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Louisiana has found itself with more money than expected. Lawmakers are eyeing a $2 billion budget surplus to spend this session. Plus, the $29 billion 2008 state budget has more than one billion in new recurring revenues. (Though beware: The boom will end.) But the decision before us now is: How do we spend the money?

First, understand that government can never get enough money and can always spend whatever it gets. Did you realize in 1972 the total state budget was $1.6 billion? (Almost the same amount as the ThyssenKrupp incentive package.) Using an inflation calculator, that amount would be $7.7 billion today. Our state budget is $29.2 billion, three-and-a-half times that amount ($9 billion is federal hurricane funds.) And what do we have to show for that excess growth? Did government spend it wisely? No.

Politicians love playing Santa with our money. But since they have too much, why not give some of it back to you, the taxpayers?

They can start with the Stelly Plan. As I told former Rep. Vic Stelly when he sat in my office, if they passed the first phase, raising income taxes and lowering sales taxes, they would never follow through with other steps to reform our tax policies. Stelly believed they would, though he was not running for re-election and would not be around to hold anyone accountable. He was fooled, and we all got burned.

Stelly also said the plan was revenue-neutral to the state, but the state got millions more the first year under the Stelly Plan. Bottom line is: Vic, I told you so.

Now that the state has billions in surplus, the Legislature should undo the damage. You didn’t keep your promise on tax reform. Roll-back individual income tax brackets. Give the taxpayers back their deductions for home mortgage interest and charitable contributions. It’s the right thing to do.

After that’s taken care of, then we should look at priorities. We know that many in the public rank education high—but there has to be accountability. I don’t like across-the-board raises because bad teachers get the same raise as the great ones. That’s neither fair nor motivating. And more money into that same old system—without competition or the ability to fire bad teachers—will yield few results.

In The Economist, Jay Greene of the University of Arkansas said that spending per pupil in America has doubled in the past three decades, while student achievement measures such as high school graduation rates are roughly flat. (I know I am fighting a losing battle here because the politicians fear the unions, and it’s easier for them just to go along. The status quo rules, but money alone won’t change the results, and we fail to admit that.)

As for the universities and community colleges, they are an investment in our economic future—especially LSU, our state’s flagship, and the Pennington Center. To attract and grow jobs in the future, we must have a skilled work force.

And who can argue with better roads in our state? We are way behind and losing ground (a $14 billion backlog to be exact). This is a safety and economic development issue—and many of us could also argue, with regards to traffic, it is a quality-of-life issue as well. The governor is talking one-time money, but that is merely a Band-Aid. We need recurring money to make progress.

At this point, I calculate the increased recurring revenue is gone. There are still billions to be spent of the surplus, which should go to nonrecurring items so the next governor and Legislature are not burdened with them (like anyone cares about that). I am sure the governor and Legislature will get real political with the surplus dollars. Remember, we still live in Louisiana, and Ol’ Huey proved there are lots of pots to put chickens in.

What’s Cleo up to?

If he wants to be governor, Sen. Cleo Fields should run again. But his repeated attempts at trying to grab power and call the shots, as one senator among 39, are getting old.

His recent effort to abolish the Louisiana Recovery Authority is another of his “Jesse Jackson-style” media ploys to tap into public anger over the Road Home program and play to his constituents. And trust me, he’s always got an angle. Let me share a few angles on his attempt to abolish the LRA:

-- It’s about health care. While he’s using the Road Home as the club, Fields and his partners, Sens. Don Hines and Joe McPherson, don’t want the LRA messing with health care dollars and the Charity Hospital system. They like the status quo—and the big money that goes with it.

-- It’s about his future in politics. Why is a Baton Rouge senator working so hard for Road Home money and concerned with the Charity Hospital in New Orleans? Because the voters there make up the majority of the Public Service Commission district Fields lost—and I predict runs for again. (His new mansion being constructed is not in his Senate district but it is in the same PSC district.)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that there is more than meets the eye when Fields is involved. So why did he make the LRA the “whipping boy” for the Road Home fiasco? Fields knew the Division of Administration and Office of Community Development wrote the contract and made the selection of ICF International to administer the program.

He also is familiar with the distinguished co-chairs of the LRA, Dr. Norman Francis and Walter Isaacson. And he knew it would cause great concern for Donald Powell and others in Washington to suddenly eliminate this oversight group and put the Legislature in charge. This would be their greatest fear in Washington—and mine, too. Don’t you agree?

Fields, in another recent grab for power, got beat 2-to-1 by his Senate colleagues when he tried to remove authority from the Ethics Board and allow the Legislature to police ethical conduct of its members. As Sen. Art Lentini pointed out, it is important to have an independent body overseeing conduct of legislators. Lentini said, “If you rely on other senators to file charges, that’s not going to happen.” How true. But then again, that’s exactly what Fields may have been counting on.

Sadly, three other local senators voted with Fields: Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, Sen. Rob Marionneaux and Sen. Clo Fontenot. (This doesn’t reflect well on our Baton Rouge delegation. Only Sen. Cassidy voted no.)

Fields held a hearing last week after the LRA bill had already been approved by his committee. I guess he didn’t get enough press the first time, since none of the LRA big wigs showed up. This time he paraded them through and, along with Sen. Derrick Sheppard, got his pound of flesh—and headlines for New Orleans voters.

Afterward, Fields said he would pull the bill from the calendar, letting it die. The word I heard was that it wasn’t going to make it out of the Senate. No matter, he already got his headlines.

What’s his agenda? He won’t run for governor. I predict Sen. Fields will

violate term limits in the constitution (despite the bill passed by Rep. Peppi Bruneau last year) by running for re-election. Someone should challenge his ability to qualify. Next, Fields will run for the PSC seat in New Orleans/Baton Rouge. You heard it here first.