Louisiana Editorial Roundup
Some recent editorials in Louisiana:
July 27
The Times-Picayune, New Orleans
On: Louisiana teacher union wrong on education superintendent
The Louisiana Association of Educators must think Louisianians will fall for anything. Nothing else explains the whoppers told by the teachers' union in calling for the firing of state education Superintendent Paul Pastorek. The union said Mr. Pastorek has not produced positive results in public education and suggested that he's an obstacle to meaningful education reform.
That's pretty rich from the folks who for years opposed reforms because they threatened the union's influence on personnel matters and other school decisions.
During Mr. Pastorek's tenure, the performance of many districts has improved, chief among them New Orleans public schools. His drive to give New Orleans children decent educational options after Katrina has been admirable.
The union and many school board members across Louisiana are upset that Mr. Pastorek opposed the weakening of education standards, like the new so-called diploma track. Mr. Pastorek also sought to reduce the influence of local boards on day-to-day decisions, such as teacher hiring. But he was right — those decisions are best left to system administrators, not elected board members.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education names the state superintendent, and Mr. Pastorek's job does not seem at risk. Gov. Bobby Jindal appoints three of the 11 BESE members, and he voiced strong support for Mr. Pastorek Friday. So should the eight elected BESE members.
July 27
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
On: State car deal too secretive
The state of Louisiana is offering $134 million in incentives to a car company in a deal that, by design, has a very thin paper trail.
This might be a wonderful deal for state residents or a boondoggle, but we don't have enough information to know whether it's the former or the latter. Very few documents concerning the deal are available for public review, which means taxpayers will have to rely on the assurances of Stephen Moret, Gov. Bobby Jindal's secretary of economic development.
We have a lot of respect for Moret's diligence and intelligence, but the state's taxpayers deserve more information about this project than they've been given.
The Jindal administration offered the incentives to San Diego-based V-Vehicle Co., or VVC, to build cars in a vacant industrial building in Monroe. If the project succeeds, it could swell Louisiana's wages by $1.9 billion in a 15-year period, according to an LSU economic forecast.
But neither VVC nor state officials will say what kind of car is planned for the Louisiana facility or how it will be sold. Moret's department paid a consulting company $16,000 to study VVC's business plan, and the consultant was largely favorable about VVC in a three-page letter that talks in very general terms about the car company's business goals.
But no underlying documents for the review are available because the Department of Economic Development intentionally exchanged information by word of mouth to avoid generating documents. Moret said his department used this method to avoid disclosing any of VVC's trade secrets.
We are familiar with concerns about revealing a company's proprietary information when governments offer incentives to private industry. But we fear such concerns too often become a rationale for blanket secrecy about the use of taxpayer money.
We also worry about government-sponsored business deals in which critical details, as far as we can tell, are carried around exclusively in the heads of a few key people. Government officials come and go. Where's the public accountability when key information isn't recorded in writing?
We agree with Jim Brandt, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, that the current level of secrecy concerning many state-funded economic development deals doesn't ensure enough public oversight and accountability.
Moret has emphasized that the state's deal with VVC is designed to safeguard the state's interests. He has mentioned that initial dollars provided to the project will be used for site improvements that would make it attractive to any future business tenant. Moret has stressed that state dollars on the project will be spent incrementally, and only after VVC meets certain performance benchmarks. If VVC defaults, the state would own the infrastructure it has helped develop for the site, Moret said, adding that he believes such a default is unlikely.
While such safeguards can help limit the state's risk in this venture, we know that commercial ventures, by their nature, can never be risk-free. That is particularly true of the car industry, which has been in economic free fall lately.
The state's taxpayers deserve more information on this deal so they can determine whether it's worth the risk to taxpayers.
July 27
The News-Star, Monroe, La.
On: Invest in our future
Progress in the industrial and manufacturing worlds comes at a price.
In the competitive global economy, companies seeking a plant site also are looking at the cost of establishing the location, and eventually, at the cost of doing business.
Along with substantial state commitment to the V Vehicle Co. for its location in the former Guide plant, local governments were asked to provide a $15 million incentives package. The Ouachita Parish Police Jury has called a special election for Oct. 17 for a 15-year, 1.8-mill property tax to help fund that package.
We believe this investment could be repaid many times over as jobs and spinoff companies sprout from VVC's operations here. The project will create more than 1,400 direct jobs at an average annual salary of nearly $40,000 plus benefits.
