False Arguments, Misinformation Reign in JP Hospital Debate

“If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
-          Saul Alinsky, “Rules For Radicals”

There was a lot of feedback to my post on Monday regarding the Jefferson Parish Hospital Privatization deal championed by JP Sheriff Newell Normand. I heard from elected officials and members of the general public who have no vested interest in the potential lease of East Jefferson General Hospital (EJ) and West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC), other than their desire for community healthcare.

The feedback was polarized: Officials want the privatization because they contend the hospitals cannot continue to survive on their own; the public thinks they are being hoodwinked and left out of the process. Obviously, I'm on the side of the public.

Even with the Public Meetings that are emceed by Sheriff Normand and WJMC’s highly compensated CEO Nancy Cassagne, the false arguments and misinformation continue.

Yesterday, in a Baton Rouge meeting, I heard Jefferson Parish President John Young continue to evoke the standard talking points parroted at every opportunity by Normand, Cassagne and others:

-        " Even if they were combined, which they are legally not allowed to, EJ and WJMC wouldn’t be able to survive."

-       "If  there were to be a public vote on the lease of the hospitals, the losing group(s) would advertise and impact the vote to hurt the winning bidder."

-         "If we don’t do something now, the hospitals will be forced to close soon."

With all due respect to President Young, those arguments are

-          False

-          False

      -          And, False

Let’s take them in order.

The Financial Viability of the Hospitals

If EJ and WJMC were allowed to combine, that would put both hospitals in a better competitive position and allow even more resources to go toward providing a greater level of specialized care for Jefferson Parish Residents.

The two hospitals could reduce administrative costs, have additional purchasing power to lower overhead, and share more resources.

Currently, the hospitals are only allowed by law to share some minor back office functions and are also geographically protected.

So, why don’t we change those laws?

Why not take steps to combine the two and allow the hospitals to continue to serve the community while also allowing them to grow? Why not try that FIRST before signing a 30-year lease and giving away the use of two of Jefferson Parish’s prime assets and healthcare delivery systems?
 

To Vote Or Not To Vote, That Is The Question

While it might be true that a competitor could advertise and potentially sabotage a vote, that isn’t the issue.

You see, the public should not vote on THE lease; it should be allowed to vote on A lease.

No member of the public that I’ve spoken with wants to vote and rate whether Ochsner’s deal is better than Children’s or HCA’s. But, they do think they should have the right to vote on whether EJ and WJMC are leased at all.

The officials proposing the changing of the state law to take the public out of the equation have framed the question improperly.  EJ and WJMC are OUR HOSPITALS, not theirs and the fact that Sheriff Normand and Ms. Cassagne, who combined had no prior medical administration experience before Sheriff Normand was added to the EJ Board and Cassagne was named WJMC CEO, just muddy the waters and lead to even more scrutiny by the public of their flawed decision making.

Sheriff Normand’s tenure on the EJ Board predates his time as Sheriff. Clearly, someone who has been the EJ Board for more than 15 years should claim some responsibility for EJ’s ills.

And, Ms. Cassagne’s overly generous salary and lack of hospital experience give her ZERO credibility to make a decision that would influence the future of healthcare in Jefferson Parish.

Anytime you remove the public from having a voice in major decisions affecting the community, it’s wrong and President Young knows this. Normand and Cassagne know it too, they just don’t care.

 The Immediacy Trap

I’ve lived in Jefferson Parish for over 12 years. When I moved to JP, every time it would rain, Clearview Parkway in Elmwood, and streets across Jefferson Parish would flood. It’s automatic. If you live in JP, you know what streets to avoid if it rains.

12 years later, Elmwood still floods and every time it does or another street in JP floods, an elected official always goes on the radio or television and says, “Well, we had 2 inches of rain the first hour and the pumps aren’t designed to handle that amount of high-intensity/short-duration rain.”

If I had a Nickel for every time I heard the words, “high-intensity/short-duration rain”, well…I wouldn’t be writing a blog now would I?

