Facing an unbalanced budget for fiscal year ended June 30, the first in a decade, the Jindal administration's mantra has been cut, cut, cut. And as is typically the case, the poor are disproportionately affected -- mainly in health care and family services. The cuts have been equally devastating to higher ed. And there are more to come for both, the paper notes, commenting on Jindal's unwillingness to budge on proposed increases in cigarette and tobacco taxes (and how about alcohol?):
Jindal should reconsider. An increase in “sin” taxes would be more popular than just about any alternative. Most states have taken “a more balanced approach” with revenue and cuts to deal with recession shortfalls, according to Edward Ashworth, head of the Louisiana Budget Project, which studies fiscal issues.
It’s not balanced to cut vital services over and over again, while leaving — in political terms — easy money on the table.
In other words, Gov. Jindal, stay home and start looking at some user taxes. Get creative.
Read the editorial here.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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The paper claims that an increase in "sin" taxes would be more "popular". But, the question is whether it would be right. The paper bewails the questionable "fact" that these spending cuts disproportionately affect the poor. Several paragraphs later, the paper proposes as a solution a tax that disproportionately affects a small group of taxpayers. So it's wrong to cut services to this group, but it's OK to take money from that group? Why should I be more sympathetic to one group than the other? And what should I think of a newspaper that suggests that I should be?
There is, predictably, no moral reasoning given for this position, only that it would be more "popular". Many things are, and have in our history, been "popular" with voters but morally reprehensible. The same breach of rational discourse is committed again, when the paper says "most states have taken "a more balanced approach"". So what? Most states are fiscally irresponsible, too. Would the Advocate now like to defend the fiscal positions of "most states" over the last 5-10 years? Probably not.
The paper discusses Governor Jindal's "knee-jerk opposition to any and all taxes". I think Jindal's opposition to higher taxes is actually an ideological opposition, one that he has explained, campaigned on, and voters have approved. Jindal has explained his OPPOSITION to higher taxes much more effectively than the Advocate has explained their SUPPORT for higher taxes in this editorial. So, who's knee is really jerking here?