Vetting Jindal

I cannot adequately describe the dread with which I clicked on this article, In Louisiana, Inklings of a New (True) Champion of the Right, in today's NYT. Here is an excerpt:

Members of the State House of Representatives, following Mr. Jindal’s campaign vows to rein in government spending, cut some $240 million in health and education spending. Mr. Jindal now says he wants that money restored to his $30 billion budget proposal.

Meanwhile the House is considering an income tax cut that would cost the state $300 million, an idea that did not originate with Mr. Jindal, though he has endorsed it.

Mr. Jindal’s spokeswoman did not respond to messages on Friday.

The article contains no information of which we are not already painfully aware. My more optimistic assessment is that national recognition of Jindal's assault on the services we need so desperately could benefit us in restoring them to some meager degree. It also suggests that the bigger the microscope under which Jindal finds himself, the better. Simultaneously, I realize that my most optimistic assessments are often the most naive.

Louisiana Legislature Moves to Better Serve Troubled Youth? I'm Unconvinced. [UPDATED]

The legislation linked below sounds like a fine idea: Close the overcrowded Jetson Center for Youth, the largest youth detention center in the state, which has lost its accreditation and is plagued by violent episodes between youth and guards, and move its residents to smaller, "community-based" facilities with a real focus on rehabilitation and recovery.

Great.

Yet I hear from inside one of the state's other existing youth centers that there is much concern over the fact that the three new facilities promised below or the "13 or 14" to be established or built at some vague point will not exist when the Jetson Center is closed. In fact, Richard Thompson, head of Louisiana's Office of Youth Development, admits that "No decisions have been made on location of the regional juvenile facilities because there must be discussions with community leaders and support 'to move a center like this into a community.'"

Approximately 221 youths will be transferred to other existing centers throughout the state, thereby overcrowding those youth centers, laying off some staff (or giving them the option of working in state adult correctional facilities) and overtaxing the remaining staff and resources. Bobby Jindal warmly supports the legislation. It seems to me that closing one center and overtaxing others without a clear plan, clear funding allocations, and a clear commitment to establish and staff new centers would save the state some money. It seems to me that Bobby Jindal has been known to cut back on critical state services before.

I'll be more than happy to be pronounced cynical or even paranoid if the youth of Louisiana ultimately benefit from this legislation. But I cannot find specific information about the funding in place to establish and staff new facilities when and if locations are approved. Isn't the cart in front of the horse here?

Also, why does the bill change the name of the "Office of Youth Development" to the "Office of Juvenile Justice" if its aim is to focus on youth development and not retributive "justice"?

UPDATE: Well, so much for finding out that this post was either cynical or paranoid. I wish for the sake of everyone who is in a youth detention center in Louisiana, everyone who knows or loves someone who is, and all of us whose lives will be touched by former youth detainees that it were.

But no.

An informed source tells me the following: There is no existing plan to establish youth centers throughout the state to better serve the 220 youths now warehoused in the Jetson Center. All that is mandated by SB 749 is closing the Jetson Center for Youth and sending its residents to already existing youth centers, which already operate at high capacity.

The Juvenile Justice Implementation Committee met on Friday. The Committee is led by Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, and among its members are Richard Thompson, Representative Don Cravins, and Representative Jetson. Richard Thompson, Jindal's Head of the Office of Youth Development, when pressed by other committee members for specific information about plans to open additional youth centers, clearly stated that he did not have a detailed plan. The Committee requested that he bring the (or a) plan to its June meeting. However, since the legislature will be out of session in June, there will be no venue to ask for funds at that time. Richard Thompson's details, when and if he provides them, will be too late: By then, if SB 749, which enjoys bi-partisan support, has passed, the Office of Youth Development will be forced by law to close the Jetson Center for Youth.

Currently, LSU provides medical and mental health services to the Office of Youth Development. There is speculation that Jindal's broader plan for "reform" involves removing LSU from this equation altogether. If he did so, where would social services for juvenile offenders come from? Or would social services come from anywhere at all?

