The
state of Louisiana has until Oct. 30 to
decide whether to pursue a new arbitration process for disputed, large-scale
recovery projects such as Charity Hospital in downtown New Orleans, under federal rules released
Monday.
Louisiana
Recovery Authority Director Paul Rainwater said it won't take that long to
for state authorities to decide whether to pursue arbitration for Charity.
The high-profile dispute over damage to the 70-year-old hospital led to
creation of the arbitration process within the FEMA Public Assistance
program, the primary source of disaster recovery money for local governments
and not-for-profit entities.
The
process is designed to shift the appeals from FEMA to an independent panel
and provide a faster resolution.
David
Grunfeld/The Times-PicayuneCharity
Hospital supporters second-line on Tulane Avenue.
The
timeline detailed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggests that
final answers on the affected cases would come in early 2010. That would
coincide with the latter stage of the design process for the state's
projected $1.2 billion, 424-bed replacement for Charity.
Louisiana's
state facilities office, which owns the Charity building, says that the old
Charity building was more than 50 percent damaged by Hurricane Katrina,
compelling FEMA to pay $492 million as the replacement cost under federal
disaster law. FEMA has disputed that claim, offering a maximum of $150
million for the building that has been shuttered since September 2005.
"This
arbitration panel could be the quickest way for the state to get the full
replacement cost of Charity Hospital, which three reports prove we are owed,
" Rainwater said, a reference to assessments authored by state-paid
consultants.
Financing
unsettled
The
eventual settlement will help clear up the muddled financing picture for the
medical center planned for lower Mid-City. The construction budget assumes
$300 million already obligated by the Legislature, the compensation for Katrina
damage to Charity and revenue bonds backed by the hospital's future cash
flow.
The
greater the Charity settlement, the lower the amount to be borrowed. A newly
created hospital holding corporation involving Louisiana
State University,
Tulane University and other schools would be
responsible for the debt.
The
rules published Monday reflect no substantial changes to the outline that
Homeland Security Janet Napolitano unveiled in mid-August.
Napolitano
said in a recent visit to New
Orleans that the process is intended to be
independent, fair and final, with no other administrative or court review.
Rainwater said the secretary's description is accurate.
The
agency applying for FEMA relief on a project worth at least $500,000 can
choose arbitration in lieu of the existing appeals process.
The
current appeals structure has two levels, both of them controlled by
employees within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is under
Napolitano's purview.
Arbitration
panels
Arbitration
involves panels of three administrative law judges with no ties to FEMA or
Homeland Security. The judges have experience settling contractor and
construction disputes involving other federal agencies.
Arbitration
also is intended to be a quicker process, with all stages spread over five
months, with some caveats. Existing appeals often stretch well beyond six
months.
Bodies
with pending FEMA appeals must decide within 30 days of a particular judgment
whether to forgo the appeals process for arbitration. After receiving notice
of an appeal, including all of the documentation an applicant wants to submit
on a case, FEMA must reply with its preliminary position within 15 days. FEMA
must follow with its complete response, including all documentation, within
30 days of the initial appeal notice.
The
three-judge panel is to convene a preliminary conference of all parties
within 10 days of FEMA's response. Either side can request oral arguments. If
requested, oral arguments should be held within 60 days of the preliminary
conference, though the new rules allow a longer period.
Panels
are supposed to make decisions within 60 days of oral arguments or within 60
days of receiving FEMA's written response in cases with no hearing.
The
rules allow more time "when highly technical issues are involved."
The panel also is free to pursue analysis or testimony from independent
experts.
FEMA
to pick up tab
FEMA
will pay fees of the arbitrators, the costs of experts and for hearing
venues. The rules state that each party must cover its own attorney fees,
travel and other outlays. Rainwater noted that is different from federal
court, where the loser often pays attorney fees and court costs. But, he
said, "I don't think that should sway us one way or another" in
deciding whether to pursue arbitration.
