GOP equal pay bill backers might find nasty surprise

So now Louisiana Democrats bank upon the Orwellian idea of “unintentional” discrimination, displaying the absolute intellectual poverty behind such a notion. But failure to understand this may lead Republicans into a trap of their own making.

Not many jurisdictions in the country have fallen for the fiction that women face institutionalized and widespread discrimination in pay to explain raw differentials that show men receive more compensation than women. Proper analysis including all intervening variables show a number of factors explain the difference, and when accounted for makes any differential if not zero or actually favoring women in certain instances otherwise trivial: differences in occupation choices, hours worked, educational attainment, taken time off, reliability, and seniority between sexes all condition the relationship, most if not all ignored inappropriately by advocates of increasing the use of government to interfere in pay decisions in trying to justify their views.

The left has deduced that emphasizing this is not a winning strategy, and so has coined a new term to describe the difference where it exists that tries to emphasize that there is no organized effort to reduce women on pay questions to the equivalent of forced to be barefoot and pregnant: “unintentional” discrimination. It appears to mean that where differences occur, they are not meant by employers but somehow magically appear through system irregularities and inefficiencies, and therefore government must devise mechanisms by which to cancel these, et voilà, the evidence witnessed by the pay gap of the phenomenon of “unintentional discrimination” disappears.

Voters humiliate stubborn Caddo over unnecessary tax

If at first you don’t succeed … be prepared to get a worse beatdown the second time, the Caddo Parish Commission learned this past weekend as its tax renewal was gutted 3-1 at the polls.

The Commission has been taking its lumps lately, in part due to a controversial financial deal putting taxpayers on the hook for millions in a venture capital deal. Essentially, the parish purchased the former General Motors plant and set up a deal to allow three-wheel vehicle startup Elio Motors to lease it for production. Elio claims it has collected at least 10,000 reservations for these but production seems nowhere near ready to commence and the Commission signaled its own dubiousness about the arrangement when it allegedly dangled the property to another concern for purchase, about which some commissioners were not even aware.

Apparently the mystery firm turned down the parish. All this went down right before the election, with the central question of whether the parish, sitting on tens of millions of dollars in idle funds collected through the shale boom of recent years, needed to ask to issue up to $23 million in debt – the only difference from the defeated measure being asking for about a million bucks fewer – at the same 1.75 mill rate set to expire in June. At least this time Caddo released a laundry list of projects that would cost about $19 million to try to justify the need.

Jindal should defer to prevent assessment train wreck

The rearguard struggle to defeat the Common Core State Standards became more interesting with another gambit to force the state out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers that may make the state in following one law to violate another and only ensures that elementary and secondary education delivery suffers.

Tentatively at first, Gov. Bobby Jindal, at the urging of some Republican state representatives, switched from undemonstrative support of PARCC, a coalition of 17 states that plan to assess students using a common instrument built around CCSS, to outright opposition, followed by a national, public reversal on CCSS itself. Previously, these representatives had counseled Jindal to opt out of the signed agreement to institute PARCC, but that documentation reveals that this cannot be done unilaterally by him.

Apparently, even as these legislative opponents mouthed brave words about his being able to do so, the search continued for a unilateral gubernatorial action to stop PARCC entrance, as it appeared a majority of the Legislature opposed action to remove the state from the consortium (reaffirming that yesterday). And it was found, courtesy of an unforced error by the Louisiana Department of Education.

Award perpetuates negative view of LA higher education

In academic circles, it’s fashionable in Louisiana to complain that the larger public just doesn’t get it, in response to the mild but real revenue reductions to higher education over the past few years that draws little real outcry. But this imagined slight might become more understandable to its propagators were academia to do some self-scrutiny on its self-inflicted wounds.

One such example emanates from the awarding of Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication’s most recent Courage and Justice Award, going to Louisiana native (although attending college out of state) Zach Kopplin for his strident opposition to the Louisiana Science Education Act, a law known less for its actual purpose of encouraging critical thinking in educating by the sciences by allowing instructors to add governing authority-approved readings in their lecturing than for the straw man characterization followers of the trendy level at it that it somehow (despite its wording disallowing this) permits the teaching of creationism in the classroom. Kopplin, demonstrating the old saw that youth lets its emotions run ahead of its wisdom, very much believes in this mistaken notion and has conducted a vigorous campaign to excise the law from Louisiana’s statutes.

