Just when you thought the news coming from this administration couldn’t possibly get any more dysfunctional…it does.
In fact, whatever semblance of logic this administration had remaining is fast circling the drain even as our governor attempts to push his agenda onto a national stage while leaving it to high-priced consultants and amateurs like Kristy Nichols to find solutions to mounting problems at home.
This is the same governor, Bobby Jindal, who recently told the graduating class at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that the entertainment industry’s intolerance is eroding the very foundation of America’s freedom—even as his Department of Economic Development continues to give away the store in the form of hefty tax incentives to….that very same entertainment industry.
As the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live would say, “Well now, isn’t that special?”
Earl Long might say it another way. He well may have been describing Jindal’s flexibility in spewing his political rhetoric to play to the views of his audience when he told Ruston Daily Leader fledgling reporter Wiley Hilburn in July of 1959 (only a couple of months before Long’s death) that Hilburn’s uncle, former Lt. Gov. C.E. “Cap” Barham, could “talk out of both sides of his mouth and whistle out of the middle at the same time.”
But bizarre as Jindal’s performance has been over the past six-plus years, he would be hard-pressed to surpass the downright preposterous laundry list of proposed cuts in spending rolled out on Monday by Nichols, serving as his proxy while he campaigns to be the Second Coming of Alfred E. Neuman.
All that was missing from Nichols’ theater of the absurd were the orange wig, red nose, big shoes and a seltzer bottle.
To say this administration is delusional is to be overly kind.
To refresh, you will remember that back in January, the administration signed a $4.2 million contract (quickly amended to $5 million in violation of state law requiring legislative concurrence on initial amendments greater than 10 percent) with the consulting firm of Alvarez & Marsal, charging the firm with finding $500 million in savings by April. Well, April has come and gone and now Nichols says the firm’s report will be a month late, now expected at the end of May.
Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), to further refresh the old memory banks, is the same firm that offered up the sage advice to the Orleans Parish School Board in December of 2005, only months after Hurricane Katrina, to fire 7,500 teachers, effective Jan. 31, 2006.
That little bit of economic wisdom may wind up costing the state $1.5 billion following a court decision in favor of the teachers who filed suit after being summarily fired.
A&M also is the same firm that recommended the privatizing of the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans (formerly Big Charity Hospital) in the voluminous Streamlining Commission report initiated during Jindal’s second year in office, thus sowing the seeds of Jindal’s ambitious privatization plan for LSU’s statewide system of hospitals.
And we all know how well that fared, don’t we?
According to friend and fellow blogger C.B. Forgotston, the preliminary report submitted by A&M last Thursday (May 8) was a whopping two and one-half pages in length ($2 million per page—by comparison, this post alone should be worth $10 million) and contained recommendations for only $74 million of the $500 million goal.
And now Nichols has come before the Senate Finance Committee to inform senators that “Every (cabinet) secretary signed off on the savings.”
Well, DUH! Of course they signed off on the proposals. They may be sycophants but they ain’t stupid. We know what happens to anyone in the state employ who might dare adopt a viewpoint at odds with Jindal. Obviously, these people who could never command comparable salaries in the private sector want to cling to their jobs like so many ticks in a hound dog’s ear.
But enough of the ancient history; let’s allow Jindal and A&M to demonstrate in their own words just how inane the future leader of the free world can be. Among the innovative ideas for saving the taxpayers $74 million are these jewels of pure brilliance:
- Cutting back the hours of operation of the Cameron Parish ferry;
- Circling employment ads for prison inmates;
- Decreasing the thickness of asphalt on roadways;
- Requiring pregnant women on Medicaid to use midwives or doulas for delivery;
- Treating the partners of pregnant women in government health care programs for STDs.
Oh, we get it. Very funny. Kristy, you’re quite the card.
What? You’re serious?!!!?? No way! C’mon, guys; a joke’s a joke but now you’re starting to scare us. We’d rather hear something a little less scary—like finding the hook from the one-armed killer in the car’s door handle or about the water skier falling into a nest of water moccasins.
Okay, now sit back, Kristy, and take a reality check here. Where’s the proposal to prohibit offering six-figure salaries to washed-up politicians so they can occupy a desk for a few year to fatten their state pensions? We mean, even with motion sensor lighting, these guys are so useless that they inhabit darkened offices.
You want to cut the hours of operation of the Cameron Ferry from 24 to 16 or 18 hours and you want to cut the thickness of asphalt overlay in half—from two inches to one-inch? You say the two would save the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) $10.9 million?
Have you ignored the fact that the only detour along Highway 82 in Cameron Parish would require a drive of 120 miles?