My point is that the wheels of government turn incredibly slow on some issues yet, with the hospital deals the public is fed the line “If we don’t do something NOW, the hospitals will fail.”

Now they’ve added the line that “If we don’t lease the hospitals, we’ll need another property tax to support them.”

First, neither hospital is in dire financial straits. Sure, they lost money last year – I would bet that almost every hospital in America lost money last year. EJ and WJMC aren’t anomalies, they are the norm.

In addition, since I’ve lived here, the hospitals have never required additional public support.

Second, if the hospitals did require a property tax (and that is certainly also open to debate since JP Government at all levels could be cut to offset any financial loss from the hospitals), so what? We already pay millages for recreation, law enforcement, water, sewerage, education and everything else under the sun.

In their talking points, officials claim that EJ “lost” about $11 Million last year while WJMC lost about $4 Million.

When it is ever completed, if it is ever completed, the JP Council has authorized a $1 Million per year subsidy for SMG to “manage” the Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Do you mean to say that, if pushed by the public, JP Government couldn’t find $10 Million in the budget somewhere to pay for healthcare? I would personally volunteer my time to help them find items for them to cut (of course, I’m sure they don’t want my opinion).

How much could the hospitals save if they merged, shared resources and reduced costs?

Why aren’t we (the public) given those numbers so we can make an educated decision about the future of healthcare in our parish? Why are the elected officials working so hard to go around us instead of educating us? Why is our right to vote and have a say in our future being taken away from us by Sheriff Normand and a handful of legislators in Baton Rouge?

I know what Normand, Cassagne and their paid consultants think – I want to know what the options are.

From what I’ve heard, you do too.

Now, who has a Nickel - it's starting to rain.    

Hospital Deal Bad For JP Residents

You know, it seems like every time Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand gets involved in something that isn’t law enforcement-related, he believes that he knows more than the people of Jefferson Parish.

Whether it was the contrived call for service statistics he manipulated in the days and weeks prior to the Fat City Rezoning Ordinance to his current machinations to get a 20-year-old law changed so he can decide, instead of letting you decide, whether East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH) and West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) should be allowed to be leased to a private company.

I can’t understand why Sheriff Normand continues to get involved in public policy. Why does he care about how far a building is set back in Fat City or, now, if the Parish’s two publicly owned hospitals are facing potential financial issues due to the impending Affordable Healthcare Act (aka ObamaCare)? What does either of those things have to do with fighting crime?

Of course, we could also ask what in the background of West Jeff’s CEO Nancy Cassagne qualifies her to make healthcare administrative decisions too. Before landing at West Jeff, Cassagne was the Chief Administrative Assistant to now incarcerated former Parish President Aaron Broussard and prior to that she was the Parish’s Finance Director. An accountant by trade, Cassagne had no hospital administrative experience prior to her being drafted to become CEO at WJMC.

Did I mention that Cassagne is the sister-in-law of disgraced former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson?

In addition to her lack of hospital administrative experience, Cassagne’s salary of $400k/year, is equally obscene.

In fact, Cassagne earns more than the Parish President AND the Sheriff combined, a point that I’m sure grates on Normand’s nerves, and his ego.

So, now we have the Sheriff (who also happens to be the Chairman of the EJGH Board) and the CEO of WJMC teaming up and pulling a Mike Yenni and seeking public support for their grand plan to lease (ie., giveaway) two of Jefferson Parish’s prime assets.

What Normand and Cassagne aren’t telling you is, just like Kenner Mayor Yenni who held public meetings AFTER he took several steps in his plan to pass a the largest debt program in Kenner’s history without a voter referendum, they really don’t care what you think. It’s a done deal.

House Bill 383, authored by Metairie State Rep. Joe Lopinto, which takes away your right to approve a lease of the hospitals, sailed through the House and is now waiting on the Senate.

In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Senators John Alario (West Bank) and Danny Martiny (East Bank). Martiny is a long-time ally of Normand.

I don’t think it will have a problem being approved by the Senate.

