Publisher: Citizens should speak out against excessive pay raise

The House of Representatives is set to debate Senate Bill 672 this morning, which triples their legislative salaries. Citizens must act fast and speak up.

Ask yourself these questions -- or better yet, ask your legislator:

-- Why should these part-time public servants make more money than a public school teacher?

-- Why should they be among the top eight states in legislative pay and still rank near the bottom in so many other categories?

--Why should they get an automatic increase every time Congress gets an increase?

--How can the house cut the budget (education and health care) on one day to tighten spending but then justify a raise?

No one is saying being a legislator is not a hard job or that it requires sacrifice. But every one of the legislators knew what the job and the pay were when they ran. Voting yourself a pay raise is a conflict of interest. And a 300% pay raise? Gov. Bobby Jindal calls it "over the top" and opposes the move. I agree. The Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council calls it "absurd." They're right too.

PAR says the bill would bring our legislators pay to $70,000, which is 198% of the average pay for part-time legislators across the nation -- and 102% of the average pay for full-time legislators (including per diems and expense accounts.)

Under SB 672, the compensation would be tied to congressional pay with automatic raises. That's not right. What employee gets an automatic raise?

PAR points out that legislative salaries have not been increased since 1980, so a reasonable raise is justified. The state's Compensation Review Commission recommended a 12% cost-of-living increase in 2006 to be established by that legislature and to be effective in 2008. The current bill provides 202% increase and would be effective with the current Legislature.

If they had proposed something reasonable after 28 years, folks might have listened -- but they didn't. Now they seem determined to ignore the public they serve and grab the money they feel they deserve. I believe they will suffer the consequences with the voters and reap what they sow. If the House members fail to do the right thing and either modify or kill this bill, I believe Gov. Jindal should reconsider vetoing the legislation.

Speak out right now and express your opinion. Stop what you are doing and e-mail your state representative by clicking here or call them now at (225) 342-6945 and ask to speak to your legislator. Take a stand and make a difference. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.--Rolfe McCollister

La. Politics by John Maginnis: Pay raise fallout

Intense media and public furor over the fast-moving legislative pay raise bill, set for House vote today, has some representatives rethinking their positions. A compromise is being floated to lower the new salary to about $38,000 from $50,700 in the current bill. Yet many representatives are standing fast on Sen. Ann Duplessis' bill that has enveloped the session in controversy. If the bill passes in its present form, Gov. Bobby Jindal has 10 days either to veto it or to let it become law without his signature. Those could be the longest, darkest 10 days of his term, for Jindal is bound to feel great pressure from his conservative base to honor the spirit of reform he brought into office rather than to keep his word with lawmakers. Legislators agree that Jindal's sudden involvement in this issue, following an unprecedented detachment from the legislative process, might be responsible for the political pickle in which he finds himself.

—Following an independent poll showing a tight contest, Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign has released its own survey showing her leading Republican challenger John Kennedy, 49% to 33%. The 600-sample poll by the Mellman Group was taken May 17-20. The results are little changed from a December poll by Mellman showing Landrieu ahead 48% to 35%. An automatic poll by Rasmussen Reports on May 27 had Landrieu leading only 47% to 44%. Both polls identified the candidates by party.

—A bill laying the groundwork for the future transfer of control of Armstrong International Airport from New Orleans to the state looks clear for final passage, but the ultimate goal is far from takeoff. The big-picture plan backed by New Orleans and Baton Rouge business leaders envisions the state issuing bonds to pay $500 million for the transfer, to be used for infrastructure projects to be controlled by another board still to be formed. Yet the first step, Speaker Jim Tucker's bill to set up the airport board, is getting pushback on the larger issue from city and state sources. Some local politicians say the airport is worth $2 billion to $4 billion, while legislators from outside New Orleans question why the state would pay even $500 million to take over an airport that makes little money.

John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly at Lapolitics.com.

La. foreclosure filings up 38% in May, but remain below national average

Statewide foreclosure filings increased 38% in May over the year before, as one in every 2,603 Louisiana households received at least one filing. But that's less than the 48% annual increase reported nationwide by RealtyTrac, which says one in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing. That's the highest rate recorded by RealtyTrac, a 3-year-old company that monitors foreclosure filings nationwide. Louisiana remained low on the list of the number of homes facing bank seizure: the state had the 39th-lowest foreclosure rate in the country. Nevada had the highest, with one out of every 118 houses. Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing, said foreclosures are unlikely to peak until sometime this fall, as more loans made to borrowers with poor credit records reset at higher levels.

Third PJ's in the works

A PJ's Coffee shop is planned for the Kenilworth Shopping Center in the space previously used by Tigre’s Fine Dining, company officials say. An opening date was not available. This will be the third PJ's in Baton Rouge, joining the Shaw Center location that’s been open for about three years and a Perkins Palms location that will open later this summer.

Healing Place recognized by 'Wall Street Journal'

Healing Place Church was featured in a Wall Street Journal article today about efforts by mega-churches to open new branches across the U.S. and overseas. Healing Place has eight U.S. branches along with its Highland Road location, and has opened campuses in Swaziland and Mozambique in the past year. The Rev. Dino Rizzo, pastor of Healing Place, records special video greetings to air in the satellite churches. Meanwhile, one Florida pastor, the Rev. Troy Gramling, whose Flamingo Road Church has a location in Peru, says he's trying to copy the success of Starbucks. Read the story here.

Report: Vacations do a body good

A study shows increasing evidence that vacations are necessary for good health. Researchers at Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises say women who took a vacation once every six years or less were almost eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a heart attack than those who took at least two vacations a year. “This is real evidence that vacations are important to your physical health,” Elaine Eaker, a co-author of the study told The New York Times. Read the story here.

Poll: Jindal should veto pay raise

An overwhelming number of Daily Report readers say Gov. Bobby Jindal should veto a proposed legislative pay raise. Eighty-four percent of the people who responded to an online survey say Jindal needs to stand up to legislators in the face of a raise that would boost salaries to $50,700 a year. Fourteen percent say Jindal should let the bill pass in order to get his legislative agenda through, while 2% were undecided. Nearly 2,050 people participated in the survey.

Today's question: How much of your annual vacation do you use in a calendar year?

News roundup: Study says Friday the 13th not that unlucky; local girl takes first place at international science fair; inflation jumps by biggest amount in six months

Unlucky for some? Dutch statisticians have established that Friday the 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday. A study published Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. Best of the bunch: Bonnie McLindon, a 16-year-old student at St. Joseph's Academy, won first place at the 2008 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta. She beat out more than 1,550 other high school students and garnered more than $8,500 in prizes (along with having a minor planet named in her honor). McLindon's project used mathematical equations to predict the size and severity of "dead" zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Two other St. Joseph's students, Lynne Chapman and Candice Schwartzenburg, finished fourth in the team category for their project on ozone pollution. Rising prices: Inflation shot up in May at the fastest pace in six months, pushed higher by soaring costs for gasoline and other types of energy. The Labor Department reported this morning that consumer prices rose by 0.6% last month, the biggest one-month increase since last November, as gasoline costs surged by 5.7%. Food prices, which have also been rising sharply, were up 0.3% as the cost of beef and bakery products showed big gains. Core inflation, however, which excludes energy and food, edged up a more moderate 0.2% in May. That increase was in line with expectations and should help relieve worries that the big increases in food and energy could be breaking through to more widespread inflation.