While this is merely unfortunate that he should be so confused, that the school endorses and celebrates the view with the award is disturbing. From an explanation about the choice in the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Given facts, politics appears motivating HHS rejection

Perhaps unexpected only because of the audacity involved, the federal government put what appears to be a politicized power play on the state with its questionable decision to reject the financing method that has led to private operation of most of Louisiana’s charity hospitals.

A letter last week from the Pres. Barack Obama Department of Health and Human Services said it would not approve Medicaid amendments to allow the lease arrangement negotiated by the state with providers for operation of six facilities. It claimed that the use of advance lease payments, meaning payments graduate over the life of the lease, instead fit the characteristic of a “donation” and allowed extra money to be used to obtain federal matching funds. It did not find fault in the concept, and presumably were there a straight-line deal or one of increasing payments, these appear to be acceptable for matching purposes. The initial higher payments the state said was a way of lessees to demonstrate long-term commitment, and also would be helpful in the upcoming fiscal year by adding tens of millions of accelerated dollars into the fiscal year 2015 budget.

HHS argued the arrangement for these was “not usual” or “customary,” and therefore insisted the state had to do a better job of differentiating them from a donation. All of which seems very odd both in terms of logic and practice. By claiming the extra amount is a bonus donation, it seems to ignore that the like amount is reduced from future payments and is an arbitrary decision mechanism at best: higher rates at the back end don’t get treated as “donation,” but at the front end they do. As long as the lease payments over the period do not exceed the lease in total amount, it should make no difference as to when they become payments – especially as, acknowledged in the latter, the leases were vetted by independent appraisers for fair market value and the reimbursement methodology remains separate from that.

Stuck on stupid XXVII: Unions keep preferential treatment

Unions kept their winning streak alive yesterday at the Capitol, showering disdain upon taxpayers and letting hypocrisy bloom fully among state legislators – and laying bare the real fear they wish to keep hidden from those who subsidize them.

Earlier this session, a bill that would have halted taxpayer subsidization of pensions of future union officials while they were not performing state duties was shunted aside. Yesterday, the House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee took up HB 451 by state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, which would had removed public employees from processing the transfer of compensation diverted to union dues for all except public safety employees.

Seabaugh explained the bill was as simple as instead of an employee in a union or wishing to join one as part of the job hiring or change in personnel status filling out a piece of government paperwork to authorize public employees on taxpayer time to authorize deduction on a regular basis union dues from paychecks, the employee would fill out one provided by a union or bank (or one could even do this online) to make a direct debit on that regular basis. As a matter of principle, he said government should not be in the business of assisting with taxpayer resources a private entity in performing one of its duties, especially one that bargained with government over taxpayer resources.

GOP white knight unlikely to stem Landrieu battering

We can most easily understand the relationship between Pres. Barack Obama and his best friend forever Sen. Mary Landrieu as one where he proposes and she disposes, while she petitions and he ignores, testimony of crony capitalists notwithstanding that provides a backdrop to the changing political culture in Louisiana.

Last week, Obama gave another twist to the knife in her back when his administration yet again delayed (introducing absolutely spurious reasoning to do so) any decision of the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline, despite the fact every administrative review that has come back shows scarcely any environmental impact and that it will have a substantially positive economic impact. Landrieu consistently has called for its approval, in tune with public opinion on the matter in the state. Refusal to allow the northern portion to be built (the southern one, identical in impact, already is operational) continues to negate her campaign narrative that she deserves another term because of her “indispensability” to the state, mocked even more now that the Democrat has assumed the chairwomanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Perhaps to counter that, recently the Landrieu campaign began running an ad featuring Donald Boysinger, a former state Republican state official and frequent delegate to the Republican National Convention – and who has donated to several Democrats in the past and whose family has given to Landrieu – repeating the narrative. Of course, Bollinger’s company gets a good chunk of its revenues from federal government orders that Landrieu no doubt can encourage from her perch – even as the federal government seeks a judgment against Bollinger Shipyards to recoup money for claimed substandard work.

