"We've maintained throughout our existence that Blueprint is about helping to create the state we deserve. We believe we're well-positioned for progress on these key priorities for the state, but acknowledge the hard work associated with passing legislation," noted Blueprint Louisiana co-founder and Chairman Matt Stuller of Lafayette. Blueprint's five-part agenda includes the issues of state ethics, public education, workforce development, health care and transportation. The organization says it has now convened six working groups, one for each agenda item as well as a sixth dedicated to coastal restoration and hurricane protection, to develop legislation to implement its agenda. Blueprint also says it is working with legislators as well as the administration of Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal, who did not sign Blueprint's contract, in advance of next year's legislative session. "Our interaction with legislators during the past few weeks has been very productive," Stuller says. "So many of them are eager, and they recognize the opportunities ahead of them to build a legacy of significant improvement in Louisiana." ... DAVIS, HEBERT TESTIFY TO ACADIANA'S RESPONSE TO HURRICANES On Monday, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu held a hearing on major disasters and catastrophes at the Old State Capitol Building in Baton Rouge. (Landrieu is chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery.) At the hearing, titled "Host Communities: Analyzing the Role and Needs of Communities that Take in Disaster Evacuees in the Wake of Major Disasters and Catastrophes," local witnesses testified about how their communities accommodated evacuees following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The witness list included Cajundome Commissioner Greg Davis, Iberia Parish Sheriff Sid Hebert, Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden and Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach. ... FORMER LUS ADVERSARY NOW JINDAL'S LEGISLATIVE LIAISON The latest member of Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal's administration is a familiar face to city officials involved with Lafayette Utilities System's fiber-to-the-home project. Tommy Williams, tapped last week as Jindal's legislative liaison, worked as a BellSouth lobbyist for 38 years and was at the forefront of heated negotiations related to the company's opposition to LUS' telecommunications venture. Williams, 65, retired from BellSouth last year as vice president for regulatory and external affairs. As Jindal's legislative liaison, Williams will be the governor's point person for advancing bills through the state Legislature.
While working for BellSouth, Williams was a primary player in negotiating the 2004 Local Government Fair Competition Act, which placed a series of restrictions on LUS entering the telecommunications business and required a public referendum on the issue. While both sides agreed to the legislation, city officials later cried foul when BellSouth used the act to file a lawsuit against LUS' bond ordinance for the project. BellSouth eventually withdrew from the suit, which was also brought by Lafayette resident Elizabeth Naquin. LUS prevailed in the case and now plans to begin offering telecom services in early 2009.
"[Tommy Williams] was always their primary contact whenever we dealt with BellSouth," says LUS Director Terry Huval. "But Tommy Williams doesn't work for BellSouth anymore, and BellSouth is no longer BellSouth; it's AT&T, so there's different management of that organization as well."
Huval says those past disputes aren't personal. "Tommy was always a fine person whenever we dealt with him," he says. "I think some of the issues that came up where BellSouth as a corporation acted in bad faith wasn't necessarily at his direction. It was folks beyond that point that I think were involved in it." Huval also praised Williams as a deft negotiator. "Tommy is very effective in dealing with legislative matters," he says, "and I don't blame the governor for choosing someone who has as good a reputation as he has had in dealing with legislative matters."
Contributors: Nathan Stubbs and Mary Tutwiler
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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