Aren't we happy that Jindal the flip-flopper isn't our governor? YEP!

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Governor's politics costing us money
By Mike Hasten, August 31, 2014

Many of us are not surprised and really have no problem with Gov. Bobby Jindal taking a political stand on a controversial subject such as Common Core.

He loved it, and now he hates it.

Back when he loved it, it was a popular thing to do because he saw it as the next best thing for education. Louisiana students were going to climb to new heights and show the rest of the country that they are as smart as anybody's kids.

Now that he hates it, it's a conspiracy by the federal government to take over our schools.

That stand plays well with some groups, especially those who forked out $18 to $24 per ticket to hear Glenn Beck and other anti-Common Core folks go on about it for two hours at movie theaters across the country.

But now the governor's politics are costing us Louisiana taxpayers big bucks. He's taken it to federal court suing President Barack Obama charging that his education department forced states to sign up to use Common Core when they took money dangled on a string known as No Child Left Behind.

The problem with that argument is that everything was voluntary and the federal government did not develop Common Core. States did it. No state was forced to take the money. No state was forced to adopt Common Core. Governors had to apply and sign paperwork making those commitments.

Whose signature is on those papers? Bobby Jindal's.

In the governor's fight with the state Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education over using a test to measure the success of Common Core is an issue of a no-bid, single source contract with a contractor to supply test questions and security.

The Jindal administration argues that such a contract is bad.

Yet when choosing an attorney to represent the governor in his legal battles, the administration signed the same kind of no-bid contract with the governor's former executive counsel, Jimmy Faircloth.

A review of state agency contracts by the Associated Press in April 2013 showed the Faircloth Law Group was paid at least $1.1 million in 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 for handling about two dozen cases across state government.

All were no-bid contracts, meaning no other law firms were considered.

Faircloth was hired by Jindal to be his executive counsel when he took office in January 2008. He and his law firm donated $25,000 to Jindal's gubernatorial campaigns, according to Board of Ethics records.

The same board fined Faircloth $1,000 in 2011 for taking a job representing the Louisiana Tax Commission six months after leaving the governor's office. He was required to wait a year. He canceled the contract when questions were raised, but the board still assessed the fine and then suspended it on the condition he violated no other laws.

Faircloth's most prominent cases involved defending the statewide voucher program and altering teacher tenure and pay policies. Both went to the Louisiana Supreme Court and were ruled unconstitutional.

Jindal and the Legislature worked out ways to implement both laws that avoided the constitutional issues.

Faircloth also was hired to handle the LSU Board of Supervisors' closed-door presidential search, public records challenges, a transportation project, civil service disputes and cases involving the state self-insurance office.

He and other attorneys who have been hired by the governor's office to defend his stance on Common Core in state and federal courts stand to pocket as much as $275,000.

Faircloth's share is up to $75,000 for the state court proceedings and as much as $50,000 for the federal court case.

The Division of Administration, Office of Contractual Review and state officials who supervise those departments have hired Baton Rouge lawyer Greg Murphy and the Long Law Firm to defend them in a lawsuit filed by parents teachers and a charter school group over their decision to block purchasing a year-end test. Each firm could make as much as $75,000, but it could be cheaper if the case is settled. If it drags on all the way to the Supreme Court, that could mean even more money.
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