The state swallowed a bitter pill last week when it decided to fork
over as much as $95 million in a bond retirement deal for the Mercedes-Benz
Superdome, because the interest rate environment and lapsing of a special
federal income tax exemption would make the eventual payouts even higher
through 2036. Essentially, the state made the wrong bet on interest rates and
has gotten caught in a situation where it would have paid high rates for many
years to come.
The state entity that runs the building, the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition
District, bears part of the blame for accepting the broker’s idea, but the ones
who work out the details are in the Treasury Department headed by Kennedy. He
also, as part of that office, runs the State Bond Commission and was present on
Mar.
6, 2006, when the $294 million sale went through and was the only item on
the agenda.
Now, Kennedy
blames former Democrat Gov. Kathleen Blanco for the
deal, saying she insisted on it. The structure of the Commission gives the
governor a chance to have several appointees and legislative allies on it, and all
of the elected officials or through their representatives, Kennedy included,
were Democrats at the time. So if the Blanco Administration was insistent, it
could have muscled the terms through.
In fact, several members of the commission spoke apparently at length
about the issue. Kennedy did not speak on it at all, then he joined the unanimous
vote approving. So if he had any trepidation at all concerning the scheme, he
certainly made no effort to publicize it then, as opposed to his present
proclamation hinting he was against it and could not stop it, but undeniably disclaiming any responsibility.
For years, Kennedy has tried to position himself as a fiscal watchdog
of the state, from time to time firing off denunciations of actions the state
takes on the fiscal front and proffering his own ideas of uneven
quality. This has attempted to offset a public perception of Kennedy that
he is more opportunist than principled (out of office, Blanco has called him a “grandstander”),
willing to spout off favoring hot, popular issue preferences of the day to
capture attention even if what he says as a result may contradict what he said
in the past.
2 comments:
PROBABLY THE BEST RECOMMENDATION MR. KENNEDY COULD GET - YOU TRYING TO CASTIGATE HIM,\.
KEEP IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Only you could call some one other than JINDAL an "opportunist" in referring to Louisiana politicians.
The most blatant, obvious, continuing "opportunist" is our Governor.
Kennedy is the only one in Baton Rouge who has the courage to speak out against the Governor when he disagrees. The Governor has cowed the rest.
It is not surprising you would not like Kennedy and write negatively about him.
It shows clearly who you are and where you are coming from.
Like the prior comment, it is a feather in Kennedy's cap to me.
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