LRA
spokeswoman Christina Stephens also pointed out that the rules for internal
FEMA appeals allow the state to assist local entities with their appeals and
then apply for FEMA reimbursement to cover those expenses. That would not be
an option to recover arbitration expenses, she said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1251782494206060.xml&coll=1
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Though
his public forum Tuesday was crowded with people vehemently opposed to a
government-backed insurance plan, U.S. Rep. Ahn
"Joseph" Cao said Monday that he is trying to remain objective about
the legislation.
"Let's
look at the final bill when it comes out," he told about 100 people
gathered at Heritage Hall in Kenner's
Rivertown. "Let's give this process a
chance."
Cao,
R-New Orleans, told the audience that he would support the House bill for a
medical system overhaul if it does four things in its final form: includes
"very strong language" that forbids federal money for abortions,
does not increase the federal deficit, addresses concerns of small businesses
and doesn't cut benefits to the elderly and poor.
Every
question at Cao's seventh forum on health care
reforms came from people who appeared to be against government-sponsored
health care. Most of the speakers were passionately opposed.
Kenner resident Richard
Brown acknowledged that the medical system may need improvements but held a
copy of the House's American Affordable Health Choices Act in a huge binder.
"We do not need this. We do not need this bill," he said, as
thunderous applause and cheers drowned him out.
New Orleans resident Betty
Bernard, 76, said the government-backed plan is "going to kill
seniors." Her voice breaking, she loudly told Cao that her experience on
Medicare, when doctors were intent on amputating her toes, was "not
hearing me, not helping me, but saving money for the government."
Cao
told Bernard that her frustrations are with the current system.
"This
is the system we have right now," he said. "Hopefully we can change
it for the better."
After
Bernard's impassioned speech, Cao said that people are scared that the bill
will include "death panels."
"I'm
a Republican. I've read the bill three times. It does not do what people are
afraid it might do," he said. He said the "end-of-life
counseling" the bill mandates keeps the conversation between patient and
doctor.
To
a man who said he opposed "the socialistic takeover of our medical
system," Cao said that the plan does not include a single-payer system.
"That would be socialized medicine," he said. Instead, he said, it
creates a "framework" so people can choose the government option if
they decide to.
The
possibility that the government option will negatively affect private
insurance is a concern, he said. "We're all concerned about that."
Though
the majority of the people at Monday's meeting voiced opinions against the
health-care plan, a minority showed up in support.
Marilyn
Duthu of Harvey
sat in the front row and held a sign that said, "83 percent (heart)
public option," a percentage, said she found on the Web site,
moveon.org. "I just think it's the right thing to do," she said
before the meeting began, referring to the public option.
When
Kenner
resident Arthur Tudela mentioned during the meeting
that the bill would raise the deficit, the audience riotously cheered and
about half the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Cao
said later in the meeting that he has heard different conclusions about
whether it would do so.
"We
are faced with numerous studies on the Hill," he said. "One study
says this, one study says that." He said the different conclusions are
reached because the bill is so "complicated."
Cao
told the crowd that "the public option seeks to lower costs in the
health care system." Whether it will do so is at question, he said.
"We've heard of the $2,000 toilet seat, the $500 doorknob."
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/eastjefferson/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1251782530206060.xml&coll=1
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A
few weeks after Hurricane Katrina roared through New
Orleans, the fetid floodwaters that had engulfed LSU Health
Sciences Center
subsided enough to allow a survey of building damage.
On
the dank first floor at 2020 Gravier St., amid a jumble
of ruined equipment, mold-infested walls and overturned chairs and tables,
workers made a sobering discovery: four bodies.
Adhering
to protocol, they zipped them up in regulation body bags and carried them out
to the plaza -- just as National Guard troops passed by, said Dr. Valeriy Kozmenko, who was part
of the inspection group.
Asked
for an explanation, Kozmenko and his colleagues
unzipped the bags to show what lay inside: four programmable mannequins, part
of the high-tech equipment upon which students and residents had practiced
their skills before trying them out on humans.
