You can build it back better later

The Governor's budget proposal is due out this week. It looks like they are going to plan for cuts now that they expect to undo once the stimulus comes in. 

Jay Dardenne, the commissioner of administration for Gov. John Bel Edwards, plans to kick off the negotiations on February 26 by presenting a budget proposal to the Legislature that includes spending cuts based on current revenue projections.

But the potential for more federal aid is on the horizon. President Joe Biden’s push for a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which would be the third federal aid bill since the pandemic started, could ease the state’s losses, and put Louisiana in a stronger position for fiscal 2022, which starts July 1.

“It's anticipated that we get a federal stimulus. If that's the case, then we'll be in better shape,” said state Rep. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, the chairman of House Appropriations Committee. “Because the economy is in such bad shape right now, we’re hoping we'll have a similar situation to what we had last fiscal year, and we won't know that until the federal stimulus package comes in. We're anticipating it, but there's no guarantee until it comes. That's kind of what we need and are depending upon to continue to get us through this crisis.”

A month ago, the Revenue Estimating Conference deliberately chose a more conservative projection than was really necessary, not only because they didn't know the size of the stimulus, but also because they chose to lowball projected tax collections.  So there should be ample opportunity to add back later whatever cuts show up in the proposal now.

Of course, the last time this legislature had to figure out what to do with federal stimulus funds, they carved out $300 million for John Schroder to dispense on his own.  So we'll have to see what they come up with this time.

 

It's John's money club, after all

John gets to make the rules, I guess. 

A change shrouded in secrecy will exempt Treasury Secretary John Schroder from key rules governing how he can disburse a huge pot of federal money to small businesses.

The change for the $300 million program was included Monday in an amendment to a spending bill sponsored by state Sen. Bodi White, R-Central. The amendment would exempt Schroder from procurement rules and regulations regarding the program to distribute the federal money to help small businesses remain afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Maybe not even worth mentioning at this point.  The $300 million fund is already money the legislature stole from the state's CARES Act allocation so that they could pass out money to friends.  The deed is done there.  How fastidious they are about appearing to follow best practices now is kind of pointless.

John Schroder's Road Home to nowhere

Look, if you have a small business that you are trying to keep afloat through all of this mess, by all means, go ahead and apply for one of these grants. I'm sure it will end up helping a few people. How many it helps is up for debate, though. Particularly in comparison to what that money might have done if it had remained available for local governments in need of help recovering from COVID induced budget problems.

And, of course, we also have to compare it with how much John might allow to be stolen. 

Though many of the legislators are concerned about fraud, Schroder said he wouldn’t be able to stop all of it.

“I am not going to design a program that puts so much red tape on the 90% just to stop the 10% bad actors,” Schroder said, adding that it’s important to be careful but not too cumbersome.

“Are we going to stop all the fraud, Mr. President? No. But we’ll do our best,” Schroder said.

Just so we're clear here. This is the same John Schroder who ran this campaign ad.



See that guy seems pretty tough.  It's strange to see him turn around and take such a relaxed attitude toward this project.  Why would that happen, one wonders.

Accountant Joel Robideaux, a former state legislator and Lafayette Parish president, and Baton Rouge attorney Jason DeCuir, who has been heading the Legislature’s Louisiana Economic Recovery Task Force since April, have teamed up to bid on a contract to administer the $300 million in federal pandemic relief money the Legislature has set aside for small businesses.

State Treasurer John Schroder’s office is technically in charge of the small business program, which is due to start up July 4, but is farming out its day-to-day operations, which include vetting applications and deciding which small businesses qualify for grants under the program.

Earlier this month, Schroder issued a request for qualifications. Several were submitted, his spokesperson confirms, though she was unable to make them immediately available before this afternoon’s publication.

Robideaux, however, confirms he and DeCuir are among those seeking the contract, which could be worth up to $15 million, or 5% of the total $300 million, which is coming from the federal CARES Act pandemic relief package.

It was just four days ago we were asking whose friends were about to start pulling down some of this money the Republicans looted from the CARES allocation.   Sometimes you get your answers pretty fast.

Robideaux, besides being a former elected official, is a known personal friend of current Senate President Page Cortez and owns property with him, according to records from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office of Corporations.

