CABL's shoddy analysis pushes sick tax onto people

Usually, the Council for a Better Louisiana makes solid policy recommendations. But sometimes it comes up with a clunker when the prejudices of the organization’s members come to the forefront, and such is the case with an item in its 2015 Election Agenda.

Among the various salutary ideas in this appears a real stinker, that in early 2016 the state should opt to institute a “sick tax” on users of health care in most state hospitals. A one percent assessment on these institutions’ net patient revenues (in most cases) will get passed along to consumers, causing rises not only in health care premiums they pay but also in taxes to support health care insurance made available to state employees.

This taking more of what people earn seems not to trouble CABL, which advocates for the trigger to be pulled that would have to happen prior to the end of the first quarter of 2016 by assent of the new governor and by the newly-constituted Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. Instead, it justifies this new intrusion on liberty by painting a picture of financial desperation.

SOS challenger's agenda degrades elections

Defined more by candidate image in 2011, the 2015 contest for Louisiana’s Secretary of State finds itself notable for publicizing issues that would promote detrimental change to the state’s democratic health.

Current Republican Sec. of State Tom Schedler looks to keep the job after scraping by four years ago. Then, he faced outgoing House Speaker Jim Tucker, whose position gave the term-limited legislator extensive political capital and produced the most competitive race of that cycle. This time, none of his opponents have quite the resources Tucker brought to the challenge, but Schedler’s main competitor relies upon hawking a change in voter registration laws to convince the electorate to replace him.

Law professor Chris Tyson, a Democrat from a politically-connected family and environment who worked for former Sen. Mary Landrieu, criticizes Schedler mainly on two counts. First, he alleges that Schedler wastes funds on a lawsuit brought by the federal government, now four years in the running. Also, he argues that Louisiana ought to adopt same day voter registration, saying it would boost turnout as opposed to the current 30-day residency period required, claiming the state has high registration levels but relatively low turnout. He asserts that Schedler has resisted this change out of concerns of fraud Tyson dismisses.

Lt. gov. candidates offer little concerning office

As typical this time every four years, candidates for Louisiana’s lieutenant governorship emphasize to the public the high-profile things they’d like to make happen from their office – except that they can’t because the powers of it have nothing to do with the policies they promote. And, given what little of relevance they have had slip, it may be with this field that’s a good thing.

Last week, the four contenders for the most insignificant statewide office met at a forum to answer a variety of questions. At it, we learned that in order to combat crime against tourists that Jefferson Parish President John Young wanted an anti-crime unit placed in New Orleans’ Vieux Carré, that Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden suggested stationing plainclothes policemen there, and that state Sen. Elbert Guillory desired more police presence there. Former Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser went a step further by leaving out the executive branch entirely and instead blamed judges for going too easy on too many criminals.

Yes, the lieutenant governor oversees the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, and the current occupant, in a cost-saving move, even dispensed with appointing a commissioner to run the thing and does so himself. But he has no power over crime enforcement, much less the judiciary.

Scorecard confirms wisdom of LA tuition hikes

Last week the federal government released its long-publicized College Scorecard, promoted multiple times by Louisiana State University System President F. King Alexander. While not all that it promised, it still gives an instructive read on the condition of Louisiana-based institutions of higher education.

The web site takes some basic facts about schools, which includes all that deliver higher education for which data were collected such as costs, graduation rates, and subsequent graduates’ salaries, and makes them available in various categories. For example, one could request a listing of all Louisiana senior institutions that are not for-profit, and for each the basic facts appear. Clicking on a specific school introduces more detailed information. However, unlike what once was touted, the system does not stamp a grade on the school, confining itself to information presentation.

Nonetheless, crude metrics can be developed to assess school quality on a comparative basis. A simple one can take three statistics – the “net price” per year (tuition and fees plus weighed living expenses minus typical financial aid), graduation rate (of non-transfer students), and median salary of graduates ten years after graduation (of those who accessed financial aid) – and can compute a measure of the salary divided by the price multiplied by the graduation rate to give a rough measure of quality. Presumably, better schools are those that produce higher salaries at lower pricing while graduating more students.

The Advocate column, Sep. 20, 2015

Education board races featuring faux conservatives feature faux conservatives looking to use Trojan Horse strategy

http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/13475449-123/jeff-sadow-education-board-races

LA sheriffs' statewide picks losing significance

Still coveted but increasingly marginalized endorsements came from the Louisiana Sheriffs Association for the 2015 statewide elections, illustrating the slow but steady decline the organization has over political contests beyond the local level.