Our esteemed elected officials in Jefferson Parish all contend that, if there was a public vote, it would be tainted by outside interests that might want in on the deal.

The reality is, they don’t want you to vote on it because they realize that a public vote wouldn’t be in their favor. If you can’t win, change the rules, right Sheriff Normand?

Now, some of you may be saying to yourselves, “Governor Jindal is privatizing LSU’s hospitals. Isn’t this the same thing?”

While the concept is the same, the rest of the story is completely different.

The LSU Charity Hospital System relies on Medicare and Medicaid payments. Their percentage of private insured patients is in the single digits.

EJGH and WJMC also have a large amount of Medicare and Medicaid patients, but the number is between 60-70%. Medicare and Medicaid admittedly pay less than private insurance but, they still pay. It’s not like either hospital is sending out collection agents for Uncle Sam.

For the privatization of LSU’s Charity Hospital System, Governor Jindal and his staff estimated that it would cost the state (you) $626 Million in severance, vacation and other personnel costs, and vendor contracts. That’s $626 Million to privatize 8 of the 10 hospitals in the system.

Before a legislative committee, the Governor’s staff said they kind of underestimated the cost a little. It seems that the cost for privatizing just 3 of the 8 proposed hospitals will cost taxpayers $589 Million or 94% of what was budgeted.

How much will it cost Jefferson Parish taxpayers to privatize our two hospitals? Normand and Cassagne won’t tell you that but they will tell you that EJGH “lost” $11 Million last year and WJMC "lost" about $4 Million.

Realistically, those losses are a drop in the bucket. WJMC alone has a $16-18 Million capital projects budget and, of course, if the hospital is facing financial difficulty, Cassagne could cut her own pay - although we all know that will never happen.

So, what do JP taxpayers get for handing over these two valuable assets?

We’ll get lease payments that are supposed to be dedicated to healthcare.

Healthcare? Why dedicate the funds to healthcare if the Parish doesn’t control the operations of the hospitals? What will it spend the lease payments on and how long do you think it will take Jefferson Parish politicians to get their hands on that slush fund?

Of course, since another company will be leasing the facilities, we taxpayers will still own the equipment, the beds and the plastic bed pans.

The reality is, the lease payments will probably be spent on the same personnel costs that are driving the cost of the state’s privatization plan through the roof.

Louisiana Children’s Medical Center is rumored to be the main contender to lease both EJGH and WJMC. Children’s is also in the process of taking over the LSU Interim Public Hospital in New Orleans, along with its associated clinics and will take over the new Mid-City hospital when it is completed.

Wouldn’t it be prudent for Jefferson Parish officials to monitor the state’s attempt at privatization before diving in head first and signing a 30-year lease and giving away two primary healthcare facilities?

Of course, it might also be prudent for the Sheriff of the state’s 2^nd most populous parish to spend 100% of his time focused on law enforcement but then, I also believe in term-limits (another thing Sherff Normand and I obviously disagree on).  

But how can another company come in and operate EJGH and WJMC at such a high level that they can turn around the losses, deal with the impending ObamaCare rules, and still make significant annual lease payments?

Are their hospital administrators and board members smarter or more experienced than ours?

I’ll leave that up to you to answer.

I think you already know what I think.

Of course, it really doesn’t matter to Sheriff Normand what we think – we’re just taxpayers.

Disappointment From Baton Rouge; Gov. Jindal "Influencing" Virginia; and The Dalai Lama - Only In Louisiana

This morning, I was a guest on "The Ken & Bernie Show" with Ken Romero and Bernadette Lee on KPEL 96.5fm in Acadiana. We talked about my disappointment in the State Legislative Session; Governor Jindal's visit to Virginia; and The Dalai Lama trying his hand at second-lining. Only in Louisiana. If you missed it, and shame on you, you can hear the interview here.

Someone Give Him A Cookie: Mayor Yenni Reduces Auto Allowances For Political Appointees

The most interesting thing about Monday’s City of Kenner budget hearings was Mayor Mike Yenni’s proposal to reduce the overly-generous auto allowances he gives to his political appointees and move that money to pay for a program to recycle.

