Some puzzled why their names dropped
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The only Republican on the state Lottery Corp. board of directors, Sam Caruso was elected chairman for the second straight time in early June.
But Caruso was part of one-third of the board removed from office on June 23.
He and two other members — including the vice chairwoman — were not put forward for confirmation by the end of the legislative session by the Jindal administration.
“The bottom line is I don’t know why,” Caruso said. “I still wish the governor well, but damn if I can make any sense of this.”
Caruso, a longtime Slidell mayor, was among more than 60 members of boards and commissions statewide removed from office who were either appointed or re-appointed by former Gov. Kathleen Blanco between June 29, 2007, and Jan. 13.
Some state gaming and higher education boards were among the hardest hit by Gov. Bobby Jindal removing board members. All new appointments had to be confirmed by the state Senate during the legislative session, which ended June 23.
Blanco made 117 appointments after June. Jindal was able to indirectly remove many simply by not putting their names forward for Senate confirmation during the legislative session.
How people were vetted is an unknown, and Jindal is not talking. He refused three requests for comment. Also keeping mum is James Quinn, Jindal’s director of boards and commissions.
Jindal’s spokeswoman, Melissa Sellers, said in an e-mail, “As the Governor said after the election, every position was to be treated as an open position and we would work to find the best, most qualified individuals to serve our state.”
She did not discuss a timeline for naming replacements.
This bevy of board voids is greatly affected by many others resigning because of new financial disclosure laws.
Impacted boards and commissions range from the Louisiana Community and Technical College Board of Supervisors to the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf, which both lost multiple members.
The Southern University Board of Supervisors was the only statewide body to lose four board members. All four were newly appointed in October by Blanco.
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Not surprising, the candidate that preached the most against politics is turning out to be the most politically motivated and iron fisted of all time.
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Does anyone know if Representative Regina Barrow -- The legislator who's son James was arrested last week for the murder of a visitor passing through Baton Rouge-- was removed from any of these boards? I would be interested to see if Judge Clark (who released James on a personal surety bond) will be appointed to a state board for judicial oversight. Perhaps Regina Barrow will have to find a new way to work her magic -- like the way she was able to sponsor and get enough votes to get the $200,000 in state grant funding for the non-profit she created (Riz UP) Re-elect Regina Barrows-- her son was arrested for murder, not her ---
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last week there was a problem with mass resignations, now positions are vacant because nobody was appointed to fill them. This will be an entertaining 4 years.
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Please be patient while a secretive and Bush-style buddy system of ideologically pure yes-men is installed in state government. These things take time. People have to be forced to resign from boards because of draconian "ethics" reforms, the governor has to give away raises to the legislature to buy them, and finally, local volunteer organizations have to be urged of those who value their privacy and replaced with young Republican "comers".
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It's only Republicans who get blamed when they do exactly what democrats do, which is cleaning house. Getting rid of people who may owe old favors to those who oppose the changes, and at the very least will be opposed (as most humans are) to doing them a different way. Same old same old would be keeping these same people in charge. Why would anyone keep them? Here I have to say "Duh!" A new administration may bring in new people to do a job in a different way. How is this a shock? It would only be a mistake if someone threw away people who have a lot to lend. But how to know who to trust? Does anyone have this down pat 100% of the time?
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