The
water had wrecked their intricately wired circuitry, rendering them useless,
but the Federal Emergency Management Agency insisted on verification before
it would cover the $400,000 replacement cost, said Dr. Russell Klein, then
the medical school's associate dean of alumni affairs. So the four
mannequins, technically known as patient simulators because they can mimic a
wide range of conditions, were shipped to the manufacturer's Sarasota, Fla.,
office for what Klein called "the first simulator autopsy."
"They
came back with the cause of death: drowning," he deadpanned.
Four
years later, the teaching facility -- the Isidore
Cohn Jr., M.D., Student Learning
Center -- has been
moved to the sixth floor, complete with replacement robots. Its formal
dedication will be held Sept. 11 at 5 p.m.
Until
work there is finished, students have been working one flight down in the
Russell C. Klein, MD., Center for Advanced Practice, designed for students
and residents who are further along in their training, as well as for LSU's
practicing physicians.
This
glass-walled space, which cost about $6 million, has four rooms, where teams
can practice techniques, and a much bigger room, filled with tables, where
they can work on cadavers. In an emergency, it could easily be transformed
into an operating room, said Dr. Charles Hilton, the medical school's
associate dean for academic affairs.
Tulane University's School of Medicine
also uses computer-powered mannequins. They are housed in a center that was
unveiled earlier this year.
These
devices are invaluable for teaching because they give students a chance to
practice such techniques as inserting a tube down a patient's windpipe
without running the risk of breaking real teeth, Klein said.
"It's
like an airplane simulator for pilots," Hilton said.
Kozmenko, the patient-simulation center's
director, wrote the software that lets the mannequins exhibit a broad array
of symptoms -- and emit an equally wide range of noises, including gasps,
wheezes and sorrowful moans.
He
stood with Klein and Hilton outside a room where four students were working
over a robotic patient that had been programmed to develop an irregular
heartbeat.
Such
sessions, Hilton said, teach early on the importance of teamwork.
Also
in the center is a piece of equipment that resembles a video game. Flanking
the screen are devices that look like scissors handles. As a student guides
them, a program can transform the other ends of these gadgets into an array
of tools for procedures such as clipping and clamping, which a student can
perform on an organ or blood vessel that exists only on the screen. The
machine is programmed to show mistakes, too. The images of arteries and veins
gush real-looking blood if an unsteady student
punctures them.
"It's
all fake, but it feels real," said Dr. Vadym Rusnak, an instructor at
the center.
The
Klein Center had been planned before Katrina
hit. To speed up construction, the medical school's alumni association took
over the project, paying for it with a combination of individual and
corporate donations. With the state's permission, Klein said, the association
assumed such duties as picking the architect and buying equipment. When the
work was finished, the state regained title.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1251696083154210.xml&coll=1
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A
Louisiana State Medical Society survey released Monday found many physicians
will stop treating or accept no new Medicaid patients because of a recent 10
percent cut in the money they receive to care for the poor.
Two-thirds
of those responding to an e-mail survey of society members said the cuts
would prompt the changes in their practices.
The
Medicaid reimbursement reductions were adopted as part of the Jindal
administration’s budget-balancing process for the fiscal year that began July
1.
There
was a $1.3 billion revenue shortfall projected. The heaviest cuts came in
health care and higher education.
Access
to care was an issue in Louisiana
before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, medical society president Dr. Roger D.
Smith said.
The
survey shows the new cuts will further exacerbate a long-standing problem, he
said.
Medicaid
patients will have increased difficulty finding or keeping a physician and
become more dependent on expensive hospital emergency rooms for care, Smith
said.
“These
cuts are penny-wise and pound-foolish,” said Dr. Vincent Culotta,
the society’s legislative chairman.
Medicaid
— the government’s insurance program for the poor — provides health care for
about a fourth of Louisiana
residents.
State
Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said he is not
surprised by the survey findings.
Levine,
who was in California
on Monday meeting with that state’s health officials, said he wants more
details about the survey participants because many who think they may be
affected by the cuts may not be.
Levine
said the 10 percent cut does not apply to any physician service for children,
regardless of the medical specialty.
Louisiana has had some of the
highest physician reimbursement rates in the U.S. But there has remained “poor
access for adults” even with the better payments, Levine said.
