EARNING BIG BUCKS IN STATE GOVERNMENT!

Monday, January 27^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

EARNING BIG BUCKS IN STATE GOVERNMENT!

 

How do you put a dollar value on the worth of a public official? Attorneys working full time for the state are often paid more than $400,000 a year. So how do you justify such large increases? The governor has a whole slew of people making $200,000 or more. How about this idea? Shouldn’t receiving such large salaries be based on results?

 

LSU football coach Brian Kelly will pocket some ten million dollars this year, making him one of the highest-paid football coaches in the nation. But his enormous salary package is not based on results. It’s the old adage that you should get what you pay for, and with Kelly, the results so far have been underwhelming.

 

Some state officials say they have to work seven days a week. But a lot of people work that hard. Should time and work be the only criteria in paying public employees? Why not pay the Governor and other public officials based on a scale of how well they perform and what results they achieve?

 

It seems like someone is always giving the re-assurance that comes from the bogus public versus private sector comparisons. Fortune 500 CEOs make on average $10 million.  Some would argue that paying the Governor of Louisiana $130,000 a year to oversee a $30 billion enterprise is a real bargain! But what about results?

 

 I would surmise that most voters in Louisiana would think it’s a good idea to pay elected officials based on performance. But how do you do it? When you talk about results, it is certainly easier to define it in the private sector. Results are measured in the stock price of a publicly traded company or by profit in any other company. The more the company makes, the more its managers can earn.

 

But can you create an accountability and production index in government? I think you can. This would be a challenge for key economists at Louisiana universities. Develop a formula that would give a “performance index.” Sounds difficult, but why not give it a try?

 

I suggest starting with the “misery index” we’ve heard so much about. This so-called misery index, you may recall, is the sum of the Louisiana unemployment rate added to the state’s inflation rate. Go ahead and pay Gov. Jeff Landry and his brain trust the big bucks. The Governor should make $1 million a year. But this amount would be adjusted by the misery index. Right now, the index is a relatively low 8%, soLandry’s salary would be close to what he now makes: $130,000. Remember you divide the whole number, not the percentage. 

 

We should build into the formula increases in high school math performance, elementary student test results, reduction in the state’s troubling pollution levels, and maybe the number of new movies that are shot in Louisiana each year. Leave out the LSU national football ratings, but include the student athlete graduation rates.

 

Finally, I would factor in consumer confidence. Are the voters getting tangible results? Are they happy with the performance of their top public officials? If you own shares of stock, and have little confidence in your company investment, you simply sell the stock. The average Joe ought to be able to put in his two cents worth as to the value he’s getting out of Louisiana government. Get his opinion through a statewide poll, and factor the results in to the performance Index.

 

So to public officials working in Louisiana, I say make your case and ask for the salary level you think you are worth. But just like in the private sector, be prepared to defend the bottom line. The proof of course is in the pudding. Be accountable for the results that take place. And if you succeed, reap the benefits.

 

In ancient Rome, there was a tradition when major projects were built. Whenever a Roman engineer constructed an arch, as the capstone was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed accountability for his work in the most profound way possible. He stood under the arch.

 

Pay these pied pipers of change and economic growth the big bucks they say they are worth. But keep them directly under the arch of performance. And let voters know there will be a day of reckoning if this promise of change and results plummet to the ground.

 

Peace and Justice

 

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

 

READING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES!

READING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES!

Our new president has just taken Office, and one of his priorities is to seek out the possibility of buying Greenland.  It’s closest neighbor is Iceland,  so maybe Trump can get a lagniappe deal for both countries.  And both countries have something in common that you set an example for the United States.  There is 100% literacy and some 10% of the population have actually written books.  With such frigid weather, most Greenlanders and Icelanders opt to read regularly all year long.  If you’re a book publisher like me, and want to sell a lot of books, that's great news and a fitting example for our country.  And particularly with this wave of cold weather we here in the Bayou State are experiencing now, if you are stuck inside, what better way to pass time by reading a book. 

 I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t carrying around something to read.  The luck of the draw gave me parents who surrounded my siblings and me with books, storytelling, poems, and lengthy letters when we were away from home.  I was immersed in words, and books gave me a special outlet to deal with aspirations, doubts, and a wide range of emotions. I had notes and rhymes taped to my class notepads. Early on it was Dr. Seuss:

The more that you read

the more things you will know

the more that you learn

the more places you will go.