What we see here is a blatant plan to warehouse troubled youth in Louisiana by further crowding and stressing the system. What's even more maddening is that the Louisiana Legislature is doing so under the guise of improving the lives of troubled youth and relieving an overstressed system.

Please join me in contacting all members of the House, urging them to vote No on SB 749, reminding them that the bill includes no plan to even attempt the reform it promises! Fellow bloggers, please help to get the word out about this literal miscarriage of justice.

Here is scant media information on SB 749:

From 2theadvocate.com:

The troubled Jetson Center for Youth would close in 2009 and its juvenile offenders transferred to smaller community-based facilities under a bill that cleared a state Senate committee on Tuesday.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary B endorsed a reworked Senate Bill 749, then shipped it to the full Senate for debate.

“It’s an old physical plant and part of an antiquated system” that fails to save juvenile offenders from lives of crime, said Sen. Don Cravins Jr., sponsor of the legislation.

Cravins, D-Opelousas, said it is long past time to change to a community-based system of rehabilitation that involves parents and local resources from education opportunities to mental health care.

He said 40 percent of juvenile offenders have mental health issues.

Today, Jetson is home to about 220 male offenders who range in age from 14 to 20 years old. They are incarcerated for crimes ranging from purse snatching and drug offenses to murder and armed robbery. The facility is on Old Scenic Highway near Groom Road in Baker.

Jetson has been plagued by violence, reported rapes, and guards and juveniles injured during confrontations. The state’s largest juvenile facility has lost its accreditation from the American Correctional Association.

Under SB 749, Jetson would shut its doors by June 30, 2009. A provision would allow for an extension until November 2009 if problems develop.

The state would initially open three, 48-bed secure juvenile facilities in different regions into which Jetson residents would be transferred. No more than 12 juveniles could be housed in a unit.

The number of community facilities would rise to 13 or 14, spread throughout the state in the coming years.

“This bill is going to be very productive,” said Richard Thompson, the head of the state’s Office of Youth Development. “It gets us from talking about reform to actually beginning the process of reform.”

(continue reading)

Real ID, Real Scary

(Photo Credit: Chris)

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin... the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

--Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Today, an entry at Kos shook me up.

I generally try not to count the ways that advanced technology in the wrong hands turns people into products and tracks our every move. I try to keep my mind off this topic because 1) it scares the living hell out of me worse than the most horrific horror film, 2) the insistence that people are being tracked or "remotely controlled" has traditionally been considered textbook paranoia, and 3) I try to preserve my sanity by focusing only on the surface of just how fucked humankind is in this brave new world.

But Real ID has bubbled over that surface. In case you've not heard of it, or like me, didn't want to think about it, in short, Real ID legislation is a federal mandate on states to gather extensive information on all driver license applicants (and renewers, too, of course) and link that information to a micro-chipped state driver license which will then be used as a valid "national ID card." The card will be necessary to conduct routine business, such as entering federal buildings or even opening bank accounts. The scope of the linked information on individuals can be widened at any time and the card, over time, is expected to become necessary for more and more routine transactions.

The good news is that 15 states have told the federal government to take a flying leap since funding for the Real ID is astronomical, and the federal government is not offering that funding to the states. As you might imagine, though, Louisiana, under Bobby Jindal, is not going to be one of those states. But I don't think that funding is the real problem here; the problem is the very concept.

There is currently anti-Real ID legislation, H.R. 1117, that you can find out about here.

Who opposes Real ID?

1) ACLU
2) Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (but both seem to oppose it because of the funding issues and not on principle).
3) Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee (on principle)
4) Anybody who does not believe that U.S.A., Inc, is inherently benevolent and trustworthy

Who supports Real ID?