You say Texas has already adopted a new material that allows that state to overlay roadways with one-inch-thick asphalt? Wonderful. Have you taken into account that the soil composition and consistency in Louisiana, particularly South Louisiana, is vastly different than that of Texas? To implement this foolish proposal would place an added onus on already over-burdened DOTD maintenance units when the thinner asphalt produces thousands of potholes that are certain to occur as the base beneath the asphalt deteriorates. If DOTD Secretary Sherri LeBas did agree to this idiocy as Nichols claims, she is grossly unqualified to head up the agency responsible for the construction and maintenance of the state’s roads and bridges.
Circling employment ads for prisoners? Gawd. For this, we’re paying A&M $5 million. We could have suggested that for a buck-fifty.
Nichols explained that the state intends to implement the program whereby low-risk prisoners in Orleans and Jefferson parishes would earn their keep by working by serving the latter portions of their sentences in minimum-security facilities such as parish prisons run by sheriffs and giving part of their paychecks to the prison operators to help pay for their room and board. She said that would save the state $9.4 million. How do you propose to keep the sheriffs honest in reporting actual salaries against what they report to the state? Just a thought.
Midwives and doulas for deliveries for pregnant women on Medicaid? Interesting concept. Has anyone thought of bringing back leeches? How about electric shock for mental illness? And willow bark for treating fever? And now, simply because they are on Medicaid, we propose to deny these expectant mothers the same childbirth facilities to which people like Kristy Nichols or Sherri LeBas or Kathy Kliebert might be privy?
And you propose to treat the sexual partners of pregnant women for STDs after the fact?
Beautiful, just bleeping beautiful.
This aberration of an administration, as we (borrowing a line from Three-and-a-Half Men) have said before, has all the emotional stability of a sack full of rats in a burning meth lab.
Even sadder is the fact that the legislature, in allowing this spoiled brat of a child Jindal to get away with his shenanigans, for failing so miserably to hold him accountable, isn’t far behind.
Cameron parish is the largest parish in Louisiana. The ferrry across the Calcasieu river connects East Cameron to West Cameron and the communities from Hackberry south to the Gulf and west to Johnson’s bayou (a wonderful community by the way) all the way to the Texas line. It severs Sheriff duties, Ambulances and Emergency fire services. And the ‘savings’ is a pittance. And they’re bragging about this?
And if I’m not mistaken, Texas has to add that 1″ of overlay almost every year (even over hard limestone beds) rather than the intermittent repairs made on deeper beds. Part of the answer to healthy roads is to have the logging trucks and chemical trucks pay their fair share of road maintenance on parish roads. They are the ones that chew it up. Let them pay for the repairs.
I’ll amen that. I bet the big land owners and logging operations operate their trucks stressing and destroying the roads while with Jindal’s help, paying very little taxes.
All of the previous comments ignore the obvious lack of integrity in paying folks for what has NOT been done with one voice. Does that make each of the co-signers complicit in abrogating the contract that was already agreed to?
Looking over your detail blog it’s a wonder these people can face the legislature and the people of Louisiana and expect anything more than an exhibition of a string puppet being played by a joker who cannot face the people himself so he uses a ventriloquist dummy to relay what he cannot do. But the wires hooked onto the dummy are slinky wires and you can bet they can move up and down and side to side where he can deny and reject all that is said as misspoken or Misunderstandings. Anyway his dismissing what was said will be denied for he will never take the blame for miscommunication. We can take or leave it but be assured it will be his way or the highway!
Another suggestion from the consulting firm was to consolidate the business functions for the state transportation department (DOTD) to regional offices.
In December 2009, Dr. Anker, DOTD Secretary, presented this same proposal to the employees in Lake Charles DOTD District. It would basically transfer all or most of the administrative functions provided in Lake Charles (Business Office, HR, etc.) to Lafayette. We were not the only District affected by this. Luckily the Legislators were opposed to the proposal and it was tabled. At that time, the savings was only going to be $2.3 million.
Not very much of a savings when you factor in the cost of fuel and loss of work time for employees that could possibly have to drive back and forth to a regional office to conduct business.
Thanks for the laughs, Tom. You’ve still got it so you ought to take this post to the stage. This situation truly is so sad it’s funny and you did a good job spearing it.
There are so many things wrong with this contract, it’s hard to find a starting point. Not only have you, C. B., Bob Mann, and others detailed them. The mainstream press even gave the contract a glancing blow of criticism back when it came to light.
When I looked at the list of preliminary recommendations, I was reminded of things we’ve all said, over and over and over and over:
1. An actual comprehensive streamlining document was produced in the recent past as a result of study by people who actually live here, work here, and govern here, and therefore should know what is going on and where, including people whose job it is to make government as effective and efficient as possible.
