[StBernard] Political Health for Life

[Westley Annis]

Thursday, June 22, 2006 

SPECIAL EDITION: 


Dardenne Takes Lick on Lifetime Healthcare for Politicians
<http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5062605> 

WAFB TV
Governor Blanco's office tells 9 News she has not decided if she'll veto the
insurance plan for legislators that's far better than a state worker gets.
WAFB's Julie Baxter reports on a plan to have the state pay for 75% of
certain legislators' health insurance premiums for the rest of their lives.

In the quiet after the legislative storm, these last-day-of-session words
spoken by Representative Pete Schneider, R-Slidell, sound prophetic: "There
is legislation going through the process that we will discover in the next
60 to 90 days that is going to enrich special interest groups and possibly
some legislators." 
Within 24 hours came word that legislators -- among them 18 senators and 50
representatives who are term-limited out of legislative chambers in 2008 --
have cut themselves a lifetime health insurance deal. 
What has so many of the state workers talking now, is that while a part-time
legislator with ten years of service can get 75% of their premiums paid for
life, a full-time state worker -- and that includes most teachers,
university and faculty and staff members -- would have to work 20 years to
get the same deal on their health insurance.

"To start with, it's a part time job, and I don't think when I leave I
should be getting health insurance through the state," says Amedee. "When
I'm outta here, I'm outta here."

Many south Louisiana legislators voted for the new health insurance deal ,
including Senators Sharon Broome, Jay Dardenne , Cleo Fields, Clo Fontenot
and Representatives Don Cazayoux, Carl Crane, Yvonne Dorsey, Avon Honey,
Michael Jackson, Tom McVea, and Bodi White (who was absent for the second
house vote).

Voting against the bill were Senator Amedee and Representative Gary Beard,
as did Hunter Greene and Eddie Lambert (those two were absent for the first
vote) and three legislators who voted for the bill the first time -- William
Daniel, Dale Erdey and Mert Smiley -- voted against the bill the second time
around.

With more than 100 e-mails already hitting Senator Amedee's blackberry, it's
likely no legislator will soon forget their vote on this one.

LPNS COMMENTARY: Senator Dardenne, a candidate for statewide office,
professes to be a good government proponent? 

LEGISLATURE- INSURANCE BENEFITS FOR LIFE <http://www.thedeadpelican.com/> 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DEAD PELICAN
By Chad Rogers 

SPECIAL COMMENTARY: STOP HB HB 1028 

The legislature has voted to give themselves state insurance benefits for
life. Their family members will also get benefits. Here is the house voting
record.
<http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=398970> 

Here is the senate voting record
<http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=401822> 

THE TIMES PICAYUNE elaborates on the bill here. 
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-3/115078385831168
0.xml> 

THE DEAD PELICAN believes that this is a horrendous bill. The legislators
who voted for this are, simply put, self-serving and not looking our for the
interests of the people.

THE DEAD PELICAN believes that any legislator who voted for this bill does
not deserve to be re-elected, period. This is regardless of party
affiliation, past accomplishments, and/ or any other positive
characteristics the legislator has.

At this time, there is only one way to stop this bill from becoming law.

You can e-mail Governor Blanca and urge her to VETO the bill. Here is the
way to contact the governor by e-mail.
<http://www.managekeelson.com/websites/la.gov/index.cfm?md=form&tmp=home&cfm
id=146> 

NOTE: IF YOU SEND AN EMAIL, INCLUDE HB 1028 AS THE SUBJECT. 
The governor's telephone numbers are 866-366-1121, 225-342-0991 or
225-342-7015. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Political Gravy Keeps Pouring 
<http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7416> 
RINGSIDE POLITICS
By Jeff Crouere
(excerpt)

By any measure, Louisiana is a very poor state. After last year´s
hurricanes, the hardships of living here are even greater for thousands of
families, who have had to make incredible sacrifices. Tragically, thousands
of our citizens have lost everything because of these storms. Contrast the
struggles of daily life for most Louisiana families with the deluxe,
five-star treatment that politicians lavish on themselves. The contrast says
a lot about what is wrong with this state. 

In Louisiana, politicians afford themselves first-class services, obscene
perks; and generous salaries for performance that rarely merits even an
average grade. With politicians working so hard to protect their turf and
expand their benefits, there is not much time to help their suffering
constituents. Such behavior was on full display in the past legislative
session. Greed reached an all-time high, as the politicians saw the extra
money coming in to the state post-Katrina and went for it with gusto. 

While ethics legislation went nowhere this session, it was business as usual
for legislators who restored $30 million in slush funds, enabling "pet
projects" in legislative districts to be funded. This is especially
disturbing since legislative and rural slush funds were finally eliminated
in the special session after Katrina. Now, with the state flush with extra
tax revenue and federal dollars, these wasteful projects were restored.
These slush funds include projects in legislative districts throughout
Louisiana, including many of dubious value.

In this session, all meaningful ethics legislation failed and slush funds
were restored; however, the biggest disappointment was the passage of the
huge state budget. In the session, a $26.7 billion budget was passed without
major structural reform in the budget. For comparison, in 1995, the state
budget was approximately $10 billion. So we have almost tripled the size of
government without any apprec iable benefits for the taxpayers. During this
time of growth, Louisiana has lost population and jobs and the economy has
been stagnant. The statistics do not seem to matter to politicians who are
always looking for more of the public´s money to spend on either their own
perks or frivolous projects. 

