LETTER: When the separation of powers is no longer separate

Dear Fellow Louisianans,


As you no doubt have heard, Speaker for the Louisiana House of Representatives, Chuck Kleckley, had me and my colleague, vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Cameron Henry, suddenly removed from that important committee.

No doubt it was a mere coincidence, that the removal happened immediately after a contentious debate where I and Rep. Henry scrutinized the administration’s attempt to commit Louisiana taxpayers to a $1.1 billion dollar per year contract that was proposed to be awarded on a no-bid basis to Blue Cross, supposedly as a cost saving measure achieved through the dismantling of Office of Group Benefits. 



The official explanation for the removals was that Chairman Kleckley now had “a better understanding of the best use of the legislator’s individual talents.”

Even though most of my professional career is in the area of health benefits programs, I am sure Rep. Kleckley had the interests of the people of Louisiana in mind when he made the changes.
Still, here are the facts.
The contract under review was committed to by the administration, not the legislature. Committing the citizens of Louisiana to a financial obligation is the sole role of the people’s chamber, the state Legislature.

You can look it up your self in Section 6 (B) of our Louisiana constitution. It’s a good rule as it draws the finances of our state into the gaze of the public where such decisions should be.

It is right that we deeply question expenditures, especially expenditures of this nature that simultaneously eliminate one of the best run services of our government while replacing it with an obligation that takes review out of the public eye for the duration of the contract. The contract also would allow Blue Cross to amend the agreement, (read – increase the fees) without the scrutiny of the legislature.

The bottom line is this; this contract would have never made it out of committee if it had gone through the constitutionally-mandated process for money matters.
While the contract itself is troubling, equally as troubling is a pattern of the administration overreaching to control honest and essential debate in the Legislature.

As representatives of the people, it is our obligation to protect the interests of the citizens of our state. It is why we are here. When that process can be circumvented through the force of another branch of the government, we are in a very precarious situation that simply cannot be tolerated.



I thank everyone who responded with the same level of deep concern that I feel. I also thank everyone for their support of me and this essential process of government. I have faith in our system and I know that in time the people will have enough of this practice and will move to correct it.

Until then, you can have confidence that nothing will deter me from doing all that I can to serve my constituents and the people of the great state of Louisiana.Thank you again for your support!

State Rep. Joe Harrison,

Gray, La.