CenLamar | Est. 2006

  • Jindal’s Ridiculous Response: It’s OK Louisiana Lost An $80 Million Broadband Grant, Because It Would’ve Been Bad for Private Business

    Jindal’s Ridiculous Response: It’s OK Louisiana Lost An $80 Million Broadband Grant, Because It Would’ve Been Bad for Private Business

    While Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater and Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell were testifying to the Louisiana Public Service Commission that the State simply needed more time to complete its grant application for an $80 million broadband infrastructure initiative (among other things, blaming an engineering consultant for failing to submit documents in a timely fashion), Governor Jindal, through his spokesman Kyle Plotkin, offered a different excuse for the administration’s complete dereliction: The grant was really just a socialist ploy to hurt Louisiana businesses. I imagine it went down somewhat like this: Plotkin: Governor, the media is asking for a…

  • Uncivil

    Uncivil

    For years and years, well before the current administration, the City of Alexandria has been hamstrung by a slow, inefficient, and sometimes incompetent civil service division. This, of course, should not be confused with the civil service system itself, which provides proper checks against executive and legislative abuse, patronage, and politicization by ensuring protection for employees. Under the civil service system, protection comes with an important stipulation: In order to be protected from politicization, you have to agree to not engage in it yourself. Classified employees are prohibited from campaigning, for example. And it makes sense: If you want to…

  • Jindal Loses $80 Million Grant (Because He Couldn’t Find a Private Company to Give It To)

    Jindal Loses $80 Million Grant (Because He Couldn’t Find a Private Company to Give It To)

    At some point, people may start to notice that Governor Jindal has, either due to ideology, incompetence, or both, deprived Louisianans of hundreds of millions of dollars of benefits to which it was owed or deserved. The most recent example is, most assuredly, a reflection of both ideological intransigence and complete incompetence. Louisiana was set to receive an $80 million federal grant to expand broadband access in North and Central Louisiana. I know, for an absolute fact that, behind the scenes, Mary Landrieu’s staff worked diligently to ensure Louisiana had an opportunity, and I’m not at all surprised that Senator…