2. This $5 million contract with A & M was for 3 months of work. Three months have passed and the only product so far is a list whose only new recommendations don’t seem to be good ones.
3. We are already paying millions in salaries to department heads and undersecretaries who are supposed to know enough about their own departments and management of resources to justify their salaries. Couldn’t they come up with anything without having to wait for an outsider to make recommendations they could then “sign-off” on?
So, where among those responsible for representing us in our legislative branch and those printing daily papers, was the outrage when the preliminary report was released? Oh, sure, a few legislators carped a very little about it. The press report I read was so bland as to give the impression this was just another day no different from any other. down at our state ‘gummint”. Wait a second…it was. HELP!
Keep on looking and pushing; it’s not time to quit now!
Not one single number L’il booby has put out there has ever been even close. U can better believe this is another pipe dream straight out of his alternative universe.
Doulas to deliver babies for poor women? Did the hotshot consultants also direct Jindal to change the law so that untrained, non-medical people can deliver babies? Doulas are wonderful labor coaches, trained to keep a laboring mother physically and emotionally comfortable. They are not trained or allowed to deliver babies. Why not allow veterinarians to treat humans? They are at least highly trained. We paid these consultants millions for this foolishness, and the jindalistas are buying it? The consultants that terrorized my agency were fools. Looks like they are all incompetent nutcases. .
Right on, Earthmother! And what about the proposal to treat the partners of STD infected pregnant women? If it is true this change in policy would not only save the state money, but prevent premature births and the sometimes permanent disabilities these babies suffer, then why did it take a bunch of pencil pushers to come up with it? If there are legitimate medical studies that validate the measurable benefits of testing and treating these partners, then why didn’t our State Medical Director implement this policy years ago? Either he and his assistants need to be fired for not doing the right thing, or the State Medical Director can speak out and expose this proposal as a farce! Yes, he will get fired by Jindal, but at least he will get fired for the right reasons. Dr. Cerise and Dr. Townsend may have been forced to leave the state to find employment, but at least they left with their integrity!!
Requiring pregnant women on Medicaid to use midwives or doulas for delivery
Heh. He’s already in “deep doo-doo” with Medicaid. I guess he and Kristy are only wanting to dig the hole deeper.
Whoa….wait a freakin’ minute….
They want to require a woman who is having an abortion (paid for by her own money) have a doctor with admitting privileges at a hospital, ‘for her health and safety’…yet a woman who is actually going to deliver a child should only require essentially a cheerleader??? Seriously?!?!?!!
In the name of religious freedom, we might want to consider faith healers.
We need a money back guarantee on these stupid consultant contracts (boondoggles). This list of solutions is so LAME! And Anonymouse’s comment hit the nail on the head. When are our legislators going to rally? I’ve never seen a more cowardly, whipped group than this bunch. Oh that’s right, they too are on the ALEC payroll. Their silence implies support.
During the CNSI debacle, Ms. Nichols was quoted in regards to terminating the contract because,” Louisiana law states,” if the person awarded the contract has acted fraudulently or in bad faith, the contract shall be declared null and void.” The consulting contract was originally 4.2 million then changed to 5 million( was against Louisiana law). The goal of the consulting contract awarded was the responsibility of the consulting firm to find 500 million dollars in savings and all they came up with was 74 million. Now if that’s not grounds for terminating a contract under the same law as CNSI termination then someone needs to explain. Alvarez & Marsal acted fraudulently and in bad faith by proposing what they would do but failed to do and failed to provide the outcome in a timely manner. What I have stated so far is just facts. My opinion is this was a hair-brained idea. (Sound familiar?) I hope this is a check Kennedy will not write and challenge it under the same law as that used for CNSI.
I do believe a lot of those savings were previously part of the MMIS replacement system (such as a large savings for electronic visit verification). The current Medicaid administration does not want to implement the strict monitoring of providers and wants the least monitoring version which will not realize the full savings potential. Also, did they bid that contract out? Regardless, why would they pay a contractor that amount of money and most of what was identified had already been identified by state staff.
I keep hearing that expanding the contract up to $5million was illegal. Why isn’t the Attorney General or State Police or some law enforcement entity arresting somebody? Too many things in Louisiana’s history have been termed illegal and yet left unaccountable. Remember the more than 300% “cost overrun” on the building of the Superdome. It’s (way past) time for Louisiana to hold its elected or appointed officials fiduciary accountable, financially responsible, and legally punishable with restitution and prison time.
Harold L. Matthew
The reason it is illegal is that a contract may be amended one time (and one time only) for a maximum of 10 percent of the original contract figure without legislative approval. If the amendment exceeds 10 percent or if there is a subsequent amendment, the legislature must concur, according to state statute. The amendment of the Alvarez and Marsal contract from $4.2 million to $5 million represents a 20 percent increase—double the maximum one-time allowable without legislative concurrence.