1) George W. Bush et al (I doubt that a link is necessary)
2) John McCain
3) Bobby Jindal
4) Anyone who buys into the idea that we must give up our humanity/privacy/freedom to protect ourselves from terrorists/evil-doers/extremists/illegal immigrants

If anyone you know supports Real ID legislation, please furnish them with a copy of Orwell or Huxley or the work of any author who may help, and then hope to god that they can extrapolate.

Good grief.

Jindal Watch

The story of the youth correctional facility in need of a direct care provider has the happiest possible ending: the position and candidate were approved by Bobby Jindal and Angele Davis, and the candidate is still available.

I think it's important to remember, however, that the job would have been filled in January if not for the beaurocratic nightmare that ensued after it was advertised. Perhaps some taxpayers can feel good about the fact that two months' salary for this provider has been saved thanks to Jindal's vigilant supervision of the state hiring process. I cannot.

Since this case is closed, please feel free to inform me of any similar situations that come to your attention. I'll be more than happy to offer whatever effect the Funk Bump may have in resolving them :)

Viva...

What Does Bobby Jindal Have Against Children Receiving Health Care?

I promised to keep you updated about the local youth correctional facility in need of a direct patient-care provider. The position was not exempt from Jindal's hiring freeze on state positions (despite the state's current sizeable budget surplus). It was over a month ago that the facility submitted an exemption request. It still has not been approved. And again, if the facility's chosen candidate accepts another position, the facility will have to start over again by submitting another request.

Comment of the Day

From bdogg, on Bobby Jindal's hiring freeze:

This centralized micro-managing harbors the moral authority of fascism and the efficiency of communism. Jin-“dull” has created a bureaucracy to judge the merits of bureaucracy! At the job position level, how will his appointed turtle-soup brained minions better determine if its worth the money than the local administrator? “Boobie”seems to federalist big government pumpkin-head of the 1st order.

Whoo-hoo!

Let's keep up the rippin' on that Reagan-Baby Jindal.

Update: Just to further clarify: Hiring freezes are not usually concurrent with news like this:

State's surplus expected to double
Posted by The Times-Picayune December 10, 2007 9:19PM
Categories: Breaking News
By Jan Moller
Capital bureau

BATON ROUGE -- Boosted by strong income-tax collections and high energy prices, Louisiana's rosy revenue picture continued to improve Monday, when a forecasting panel added $1.1 billion to the state's budget projections for the next 18 months.

Amorphous Post

1. See Bark, Bugs, Leaves and Lizards' excellent post on one New Orleans woman's "road home."

2. Bobby Jindal's "ethics reform" is about as convincing as John McCain's. Knowing that McCain has no chance against Obama, I wish that McCain would beknight Jindal as his losing mate, thereby forcing Jindal out of his office more often and giving him less time to deprive Louisiana of state services, at least for awhile.

3. Bill on Hillary: "Her fate should be decided in Texas." I agree. But if Mr. Funk had uttered such a statement about me, I'd get a restraining order.

4. Will somebody please serve Ralph Nader some Obama-aid?

If Only We Were So Lucky

Isn't it a buzzkill to see all this promise in the national elections, only to return to the bleak reality that we're stuck with abysmal state and local leadership?

I promised I'd keep you informed with any anecdotal evidence on the state hiring freeze. (here)

The youth correctional facility in need of a direct healthcare provider is still awaiting approval from Bobby Jindal's office. It is unlikely that the unemployed provider of their choice will still be available as time passes, and passes, awaiting that approval. If the chosen candidate accepts other employment before (and if?) an approval is granted by Angele Davis/Bobby Jindal, the facility will have to choose another candidate and start from square one.

But we're all saving money here, right?

State Ethics Reform

Photo Credit: Miley and JonasBrothers

From TP, 2/16/08:

State officials take freebies on eve of ethics session
by Robert Travis Scott,
Friday February 15, 2008, 8:05 PM
BATON ROUGE -- As the Hannah Montana hit song says, "Nobody's Perfect."

