LA must combat populist impulses on waterworks

Lack of money only plays a small part in woes across many government-run water systems in Louisiana. Inability to keep adequate records and accounting has something to do with it as well. But the main cause of over $5 billion in maintenance needs statewide plaguing local government water utilities is the state’s populist heritage, which any corrective policy must address.

Thrown into sharp relief with the problems encountered by the town of St. Joseph – crumbling infrastructure eroded water quality that necessitated state intervention – the event spurred the Louisiana Legislative Auditor to include a look at systems run by local governments as part of its performance audit of private and nonprofit water works regulated by the Public Service Commission. The results revealed a potentially large-scale crisis ready to erupt statewide.

It turns out that over half of all systems have significantly aged infrastructures, creating larger pent-up demand for refurbishment or replacement. Relatively small systems, defined as serving 3,300 or fewer properties, comprise an even higher proportion of the total, which cannot enjoy economics of scale in operation. With these higher costs, a significant number of government systems operate in the red. Mainly among the smaller, some governments operate their systems poorly, with faulty collection practices and accounting lapses, the latter preventing them from applying for state-backed loans for repairs and upgrades, as legally a government must have a clean audit to do so. They also become prone to wasting water through seepage, theft, and laxity.

State must take taxpayers off hook of dubious deal

In the face of far more important priorities and much more cost effective venues, the time has come for Louisiana to end its experiment with Hodges Gardens State Park, located near Florien.

About a decade ago the state assumed control of the land, which a citizen had built and ran as a private facility. For a half-century, the family developed it as a botanical garden open to the public. But times changed and with the completion of Interstate 49, it became too expensive to run and began to deteriorate. Then, political connections brought it to the attention of the state, and a sweetheart deal to have the state operate it while the family’s foundation technically still owned it blossomed.

From the start controversy surrounded this transaction, as its transfer came along with a mysterious unrelated land swap clouded in intrigue. Then-House Speaker Joe Salter backed the bill, and former Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed it that, even without the dubious swap, would add forecast costs to the state of $1.5 million annually in the aftermath of the hurricane disasters of the year before.  Naturally, over the years the state learned the same truth as did the owners and now along with a few others parks the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism has signaled it might close these should the state’s revenue environment not improve significantly.

Politicized speech earns obstinate Edwards D-minus

With equal parts pugnaciousness and disingenuousness, Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ highly-politicized 2017 State of the State speech laid out a truly flawed vision for Louisiana going forward.

One could gig Edwards – who appeared to need new contact lenses – for spreading a host of specific misperceptions and mendacious arguments in his address. For example, as if trying to bolster weaker arguments to come, he started by spreading the usual selective information about Medicaid expansion, concentrating on individual stories representing the several dozen of over 400,000 new enrollees who obtained medical treatment through the program, and alleged it would continue to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Of course, he ignored inconvenient truths about expansion. He did not mention that roughly half of the new enrollees likely dropped insurance from the private sector, socializing their costs onto taxpayers. Nor that “savings” come as a result of higher taxes on insurance and hospital visits passed down to people, nor that the escalating costs of the program – which may go much higher depending upon Medicaid reform coming out of Washington – that already increase on an annual basis each Louisianan’s share of the national debt by $500 (or, perhaps more precisely, for each federal income taxpaying filer in the state $1,200 each year) and will cost state taxpayers by 2020 hundreds of millions of dollars more extra, regardless of the hundreds of millions squeezed from them from those higher taxes that prop up current expansion spending.

The Advocate column, Apr. 9. 2017

How Council on Aging 'dumpster fire' could spread to other parts of Louisiana
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_951e02d0-1af8-11e7-9b6d-870e49c26c5f.html

Links:
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_86016f40-10e8-11e7-b9fc-d70f43cf9d7a.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_45b48aec-158b-11e7-98fb-2b390ed5e94b.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_706d227e-14c5-11e7-8a91-33537e5b863b.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_7f98b4c6-187a-11e7-a8bb-c76b128ed9dd.html
https://app.lla.la.gov/PublicReports.nsf/D53CB7DA320BA0F386257D9500681169/$FILE/00003BB9.pdf
https://www.businessreport.com/business/baton-rouge-nonprofit-long-history-mismanaging-public-funds-receive-8-million-annual-windfall-taxpayer-dollars
https://www.businessreport.com/article/legislative-auditor-wraps-one-investigation-council-aging-may-start-another
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1028611
http://jeffsadow.blogspot.com/2014/11/restructure-la-elderly-services-to.html

The Advocate column, Apr. 8, 2017

Louisiana child care centers should put safety first, back bill allowing state to access video recordings
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_cad021a4-3903-11e8-9a22-bb4f1b7fe390.html

Links:
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_46a2e862-1bfd-11e8-9b4b-c7454808b4d3.html
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_8e8537b4-a7b5-11e7-ab35-27e208c8d584.html
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1065773
http://revenue.louisiana.gov/IndividualIncomeTax/SchoolReadinessTaxCredit
https://www.louisianabelieves.com/early-childhood/child-care-assistance-program

Loyola NO invite continues diluting Catholic identity

In a sense, there’s nothing inconsistent about the invitation of Loyola University of New Orleans to talk show host Van Jones for his services as its spring commencement speaker. After all, both hold themselves out as something they are not.

