Louisiana Swamp Watch

For the 13th year in a row, Louisiana is ranked as a "Judicial Hellhole" due to the influence of trial-lawyers.

Trial-Lawyers Make Louisiana "Judicial Hellhole" for 13th Year in a Row For the 13th year in a row, the American Tort Reform Foundation's annual "Judicial Hellholes" Report lists Louisiana as among the worst legal climates in the country, once again citing meritless coastal lawsuits pushed by big-money trial lawyers. The report details the negative impacts of the trial-...

The Education Swamp, including the Superintendents and Louisiana School Boards Association, sound like a broken record- using the same arguments year after year to avoid higher standards.

The Broken Record of The Education Swamp Superintendents Have Used Same Tired Arguments Against Higher Standards For Years As the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education prepares to, once again, debate long-delayed changes to the state's accountability system for schools, they will once again hear a mountain of opposition fro...

The Ascension Parish Chamber has an unusual conflict of interest, putting them on the side of the education swamp against other business organizations. Read more:

Superintendents Push Anti-Student Agenda To Local Chamber Ascension Parish Chamber Sides With Education Swamp Over Business Community Last week, the Ascension Parish Chamber of Commerce curiously sent a letter to BESE Members asking them to oppose Superintendent Cade Brumley's newest proposal to hold high schools in Louisiana to higher standards for studen...

Even the school districts who suffered the most learning loss during COVID are using relief dollars as a slush fund, with over $83 million spent on equipment and renovations, rather than investing in recovering learning loss.

SLUSH FUND, Pt. 2: How Districts With Most Learning Loss Wasted ESSER Funds The Districts Who Suffered the Most Learning Loss During COVID Are Also Wasting Their Relief Dollars Check out Part 1 of Our Series on How Local School Districts Are Using ESSER Funds as a Slush Fund HERE. Yesterday, we took a look at how 3 school districts, who's leaders have complained about a "la...

Superintendents are using COVID Relief $ as a slush fund, while saying they can't afford higher standards. Take a look at the first real transparency in how these funds are being spent⬇️

SLUSH FUND: How Superintendents Are Using COVID Relief Money School Districts Have Billions in COVID Relief Dollars to Invest in Recovering Learning Loss. Instead, they're using it as a slush fund. We've written before about the $3 billion in federal relief money flowing to public schools in Louisiana to address the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the p...

It turns out, members of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents REALLY don't like any form of accountability- especially for their record and past statements. Our accountability efforts earned us a block from one of their leaders.

Outspoken Superintendent Can't Take Heat St. Helena Superintendent Dr. Kelli Joseph Blocks Louisiana Swamp Watch on Twitter After Being Called Out for Poor Performance, Consistent Opposition to Student-Centered Reforms For over a year now, we've covered the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents and their consistent opposition to....

Louisiana's education swamp, typically vocal, is silent on student decline shown in this week's NEAP Results. We wonder why?

Education Swamp Silent on Student Decline While Some Celebrated Louisiana's Improvement in 4th Grade Reading, Decline Shown In All Other Key Metrics This week, the US Department of Education released its annual National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) report, aka The Nation's Report Card- the first report since schools were closed...

Coastal lawsuit attorney John Carmouche has made his picks in key Nov. 8 elections for State Senate and Judge ⬇️

Carmouche Makes His Picks For Nov. 8 Elections With The Newest Round of Campaign Finance Reports Out, Who is Coastal Suit Lawyer John Carmouche Supporting? As the November 8 Primary Election nears, John Carmouche is putting his big-bank account to work in several key state races on the November 8 ballot. After repeatedly failing to muscle settle...

Once again, education swamp leaders are citing "financial constraints" as a reason to keep the bar low for Louisiana's public schools.

Yet, Louisiana schools are more flush with cash than ever, as they sit on billions in unspent COVID Relief money.

Despite Billions in Unspent Funds, School Leaders Oppose Higher Standards Education Swamp Leaders Have Cited a Lack of Resources as a Barrier to Implementing Tougher Accountability Rules in Public Schools, Yet They're Flush With Unspent COVID Relief Money. Louisiana's Education Swamp leaders, including the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents and Louisiana Scho...