That might be one assessment this week after revelations that Gov. Bobby Jindal's top aide and several legislators used free tickets from the governor's New Orleans Arena suite to treat their daughters and other relatives to the teen idol's recent live concert, at the same time the administration is pushing a bill to prohibit free entertainment tickets to lawmakers.

Jindal Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell gave tickets to his brother's family to attend the sold-out Jan. 26 performance of Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old sensation known by her TV-show rock star name, Hannah Montana. Although Teepell was doing what many other state officials have done for years in using the governor's complimentary suite tickets for the show, the freebie struck some as a poorly timed contradiction given the standards the governor is trying to set during the current legislative session on ethics.

More Anecdotal Evidence Regarding Bobby Jindal's Hiring Freeze

A local youth correctional facility is in need of a health care provider. The position is not exempt from the state hiring freeze. That facility must choose a candidate, explain to the candidate that the position pends approval from Jindal's office, then send an exemption request and wait for an answer from Angele Davis. What are the chances that an unemployed health care provider in this area will still be available when/if the request is approved? Stay tuned and I'll tell you. Tick tock.

Bobby Jindal and Angele Davis Have Got Your Back!

I'll have more to say when I'm able to calm down about this.

Division of Administration Commissioner releases information on hiring freeze
For Release On: February 04, 2008

Baton Rouge – Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis today released a first report of information pertaining to the limited state government hiring freeze, enacted by Gov. Bobby Jindal by executive order on January 15, his first full day in office.

The executive order authorized Commissioner Davis to grant hiring exemptions “on a case by case basis or by category,” and on January 17 the commissioner issued to state departments and agencies implementation guidelines for the exemption request process, consisting of a full, written, 10-point justification for the request, along with a notification that “only critical positions will be approved.”

Information relevant to Executive Order BJ 2008-03, “Limited Hiring Freeze”

Vacant positions in state government, as of December 2007: 4,089
Position exemption requests received, as of today: 488
Position exemptions approved: 140
Positions requested that were not approved: 87
Position exemption requests under review by Office of Planning and Budget: 261

Significant components of the reported numbers

53 of the position exemptions approved are for temporary, seasonal tax-related positions at the Department of Revenue.
52 of the position exemptions approved are for security and public safety personnel at the Department of Corrections (46 Correctional Security Officers, 6 Probation and Parole Officers).
180 position exemption requests are from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 175 of which are still under review.
46 position exemption requests, all still under review, are from the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism

Commissioner Davis released the following statement along with today’s report:

“This initial report shows that the hiring freeze is working and that we have successfully begun to execute Gov. Jindal’s order to limit the growth in government positions and to reach the goal of saving taxpayers at least $25 million. It also shows that the process for approving only critical positions, while subject to meticulous scrutiny, is working efficiently and effectively. To me, perhaps the most important item in this initial report is the number of requests compared to total number of vacancies, in that, as a result of great cooperation from Gov. Jindal's cabinet secretaries, the very existence of the hiring freeze appears to have restrained even the attempt to fill positions.

“And it’s crucial to understand the context of this hiring freeze and why it’s important. To start, even if you discount hurricane-related federal funding, between 2001 and 2008, Louisiana government expenditures increased by $4 billion or 42 percent. Last year alone, the state authorized 1,771 new jobs. We must begin to get a handle on this type of growth, and we can begin with these 4,089 vacancies, all of which I view as potential opportunities to begin saving money.

“While much attention is given to the state’s current surplus and excess revenue, not enough concern, in my view, is given to the fact that just a few years from now our state budget is projected to be in the red by an estimated $1.4 billion. We must not wait to begin preparing for a potentially worse financial picture ahead of us.

“A state hiring freeze, of course, is not the complete answer to this problem. It is a beginning of a much needed and continuing effort at fiscal reform. And the purpose of fiscal reform is to say that if government must spend tax dollars on certain projects and programs, it has an obligation to demonstrate to the taxpayer that they’re needed, achieving desired results, and being pursued with the least amount of money possible. But fiscal reform must also be applied to the bureaucracy itself. As with projects and programs, government should not be hiring people to fill vacant positions just because those vacancies exist and because filling them is just the way ‘it’s always been done.’ It should fill vacancies because those jobs are necessary to achieve desired results.

