Days after Governor Jindal heeded public outrage over the Legislature's ill-advised pay raise for themselves, legislators are starting to finally let the public in on the secret deal that I suspected back in June:
Beyond the vouchers, it's quite likely that Jindal traded many other things, too. Look closely at this quote from this article from the News Star:
Northeastern Louisiana lawmakers, both those who voted for and against the legislative pay raise, said Gov. Bobby Jindal's veto on Monday was a breach of trust between the executive and legislative branches.
"He made a lot of promises to a lot of legislators, and anytime you tell someone something and don't stick to it right or wrong it's going to create a problem with trust," said Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, who voted against the raise.
One of those staffers is the former head of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce, Stephen Moret, where he received a reported $500,000 for his work. He currently makes $245,000 per year, which I believe is some $210,000 more than the average Louisianan. Does he really need all that money?
As Oyster notes, where's all the outrage, folks? This guy is getting wealthy on the public dole! Let's give Bobby hell for this outrageous pay raise, which I might add is about $30,000 more than the Legislature originally sought to give themselves!
Hmph. What reform legislation? Might it be HB 1347 (pdf alert), which sends some $10 million in taxpayer funds and gives them to private and religious schools in New Orleans? I ask that because the Louisiana Federation of Teachers blog has a post up that states:
Judging from all the back door arm twisting that lawmakers say they have been subjected to over the voucher bill, this is the single most important piece of legislation on Jindal's plate this session.
Also of note is that there is rampant speculation that Speaker Jim Tucker threatened to shut down the Louisiana government if the legislative pay increase was not signed by the Governor. Speaker Tucker denied this of course.
But what is most striking about all of this is the legislative pay raise, and how it is structured, and the hell that conservatives across the state are raising about it ... which you can read about below the jump!
