Caddo Commissioner: "Give Transparency a Chance"

Caddo Parish Commission Work Session: 10/2/17

The Shreveport Times published a powerful Letter to the Editor last week about the abysmal failure of the Caddo Parish Animal facility that needs to go viral:

Jack Whitehead writes:

Something's wrong here: we have a Caddo Parish administrator in charge of an animal control operation that is obviously out of control. Check the record. Woody Wilson keeps doing the same thing in hiring incompetent animal shelter managers while expecting a different result.  

When does someone start asking meaningful questions about Dr. Wilson's competence here? Does he get supervision? Then, too, what will it take for him to even start thinking about privatizing our "if in doubt, kill 'em" animal sheltering program?  

Management by government isn't working. Management via private means, with public financing, would give us a chance to find managers motivated to make this operation work — for the animals and for us, the citizens. We could do right things right, if we just tried, for a change.

You know the cycle to which he refers.  Something horrific happens at CPAS, like mistakenly euthanizing the wrong cat or dogs tagged for rescue mistakenly being euthanized,  and the animal community gets up in arms.  We all march down to the Caddo Commission meeting, rail at the commissioners for their ineptitude, and nothing changes.  We might write letters or blog posts, we might organize meetings with our commissioners, but nothing changes.

Many politicians and citizens not involved in the animal community refer to us as "those crazy animal people."

We now have a chance for change, and I'm not talking about yet another new director of CPAS.

At the Caddo Commission work session on October 2, Commissioner Matthew Linn introduced
a proposal to amend the Home Rule Charter under which the Commission operates and allow for a provision for the Commission to hire an independent auditor.

Simply put, the way the Commission now works, the parish audits itself.  It's the equivalent of  Parish Administrator Woody Wilson writing his own test and grading it himself.

What Linn has figured out is that an outside audit is needed if anything is going to change.  It's simply good government.  Why wouldn't we want to follow known Best Practices in government and allow more transparency in what is going on in our local government?  There are legislative guidelines for local governmental bodies to follow and the Caddo Commission is not following those guidelines by virtue of their charter.

My theory is that Caddo Animal Services is just a distraction for whatever is going on elsewhere in the parish. Why does Mr. Wilson keep installing people to head that department who are inept?  If we are all up in arms about a mistakenly euthanized cat then we aren't paying attention to anything else.  The Parish Administrator should have fixed this ongoing problem and inept department by now.  I'm not saying anything nefarious is happening elsewhere in other areas of parish government, but how do we know?

Local animal advocate Cindy Marrus passionately appealed to the Commission on October 2, and in

Cindy Marrus: CPC Work Session 10/2/17

her three minutes recapped the latest atrocity at CPAS and pleaded, "How can you allow what's happening out there?  Aren't you embarrassed?  Don't you have pride?  Don't you care?"  Her tone was pleading and sorrowful - she wasn't ranting.  (You can listen to her remarks here; skip ahead to about 8:56).

Under Linn's proposal, the Commission could call for an audit of any department under their purview, including Animal Services.  You would think this would be a welcome change to the Home Rule Charter which currently does not provide for this.

During the meeting on October 2, Linn noted that he had provided literature about Best Practices in auditing and local government to the commissioners and some had even attended a meeting about it. He's done the research.

Ultimately, the voters have to approve this; all Linn is asking the Commission to do is to bring it before the voters.

Three commissioners voted against the proposal: Doug Dominick, John Atkins, and Louis Johnson.

Mr. Dominick said his concern is the cost of bringing this before the voters: if done in a special election (which nobody suggested) it would cost $225,000, but done during another regular election, like our mayoral election for example, the cost would be around $20,000.  Dominick also suggested that this should wait until the committee that meets every four years to discuss the Home Rule Charter convenes.  They last met in 2016 so my question to Mr. Dominick is how many more animals are you willing to see killed before you wait for this committee to meet in three more years?

Mr. Dominick suggested that a committee to audit financial issues might be okay but not operational issues.  "That's a whole 'nother ball of wax," he said.

But what if operations are your problem?

John Atkins expressed concern about changing the current charter and said that he believes the Commission could achieve the same results by forming an audit committee, which in essence is the same as I said before: writing and grading your own test.  This is not transparent and subject to a host of political shenanigans, vote trading, bargaining, etc., - not that I'm suggesting anyone would do that, but clearly an independent audit is preferred and is a known best practice.

Incredibly, to me, Louis Johnson said he thinks things are just fine the way they are.  He said, "We have people in place who are doing a great job...".  It seems that Mr. Johnson confused the issue as a no-confidence vote against Parish Administrator Woody Wilson, and that's simply not what's on the table. While Mr. Johnson said that we can offer compassion to the woman whose cat was euthanized, he said he was offering "a confidence vote for what we have in place."  So, the abysmal failure of CPAS is just fine with Louis Johnson.

