Noting that Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards’ 53-member education transition panel has reportedly met at least four times behind closed doors already, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister asks in his new column what the big secret is.
“This is not the way to begin a new era,” writes McCollister, who also wonders why local media outlets have not raised an issue with the closed door meetings. “What I haven’t seen yet is an editorial from The Advocate or The Times-Picayune objecting to the discussion of ‘public’ education in private. Why not? I thought transparency was their big issue.”
McCollister notes it was Edwards who proclaimed at a Public Affairs Research Council forum in April that his administration would be more transparent than previous administrations, saying “a scope of secrecy” has been allowed to exist.
“But what does conducting all of the discussions of the transition committees behind closed doors in secret do for the citizens?” McCollister wonders.
McCollister put the question to Edwards and got a response from his spokesman, Richard Carbo, who said: “The transition committees are made up of diverse groups of individuals sharing, sometimes, personal thoughts on a particular issue. We’ve released the names of every individual serving on the committees and made them available to the members of the media who would like updates.”
“Is that good enough for you—just to know who is serving on the committees?” McCollister asks. “Some of the names are what concern people—and they want to know what is being said and proposed to the governor-elect.”
Carbo also sent McCollister documents detailing the goals and objectives of each of the eight transition committees.
“Discussions behind closed doors have touched on issues like review the personal and corporate income tax rates, and overall tax structure; review the annual $7 billion in tax credits, incentives, deductions, exclusions and rebates; review the economic development incentives to prioritize growing and diversifying the economy; providing fair and equitable accountability measures in education; protecting local control of schools; promoting higher standards for education for Louisiana students; supporting high-quality and legally funded school choice options; and adopting new strategies to reduce the number of inmates in Louisiana prisons. There were also goals for higher education, family and children’s services, transportation and health care,” McCollister writes. “Do any of these topics interest or affect you? All of these issues are serious and worthy of evaluation and discussion—but who gets to hear the discussion and the conclusions, which could become recommendations and eventually bills in the Legislature? What’s coming? We don’t know.”
In his new column, McCollister also touches on David Guillory, former head of the Department of Public Works, emerging as a potential mayoral candidate in the coming year.
“He is a nice guy. He now works for Compliance EnviroSystems, headed by Brad Dutruch,” McCollister writes of Guillory. “Now it appears that Dutruch … may be involved in Guillory’s bid for mayor-president. This is a little bit of déjà vu. It was in the 2000 mayor’s race that Ken Dutruch, Brad’s father, who was then doing engineering work for the city of Baker, led the fundraising effort for Baker Mayor Bobby Simpson.”
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