An economic-impact analysis by Louisiana State University suggests the VVC facility will inject over $19.6 billion in new state economic output from 2010 to 2024. LSU estimates the 1,400 direct jobs will create 1,800 indirect jobs new jobs in our region.
Will local businesses, who bear the lion's share of property taxes, benefit from VVC and its spinoffs? Absolutely. Job creation means more opportunities for all. The Monroe Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interests of local business, has endorsed the tax as an investment in our community's future.
Meeting with The News-Star's editorial board last week, Police Jury President Shane Smiley said all options for raising the local funding share were considered. The property tax was the only way to obtain the funding within the short time frame required.
Local funding must be available by March 15. If voters say yes, the parish will begin collecting the tax in 2009, which means the tax will be on property owners' December property tax bill.
A mill equals $1 in property taxes for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Ouachita Parish Assessor Rich Bailey says the 1.8-mill tax would cost $4.50 a year for residential properties valued at $100,000 and $22.50 a year for residential properties valued at $200,000. The tax would cost $90 a year for commercial property assessed at $50,000.
The proposed tax would generate about $1.4 million a year. Contributions from other sources mean the parish will only have to sell $11.5 million in bonds, which Smiley expects to be paid off in eight years.
Since several local banks will underwrite the bond issuance, the parish will not be penalized for paying the bond issuance off early. The interest rate for the bond issuance was also capped at 4.5 percent, which allowed parish officials to set a lower millage rate for the proposition.
If the tax is approved in October, it will be collected and applied to the incentives package. However, VVC must have $350 million in financing in place by March 1 or else the state and local governments are relieved of their responsibilities to fund the incentives package requirements. The Police Jury also passed a resolution that would require the parish to rebate to taxpayers the 2009 property taxes collected if the VVC deal falls through.
Looking just this past week at double-digit unemployment figures throughout northeastern Louisiana should be enough to convince us job creation is essential. We must make this investment.
July 26
The Courier and Daily Comet, Houma and Thibodaux, La.
On: This is no time for pork
We have frequently used this space to rail against the wasteful practice of the Louisiana Legislature's continued use of pet projects to funnel state money to individual legislators' causes.
Even in years when there is plenty of state money to go around, it is unwise to spend that money outside the proper budgetary channels, which offer the public some input and oversight.
Our aggravation at this practice is even greater in a year such as this when millions of dollars have been slashed from Louisiana's higher-education system.
In this area alone, Nicholls will have to absorb huge cuts and will likely have to cut back even further on the services it offers students. And stories like that are common throughout the state.
Another budget loser, due to state laws, is health care, one of the only other places legislators can cut money to create balanced budgets.
In these stark economic times, when the state cannot even afford to maintain the same level of funding for services as vital as health care and higher education, the Legislature has no business giving out money for pork-barrel spending.
Still, it has done just that. Worse, Gov. Bobby Jindal allowed the lion's share of those projects to remain in the state budget.
Of the $34 million in pork spending approved by the Legislature, Jindal removed only $3 million from the final budget.
That is not even 10 percent of these projects taken out in a year when the gloomy economic forecast forced cuts to essential services. That is inexcusable.
The legislative earmarks — another name for the pork — went toward causes such as museums, festivals and festivals. Any of the causes might be important to the areas where they are. Indeed, many of them are expenses that the state can rationalize supporting.
Some examples are $20,000 for the Christmas Festival in Natchitoches, $75,000 for cultural programs in Alexandria and $125,000 for a market in Westwego.
At the other end of the spectrum $50,000 went to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office to replace equipment lost during last year's storms.
While that expense might make sense, it was made outside the standard process. Instead, state Rep. Simone Champagne placed the money in the budget as an earmark. This is just one example that might well have been important enough to make it through on its own. But we'll never know.
The projects and causes that are worthwhile expenditures of state money should be able to withstand the budget process on their own without being written into the bill by individual legislators.
If they make it through the proper process, fine. If not, they have no business in a state budget that has had to be trimmed at the expense of health and education.
It is time for the Louisiana Legislature to end the terrible practice of allowing lawmakers to place personal priorities in the state budget. It is an affront to those who believe Louisiana must do more to instill responsible practices in state government.
And when the Legislature fails in its responsibility to do so, it becomes the governor's burden to strip these spending measures from the state's budget.
Neither happened this year. As a result, Louisiana residents will watch as their government spends millions on individual local projects while stripping money out of vital statewide priorities.
There has to be a better way.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