John Carmouche's ads continue his history of hypocrisy and outright misleading claims. Check them out line-by-line ⬇️

Carmouche Ad Hypocrisy Round-Up Carmouche's ads tell one story- his actions don't match up Coastal lawsuit trial-lawyer John Carmouche is no stranger to showing his hypocrisy to the public in pursuit of profit, at the expense of Louisiana jobs. In his recent TV ads, a desperate attempt to mislead Louisianans about his motives and....

Despite claiming "we're starting to win", trial attorney John Carmouche's coastal lawsuit settlement was unanimously rejected in St. Mary Parish last week, with harsh words from the Council.

St. Mary Parish Not Fooled by Trial-Attorneys St. Mary Parish Council Unanimously Rejects Carmouche's Freeport-McMoRan Settlement At last week's St. Mary Parish Council Meeting, 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhe asked the Council whether or not he should sign off on the proposed Freeport-McMoRan Coastal lawsuit settlement negotiated by tr...

The Office of Financial Institution is a huge bureaucracy, but still claims it needs more funds. Yet, no one can seem to find their budget- or how they're funded.

How Hard Is It to Get a State Agency's Budget? Louisiana's Office of Financial Institutions has broad oversight powers. Good luck finding out how they're funded. Recently, we looked at the Louisiana Governor's Office of Financial Institutions (OFI), a huge agency with 111 employees and 7 offices across the state regulating banks, credit unions,....

If Carmouche's lawsuits are really about funding coastal restoration, why does he defend Parishes using coastal settlement funds for tax cuts and pay raises- not restoration?

Carmouche Defended Diverting Coastal Lawsuit Funds for Tax Cuts, Pay Raises If Carmouche's coastal lawsuits are truly about fixing the coast, why does he defend using the funds on tax cuts and pay raises- not restoration? Trial-lawyer John Carmouche paints himself as a valiant fighter for Louisiana's coastline, saying his lawsuits will help clean up and restore Louisiana's....

Trial-Lawyer John Carmouche's ads claim his lawsuits will help restore the coast. Yet, the settlement he fought for and negotiated allows funds to be diverted from coastal restoration.

Will Carmouche's "Coastal Lawsuits" Even Help the Coast? A Peek Into the Proposed Freeport-McMoran Settlement Raises Doubts Trial-lawyer John Carmouche's new ads are heavy on messaging about how his lawsuits against oil and gas companies are intended to make them "pay to clean up the environmental mess they left along our coast and marshes", in a clear ef...

Taking advantage of unusually broad public records exemptions, the Louisiana Governor's Office of Financial Institutions may be Louisiana's least-transparent state agency.

Louisiana's Least Transparent State Agency Louisiana's Office of Financial Institutions has unusually broad exemptions from public records laws. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor describes Louisiana's public record law as "designed to ensure unfettered access to documents and to implement the inherent right of the public to be reasonably inf...

John Carmouche and his law firm helped elect Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and flip Congress to Democrats. In his latest ad, he tries to run away from those facts to trick South Louisiana voters into supporting his get-rich quick scheme.

Carmouche Rails Against "Washington Liberals", While Funding Their Campaigns Trial-lawyer John Carmouche helped bring liberals to power in DC. In his new ad campaign, coastal lawsuit trial-lawyer John Carmouche, trying to turn the tide of public opinion in favor of his job-killing lawsuits, rails against the unpopular "Biden Administration and Washington Liberals". You can s...

With EBR Schools proposing to use one-time money to fund its Pathways to Bright Futures Program, how will they continue to fund the program in future years? They still don't know 🤷

Expand First, Fund Later Proposed Dual-Enrollment Expansion Funded by Short-Term Federal Funds. What Happens After That? Yesterday, we looked into the East Baton Rouge School Board's planned vote tonight to expand funding for the district's Pathways to Bright Futures dual-enrollment program. After repeated delays caused by....

Dysfunction with ' Board Meetings once again leading to uncertainty for parents, teachers, and students. This time, will dual-enrollment be expanded AFTER the school year has already started?

EBR School Board to Vote on Expanding Dual-Enrollment...After the School Year Starts Delayed by the Board's dysfunction, will EBR School Board Expand Dual Enrollment funding after the school year already started? At tomorrow's East Baton Rouge Parish School Board meeting, members will again consider a controversial proposal to fund expenditures for the district's Pathways to Bright....