The
reimbursement rates remain higher than they were two years ago, he said.
Culotta said his employer, Ochsner Health System, anticipates losing $1 million a
month because of the cuts in physician reimbursements.
“They
cannot sustain those kinds of losses for a very long time,” he said.
Patients
in major metropolitan areas will be hurt as physicians change their
practices, Culotta said.
“The
insidious, slow process is going to be in the rural areas,” where patient
care access is already more difficult.
Culotta said until patients start calling
their lawmakers and the lawmakers get tired of getting telephone calls things
won’t change.
“The
legislators don’t see this as an access to care issue. They just want to save
money,” he said.
Smith
and Levine said there are looming concerns about further reductions with
projections of state revenue declines and a potential drop of $700 million in
annual federal Medicaid support.
Based
on the survey, 34 percent of physicians said they would continue to see
Medicaid patients but will not accept new ones; 18.6 percent would stop
accepting referral of Medicaid patients; and 15.6 percent would stop seeing
all Medicaid patients.
Fifty-four
percent of those surveyed reported that up to 20 percent of their practices
involved Medicaid patients. Medicaid patients represented 21 percent to 40
percent of another 22 percent of the physicians surveyed.
Medical
Society spokeswoman Sadie Wilks said the survey
provides “a good snapshot” of how physicians are reacting to the cuts.
The
quick-turn-around e-mail survey attracted 202 respondents from a list of some
3,000 physicians for whom the Medical Society had e-mail addresses, Wilks said.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/56463922.html?showAll=y&c=y
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Americans
want affordable, quality health care for all. We know that if reform is too
costly, it will be unsustainable and result in exploding budget deficits,
lower-quality services and/or rationing.
House
Democrats advocate a government insurance program (patterned on Medicare) and
an expansion of Medicaid. I support Medicare and Medicaid, but they are not a
sound basis for reform.
Medicare
is a popular program insuring those over 65. But, as President Barack Obama
says, Medicare will be bankrupt in 2018. It is not a good model for reform.
Medicaid
is a federal and state program which insures the poor. Medicaid costs are
challenging state budgets. For example, next year Louisiana may have to cut its Medicaid
budget $1 billion. Requiring Louisiana
to pay for a Medicaid expansion will force a choice between higher taxes or
significant cuts to other programs.
Not
surprisingly, given the basis of the proposal, the Congressional Budget
Office predicts that the costs of the proposed reform will grow 8 percent per
year. This more than doubles cost every decade.
This
is a higher rate of inflation than status quo! This is fiscally unsound and
foolish. Especially since the Obama administration recently announced that
its deficit projections for the next decade (before calculating in the cost
of health reform) had risen from $7 trillion to $9 trillion.
CBO
said the reform proposal did not control costs because it was not
transformational. McKinsey & Company, a leading consulting firm, states
that transforming health care requires decreasing administrative costs,
incentivizing healthy lifestyles and transparent pricing. These elements are
in a patient-centered system.
One
example of this is a Health Savings Account with a high deductible insurance
policy for costlier events. HSAs give patients
direct control over health-care dollars and decisions. Because HSAs “belong” to the patient, they give incentive to wise
health-care spending.
The
payoff, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, is that HSAs are 30 percent cheaper than traditional insurance
policies with similar benefits and 25 percent of those with an HSA were
previously uninsured. Because costs are controlled, quality health care
becomes more accessible.
Healthier
lifestyles are given incentives in a patient-centered system. For example,
Safeway, a large grocery chain, lowers premiums for employees who enroll in
stop-smoking programs. Safeway has a healthier, more productive work force
and controls health-care costs.
These
are just two examples of a transformative patient-centered health system that
promises to control costs and make quality health care more accessible to
all. Other examples can be found at http://cassidy.house.gov.
A
constant theme at town-hall meetings is that Americans want reform. But, they
want reform that works, not that which builds upon what is broken. May our
government be as wise as the American people.
Bill
Cassidy, M.D.
member
of Congress
Baton Rouge
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/56441757.html#
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"Let
me say this --- one thing reform won't change is veterans health care. No one
is going to take away your benefits. That's the truth."