The idea of public service seems foreign to some legislators who continue to
view their position as a way to enhance their personal wealth. Is the State
of Louisiana paying our insurance premiums? Of course not and we are not
getting free tickets to Saints games either. The whole image of a protected,
preferred class of politicians in Louisiana has been in existence for
decades; however, voters do not seem to be outraged enough to do anything
about it. Usually, incumbents get re-elected and reform is very slow in
coming, even in the days after Katrina and Rita.

Unfortunately, Governor Blanco did not show any leadership during this
session on these important ethical issues. She can make up for her session
mistakes by vetoing House Bill 1028. It will be a good test of whether she
is truly a reform governor or a typical Louisiana politician.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the 2006 Legislative Session*
<http://www.theind.com/cover2.asp?CID=1043170636> 

INDEPENDENT WEEKLY
By Jeremy Alford
(excerpt)

"Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” 

Nineteenth-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck is credited with that
gem, and Rapides Parish Democratic Sen. Joe McPherson recently used his
country wit to put a Louisiana twist on Bismarck’s wisdom. As lawmakers
inserted pet projects and personal tweaks into the state’s budget bill near
the end of the Louisiana Legislature’s 85-day regular session, McPherson
noted, “This is a sausage-making process. We’re getting ready to put the
casing on it. We haven’t smoked it yet.”

Opelousas Democratic Sen. Don Cravins thinks this session produced more
smoke than fire. “We really didn’t even make a whole lot of sausage this
session,” he says. “There was no intensity, and we failed in a few areas. A
lot of that had to do with a lack of leadership, and that has all the
bearing in the world.” 

Whether it was a lawmaker overlooking that tricky Ethics Code, decorum being
thrown aside on the House floor or legislative pay being kept undercover,
there were numerous examples of political folly this session — all paid for
with our tax dollars. 

Cravins, who is term limited after 14 years of service, has come to expect
it every year the Legislature convenes a session.

“Things have always been that way,” he says. “The players are all different,
but the game is the same.” 

And every game needs a scorecard, so here’s an inside look at what the
sausage factory produced in the 2006 session: 

<http://www.theind.com/cover2.asp?CID=1043170636> 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethanol Bill- "makes the state look ridiculous"
<http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060620/OPINION0
104/606210309/1058/OPINION03> 

SHREVEPORT TIMES
By Emily Metzgar
(excerpt)

Last week, Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a controversial ethanol bill that,
although it initially passed the House virtually unnoticed, suddenly became
controversial when the state media began tracking the bill's progress in the
Senate.

Funny what some media attention and voter input can do. But the result of
such delayed attention was just an agitated public and a brief period of
public contemplation in the executive office before Blanco went ahead and
signed it anyway.

This kind of government-subsidized, command economy approach to economic
development was repudiated in dramatic fashion with the fall of the Soviet
Union. That the state Legislature, the agricultural commissioner, and now
the governor would say Louisiana can make it work just makes the state look
ridiculous and doesn't do consumers or businesses any favors, either. 

Gov. Blanco should have just vetoed the legislation. She could have borrowed
her justification from Colorado's Gov. Bill Owens who vetoed strikingly
similar legislation last month. Said Owens, "Free market principles, the
same principles that have established ethanol as an economic alternative to
fossil fuels, are overlooked by this legislation. Markets work best when
full information is provided to the public, not mandated to them."

Contrast that with Blanco's statement that, "I'm not in the business of
deciding whether mandates are necessary. The Legislature decided that."
Obviously the Legislature wanted the mandate. But just as obviously the
governor could have vetoed the legislation telling lawmakers a mandate
wasn't what she or the people or the businesses of the state wanted. 

Interestingly, the rejected Colorado legislation also contained the kind of
price trigger our Legislature belatedly decided it wanted to incorporate
into the ethanol mandate. Colorado's Owens slapped down similar efforts
saying, "History has shown us that no one, especially government, can
consistently and accurately predict commodity prices and their direct impact
on the price of finished goods. " This bill is yet another intrusion on the
free market and is clearly unnecessary given the continued growth of ethanol
production and use."

If only Louisiana's leadership subscribed to the same principles of
responsible government, sustainable economic development and consumer
protection. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New Orleans Muddle
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/opinion/21Wed1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref
=slogin> 

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL
(excerpt)

It has been almost 10 months since Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf
Coast, and there is still no redevelopment plan for New Orleans. Congress
has passed the emergency relief bill, and President Bush has signed it into
law. Billions of dollars are headed the city's way. Leaders in New Orleans
and in the state capital of Baton Rouge will have only one chance to get it
right. 

There are no more excuses for local officials, no more pointing toward
Washington. It is time for southeastern Louisiana to rebuild itself. 

Yet Adam Nossiter reported this week in The Times that it will be six months
before a "master planning document" answers the questions foremost in the
minds of residents, like which neighborhoods will return, where rebuilding
will be encouraged and where returning residents will have to make do
without city services. That is totally unacceptable.

The city's police department is close to its prehurricane size, protecting a
population that is less than half of what it was before the storm. Yet Mayor
Ray Nagin has now felt compelled to request — and the governor has granted —
a National Guard force to help keep the peace. This does not bolster our
confidence that the city will be able to govern itself.

New Orleans has its own way of doing things and says it doesn't want to be
told by outsiders in what size and shape it should be reborn. That is fair
enough, but only if local officials are living up to their responsibilities.
Right now, the people of the city are being held hostage to whims and
foot-dragging, their lives on hold as they wait for their leaders to make
decisions — decisions that should have been made months ago. 

Right now, people don't know if or where to build their new walls. They
deserve answers. They have waited long enough. 
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