This was explained when F.A. Richard and Associates (FARA) was given a 10 percent increase to its $68 million contract to take over operation of the Office of Risk Management (ORM). Legislators learned of this obscure law during a committee meeting and they were not happy about the increase to FARA’s contract but the Division of Administration (DOA) and ORM as much as told committee members there was nothing they could do about it.
But DOA even violated that contract (or allowed the violation to take place—not once, but twice) when weeks after the amendment was approved, the ORM contract was transferred (sold) to an Ohio firm and a few months later that company resold the contract to a New York company—despite a written provision in the FARA contract that expressly prohibited the transfer of the contract without “prior written approval” from DOA. A LouisianaVoice request for a copy of that written approval resulted in DOA’s responding that no such document existed.
To answer your question as to why these violations were allowed, we can only surmise that the vast majority of the 144 legislators don’t have a set between them.
And don’t expect any help from the attorney general, aka Elvis impersonator Buddy Caldwell.
Fire up the ovens! that is the only logical final solution which can be suggested by the Jindalites and A & M.Being a c-history graduate of Northeast (ULM), where I earned a commission in the US Army, where I learned a lot, and then graduated 3rd in my Law School class (okay, 3rd from the bottom), where I learned even more, especially about the despots like Hitler, I see a striking resemblance to Plotkins and Teepell handling of Jindal. It is effective and very good. Jindal is very good with numbers and each time he uses the buzz words “efficient” I flash back to Tolands’ Hitler and Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer. Jindal and the Repuglicans are great propagandists, and I repeat, this entire show with efficiency, and $ is simply to get as much tax money in the hands of the Insurance and corporate hqs, and without those pesky regulations and controls. Watch the show with the attacks on Gen Sensheki at VA, those VA benefits are ACA related the Insurance lobby wants ALL not just most of health care book. ron thompson
There will be another AP story about this in tomorrow’s paper. It has been watered down since the first draft which quoted legislators asking the obvious question of why this contract was even necessary was posted online and it leaves unanswered the biggest question of all – Where’s the other $426 million and are those recommendations going to be as lame as these?
The Baton Rouge Advocate waters down the State Senate response to the A&M consultants who were hired to find $500 million in savings but found some ridiculous ideas claiming $72 million in savings. What is the definition of the phrase, “waters down?” The way I see it is more lies. Kristy Nichols is the Eveready Bunny in that she can’t stop telling lies to legislators and media reps and anyone who listens. Has she ever been right about anything since she became our state commissioner of administration? So here are her latest words of prophecy: “The consultants’ hiring saying the firm brought ideas from other states and national expertise. The work will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in savings over several years.” Well Ms. Nichols has no shame in cashing her state paycheck while she stands out in front of elected officials and lies. In the movies, there is always the hero or heroine and for our state leaders the movie would be a legislator somewhere out there standing near the Capitol who calls her out and says what is true? It goes like this, ” Ms. Nichols, you are not a credible source. Nothing you say has any data or facts to back what you say. Go back to your boss and let him know that we have a brain though we are challenged to use it because our fear of your boss overrides any moral, ethical and legal principles which we once had. However, we are sick of the lies and we won’t take it anymore.” (Recall in the movie Network where everyone is shouting that phrase from their windows?). In reality if a consulting firm such as A& M submitted a report falling so dramatically short of the financial goals of a contract in the private sector, they would be laughed out of the building and then sued to recover every dollar the private company gave them. It’s just a no-brainer. Thanks No-Brainers for nothing!
To quote the lines from the movie, Network, the people are shouting,” I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” It’s a classic film and much of the material in the movie is befitting for the present times. You can see it by looking up the movie, Network and put in the scene where people are shouting out their windows. Enjoy!!! Though it may make you want you to shout it from the rooftop or invest in signage.
A lot of the media coverage focused on all the “saving” the state would realize by reducing the number of “toll free” 1-800 numbers. All that means is instead of holding for 30 minutes waiting to be “served” by the next available agent and have the state paying for the long distance call charges, now the citizens seeking services will get the honor of paying for the long distance call while they hold. There are also rumors that the next administration will inherit a $1 Billion deficit. That’s going to be real interesting given the next administration won’t find out about it until January (mid Fiscal Year). Stay tuned!
[…] for Kansas, Louisiana and North Carolina and the savings there seem uncertain. Louisiana apparently discovered the devil was in the details, and nothing seems to have happened in Kansas after its study was […]
[…] for Kansas, Louisiana and North Carolina and the savings there seem uncertain. Louisiana apparently discovered the devil was in the details, and nothing seems to have happened in Kansas after its study was […]