It was just last year that Yenni was challenged by the City Council to put up an ordinance to end years of illegal auto and cell phone payments.

After the omnipotent City Attorney claimed they were “reimbursements” and didn’t need Council approval,  the Yenni Administration reversed course, called them undocumented allowances and then talked the City Council into calling them what they really were, extra compensation.

Several Council members publicly gushed about how hard the Directors in Kenner worked and how they were always on call, in a vain attempt to justify to the public the $400 per month auto allowances and $150 per month cell phone payments.

If you are reading this and you have a $150 a month cell phone plan, please call me. I have some slightly used toll booths from the Crescent City Connection to sell you.

Now, after fighting vigorously and defending the needs of his political appointees, Mayor Yenni has now deemed the high auto allowances are really not as necessary as he claimed just one year ago.

How will the highly paid City of Kenner Directors make it financially without receiving all of their little monthly bonuses? Will they need to file for Bankruptcy as at least one City Department Head has or will they need to moonlight like our previously mentioned omnipotent City Attorney?

Now, before the good folks at 1801 Williams Blvd. jump up and down and claim that I’m bashing Mayor Yenni let me state for the record that I’m a fan of recycling. Always have been. I applaud Mayor Yenni for expanding the recycling program.

But, what I’m not a fan of is the way Mayor Yenni does things.

First, the auto and cell phone allowances (now deemed compensation) should never have been given. Forgive me if I believe that, if you earn $60,000  - 100,000 per year or more, you should be able to afford $5 a month in gas to drive to and from work. Kenner is 11 square miles. We’re not talking about commuting to Baton Rouge daily.

Second, since they are compensation, and these same Political Appointees also received a 3% raise last year, these allowances just compounded that raise.

Third, again, since they are compensation, why weren’t they added to the recipient’s salary on the budget? Could it be that Mayor Yenni doesn’t really want you to know that the Finance Director earns over $101,000 per year PLUS an additional $4,800 as an auto allowance AND $1,800 as a cell phone allowance? While it doesn’t look good that the Finance Director for a city the size of Kenner earns $101,000+, it looks a whole lot worse if it showed that the Finance Director earned $107,949 plus benefits.

And what about our omnipotent, moon-lighting City Attorney? He earns $88,326 according to the budget. Of course, adding in the $4,800 auto allowance and $1,800 cell phone allowance bumps that up to $94,926 a year. Sounds like a full-time job to me. He must have boundless energy to take on personal injury cases and rustle up business for his other employer, Mayor Yenni’s friend and political contributor.

Is it any wonder that they can’t afford a tank of gas to drive from their house to their offices on Williams Blvd. on the paltry wages that the City of Kenner pays?

There’s also the question of whether it is even legal for Mayor Yenni to reduce the auto allowances. I’m sure though that Yenni wouldn’t make a move without consulting the omnipotent City Attorney. However, since the allowances were spelled out by a council ordinance, it would seem logical that they could only be reduced by a council ordinance, right?

But, let’s get back to recycling.

In December of 2011, Mayor Yenni unilaterally extended the city’s contract with Ramelli for garbage pickup for another five years. The Mayor didn’t put the contract out for bid, didn’t seek input from the council or the public, he just did it.

Not only did he extend the contract without council input, he didn’t even bother to tell the council until he was asked about it 6 months later when the contract was due to expire.

Had Mayor Yenni been a little proactive and put some thought into the contract renewal and the negotiations, perhaps he could have had Ramelli include recycling in their bid. After all, the more recycling that is done, the less Ramelli will need to pick up from people’s homes, right? That should reduce Ramelli’s costs and allow them to provide the recycling service for free or a significantly reduced cost.

According to Councilman Joe Stagni, the City of Slidell receives garbage pickup and recycling for a lower rate than the City of Kenner. Slidell’s lower rate and better service might be because they put their contract out for bid and sought competition.  