“Government that grows too big can prove cumbersome to the very people it’s supposed to serve, but it also poses a threat to the state’s economy because it saps resources from private citizens who instinctively know how to direct it more efficiently. To government workers and taxpayers alike, I offer the same assurance: excellent public service and taxpayer accountability are not mutually exclusive activities. In fact, the former is more often achieved by adhering to the latter.”

Additional Contact Information:

Contact Name Contact Phone Contact Email Contact Fax
Michael DiResto 225-342-7158 michael.diresto@la.gov 225-342-1057

http://doa.louisiana.gov/DOA/020408-Info _On_Hiring_Freeze.doc

My favorite paragraph of the the release is the rationale at the end: This is for your own good, State. Notice there's no discussion of saving money by creating a more competitive bidding process for state contracts or creating more transparency in that process.

Because I am able to comment with authority here only about the impact on higher education, that's not to say that I don't believe that many other state institutions are losing applicants (state health care support staff, included) to private institutions.

But here's anecdotal evidence from one department in the state university that I'm most familiar with: for several years since Katrina, there has been a critical need for a professor in a core subject area. Post-Katrina freezes and budget cuts prevented the position from being filled. Once funds were available because of a much-needed injection of state funding, the position was advertised. The university sent department administrators to the annual meetng of the most respected professional organization in the field to interview and shortlist nationally competitive candidates. Five candidates were brought to the university for an extensive interview process. When the hiring freeze took effect without warning, and these candidates were notified that the decision did not rest with the university itself but pended the approval of Angele Davis, all applicants moved on. The university hiring window that opens narrowly in the winter/spring cannot be gambled away by educators in need of employment.

The press release does not indicate what "desired results" are when it comes to positions that might be eligible for exemption from the hiring freeze. But if we assume that desired results are in keeping with the Republican strategy of the past couple decades, there is a blatant agenda to financially cripple state university and college budgets, not to avoid a deficit, but to erode the idea that "government" can compete with any sort of private enterprise. I think of the frequent comment of comedian Bill Maher, whom I often agree with: "The republicans run on the ticket that government doesn't work. Then they f--k it up and say, 'See?'

In the current situation, I guess if we want quality, we'd better look to the private sector? And I don't think that the 8 or so bucks we might save on our state taxes as a result of the $25 million savings is going to provide us as individuals with the extra cash to look there. I know it won't in terms of private vs. public tuition. But I guess it's true that you get what you pay for.

More Hiring Freeze

Photo credit: Brett Guidry

Apparently, the hiring freeze by Bobby Jindal (above) on all state positions will be lifted in June. But typically, colleges and universities recruit in the spring for open employment lines for the fall semester. Faculty and staff often commit to verbal agreements, with officially binding paperwork completed in the summer. At this point, administrators cannot make verbal agreements with confidence, and prospective faculty and staff will be reluctant to rely on agreements pending approval by Angele Davis of the governor's budget office. The outcome: many talented prospective faculty and staff will move on, as in academia, people generally commit to a field rather than to a state or city. Perhaps Governor Jindal's office is correct that requests for exemptions on the basis of demonstrated need will be liberally granted. But many colleges and universities cannot fully demonstrate a need until projected enrollment is met, which, as I see it, will create a delay in much-needed hiring. Such a delay means, logically, a decrease in the applicant pool and subsequent understaffing. The delay may also lead to an over-reliance on adjunct faculty, who are contracted on a course-by-course basis, part-time, for far less compensation for the same work performed by full-time faculty. Typically, they do not receive health benefits.

Also, if being granted an exemption is as easy as asking, on a case-by-case basis, why would Jindal project a $25 million savings? And why would his administration take on such a time-consuming and, doubtless, extremely expensive task of micro-managing hiring decisions?