Throughout its history, the group of 64 representing every elected parish sheriff has played a significant role in elections. Sheriffs, because of their law enforcement and tax collecting duties, in parishes without elected chief executives wield the most political clout, and this typically isn’t that shabby even where they compete with a parish president. With an LSA endorsement, a statewide candidate at least will not have a sheriff work against him in a parish, and may have enthusiastic backing there. Thus, in the past candidates worked hard to secure the group’s nod.

They still do. Sen. David Vitter, who received the group’s backing in 2010 for his Senate reelection, lobbied for it to deliver to him early it seal of approval for this fall’s gubernatorial run. Instead, the group deferred by endorsing no one; it takes 33 votes to secure one.

Likely GOP incremental gains in LA fall elections

After qualifying for state and local elections for this fall in Louisiana has ended, the only question is whether Democrats can prevent their position from eroding further for state offices.

Concerning the seven statewide elected positions, all presently in the hands of Republicans, that status seems highly unlikely to change. They will hold the Treasurer’s position for sure with incumbent John Kennedy the overwhelming favorite. Fellow GOP members Secretary of State Tom Schedler and Agriculture Secretary Mike Strain almost certainly will win without a runoff, while the GOP’s Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, with two Democrat opponents, might get forced into a runoff but that he easily should win. If Republican Atty. Gen. Buddy Caldwell doesn’t win reelection, the GOP’s former Rep. Jeff Landry is the heavy favorite to replace him.

Democrats state Rep. John Bel Edwards and Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden are great bets to advance to a runoff for the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s races, respectively, but would be heavy underdogs to whichever Republican they would face. The question isn’t whether Democrats can win one these spots, but instead how conservative of a Republican will defeat them in their runoffs, with the overall tilt to the right of the political spectrum also becoming more pronounced among statewide elected officials if Landry wins.

Turbulent Caddo, quiet Bossier elections loom

Like man-eating lions and tigers, politicians recently in or being ousted from current offices litter the Caddo Parish qualification lists. Meanwhile, peace and quiet reign for the most part in the Bossier Parish qualifications for elected office, with state Rep. Henry Burns’ ambitions largely disrupting that calm.

Consuming humans doesn’t come naturally to wild cats, but once they find themselves in that situation they often acquire a taste for us. Thus is the same with many politicians and their desire for the bright lights and adulation they receive by winning elections and wielding power; once they experience it, they find it hard to give up. A few such beasts will roam Caddo during the election season.

It may not be coincidental that former Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover will vie to get his old House of Representatives seat back just days after his successor to that Democrat state Rep. Patrick Williams abruptly announced he was deferring on reelection.  Democrat Glover held on to about $10,000 in campaign funds after his term ended in late 2014 but also made plans to have a fundraiser this summer. Williams performed well short of expectations in his attempt to succeed Glover last year, in part dogged by ethics questions over spending related to his service in the House and his campaign. It may be that Williams understood that Glover would present a formidable challenge, and decided with his new degree his energies might be better spent elsewhere.

Beebe letter fails to justify her flight from reality

If being unable to figure out Louisiana’s campaign finance reports and constructing straw men and chasing red herrings qualifies one for service on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, then member Lottie Beebe goes to the head of the class.

Beebe got into a dander when I pointed out, in a letter she sent to The Advocate chastising its editorialists for pointing out the success of education reform as a byproduct of changes wrought by the hurricane disasters of 2005, her paranoia-infused theories about Louisiana’s Department of Education statistics,. Her claim was that shadowy forces somehow exerted enough control over the agency and BESE as to fix data to make it appear that education reforms she bitterly opposed were succeeding. In doing so, she insulted most of her fellow members by implying they were pawns of others and elevated hearsay evidence as her source of her allegation that data coming from DOE could not be trusted.

In my Advocate column, I made several points: (1) that as a member of BESE she had access to all of DOE’s data to check it for herself, (2) that, as a district superintendent, she had her own system’s raw data that she could check against what DOE put out for veracity, (3) that independent research on related indicators confirmed results obtained from DOE data, thereby providing construct validity to them, and (4) that throwing around claims of others’ bias contaminating data ignored her own prejudices against the worldview concerning education that the data to date have confirmed. So she fired off a letter to The Advocate as a presumed response.

The Advocate column, Sep. 13, 2015

Train idea is off the rails

http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/13412836-171/jeff-sadow-train-idea-is