Doing the Jindal shuffle

Allegedly due to revenue shortfalls, Gov. Bobby Jindal has issued hiring freezes, pay freezes and the elimination of per diems for those in the Executive Branch of government.

The only thaw in the freezes appears to be for those closest to Bobby.

Rather than give direct pay raises to the loyal insiders, Bobby shuffles them to different jobs and the raises come with the new jobs. There is one exception; more on that later.

Recently, Jindal promoted Taylor Teepell ("Governor" Timmy Teepell’s little brother) from Deputy Legislative Affairs Director to Deputy Chief of Staff. With the new job came a salary of $130,000 or a 44 percent increase in salary.

Also "Governor" Teepell’s brother-in-law, Matt Parker, was promoted from Intergovernmental Affairs Director to Legislative Affairs Director. The new position pays $120,000; a 26 percent increase in pay.

Jindal then promoted Anthony Ramirez (relation to the Teepells unknown) from Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs to Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Ramirez will be paid $70,000; an increase of 59 percent.

Kristy Nichols (relation to the Teepells unknown) was just promoted from Bobby’s Deputy Chief of Staff to Commissioner of Administration. Her new salary is $167,000; a mere 2 percent pay increase.

The odd man out in the pay raise shuffle is Paul Rainwater.

Rainwater was demoted from Commissioner of Administration to Jindal’s Chief of Staff, a job that a week ago paid $167,000. However, rather than getting a pay reduction Rainwater will be paid $204,000, the same as he was paid as COA.

Next up will be the ethically-challenged Stephen Moret who will more than double his current $300,000 plus salary when Jindal installs him as the next president/chancellor of LSU.

Clearly, these salaries are not paid based on what one knows, but who one knows or in some cases to whom one is related.

It’s called the "Jindal Shuffle."

 

Richard has House votes for special session

Rep. Dee Richard was on the Moon Griffon statewide radio show this morning.

Richard said he had 38 signatures (only 35 needed) of the House members on the petition for the leges to call a special session to deal with healthcare, prisons and higher education.

According to Richard, Sen. Ben Nevers is gathering the 13 petition signatures from the senators. Richard did not know how many signatures Nevers has at this time.

The deadline for the senators to sign the petition is this Friday.

If you believe that the leges should stand-up for their constituents and against the governor contact your state senator today.

Apparently, some leges think that doing nothing is better than trying to do something. What they are really saying is that their committee chairmanships and pet projects are a higher priority than healthcare for their constituents.