Further reading:

Louisiana Newslink: Hiring Freeze Jolts UL

The Daily Reveille: Hiring Freeze May Impact University

And more commentary to come.

The Stuff of Insomnia

for a college/university educator:

I'm familiar with more than a few state universities/colleges in this area. None are known for overstaffing. And the understatement of the year is that none are known for overpaying faculty and staff. Quite the contrary. Why does the governor fail to trust the presidents or administrators of these institutions? Is this an attempt to override the better judgment of administrators by denying thier requests for exemptions, therefore forcing these institutions to 1) increase the number of students per course, 2) increase the course load of faculty and the student/work load of support staff, and 3) decrease the support services and quality of education that Louisiana's college students receive for their tuition dollars?

Please let me know if there is a better explanation. I really, really want to be wrong about this.

State colleges pressing for thaw in hiring freeze

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)-- Louisiana's colleges are pressing for at least a partial waiver of Gov. Bobby Jindal's hiring freeze for their campuses, saying the freeze could hinder their recruitment of new faculty, instructional staff and campus police officers.

So far, the schools' requests have been denied by Jindal's top budget officer, Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis, who on Monday rejected their latest proposal. The colleges can hire people -- but only with Davis' approval on a case-by-case basis.

Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie said the public colleges and universities asked the governor's budget office to lift the hiring freeze for filling teaching jobs, security positions and other student services staff, like counselors and advisers.

The hiring would need approval of the college system presidents, rather than just campus administrators, and the presidents would have to report the hiring to Jindal's budget office but wouldn't need Davis' permission, under the proposal Savoie recommended.

"We think that will help to speed the process up, and the system presidents are supposed to be in charge of hiring anyway," Savoie said.

Davis denied the request and said university hirings still will need approval from her office before the jobs can be filled. In a letter to Savoie, she said she would work to quickly review requests for hiring when the universities fill out the required paperwork.

"We understand the vital role our higher education institutions have in Louisiana. Upon receipt, we will expedite your exemption requests," Davis wrote.

Jindal froze state agency hiring on his first full day in office, saying he wanted to try to put limits on government spending and save money. Davis must sign off on new hires after the agencies explain why they want to fill the jobs.

Savoie said the hiring freeze comes in the midst of the heaviest faculty recruiting season for universities and as the technical college campuses were readying to hire their adjunct teaching staff.

One exception to the freeze has been granted so far. Davis lifted it for direct patient care positions in the LSU public hospital system after the hospitals said the freeze could harm efforts to rebuild health care systems in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Last week, Davis gave LSU System President John Lombardi permission to fill open, patient-care jobs.

Savoie said higher education institutions first asked for a blanket exemption to the hiring freeze -- a request also rejected by Davis. Negotiations have continued with Davis since then, he said.

"It may come down here with a big red 'No,' but we'll keep trying," Savoie said of the colleges' requests.

The hiring freeze was enacted in the middle of a budget year that brought millions of new dollars to the state's public colleges and universities, designed to expand and improve educational programs. Savoie said many of the schools planned to use the money to hire new professors and instructional staff.

In a letter to Davis, asking for the blanket exemption that was denied, Savoie said the governor's order will cripple schools' abilities to follow-through on their plans to spend the new influx of money.

"For too long the administrators of our institutions have had to make tough choices and sacrifices simply because adequate funding was not available," Savoie wrote. "It is somewhat ironic that now that funding is available, we may still be restricted in our ability to use those resources in securing the personnel so vital to our mission."

Davis spokesman Michael DiResto said the process for requesting individual exemptions to the hiring freeze isn't complicated or time-consuming. He said there's no evidence requiring the extra paperwork and review will jeopardize the colleges' abilities to fill needed positions.

"It has not been demonstrated that this review process for exemptions is going to in any way jeopardize or cripple anything," DiResto said.

And another thing: The logic in this last sentence just kills me.