In Jones’ case, for the past dozen years he has positioned himself in the political mainstream, culminating in a high-level appointment to former Pres. Barack Obama’s White House Office months after Obama assumed office. Almost immediately, he found himself out of that job upon the publicizing of his past, which included association with or membership in radical and communist organizations, his support of similar individuals and articulation of communist ideology, and his peddling of 9/11/2001 conspiracy theories alleging U.S. government involvement in causing the horrific event.

Jones was smart enough by the new millennium to stop calling himself a Marxist and trafficking in its rhetoric, following the trend of post-Watergate radicals who realized to increase their influence they had to avoid labels viewed overwhelmingly scorned by the public and to jettison Marxist terminology in their verbiage, all the while restating its concepts in ways less alarming to people. But little else changed with his associations and ideology. Recently, he became host of a CNN program, just after making comments that framed the 2016 election results in racist terms.

New rules on LA breweries need relaxation

Gov. John Bel Edwards has picked up a couple of nicknames in his short tenure: the Accidental Governor, because of his fluke victory, and, more derisively, Gov. Honor Code, because of his insistence during the campaign that he follows his alma mater’s version of that yet has been caught applying it inconsistently. Now might he add the appellation Gov. Blue Nose?

That may come from a decision by his handpicked Commissioner of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Juana Marine-Lombard that restricts the ability of state breweries to sell their products. She provided guidance in March and clarified it at month’s end regarding interpretation of statute that defines brewery operations.

Her conclusions took a restrictive approach and will hamper these establishments’ operations, some potentially severely. Among others things, she declared that on-site prepared food sales could not exceed 25 percent of total sales on premises; that off-site food preparers selling on premises could not have a license to serve alcohol even if not serving any on the premises; no other party could sell on or bring other alcoholic beverages onto the premises; and advertising of any other event involving alcohol cannot occur unless it involves sampling on the premises, which in that case cannot advertise retail pricing. Already, state law permits on-site sales only to a ceiling of 10 percent of total sales, or no more than 250 barrels, whichever is greater.

Politicized request, suit witch hunt against Landry

Louisiana Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry may hope all that he wants to that he’s not subject to a political witch hunt, but he is.

Some months ago, he received a pair of public records requests right out of left field. One asked for all correspondence between Landry or any member of his office and “any representatives of companies (and/or trade associations representing such companies) involved in the exploration for and production of hydrocarbons.” The other sought a broad range of documents related to Landry's travel to conferences, speaking engagements and public appearances as the state's chief prosecutor, including records for travel, lodging and meals, as well as records “showing all contracts awarded to attorneys and/or law firms … to represent the state and any state entities in litigation,” and documents regarding vehicles bought by Landry's office. Added to it a couple of weeks later was contracts and correspondence for legal representation that have been reviewed by his office since his inauguration.

In other words, these wanted just about everything involving Republican Landry’s conduct as a public official, his office’s relations with parties to his subcontractors and anybody remotely connected to energy firms, and his office’s dealing with approval of contracts let by other government agencies. By the look of the scope involved, this fishing expedition related to Landry’s cooling the jets on the Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration attempts to sue energy companies, his review and ultimate disapproval of language that courts found Edwards had unconstitutionally included in contracts, and to any manner of conduct in office that might conflict with state ethics laws.

Caddo schools provide test of new turnaround policy

In the resolution of what to do about its failing schools, Caddo Parish found itself at the forefront of continually evolving state practices of improving education.

Recently, the parish’s School District and the state’s Department of Education concluded a pathbreaking agreement to deal with schools previously identified as struggling academically. Extending and amplifying an approach now taken with several district schools, the deal forms a new entity governed by a district appointee, but advised by a state liaison officer and local stakeholders, that will run 14 schools, most of which in the past the state would have taken over and/or removed from district supervision with conversion of these to charter status.

Historically, as opposed to the two largest school districts in the state, with its troubled schools Caddo has largely retained control. The state vehicle for administering these schools, the Recovery School District, only ever has incorporated one Caddo school, and just a handful of others gained independent charter status, despite at any given time typically a dozen or so district schools’ performances would have merited state takeover and/or conversion.

The Advocate column, Apr. 2, 2017

Here's how Louisiana can help rein in runaway Medicaid costs
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_c821424a-14cd-11e7-8dbc-3fe03e32baf2.html

Links:
http://house.louisiana.gov/housefiscal/DOCS_APPBudgetMeetings2016/Dec7/Department%20of%20Health.pdf
https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/curbing-waste-fraud-and-abuse-in-medicaid/
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2017/03/20/445132.htm
http://www.ldh.louisiana.gov/assets/medicaid/MedicaidEnrollmentReports/MedicaidbyParish/Medicaid_by_Parish1.17.pdf
https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2015_PEPAGESEX&prodType=table
http://revenue.louisiana.gov/Publications/AR(2015).pdf
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/24-states-50-babies-born-medicaid
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/06/highlights-house-gops-obamacare-replacement-bill.html
https://www.mercatus.org/expert_commentary/house-republicans-propose-real-though-incomplete-medicaid-reform
https://www.hcfe.research.va.gov/docs/wp_2011_03.pdf
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160926/NEWS/160929917