Mr. Johnson, by the way, is serving as interim Commissioner after the resignation of Ken Epperson.  The election for this seat will be October 14.

Remember, all that Mr. Linn is asking them at this point is to bring this issue before the voters - asking for the authority to have an independent audit of parish departments if needed. In concurrence,  Lyndon Johnson noted "what we're doing is not working," because the charter right now does not allow for independent audits.  In the meeting Johnson also noted that "we know there are issues with animal services and we need to make a change and see if we can do something different."

Steven Jackson said, "I felt sort of remiss when I heard about this.  This is not a slight on anyone...it's about asking the citizens what is their preferred method for best practices."

Commissioner Chavez agreed: "Caddo Parish Animal Services has failed...We keep putting our trust in what's not working.  Something's got to give."

The list of atrocities at CPAS is lengthy, from selling animals out the back door, to bestiality, and countless accidental incidents of euthanization. It's been going on for over a decade.  Clearly the Commissioners, nor anyone else, know exactly what's going on there.  Just try and volunteer at CPAS - good luck on that.

In truth the only person that knows what's going on in all departments of parish government is Parish Administrator Woody Wilson; the Caddo Commission does not because there's no transparency.  As Parish Administrator, we expect that Woody Wilson would want to utilize known Best Practices in government and offer transparency to voters, animal advocates, citizens.  He should be advocating for this change in charter.  He is not.

Linn said at the work session, "Yes, it's going to cost $20,000 to put this on the ballot but it's worth it to let the citizens vote and see if they want us to follow what is known as Best Practices...Give transparency a chance."

I think he's right.

Everyone in Caddo Parish should advocate for this, and to appeal to your Commissioner to support this.  Don't we want transparency?  Don't we want to ensure accountability?  Look at what the City uncovered when the water department was audited!  We have a chance to change.

If the Commissioners could fix CPAS, they would.  They can't because they can't get involved in the departmental operations there.  This proposal would give them the authority to do that and to uncover the Wizard behind the screen.

Find your Commissioner here. Ask them to support this amendment.

Further Reading:
Shreveport Times:  Caddo Commission Mulls Adding Independent Auditor
Shreveport Times:  Out of Control Animal Shelter
Association of Local Government Auditors

EBT Card Panic and the Third World Country Syndrome

I haven't dipped my toes in the political pool for a while now, as you may have noticed.  I've become so disgusted with Republicans and Democrats alike; it's as if they've all thrown up their hands and decided to give up the fight and turn us into a third world country.  All the ranting and railing in the world hasn't stopped us from turning into a fast-food, service oriented country filled with a government-dependent-population too blind to see what has happened to them.

Going off the grid has never looked so good.

Case in point:  yesterday the EBT system went down for a while causing absolute panic in seventeen states.

My first clue that this was going on was yesterday, about 11, I went to my local grocery store to pick up some dog food.  The parking lot was near empty and I found a parking spot close to the front door.  Right inside the door was a sign that said the system was down and announced that the store could not process food stamp payments.

By the time I got home it had hit my Facebook and Twitter feed.  I used the search function on Twitter and ran "food stamps."  Oh.my.god.  Panic hardly describes it.  I was going to capture some of that mess but that's what Twitchy is for, so I didn't waste my time.  I honestly could not believe what I was reading as I thumbed through these tweets; everyone blamed it on the shutdown and everyone blamed the shutdown on the Republicans.  Riots and threats were predicted and panic was full blown.  The posts on Twitchy reflect a segment of what I saw yesterday.

The uneducated masses were all jumping to conclusions.  All the Republicans fault and it's all about the shutdown.  Neither of these assumptions were true.  And why is the first reaction to threaten riots?  Check your news sources, make some phone calls, find out the truth; why is the first response to go onto social media and threaten to start riots?

Third world country syndrome.

Jump to today.  I went back to the grocery store this morning (this time because I needed aluminum foil and ground beef.)  The parking lot was packed, the lines were long, and everybody was happy, happy, happy.  Except the cashiers, maybe.

What struck me about it, though, is what has been the subject of an ongoing debate about the food stamp program.  I have no way of knowing, of course, who was paying with food stamps and who wasn't, so this is all assumption, really.  But in these long checkout lines were baskets overflowing with Hot Pockets, frozen pizza, sugary sodas, sugary cereals, Little Debbies, chips, cookies, pop tarts, etc.  Little to no fruit or fresh vegetables.  Not much milk.  It was a quick, cursory glance - purely unscientific observation.  I give you that.  But we've all seen it.

It reminded me of the day Steve and I returned home from our summer vacation.  We'd been gone nearly two weeks and a stop by the grocery store was mandatory before we went home.  I was in line, watching the clerk scan my groceries and I was punchy-tired the way you get after ten hours in a car.  A young woman in line behind me had inched up into my personal space and was peering at my groceries with fascination.  When she saw the two packages of ribeye steaks come across she

couldn't restrain herself any longer.