McAllister, hubris gone, defers; resets CD 5 to last fall

Like a Christmas bonfire on a levee, Rep. Vance McAllister’s political career burned quickly and then flamed out, fortune not favoring the foolish and setting up for a successor more like a tortoise than a hare.

Yesterday, McAllister announced he would not run for reelection to an office he won less than half a year ago being a political unknown nine months ago, undone by as about an unforced error as can be imaginable. Common sense tells you that you keep your tongue in your mouth even if beguiled by a staffer married to one of your best friends, which he almost inexplicably ignored.

But, in a sense, it all came too easily to McAllister for him not to apply caution. Everything fell in place for him to win to make him seem to himself invulnerable – a desultory field save one Republican, that Republican not entirely fairly said part of a cabal to grease the skids for his own election that served to discourage support for him, a fortuitous network of friendships useful to maximize McAllister’s chances in a low-turnout electoral environment, and a canny ability to position himself as both anti-politician to appeal to conservatives and as anti-partisan to appeal to liberals.

Jindal CCSS switch may backfire on rest of his agenda

Not satisfied with a few knowing about his having it both ways, Gov. Bobby Jindal decided to exhibit full public migration on the Common Core in State Standards issue by coming out publicly and nationwide against this measure he had previously (years ago without any publicity) endorsed. While this has ramifications for the issue, it’s more likely the effects of the announcement will have a greater impact on others.

Jindal argued in nationally-distributed opinion piece that he turned against it because the “federal government became increasingly involved,” although he does not specify in what way nor how that is connected to curriculum, which, as the state superintendent in 2010 when CCSS was adopted by the state Paul Pastorek notes, none of the intended curricula in Louisiana had any shaping done by federal government standards. Nonetheless, Jindal claimed it was “Washington determining curriculum,” even as he admitted “it still is not a curriculum” but that it somehow would evolve into one by unspecified means because it must “teach to the test” – even as Pastorek makes clear the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, the consortium that is deciding on a common assessment mechanism of which Louisiana is a member, that the only federal involvement with PARCC was to pay for the 17 states to formulate a test on their own.

The PARCC argument Jindal makes naturally extends from his recent announcement that he wanted Louisiana to withdraw from it. By his rationale, this means no “nationally shaped” exam would force a teaching to the test that automatically would slam the state’s curricula into the mold set by the alleged federal curriculum. But, the problem is, the agreement with PARCC unambiguously does not allow a governor to withdraw from it, requiring also the assent of the superintendent, John White, and the head of the body that appoints him the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Chas Roemer. Neither have wavered in support of PARCC and CCSS.

Dardenne should leverage opposition to Landrieu tax

Gubernatorial politics of the future has emerged from the Louisiana Legislature with competing opinions over a bill to raise hotel taxes in New Orleans, providing jockeying both that may determine success in the field and assist the city as it hurls towards financial difficulty.

As adverse court decisions begin to mount for New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu that compel the city to spend money on items he would rather not, passage of revenue-raising bills specific to the city in this session become more critical. Decisions regarding consent decrees and underfunding of pensions, even discounting a small budget surplus this year, means next year the city must come up with at least $46 million more for next year (and maybe as much as $53.5 million) and perhaps as much as $38 million more annually after that – assuming a flat budget extending from this year’s.

This resulted in a trio of bills to confiscate from the people additional money to meet that annual gap. HB 111 by state Rep. Walt Leger would amend the Constitution to raise property taxes a mil dedicated to police and fire protection. HB 1083 by state Rep. Jared Brossett (who within days will jump from the frying pan into the fire by assuming a seat on the New Orleans City Council, so someone else theoretically must shepherd this bill) would place a 1.75 percent occupancy tax on hotels. HB 1210 by state Rep. Helena Moreno would slap an additional 75 cents tax on tobacco products in the city. All told, they could raise $38.6 million a year.