This
statement comes directly from the president of the United
States at the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars national
convention Aug. 17 in Phoenix.
The president indicated that earlier this year, Congress authorized $ 1.4 billion
to build nursing homes and extended care facilities for veterans, upgrade
medical centers and hire an additional 1,500 workers to handle medical
claims.
The
president has proposed adding $25 billion in funding for the Veterans
Administration over the next five years, which he said would be the largest
increase in 30 years.
In
addition, the president said caring for veterans facing those ailments was
"defining purpose of my budget -- billions of dollars for more treatment
and mental health screening to reach our troops on the front lines and more
mobile and rural clinics to reach veterans back home."
Katrina
completely wiped out the Veterans Hospital in New
Orleans. The veterans throughout state must travel
to either Alexandria or Monroe for hospital care.
The
president, being big on "spreading the wealth," should look
favorably in advising the VA to scrap the idea of a single VA hospital and
use the money that would go for its construction and operation closer to
home. Why not use those millions of dollars to put modern technology and more
staff into local hospitals and clinics and then simply reimburse them for
veterans care?
I
think those veterans are more likely to take better care of themselves and get the care they need if we make it easier
for them to do so and for their families. Let's bring those soldiers back to Louisiana who are on long term
care at Walter Reed Hospital.
Mr. President, give Louisiana
a shot at this concept. The veterans will remember!
Link
Savoie is a retired U.S. Army officer, a Korea
and Vietnam
veteran, past state commander of the Louisiana VFW, and recent recipient of
the Jefferson Award for Public Service. His email is linkvfwla@aol.com
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090901/OPINION/909010303
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Houma Courier | 08.30.09
HOUMA
— Norby Chabert beat out competitor Brent Callais Saturday in a runoff election for the state
Senate seat representing southern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes,
according to complete but unofficial results.
Chabert
is the third man in his family to hold the state Senate District 20 seat,
following in the footsteps of his brother, Marty, and father, Leonard J.
Chabert, who helped build the Houma
hospital that bears his name.
Chabert,
a 33-year-old Houma Democrat who grew up in Little Caillou,
beat Callais, a 29-year-old Republican from Cut Off
and a former Lafourche Parish councilman, by more than 1,500 votes.
Here’s
the complete but unofficial results from Saturday’s election:
-
Chabert got 9,576 votes, or 54.3 percent, of the 17,626 votes cast.
-
Callais got 8,050 votes, or 45.7 percent.
The
men two edged out state Rep. Damon Baldone,
D-Houma, in an Aug. 1 primary election.
About
26 percent of the district’s 67,950 eligible voters turned out for Saturday’s
runoff, an increase from the 20 percent voter turnout in the Aug. 1 primary,
At
his celebration party in Chauvin, Chabert said he’s humbled by the show of
support and to take the seat his father and brother once held.
Chabert
serves through 2011, filling the unexpired term of Reggie Dupre,
who stepped down last month to become Terrebonne’s
levee director.
“It’s
an honor, and as I told the audience here tonight, there’s a reason I went
with red and white instead of the Chabert black and gold,” Chabert said,
referring to colors used in his father’s and brother’s campaigns. “I didn’t
want people to think I was trying to ride on my daddy’s coattails.”
Chabert
said “voters responded today that they’re tired of negative campaigning,”
referring to the attack ads and mailings that harped on his vote for
President Barack Obama, a 2004 DWI arrest, and painted him as “too liberal
for south Louisiana.”
At
the same time, though, he thanked Callais for a
“good race.”
Shortly
after the election appeared to tip irreversibly in favor of Chabert, Callais said he gave his regards to his opponent.
“I
called and I congratulated Mr. Chabert,” Callais
said. “Anything he needs in the 18 months of his term, I’ll be more than
happy to help him with.”
Callais avoided a question about the negative
nature the campaign took in the runoff, saying his goal Saturday night was
simply to congratulate Chabert.
As
for future aspirations in politics, Callais left
the door open.
“All
I’m looking forward to is a nice, long vacation,” Callais
said. “And who knows what the future holds.”