 As I grew older, I would shudder at the thought of waiting somewhere and not having something to read. Today, I would not even consider making an appointment for medical treatment, renew a driver’s license, arrive at an airport, even wait for a table at a restaurant without a book or newspaper in my hip pocket. Maybe that’s why I love baseball so much.  There is a lot of down time between innings and even between batters when I can sneak in a page or two. I get itchy if I’m waiting anywhere for more than three or four minutes. Why didn’t I bring along something to read?

A few years back, Baton Rouge had a very minor league baseball team, the River Bats that played at Goldsby Field, a small baseball arena close to the present Louisiana governor’s mansion.  I had season tickets on the first-row right behind home plate, and the average attendance was generally around seventy-five to a hundred fans.  Supplied with a large box of popcorn, a cold beer, and an arm full of newspapers I had saved up, I relished several hours of reading and light entertainment.

I’ve had front row LSU basketball season tickets for over forty five years. The local paper printed a picture of me reading a novel during one such game, and shortly after I received a call from LSU Coach Dale Brown.  He’s an old friend, but he implored me to be more diplomatic in pulling out reading material while the game is going on.

Am I judgmental? Absolutely.  Maybe I don’t judge a book by its cover, but I never hesitate to judge a person by what current book if any, they are reading. A bibliophile snob?  I certainly am.  But please don’t tell that to any of my numerous non-reading friends. I try to be diplomatic, and would rather not, well, make them angry.

I rarely discard any of my book collection, much to my wife’s chagrin. Oh, I’ll give a book to a friend if they ask me for a recommendation for something to read.  I intentionally keep a few extra copies of a favored novel just for that purpose.

Books offer both a barrier and a response to calamity in our lives.  So with freezing weather keeping most of us in doors, why not curl up with a good book, and keep a diary.  Who knows?  You might end up on the book best seller lists.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

A BAD WEEK FOR AMERICA!

Monday, January 13th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A BAD WEEK FOR AMERICA!

 

A number of current and former public officials took it on the chin this past week. Much of the criticism was justified, but there was overkill in several of the high profile cases. We witnessed continuing political ineptness from coast to coast, as well as an insurance calamity that happened 1000 miles away from Louisiana, but still will have a direct bearing on what policyholders here pay.

First to take place was the trauma in New Orleans. A U.S. Army veteran, who had been radicalized by his views of Islam, zeroed in on New Year’s Eve crowds on Bourbon Street killing 15 revelers at 3:15 in the morning. Could this terrorist attack have been prevented? Many, including this writer, believe so. Few cities in America have a concentration of revelers in one area that draws millions of In a month’s time, a Sugar Bowl, the Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras. If there was ever an area that should been protected with drones, extensive surveillance cameras monitoring 24 hours a day, and street barriers that were supposed to be installed and working in the French Quarter streets, New Orleans was the place.  Yet the city and no detailed plan dealing with known threats.  There were a few temporary barriers that easily could have been (and were) driven around. City officials from the Mayor on down really dropped the ball.

Next came the devastating California fires. When early warnings of possible major wildfires might spread to Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass took immediate action. She flew to Ghana to attend the inauguration of the new president there. She also had slashed $23 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget just a few months earlier. A petition to recall her for her gross management has already garnered 56,000 signatures. She will spend the next year dealing with investigations and lawsuits over her poor performance operating the city.

The Governor and the California legislature did no better. One hundred fifty million dollars was recently cut from the California wildfire prevention budget. Numerous wildfire prevention proposals made by firefighting experts were ignored.  Several major reservoirs needed repairs and had been left empty.  It would seem that New Orleans and Los Angeles has a lot in common when it comes to ineptitude.

The insurance claims due to the California destroyed houses will reach well over $100 billion. This will not be just a problem for California property owners. An insurance company needs to “spread the risk,” wherever they are operating. Therefore, what happens in California will directly affect the cost of insurance in the Bayou state. So will the massive flooding that took place in North Carolina. It doesn’t seem fair, but that’s the way insurance works. We will not see any property insurance premium reduction here in Louisiana, at least for the immediate future.  Perhaps even more increases.