"What is THAT?!" she asked.  "Steak?"

"Yes," I said.  "Ribeyes."

"What animal do that come from?!  Steaks!"

Curiously, I looked at her.  She truly wanted to know.  "Cows."

"Cows!  Cows make steaks!  Oh my!   Them's are expensive!  Lawd!"

Yes, they are.  An indulgence that I don't do all the time.

When the clerk told me my total, just over $100, I slid my debit card and punched in my code.

"Y'alls get food stamps?"  the young woman asked, her gold tooth glittering as she grinned at me.

"No.  I don't."

"Y'alls should gets food stamps!  That ways you don't have to pay for them groceries!"

It was too much in my current state of exhaustion.

"I can't get food stamps," I said.

"ooooooohh," she said, sadly.  "That's too bad."  She was shaking her head back and forth with a look of sadness on her face.

And yes, she had tattoos, a nice hair-do, and a full manicure.

All of which is to say this.  I don't begrudge helping the needy; truly, I don't.  I'm a charitable, giving person.  I understand why families were upset that they couldn't get groceries yesterday.

All the fuss yesterday seemed to be a foreshadowing of what is to come when this government finally goes broke, and it will.  The apocalypse is upon us.

If the government can give it to you, the government can take it away.  That wasn't the case yesterday with the EBT system, but people didn't know that.  They thought they'd been cut off.  I would suggest that people get ready for that.  The day is coming.

And in the meantime, I suggest that there should also be food stamp reform.  It's beyond contradictory that Michelle Obama's main initiative is obesity and healthy eating when we continue to allow people with EBT cards to fill their carts (and their children) with preservatives, processed foods, and sugary crap:

A 2012 study found that food stamps enable about $2 billion worth of junk food purchases each year, and that more than half of the beverages bought using SNAP benefits are sugary drinks.

Representative Phil Roe (R-TN) proposed just such a bill in September, which of course, prompted the liberals to scream foul.  Roe's bill would model the SNAP program on the WIC program.

Roe’s bill would change the model for food stamps to that used by the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides food benefits for mothers with young children. WIC has significantly more restrictions on it, to ensure that mothers and children get sufficient calcium, grains, and fruit.

But the liberals, ironically, see it as a nanny-state move.  (That would be the same liberals who tell New Yorkers they can't have Big Gulps and trans-fats.)

Roe's bill doesn't even address that area of food stamp fraud where people sell their EBT cards for cash.  That was on Twitter, too, yesterday, and I know this exists.  Why do we live in a society where there is no shame whatsoever in boasting about how much money you get each month from the government for your groceries?  I remember when people used to be embarrassed about taking government handouts.

All in all it's enough to make me want to go off the grid.  What ever happened to self-reliance and independence?   The vitriol on Twitter yesterday also included demands from people not on food stamps for those who are to consider getting jobs and therefore not be dependent on the government.  Obviously there are some who can't do that.  But our politicians would be doing everyone a favor if they quit squabbling like petulant children and focus on job creation and restoring this economy rather than tearing the country apart.

And that includes Republicans.

Added:

And in a related story, from KSLA:

Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.  

The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.  

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, "It was worse than any black Friday" that he's ever seen.

 Lynd explained the cards weren't showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman  said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn't press charges if she left the food. 

And this from Rex Moncrief at Conservative Drink:

(Graphic via Pew Research)

Update 10/14/13:  Now a thread on Memeorandum.

Can't Blame Bush? Blame His Computer.

When all else fails and you can't blame Bush for EVERYTHING, just blame the government computers. That's what Peter Orszag did yesterday. As reported by The Hill:

The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs.

“Twenty years ago, people who came to work in the federal government had better technology at work than at home,” said Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Now that’s no longer the case.

“The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars.”

I won't quibble with him on the issue of American people deserving "better service from their government" but I'm not convinced the issue is "outdated technologies."

It's what we used to call "operator error."

Either way, Mark Tapscott did a little research and found this:

Go to USASpending.gov and click on the "Spending" tab, then from the drop-down menu that appears, click on "Contracts." Then in the search box, enter the word "Computer" with or without the quotation marks.

The first time I entered it without the quotation marks and got back a list of 447 companies having the word "Computer" in their names and that have contracts to sell to the federal government in 2009. Total value of those contracts is more than $46 billion.

That's right, $46 B-I-L-L-I-O-N. So, if OMB Director Orzag is right, Uncle Sam spent $46 billion with computer companies last year but couldn't drag itself into the 21st century of office technology?

Not just that, but the government spent nearly $62 billion in 2008 and $91 billion in 2007. And we're STILL outdated? It sounds to me like someone isn't spending their money wisely.

(More at Memeorandum)