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20090830/ARTICLES/908309983
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Threats
by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders to push health-care
legislation through the Senate without Republican support may be undercut by
some Democrats whose support they need.
With
bipartisan efforts stalled, Democratic leaders are considering abandoning
protocol to pass a measure with as few as 50 votes. Senate Budget Committee
Chairman Kent Conrad and West
Virginia’s Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator
in history, have warned against the idea. They aren’t alone.
Resorting
to a budget procedure called reconciliation would infuriate Republicans and
force Democrats to settle for more limited changes, said Jennifer Duffy,
senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.
“Both
procedurally and politically, this may be a no- win,” Duffy said.
Lawmakers
are trying to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and rein in
health-care costs that account for about one-sixth of the economy. They are
considering mandates on employers to provide coverage, new rules for insurers
and creating a government-run program to compete with private insurers such
as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.
No
Republican has supported any of the plans passed so far by four congressional
committees. The Senate Finance Committee is still seeking a compromise.
‘Not
an Option’
“Failure
is not an option,” Obama said in an interview with MSNBC last month. He said
that he would make an assessment “some time in September” about whether his
party should keep working with Republicans. Senator Charles Schumer, a New
York Democrat, told reporters the deadline would be Sept. 15.
Under
Senate rules, 60 members generally must agree to end debate on an issue and
hold an up-or-down vote. That would require almost unanimous backing from
Democrats, who control 59 votes in the 99-member Senate, and a few
Republicans.
Democrats
are looking at the reconciliation process because it provides a way around
the 60-vote requirement, allowing a simple majority to pass measures aimed at
cutting the federal budget deficit.
While
solving one problem, the process brings others. The legislation would have to
save the government money within five years, which may require Democrats to
“scale it back a lot,” Duffy said.
To
keep lawmakers from using reconciliation for legislation unrelated to federal
spending, Senate rules also forbid provisions with only an incidental link to
the budget.
Passing
Test
Proposals
that affect Medicare spending or offer subsidies to help Americans buy insurance
would likely pass the test; regulatory changes may not, said James Horney,
who’s worked for the Senate Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget
Office.
“It
leaves a whole bunch of stuff in the middle,” said Horney, director of
federal fiscal policy at Washington’s
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Because
health-care expenses are such a big part of the budget, some experts say
reconciliation can accomplish more than lawmakers might think.
“You
can easily come up with a budget justification for doing virtually anything
when it comes to health care,” said Stan Collender,
a former analyst for the House and Senate budget committees. “It’s going to
come down to judgment calls.”
What
provisions can stay may be largely up to Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin. His rulings can be overturned with 60 votes.
Maryland
Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat on the budget committee, said in an Aug. 20
interview that, while the process may narrow the legislation’s scope, “we’ve
never stopped talking about reconciliation.”
‘Swiss
Cheese’
Conrad
has repeatedly said the result would be “Swiss cheese” for legislation. “It
does not work very well,” the North Dakota Democrat said on CBS’s “Face the
Nation” on Aug. 23.
Conrad
and Byrd warned against the procedure in April, before the Senate on a 53-43
vote passed a budget with nonbinding rules allowing for reconciliation.
“Using
reconciliation to ram through complicated, far- reaching legislation is an
abuse,” Byrd said in an April 29 statement.
Besides
Byrd and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, one of the four
Democrats who voted against the budget was Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, who said he
disagreed with the provision allowing reconciliation for health care. The fourth,
Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, “opposes using reconciliation,” though he hasn’t
ruled out voting for it, said spokesman Jake Thompson.
‘Real
Mistake’
Connecticut
Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told
CNN on Aug. 23 the process would be a “real mistake.” Leaders may not be able
to count on votes from Bayh and Democrat Senators
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche
Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas,
who prefer bipartisan legislation.
“There
are a number of moderate Democrats who are going to feel uncomfortable voting
for a bill that no Republicans support,” said Andrew Laperriere,
managing director of the International Strategy and Investment Group in Washington.
