FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 30th, 2009 CONTACT: Aaron Baer 225-389-4495
In Case You Missed It...
Governor Jindal: Our #1 Mission Is Jobs
Baton Rouge Business Report By Governor Bobby Jindal December 29, 2009
"When I took office, I said we would work together to create a New Louisiana – a place where our children can get a great education, pursue rewarding careers and raise their kids right here at home. Instead of Louisiana losing its young people to Texas and Georgia each year, we would become the state where not only our own businesses expand and create jobs, but others come here seeking opportunities as well. Over the last two years we have made tremendous progress on that critical top mission of fostering greater economic growth to create jobs.
Continuing the trend we began in 2008, Louisiana’s economy once again outperformed the South and the nation in 2009. Louisiana’s unemployment rate has remained well below the Southern and the national rates since the beginning of the national recession. In November, Louisiana’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent – the second lowest in the South and the ninth lowest in the nation.
Additionally, recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Louisiana experienced its third consecutive year of more people moving into the state than moving out. This follows more than two decades of outmigration…
Louisiana continues attracting new business investments and expanding existing companies even in this challenging national economy…
Since taking office, we have secured economic development wins that will create more than 34,500 direct and indirect jobs, retain more than 15,500 jobs, generate at least $4.6 billion in new investment, and result in billions of dollars in new sales for small businesses…
The bottom line is that our aggressive focus on improving our economic climate by keeping taxes low, reducing spending and reforming our workforce development system is working to expand businesses and create jobs. The nation is now taking notice. Louisiana is moving up in national rankings, more people are moving into our state, and most importantly, we are creating jobs. As we continue our work in 2010, our focus will not waver from our number one mission of protecting and promoting our economy so every Louisianian can pursue their dreams right here at home."
Gov. Bobby Jindal will reject the Civil Service Commission's plan to revamp the way pay raises are doled out to thousands of state government workers because it doesn't give agency chiefs enough flexibility, the governor's office said Wednesday.
Arely D. Castillo, The News-Star/The Associated Press archive
Gov. Bobby Jindal says state agency leaders need more flexibility in granting pay raises.
The proposal approved by the commission would replace the near-automatic 4 percent annual pay raises given to state employees with a sliding scale of salary increases tied to performance.
Stephen Waguespack, deputy chief of staff for Jindal, said the proposal doesn't go far enough to allow managers to determine how much of a raise employees deserve.
"This seems to be a modest step in the right direction, but we will be sending the plan back to the Civil Service Commission because we would still like to see more flexibility, as originally requested by the Legislature and proposed by civil service staff," Waguespack said in a statement released by Jindal's office.
About 61,000 workers, deemed "classified" under the Department of Civil Service, would be affected by any changes.
The commission adopted a proposal Wednesday that would give 3 percent, 4 percent or 6 percent raises to employees, based on their annual performance reviews. The commission approved the proposal only after removing language that would have given agency chiefs more discretion in deciding how much of a pay raise their employees receive.
Jindal wants that language put back into the proposal, his spokesman Kyle Plotkin said.
The governor can't force the Civil Service Commission to make the changes, however. The seven-member commission has constitutional protections and, if its members refuse Jindal's request, they could force a stalemate unless lawmakers and voters change the constitution.
James Smith, chairman of the commission, called the proposal approved Wednesday fair, and it was approved without objection. Burl Cain, the only member of the commission elected by state employees, abstained from voting.
The changes would take effect July 1, 2010. More than 30,000 political appointees deemed "unclassified" would not be directly affected, though state agencies often apply the same policies to both classes of workers.
State workers who attended public hearings or put comments in writing complained changes to the performance rating system would allow managers to play favorites. They said the system was too subjective. Employees said review policies varied widely, with some managers lenient, giving nearly all workers good reviews, while others judged employees too harshly.
Currently, any employee deemed to "meet expectations" or perform above those expectations gets a flat 4 percent pay increase, unless the department head has received an exception from the commission.
Under the proposal approved by the commission, workers who "meet expectations" in annual reviews would get pay raises of 3 percent, those who "exceed expectations" would get 4 percent and employees deemed "outstanding" would get 6 percent. Workers could appeal the decisions.
Previously proposed language that would have let agency chiefs give raises "up to" 3 percent, 4 percent and 6 percent was removed before the proposal was passed. Instead, if agency heads don't want to give raises or want exceptions, they would have to get approval from the Civil Service Commission.
The removal of the "up to" language was suggested by Civil Service Director Shannon Templet, who said it could help eliminate some of the employee concerns about favoritism and subjectivity of managers.
___
Melinda Deslatte of The Associated Press wrote this report.
Gov. Jindal tours MSU's areas of excellence
Posted:
Dec 02, 2009 11:58 PM EST Updated:
Dec 03, 2009 12:11 AM EST
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - On his latest stop of universities across the state, Governor Bobby Jindal is getting a taste of what McNeese State University does best. On a tour of Drew Hall, he's shown how engineering students train on a working model chemical plant - complete with a simulated control room.