Cortez’s Cortez Management LLC and Robideaux are the officers in an entity called Bluebird Heaven LLC.

DeCuir, meanwhile, was tapped earlier this spring to spearhead a legislative committee convened to craft a legislative agenda to help the state recover economically from the coronavirus shutdown. The committee has focused on a largely pro-business agenda and has pushed to get more money into the hands of small businesses.

Looks like the party isn't quite over yet.

Election Day

Get on out there and capture the magic. Here are some tips for those placing wagers on things.

Cantrell 62% Charbonnet 38%  Spread could actually go higher so watch for that

Banks 50% plus just a little itty bit over Bloom The Cantrell wave in the turnout would ordinarily favor Bloom but a lot of people also seem to hate him so.. it will be close

Gray 54% Nguyen 46% Tthis is just based on the primary numbers plus some educated guesses but if it goes differently don't come yell at me

Schroder 60% Edwards 40% The Democrats could have gotten their shit together and actually try to elect a Treasurer. They didn't.


More to say later in the day.  Have fun. 

Why are the Democrats ceding the State Treasurer's race?

What does the Louisiana State Treasurer do all day?

When Louisiana voters choose a new state treasurer this fall, it's likely they won't have much information about what the person will actually be doing. Of all the elected positions in state government, the treasurer's duties might be the most opaque.

The treasurer can't do much without the permission of the Legislature, governor or other Bond Commission members. The position doesn't call for much direct interaction with voters, either.

Yet the treasurer handles billions of dollars in public money. And John Kennedy was one of the state's most popular elected officials during almost two decades in the job, before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. Both Kennedy and Mary Landrieu moved on to the Senate from the treasurer's perch.

That article goes on to helpfully describe the Treasurer's duties which basically amount to coming into the office every few weeks to sign some checks. Ironically, it's the relative lack of importance that makes this such an attractive office to ambitious Louisiana pols. The responsibilities are few and thus accountability is negligible. But it's a statewide office so just the process of getting elected to it is a significant networking and base building exercise.  The successful candidate establishes contacts and name recognition in every corner of the state. He or she then has access to a big public platform from which to advocate for, well, whatever gets more attention, ideally.  It's basically politics for politics' sake and a pretty nifty stepping stone to higher office.

So it's a discouraging measure of the state Democratic Party's impotence that it hasn't jumped at the bench strengthening opportunity provided by this year's vacancy.  Rather than promoting an up and comer from its own ranks or, failing that, at least supporting the Democrat who did qualify to run, the party leadership is playing defense.

Quick roll call on that host committee. Bishop is the 4th District State Senator and a Vice Chair of the State Democratic Party.  Morrell is the 3rd District State Senator and for a time was said to be considering a run for mayor. Carter is the 7th District State Senator and has been a mayoral candidate and city councilman in the past. There's a Democrat running but these guys don't care about that. They're promoting Republican and fellow State Senator Riser because they see State Rep. John Schroder as a more significant threat.  Most of us, though, would see little difference in Schroder or Riser getting a term as the state's official concern troll.  Here is what a Riser complaint agenda would look like.

If elected, Riser said he would continue to fight for gun rights, restrictions on undocumented immigrants and for divesting from countries that might support terrorism. The treasurer has nothing to do with gun laws or immigration, which Riser admits, but he said he would use the position as a platform to advocate for causes that he supports.

"I'll be outside the treasurer's course and scope as an individual defending the 2nd Amendment rights," he said.

Probably as election day gets closer we'll hear more about how smart and strategic all of this is.  But really it's just another missed opportunity for a state party continuing to suffer from a lack of depth and purpose. 

Extreme budgeting

Things in Baton Rouge are either getting very serious or very very unserious depending on how you choose to interpret this.

State Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, says he is suspending his push for legislation to remove budget protections for certain state services, following what he claims was an emailed threat from a law enforcement officer.

“This individual told me to put a gun in my mouth and blow my brains out. What kind of bill would cause someone to say that? I know I have a tendency to rock the boat from time to time, but blow my brains out?” Schroder said during a speech on the House floor Tuesday.

That sounds bad. On the other hand, legislators probably receive all sorts of crazy correspondence from law enforcement and/or mentally unstable people (and really, who can even know the difference?) all the time.