Jindal could have aided East patients
When the Jindal administration announced that mental health care would be terminated, Oct. 1, at Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, residents asked if it could at least remain open until the end of the year so they could better plan for the disruption to the patients.
The Jindal administration replied that to remain open it would cost the state $555,000; money it didn’t have.
Immediately following this devastating announcement, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s boys created a new job for Tim Barfield, a friend of Jindal, in the Department of Revenue at $250,000 per year.
Yesterday, it was reported in The Advocate that they’ve also hired a friend of Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, to serve as the new communication director for the superintendent of education at a salary of $12,000 a month.
Additionally, we learn that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, composed of part-time employees, wants its own communication director at a minimum salary of $110,000.
Do the math and you’ll note $504,000 in total salaries during “a no new jobs freeze” proclaimed by Jindal several months ago, to quote “help balance the budget.”
Throw in the amount of money being spent to provide security for the governor as he floats around the country self-promoting himself, and you have more than enough funds to grant the Mandeville people their request.
Who will end the fiscal conservative smoke-and-mirror games at our capital? It’s obvious we can’t rely on our legislators to do so for some seem to lack an important part of their anatomy — a spine.
Jim Anderson
retired education administrator
Ponchatoula