Editor: Laughter no medicine for what ails Louisiana’s budget process

Around the same time that Gov. Bobby Jindal was wowing our nation’s capital with his incredibly funny one-liners at the annual Gridiron Club dinner, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball in his latest column, his commissioner of administration, Kristy Nichols, was tossing out some one-liners of her own here at home. “Nichols was cracking wise on state Treasurer John Kennedy, the so-called fiscal hawks in the Legislature and others who think Jindal is to blame for the budget shenanigans that have happened in each of the past five years,” Ball writes. “In the world according to Kristy, it’s factually wrong to blame the Jindal administration for the shortfalls that have prompted midyear budget cuts to higher education, health care and other state services. Moreover, it’s intellectually dishonest to suggest there’s anything wrong with using one-time money to cover recurring expenses (Let’s forget that Jindal said this was a problem while campaigning against Kathleen Blanco).” All this leaves Ball to wonder just who is responsible for the annual budget shortfalls, the massive cuts, the salary freezes, the selling of state-owned real estate to generate much-needed cash, and all the other draconian actions taken to keep the state’s budget in balance. “All barrels, according to Kristy Nichols, should be aimed directly—and solely—at the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference,” he writes. Find out why Nichols thinks the REC is responsible—and why Ball isn’t exactly convinced by her line of reasoning—in his full column here. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.