Most
aren’t tipping their hands. Aides to Bayh and
Lincoln said the senators are focused on bipartisan solutions. Officials in
Pryor’s and Landrieu’s offices weren’t available for comment.
The
strategy also risks alienating Republicans, who could retaliate by slowing
work on other legislation or blame Democrats for any future problems with
their plan.
“They’ll
be sorry if they do it in a partisan way,” said Senator Charles Grassley, an
Iowa Republican who’s working on a compromise, in an Aug. 26 interview.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=anM6htFmlZT4#
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Lt.
Gen. Russel Honoré stood
in the red-dawn morning of another day saving lives and crushing civil
disorder in post-Katrina New Orleans.
The man cut an outsized figure, instantly iconic – “that John Wayne dude,” in
the words of the city’s mayor.
Back
then, in 2005, I had been granted a 3:30 a.m. interview with him as a chopper
began turning its rotors nearby. I had to ask: “You gonna
run for president or what?”
The
general shrugged that nonsense off. But there was a sense not just among
reporters but in all New Orleans that the
person credited with pulling the Crescent
City out of the muck
was destined for more than a quiet retirement tending collards in his
prolific backyard garden.
Now,
though, Mr. Honoré is mulling a political run, not
for president, but for senator from the great state of Louisiana,
according
to BayouBuzz, a Louisiana political website.
Honoré retired from the Army last year and
is now an educational consultant focusing on emergency preparedness. On
Monday, he brushed off as “a serious rumor” the notion that he’s ready to
take on scandal-plagued Sen. David Vitter (R) for his seat next year.
On
the other hand, Honoré announced Saturday that he’s
moving back to Louisiana from his comfy Georgia
ranch. “I’ll be on the streets with you … to once again claim this city as
one of the greatest cities in America,”
he said in a New Orleans
speech marking the fourth anniversary of hurricane Katrina.
“All
he’s got to say is ‘stuck on stupid,’ and Vitter is toast,” the BayouBuzz quoted a Republican insider as saying. That
phrase, which Honoré directed at a reporter in
2005, became a rallying cry for New Orleanians,
emblematic of his “can do” message for whipping into shape a relief effort
bogged down in a bureaucratic swamp.
But
the general, a Creole who retains a home in Zachary, La.,
from where he votes, has reasons to be cautious, political analysts say.
Senator
Vitter is doing some prodigious fundraising, raising $3 million so far for
his reelection bid. That’s despite his apologies for using an escort service
in 2007. What’s more, Vitter is a “ferocious campaigner,” sources say.
The
überconservative and influential Arcadia region has largely come to his
side, and there are questions about how Honoré’s
more-liberal views would play there. Honoré would
probably struggle in a Republican primary, but he could be hard to beat in a
runoff, political experts say.
“When
it comes down to the nuts and bolts of a campaign, you’ve got to have more
than a cute bumper-sticker slogan,” says Chad Rogers, editor of The Dead
Pelican, a popular Lousiana news website. He
believes rumors of an Honoré
campaign amount to wishful thinking by Vitter’s political enemies. ” ‘Stuck
on stupid’ is a good slogan, but you’ve got to have some stances on taxes,
globalization, and healthcare,” he says.
No
matter what Honoré decides, it’s clear that Louisiana residents
still feel they owe a debt of deep gratitude to the “Ragin’
Cajun” for his role in establishing order in an unmoored city.
“Honoré came in at a very difficult time with great
presence and stature, and he succeeded,” says New Orleans political consultant Greg Rigamer.
New
Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told the Associated Press
this weekend that Honoré is popular and charismatic.
He said he wouldn’t be surprised if Honoré goes
into politics.
Asked
whether he’d support him, Mayor Nagin said: “Oh,
man, I’ll support that guy any way he goes.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=anM6htFmlZT4#
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Honore
not running for Senate
It
was a weekend-long, trickle-down story, floated first by two New Orleans publications last week and
picked up in recent days by newspapers, broadcast outlets and political Web
sites alike. But it’s all bunk, Retired Gen. Russel
Honore tells CNN. He will not oppose U.S. Sen.