And how about New York’s former US attorney and mayor Rudy Giuliani? It wasn’t that long ago where he was referred to by just about everyone as “America’s Mayor.” As a lawyer for President Trump, he verbally attacked two Georgia elections workers, charging that they were complacent in Georgia election voter fraud.  But then the jury ordered Giuliani to pay these two workers $148 million for defaming them. Maybe Giuliani should pay something, but this seems like a ridiculous amount of money. I wonder how many of you readers would let the former mayor make false accusations against you if you could receive $148 million return?  I would.

And finally, there is the criminal case in New York City of President Donald Trump. I’ve written several articles saying how the charges were bogus and never should have been brought. As a lawyer, I see perhaps some misdemeanor under New York law at best. The verdict will certainly be overturned on appeal. But he was convicted as a felon on 34 accounts.  The judge sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge.” What that means is he was sentenced to nothing at all.  So the system sticks it to Rudy Giuliani, but let’s Trump just smile at how he was treated. Lady Justice covered up her eyes. There is certainly no equal justice in the American court system today.

One week of  ineptitude  and questionable decisions throughout America. Coast to coast. Here’s hoping we can put recent days behind us and pray for better weeks to come.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.

 

 

 

REMEMBERING MY DEAR OLD DAD!

Monday, January 6^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

 

REMEMBERING MY DEAR OLD DAD!

 

In this week’s column, can I divert from my usual agenda of politics and current events?  If he were still living, my Father would have reached the rip age of 110 this week.

 

In his work The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud describes the death of a father, as “the most important event, the most potent loss, of a man’s life.”  This is true in my case.  What I have discovered is that the older I get, the better I understand my Father, because I find more and more of him in me.

 

My Father was kind and gentle, and rarely raised his voice to me. One of the things I remember most was his sound advice and his continuing presence.  Even though he traveled a good deal as a vice president for the Kansas City Southern Railroad, he rarely missed any of my hundreds of ball games and track meets. In the spring of 1962, I was contending to be the hurdles champion at the Atlantic Coast Conference track meet in Raleigh, North Carolina. As the race was about to begin, I happened to look up into the stands. There was my Dad standing up and ready to watch me run. He had traveled two days by train and over 1000 miles unannounced to cheer me on.

 

During my numerous statewide campaigns for public office, no one campaigned harder for me than my Dad.  He would travel and speak to numerous civic clubs all over North Louisiana, wearing a vest that said: “I’m Jim Brown’s Father.”  Few patriarchs could ever have been more committed and more loving.

 

I could never fulfill his decency, and his family commitment. I’ve tried, but my Father set the bar so high. Oscar Wilde wrote that “I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china.”  He was embracing a view that it was so often difficult to meet the high standard that was is expected of him.  I too have spent much of my grown-up life trying to live up to my Father’s blue china.

 

I’m not one to express my emotions publicly. I don’t cry often. When my brother called to tell me that my Dad died, our family was immediately immersed in the details of comforting my mother and making funeral arrangements. Late in the evening, the reality of his loss came true to me. My Father had died. I said it out loud repeatedly as my wife Gladys tried to comfort me. All the emotion of losing him, someone who had been such an important part of my life, came forth. My Dad had died. I lay there in bed, 

and I cried, and I cried.

 

I still remember a pub song I used to sing while attended Cambridge University in England some 60 years ago.

 

I don’t know where I’m going,

But when I get there, I’ll be glad.

 I’m following in father’s footsteps.

I’m following my dear old Dad.

 

My Father was a deeply religious man. His mother saw to it. She too was quite devout, and attended church services twice a day on Sunday and often on Wednesday evening. Sweetie Pearl (I love her name) was a member of the Eastern Star, a group with strong Christian overtones that also does volunteer work in their community.  Dad was a Third Degree Mason, a group the follows the same attributes as the Eastern Star organization.

 

Dad was also a regular churchgoer, and served as a deacon. He attended church services several times a week, but more than that, he would often watch services on television. He sent checks to televangelists, particularly the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart.  I thought he should concentrate his giving at the church he regularly attended. But I could not say much about Brother Swaggart, since he was from my hometown of Ferriday, and one of my first legal clients.

  

I’ve always been a fan of singer Dan Fogelberg. My favorite of his songs is titled “Leader of the Band.”  I thank you for your kindness and the times when you got tough, and Papa, I don’t think I said I love you near enough. So well said. Thank you Dad. Happy birthday. I sure miss you.

 

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.