"This is just one example of how the McNeese campus has done a great job with working with local industry to get local industry to donate equipment and facilities so they can train their students on the latest, newest devices. Newest computers, newest hardware that means the students are ready to hit the ground running but it also means industry doesn't have to spend a lot of money or time training there new employees when they hire McNeese students," said Gov. Jindal.
More than a third of workers employed at Southwest Louisiana chemical plants are McNeese graduates. Soon to be the newest product of the department is senior engineering student Jennifer Carson.
"Actually I've worked at a refinery for about 18 months and my experience that I've learned here from McNeese, I was able to integrate to the job and I actually already have my job offer," said Carson.
Another area of excellence is McNeese's Nursing Department, where future nurses train on simulated patients, before they're ever on the job.
"If you feel right here - you can actually feel the pulse. The lips will also turn blue," explains nursing instructor.
In this scenario they've just delivered a baby. But perhaps Governor Jindal could be the instructor having delivered his third child at home back in 2006 with the assistance of a 911 operator.
"You know I've delivered a baby actually," explained Jindal. "There was no simulator when I did it... Laughs."
But all joking aside, the program works. Nearly a 100% success rate for students passing board exams.
"This program has really helped me to develop a lot of my assessment skills and the vital skills I need to carry on in the professional world after graduation. And the instructors are great and the technological advances we have here really help out with that," said Nursing student Jessie Dunham.
Under Jindal's administration, half a billion dollars has been pumped into higher education - more than 13 million dollars at work at McNeese. Despite budget cuts, Jindal says he's committed to continuing investing in programs like this.
"Louisiana ranks in the top ten for per capita spending on higher education. Yet we have the lowest graduation rates in the south. We're going to continue to invest in education but there has to be accountability and there has to be results and that's why we want to learn from and highlight what's going on so well here," said Jindal.
During his tour the governor also heard of progress being made by the partnership between The Chamber Southwest Louisiana and McNeese in development of their entrepreneurial and business incubator.
Copyright 2009 KPLC. All rights reserved.
Governor Jindal, Rising G.O.P. Star, Plummets After Speech
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana in his address Tuesday.
Conservative commentators were among the harshest critics, calling Mr. Jindal’s delivery animatronic, his prose “cheesy” and his message — that federal spending is not the answer to the nation’s economic problems — uninspired.
Mr. Jindal, 37, the son of Indian immigrants, has been regarded as a potential presidential candidate in 2012 who would bring diversity and youth to a post-Obama Republican Party.
But the speech raised questions.
“This was the moment for him to seize the mantle with new ideas, new direction, and lay the groundwork for himself as a creative new thinker,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “He just used old platitudes and party clichés.”
Laura Ingraham, the talk radio host; David Brooks, the New York Times columnist; and Juan Williams of Fox News were among Mr. Jindal’s unimpressed reviewers in television commentary, while Rush Limbaugh defended the governor on his radio show. Several commentators noted that response speeches, in which a designated member of the opposition party delivers a short, canned speech with no live audience, have often been a recipe for failure.
“He went in there with high expectations, probably too high for any politician,” said David Johnson, a Republican political strategist. “Republicans are looking for a voice to lead them out of the wilderness.”
Still, Mr. Johnson said, “it was a flop.”
Asked about the comments, Mr. Jindal’s chief of staff, Timmy Teepell, said that the governor was responding to Mr. Obama, whom he called one of the most gifted speakers in generations. “I think the governor did a great job,” Mr. Teepell said.
In his speech, Mr. Jindal said Republicans would work with Mr. Obama in areas where they agreed with him, and he offered a kind of apology for his party.
“You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline and personal responsibility,” Mr. Jindal said. “Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust, and rightly so.”
He also promoted his own record of tax and spending cuts and ethics reform in Louisiana.
Mr. Jindal’s first star turn was supposed to come at the Republican National Convention last summer, but he canceled his appearance after Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. On Tuesday, he told viewers of his immigrant parentage and his father’s awe of American ingenuity.
“It seemed like part of the speech he was giving was the speech that he was to give at the convention,” said John Maginnis, author of the LaPolitics Weekly newsletter. “And that wasn’t really appropriate for the Republican response.”
Mr. Maginnis said Mr. Jindal could be a very effective communicator when responding to questions or speaking at informal town-hall-style events. “But a prime-time, stand-up-and-deliver speech — he’s yet to master that one,” he said.
Mr. Johnson faulted Mr. Jindal for telling a story about Harry Lee, the sheriff of Jefferson Parish during Hurricane Katrina and who has been repeatedly accused of racial profiling, and for bringing up Hurricane Katrina at all, which Mr. Jindal cited as an example of the failure of big government.
“The one thing Republicans want to forget,” Mr. Johnson said, “is Katrina.”
THE CONTENT OF THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT NECESSARY REPRESENT THE OPINION OF THE OWNER ... At least that is what my lawyer said, but he was drinking pretty heavily at the time so...
COPYRIGHT HARDIN REPUBLIC, LLC 2009. All Rights Reserved.