In an article on Nola.com, Mayor Yenni said, “It’s an additional service, and we’re not going to the taxpayers and asking them to pay for it.”

So, I guess that means that, since Ramelli will be picking up a lot less garbage due to recycling, our trash bills in Kenner will be reduced accordingly.

I’m sure that’s wishful thinking on my part. Of course, I’m still waiting for my new Ramelli trash can that was promised to all Kenner residents when Ramelli signed the original contract 6 years ago.

Until that day comes, my trusty old Waste Management trash bin, in use since before I heard the words "Hurricane Katrina",  will have to do.

Of course, when your friend is the Mayor, it doesn't matter what contracts say or what you promised to get that contract. As long as you're a FOM (Friend of Mike), you're set in YenniVille.

And, only in YenniVille can you claim that something is so vital to employee retention and morale one day and then reduce it later without a council ordinance because you want to use the money for something else.

But I guess when you’re the Mayor of YenniVille, you can make stuff up as you go along and hope that nobody notices. Or that the Council doesn’t put it up for a voter referendum.

Can’t have the Mayor of YenniVille continue coming out on the losing end of voter referendums, now can we?

Knucklehead Thugs In NOLA; Confusion on the State Budget and More

Yesterday, I was a guest on "The Ken & Bernie Show" with Ken Romero and Bernadette Lee on KPEL 96.5fm in Lafayette. We spoke about the New Orleans Mother's Day shooting, the state budget compromise and the legislature. If you missed it, or if you're a masochist and want to listen to it again, here's a link.

2nd Republican Enters Race For Landrieu’s Seat

Another Republican contender has announced that he is seeking the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Mary Landrieu.

Rob Maness, a Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, has thrown his hat in the ring against Landrieu, who is seeking re-election, and the already announced Congressman Bill Cassidy (R-Baton Rouge).

Maness is a Constitutional Conservative and was an Operations Officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon during 9/11. For his military service, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Air Medal.

Maness is stressing several issues which he feels differentiate himself from Cassidy and Landrieu including:

-          Protecting and Defending Individual Liberty and Constitutional Rights

-          Protecting 2^nd Amendment Rights

-          Immigration Reform and Border Security

-          Energy Independence

-          Education Reform and eliminating Common Core standards

-          Repealing the Obama/Landrieu Government Healthcare Takeover

Maness and his wife Candy are residents of Madisonville.

To find out more about Rob Maness, please visit http://www.robmaness.com

Kenner Fire Chief Hellmers Loses Appeal; Must Repay City

Last May, I wrote about Kenner Fire Chief John Hellmers receiving Supplemental Educational Compensation from the City of Kenner while not possessing the required certifications.

The City of Kenner undertook an Internal Investigation and agreed that Hellmers was improperly receiving extra money that he wasn’t entitled to.

On September 26^th, Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni sent Hellmers a letter stating that he needed to repay the City $2,950 and that Hellmers was suspended for 3 days without pay.

Hellmers’ appealed the decision to the Civil Service Board claiming that the investigation into this transgression took longer than 60-days, thus voiding any punishment.

The Civil Service Board dropped the suspension but reiterated the City’s claim on repayment.

Rather than pay the restitution gracefully, Hellmers, who earns over $102,000 in base salary alone, decided to appeal to the 24^th JDC.

24^th JDC Division A Judge Ray Steib agreed with the Civil Service Board and told Hellmers to pay up.

Judge Steib also dismissed Hellmers’ claim to dismiss the proceedings entirely due to his claim of negligence on Mayor Yenni’s part for not imposing punishment within the 60-day window.

Unfortunately for Kenner residents, the Attorney representing the City didn’t seek repayment of his costs from Hellmers, leaving taxpayers on the dole for thousands more in legal fees from Hellmers’ appeals.

So, not only did the Kenner Fire Chief get an interest-free loan from taxpayers that he didn’t deserve, we’re also on the hook for more money in legal fees.

Only in YenniVille.