David Vitter, R-Metairie, next year. "That is a
serious rumor that's got started that's created a lot of buzz," Honore told the cable news network, where he works as an
emergency preparedness analyst. In short, it’s "all about speculation
and rumors," Honore adds. That leaves
Congressman Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, to
carry the anti-Vitter water alone as the only major declared candidate thus
far. Honore recently purchased a home in Baton Rouge, which may
have helped move the speculation along. Honore also
told CNN that he was shocked that no reporter contacted him directly.
"That ought to scare the hell out of people in this country," says Honore. "As of this time, I'm not running for any
political office."
The Independent Weekly in Lafayette says it sent an e-mail to Honore on Friday, but had not heard a response as of
early afternoon.
http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/latest/
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For
any statewide elected official besides the top one, opportunities do not come
along often to make a difference or even the headlines.
So
Treasurer John Kennedy did not let the chance go by when he recently called
for reducing the number of state employees by 5,000 per year for three years,
at an eventual savings of $1 billion annually. With something less than force
of law, he acted as chairman of a subgroup of the advisory Streamlining
Government Commission, which may or may not forward the recommendation to the
Legislature, which could but probably won't follow it. But it doesn't hurt to
ask.
Kennedy
is correct, if not the first, to warn of historic budgetary shortfalls coming
over the next two years, which will wreck the government if it is not reduced
to affordable size.
Yet
for him and other fiscal conservatives to demand that the Legislature get its spending priorities in line is to miss where the buck
stops, and starts. The state's annual spending plan begins when the governor
presents his executive budget and it ends with his last line-item veto. In between,
as it did this year, the Legislature cuts a few items here and adds more
there, but usually enacts an appropriations bill that is about 98 percent the
way the governor wrote it.
What's
really happening here is that Kennedy is laying the fiscal challenge where it
belongs, at the feet of his political ally and fellow avowed budget scrubber
Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Maybe
Jindal will do just as Kennedy proposes, though his track record leaves some
doubt. After a year and a half of this administration, the ranks of state
employees have seen a net decrease of 290.
For
all his cost-control rhetoric as a candidate, the reality of down-sizing
government while maintaining an acceptable level of public services is
proving to be more complicated in office than on the campaign trail.
It
will be far harder going forward, with state revenue expected to fall $900
million short of projected spending in 2010-11 and $1.9 billion short in
2011-12, also known as the "cliff," when federal stimulus funds run
out.
That's
the problem. Who's going to solve it?
Actually,
the one state politician who could do the most to reduce state spending
without cutting services is not the governor nor the treasurer nor the
Legislature, but rather U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.
Half
of next year's projected deficit and over one-third of it for the year after
that will come from an increase in the state's required Medicaid match, which
is caused by the temporary spike in personal income from the post-hurricane
economy. That income includes insurance settlements and Road Home grants that
went into rebuilding damaged and destroyed homes.
Federal
Medicaid rules do not account for events like Katrina/Rita. Going strictly by
the numbers, Louisiana's historic match rate of 28 percent jumps to 37
percent midway through next fiscal year, costing the state about $350 million
more then and about $700 million more the year after that. And that will
affect not only indigent healthcare, but also higher education,
transportation and public safety that would have dollars sucked into the
Medicaid hole.
The
state's match rate will go back down to normal after a couple of years, but
not after first ripping through state government, and Jindal's
term, like a giant killer asteroid.
The
only thing to avert doomsday is an act of Congress, controlled by Democrats
in league with a Democratic president. That may be why Jindal recently
appeared alongside Democrat Landrieu (whose defeat he called for by endorsing
Kennedy in last year's election) to urge the congressional fix. Congressman
Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, on the Appropriations Committee, offers support
from his side of the aisle, but Louisiana's
go-to person for this critical mission is its senior senator.
Getting
Washington to pay more so that Louisiana can spend less
for the same amount of medical care is not the kind of cost-cutting that
budget hawks have in mind. But Gov. Jindal will take it in a second and, if
Sen. Landrieu can pull it off--by no means a sure thing--he will owe her due
credit for helping his administration dodge disaster.
http://www.lapolitics.com/column.php
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