Day One

Governor elect Edwards announced some appointments today. Among those was the new head of DHH.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - An LSU public health professor is Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards' choice to lead Louisiana's health department, the largest agency in state government.

Dr. Rebekah Gee was named Tuesday as Edwards' secretary for the Department of Health and Hospitals.

In that role, she'll oversee a $9.7 billion agency that accounts for more than one-third of the state's budget. She'll also be the figurehead for Edwards' plan to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program as allowed under the federal health care law.

This will draw attention not only because of how important it is in and of itself but also because of its political significance. Edwards' commitment to immediate Medicaid expansion was a major campaign promise which differentiated him from every other candidate. It’s is crucial that this promise be kept.

The good news is it looks like they're taking that seriously.

Dr Gee says La will expand Medicaid on first day of the Edwards administration

— Mark Ballard (@MarkBallardCnb) January 5, 2016

Update:  On the other hand, another major campaign promise of Edwards's involved "firing" John White.  His new BESE appointees appear to be crawfishing a bit.

In an interview Edwards' three BESE appointees all said they would be "open" to working with White, but didn't outright endorse him. Two of three appointees have an existing relationship with White, because they are already active in primary and secondary education.

Ethicsyness

Bobby Jindal has run the most ethicsy administration ever.  Thank goodness the voters responded to his 2007 campaign's call to slay the dragon of non-ethicsyness. The state continues to reap the bounty of that movement.

The state Department of Education’s heavy reliance on contracts rather than
doing the work in-house merits scrutiny, the chairman of the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee said Tuesday.

“I am wondering where the oversight comes,” said state Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro.

The issue, which Fannin has raised in the past, surfaced during a budget review of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which sets policies for more than 700,000 public school students statewide.

Doesn't even have to retroactively retire

Kicking Kira Orange Jones gets to keep her position with Teach For America and stay on BESE because of course she does.

No confidence

Kira Orange Jones on the BESE district she was just elected to represent:

In a brief telephone interview Saturday, Oranges Jones made clear that she does not see simply duplicating the New Orleans approach across Louisiana as the right strategy. She pointed out the important role played by voters in other parts of her district, including Jefferson and the River Parishes.

"I'm still learning about what makes these parishes diverse and each school district unique," Orange Jones said. "I'm committed to doing that."

It's refreshing to hear the Teach For America stooge who ran with mostly out-of-town PAC money behind her and refused to appear at any debate or community forum during the campaign admit that she really doesn't know much about the district she's going to represent.

At the same time, it's disappointing to see the Times-Picayune gloat this way about the results.

Saturday's runoff, in which Orange Jones toppled incumbent Louella Givens, amounted to the first definitive referendum on the city's mass experiment with autonomous charter schools, which now educate more than 80 percent of public school children in New Orleans. And taken together with the results of last month's primary and two other runoffs, it marks a shift in philosophy on the 11-member board that could usher in stark and controversial changes in the way all of Louisiana educates its children.

"Definitive referendum" is hardly the term for a district runoff where the Secretary of State's office reports a 15.6% turnout. (11.3% within Orleans Parish) If anything I'd interpret that as a system-wide vote of no confidence.

Fun fact of the day

Buddy Roemer is still a fraud.

Those lurid flyers attacking Kira (Orange Jones)'s opponents are being produced by a PAC which boasts of having Buddy Roemer on its Steering Committee. This is our clownish former Governor who is now tramping round the country in pursuit of the Republcian nomination. His entire campaign is based on his steadfast opposition to PACs.

Quote of the Day

"BESE races are where it's at"

-- Bobby Jindal's outgoing Chief of Staff, home-schooled privatization advocate, Timmy Teepell

That and much more on the BESE run-offs at Daily Kingfish where we find this fascinating list of donors to Kira Orange Jones who is a favorite of both Jindal and Mitch Landrieu.

DAVID GERGEN, Alexandria‎, ‎VA -- $2,500 (yes, that CNN guy)
LAWRENCE STUPSKI, San Francisco, CA-- $2,000 (former head of Charles Schwab)
DARLA MOORE‎, Fort Worth, TX -- $5000 (major GOP donor, George W. Bush Friend)
KATHERINE BRADLEY‎, Washington, DC -- $2,500 (wife of publishing magnate who owns The Atlantic)
GREGORY PENNER‎, Arkansas -- $5000, twice (from he and his wife, Walmart Board member)
Bloomberg Revocable Trust -- $5000 (trust also gave $100k to ABC PAC)