NGO funding next on Blueprint La.’s hit list

The government reform group Blueprint Louisiana came to the Houma area last Wednesday with some good news about state government, but Louisiana is still bogged down with many of the same old problems.

“We are resource rich,” said Bill Slaughter, president of the Baton Rouge management consulting firm SSA Consultants, which was hired by Blueprint Louisiana to promote the group. “Most states would be envious. We have wonderful people. But we’ve taken little advantage of the resources we have. … There are an awful lot of people in the state who don’t lead the quality of life they deserve.”

Blueprint Louisiana, comprised of business leaders from across Louisiana, was formed last year.

In the 2007 state gubernatorial and legislative elections, the group endorsed only candidates who signed the Blueprint Louisiana agenda containing items outlining reforms in ethics laws, education, workforce development, healthcare and transportation.

The organization promised to pressure candidates who signed the agenda to follow up on their pledges.

“It was a contract, essentially,” Slaughter said. “If you sign on, we’ll give you our stamp of approval. … We established a watchdog association to make sure they do what they say they will do by signing Blueprint.”

Slaughter said 82 percent of the state Senate and 71 percent of the House signed the Blueprint Louisiana agenda. Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed on to the agenda as well, after initially refusing.

Slaughter said Blueprint spent more than $1 million in 2007 promoting its reforms.

The priority on the group’s list was pushing for ethics reform in the state. Rudy Gomez, a consultant with SSA, said Blueprint’s biggest success so far was seeing the passage of campaign-finance disclosure laws during the first special session of the Legislature this year.

“The biggest deficiency was financial disclosure,” he said. “We hadn’t required any financial disclosure for legislators. A big coalition was built to get that one done.”

“We want to change perceptions,” he said. “People have looked down on us and our colorful past.”

Blueprint’s next ethics target is the $30 to $70 million spent by the state on non-governmental organizations within Louisiana. Gomez said much of the money is going into slush funds. Blueprint says many NGOs in the state have ties to legislators.

The group wants to eliminate last-minute funding of NGOs and to have more detail about how the money is being spent.

“That’s what good government is,” Gomez said. “The most important thing is these issues are being addressed. Foundational things have been done.”

The state’s public healthcare system also needs more sunshine, according to Blueprint Louisiana.

Louisiana spends $1 billion a year on providing healthcare services to the uninsured, but the state maintains little data on how the money is spent, he said. The state does not even know the number of people being served.

“We need to require them to report what services they’re providing,” he said. “If we know what services are provided, we can serve the uninsured better.”

In education, Gomez said an aspect of the state’s public education system admired by outsiders is its pre-kindergarten program. Blueprint advocates access to pre-kindergarten for all 4 year olds in the state.

He said, “Everybody loves pre-K but it has a high price tag.”

Concerning transportation issues, Blueprint would like to see the state’s slow-moving Transportation Trust Fund bypassed. The group wants toll roads built in the state.

“We don’t spend enough on transportation infrastructure,” Gomez said.

On its reform agenda, Blueprint originally did not include coastal restoration issues, but added them following pressure. Gomez pointed to the $300 million allotted to coastal projects in the second special session of the state Legislature this year as a success on that front.