program (“MFP”) for FY13 was recently declared unconstitutional by the LA Supreme Court because the lege failed to properly approve it during the 2012 Regular Session.

As a result, it is as though the FY13 MFP never existed.  When that happens the MFP reverts to the formula approved for the previous fiscal year.

The previous year’s MFP provides for a 2.75% increase in funding if the FY MFP is not approved.   From what source is the additional 2.75% funded?

The FY12 MFP contained no funding for Bobby Jindal’s statewide voucher program.  What happens to the money spent on the vouchers in FY13 that wasn’t authorized?

If these two issues have been addressed, I missed it.

4. The FY14 budget is funded, in part, by $800 Million in projected savings from privatizing the former LSU hospitals.

Other than for Lallie Kemp, I don’t believe that there is state funding for these state hospitals past October 31.

Other than for Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, I don’t believe any of the agreements for private providers to operate the hospitals have been signed.

Without the agreements in place timely, funding for these hospitals will remain the responsibility of the state’s taxpayers.

If we taxpayers have to pick up the tabs for any hospital after October, it seems that the lege will have to come back into a special session to address the matter before October 31.

If this issue has been addressed, I missed it.

Perhaps some lege can explain to me what happened to these fiscal issues.  I don’t want to be concerned needlessly about massive cuts in vital state services or massive tax increases in the near future.

Can anyone help me see what I’ve missed?

C.B.

Hawks crash to Earth

The new fiscal proposals by the “Hawks” and Democrat Caucus to “balance” the state budget is very disappointing.

The main features are:

1. A three-year tax amnesty plan to raise $200 Million from delinquent taxpayers.  While that may meet the statutory definition of “recurring revenues” in practice is just “one-time revenues” by another name.  The revenues are also highly speculative much like Bobby Jindal includes in his budgets.

2. Better tax collection efforts on Internet sales $20 Million. That is the same type fictitious revenues used by Bobby Jindal to balance the budget. Jindal regularly includes revenues from unnamed and unknown “efficiencies.”

Finally, this new plan while replacing one-time and fictitious revenues with different one-time and fictitious revenues, it does nothing to address the $1.2 Billion shortfall except to kick the can down the road another year.

The plan is not only disappointing, but it is hypocritical.

C.B.

Recently, Bobby Jindal posted this message on Twitter:

SPIN: “Louisiana private sector employment has hit a record high. Proud of our progress on job creation.”

Also reported by the Baton Rouge Business Report’s Daily Report that same day:

REALITY: “The jobless rate in Louisiana rose to 6.2% in March from 6% in February….”

Both are probably true, but the employment rate is meaningless if the state still can’t provide jobs for those looking.

You can’t make this stuff up, but Bobby can.

C.B.

Bobby Jindal and the ethically-challenged Stephen Moret appear to have pulled another fast one on the public.

Just like with the V-Vehicle Plant that failed to materialize it now appears that Elio Motors will have the same fate.  ( See story here.)

Helping to perpetuating this joke on the public, the leges are in the process of passing legislation to exempt the drivers of these non-existent vehicles from the state Helmet Law.

There should be a law to prevent politicians holding press conferences announcing a new businesses backed by our tax dollars until the doors open.

Providing the public with false hope is not better than no hope.  It is a damn lie!

C.B.

Can you hear us yet?

Saturday there was another dismal turnout (10%) election in Hammond.

The Tangipahoa Parish School Board (“TPSB”) thought a low-turnout would be a benefit to it in passing a 60% property tax increase in Hammond.

The TPSB was wrong. We defeated the tax.

This is the second time in two years that the Board has tried unsuccessfully to raise our taxes via a low-turnout election.

Yesterday’s defeat of the millage increase in Hammond in no way was an expression of the lack of support for the Hammond Public Schools. It was a lack of support of the TPSB.

We simply don’t trust the TPSB to spend our funds wisely.

We want to see the TPSB resolve the long-standing desegregation order; make school finances transparent and easy to understand before we discuss giving you more revenues.

Albert Einstein said it best when describing “insanity” as “doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.”

The people of Hammond aren’t insane, but I can’t vouch for the TPSB

Thanks to all in Hammond who voted in Saturday’s election.

C.B.

Interestingly, Jindal flack Kyle Plotkin actually posted the photo on Twitter. Kyle either has a sense of humor about his boss or this was the warmest greeting Bobby received in Houston.

As you may recall, the day that Bobby endorsed Perry for President, Perry’s poll numbers began dropping and never recovered. Perry soon dropped out the 2012 Presidential Race.

What is Perry saying to Jindal?

My suggestion is: “Stay away from me Bobby.”

Other suggestions are:

–”Bobby, one word: hairspray”
–”We’ll do anything to skip work Fridays and pretend we are leading our states and not sucking up.”
–”Bobby, really, I didn’t invite you to my ranch for irony’s sake.”
–“Look, I don’t need another exorcism.”
–”Looking forward to returning the favor in 2016, Bobby.”
–”Don’t misunderstand my support of gay marriage, Bobby.”
–”You want me to endorse you for what?”
–”Dude, stop being the stupid governor.”
–”Post quam gallus cantet, sole cadente” (After the rooster crows, the sun falls)
–”No, whatever you do, please DO NOT endorse me.”
–”I can’t endorse you, but I will set you up with a new identity and a place for you to live.”
–”It’s not enough to look politically correct in Texas, you’ve actually got to keep our people working and the state fiscally in the black.”
–”Bobby, can’t y’all work up a hurricane to help with them low poll numbers?”
–”Enough is enough”
–”Don’t great minds think alike?”
–”If no one was here I’d totally grab your chest”
–”No, you can’t come in without a red tie!”
–”Stop tapping my funding base and get out of here!”
–”You can’t park your helicopter in the handicap zone!”
–”There are two good reasons you’re not welcome here and a third reason I can’t remember!”
–”I told you to raise the property tax, fool, not the sales tax!!”
–”For the last time Bobby, I’m tellin you I will not be your vice presidential running mate!”
–”Give up Toledo Bend or I send in the Texas Marines!”
–”Sorry……I just can’t touch an immigrant!”
–”Boy! You lookin more and more dark brown.”
–”So when they ask you just say you’re for creavolution?”
–”This time, Bobby, I’ll give you the debating tips.”
–”Make sure you pronounce it TEHXas, Bobby, not TAXas.”
–”Yeah, Bobby, ah know where Looziana is. Do you?”

C.B.