the other day we posted the contents of a letter we received from dan juneau in which he took governor piyush "bobby" jindal and the louisiana tax commission to task because "within minutes of taking their oath of office, the new commission unanimously voted to overturn significant, pro-taxpayer rules put in place by the prior tax commission under fovernor blanco. because of this reversal in policy, many taxpayers will be subjected to higher property assessed values and higher taxes."
mr. juneau's letter was also published on the popular statewide political website bayou buzz.
today we noticed that a bayou buzz commenter, /concerned citizen' pointed out the following about several of piyush "bobby" jindal's tax commission appointments:What Mr. Juneau politely omitted was the questionable backgrounds of 3 of Jindal's 5 Tax Commissioners. Jindal's appointed chairman, Pete Peters, left the Tax Commission years ago in scandal. He was found to have taken gratuities along with the old Chairman, who was found guilty by the Board of Ethics. The Inspector General also found that Peters created bogus travel expenses for the Chairman. Peters was the former Director of the troubled agency.
Kenny Naquin was investigated by the Feds for lowering the assessment on a New Orleans riverboat casino. The casino then gave Naquin's cousins (Sen. Heitmeier and his brother) a "consulting" contract.
Paul Hargrove was investigated by the Ouachita Sheriff's department in Monroe when his former employer accused him of theft. I don't know the ultimate outcome of that. Hargrove was also cited by the Board of Ethics for a campaign finance violation. (he ran for state rep in Monroe and lost)
Since all of these things are easily verifiable and were widely reported, why did Jindal appoint them anyway? Are the Assessors so strong that they get to appoint the Board that is supposed to police them? Wow ! Either Jindal doesn't know government, doesn't know how to do a background check, or he really is a very bad politically corrupt guy masquerading as a reformer. It will be very interesting to see if the State Senate will confirm these Jindal Tax Commissioners.
Written by Concerned Citizen on 3/30/2008
another bayou buzz commenter had this observation:
Everyday we are finding out that Governor Jindal is not his own person, as he told us all throughout his campaign and acceptance speech. With all of the groceries, insurance, gasoline going up in price, we, the citizens of the State of Louisiana, really appreciate your latest move, Governor Jindal. You could not even let the new board get their feet wet before you gave them their orders.
Written by Sweetpea on 3/28/2008