Height of hypocrisy: Trial-lawyer John Carmouche rails against taxpayer funded bailouts- while he gets bailed out by taxpayers

Getting Rich Off Taxpayers, Carmouche Only Pretends to Care About Tax Dollars Coastal Lawsuit Trial-Attorney John Carmouche Pretends to Care About Your Money, While Fleecing Taxpayers at Every Chance In his new ad campaign, coastal-lawsuit attorney John Carmouche has a catchy tag-line to change public perception of his war on Louisiana jobs- "Polluters Should Pay, Not Taxpaye...

After years of work to rig Louisiana's political and legal system in their favor, trial-lawyers suing oil & gas companies have little to show for it. Now, they're taking their fight to TV to try to fool South LA voters

Trial-Lawyers Take War on Jobs to TV Carmouche and Co. Take to Airwaves to Change Public Perception of Job-Killing Coastal Lawsuits South Louisiana voters are no stranger to seeing trial-lawyers on their TVs and on every single drive, familiar faces like Gordon McKernan, Morris Bart, Dudley DeBosier, and countless others advertising bi...

The Education Swamp is at it again, this time trying to lower the bar for accountability standards for Louisiana's high schools. Once again, they're in it for themselves- not Louisiana students.

Education Swamp Trying to Lower the Bar for Louisiana Students Proposals to Hold School Districts to Higher Standards Met with Stiff Opposition by Louisiana School Superintendents Fresh off another round of test results showing Louisiana's public school students struggling in nearly every key metric and new national rankings again pe***ng Louisiana's public sch...

Louisiana's licensing boards claim to be funded by "self-generated revenue". Yet, the Board regulating florists gets 10x more in tax dollars than self-generated funds. 🤔

When "Self-Generated Revenue" Is Actually "Tax Dollars" The Horticulture Commission and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain repeatedly claim to be funded by "self-generated revenue". But, records reveal its mostly tax dollars. During this year's legislative session, advocates of Louisiana's unique florist license, including members of the Horticulture C...

Gotcha! Were Baton Rouge, and Louisiana, taxpayers swindled by bike-sharing company? It sure smells like it
https://www.laswampwatch.com/post/gotcha-tax-payer-funded-bike-share-program-going-down-the-drain-in-baton-rouge

The Louisiana School Boards Association just finished hosting the annual Southern Region Leadership Conference for school boards. We know taxpayers covered the cost- but how much?

Read More⬇️

Taxpayers Funding Lavish School Board Conferences Taxpayer funded lobbying. Taxpayer funded conferences. Is this why LSBA is trying to fight transparency in public school spending?

Qualifying for the fall elections is over. Watch out for candidates who take money from Louisiana's biggest swamp creatures- the trial-lawyers and teachers' unions.

With Qualifying for Fall Elections Over, Watch Who Funds Candidates Expect The Swamp to Spend Big in Local Races This Fall Qualifying for Louisiana's fall elections ended yesterday- a crowded ballot with races for U.S. Senate, Congress, State Senate Seats, Judicial elections, and local offices like School Board and Parish President. While the Congressional races may...

The public education swamp's favorite Republicans,
Sen. Bodi White and Sen. Rogers Pope, helped kill a veto-override session, protecting the swamp from competition and hurting Louisiana families.

Education Swamp's Favorite Republicans Kill Veto-Override Session Sens. Rogers Pope and Bodi White Publicly Came Out Against a Veto-Override Session Early, Killing Hopes for Parents to Have Choice in Their Child's Education Senate President Page Cortez today confirmed what had become obvious last week: The State Senate will not convene a veto-override session this...

Is the EBR Schools Board broken? After nearly 20 hours of meetings in 3 weeks, the Board has failed to get through one meeting agenda.

Is Baton Rouge School Board Broken? Extra meetings. Meetings running until 11:00PM with no votes. Big Votes Delayed. Is current EBR Parish School Board Broken?

The public education swamp invested over $2 million to elect Governor John Bel Edwards. Today, their investment paid off as he vetoed bills to give hope to Louisiana families.

Gov. Edwards Bows to Education Swamp The Education Swamp's Investment in Gov. Edwards Pays Off, Hurting Louisiana Families.

Coastal lawsuit trial attorney John Carmouche took hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP Loans- never missing his chance to get rich off of Louisiana's taxpayers.

Carmouche's PPP Loan Windfall Coastal Lawsuit Attorney John Carmouche is no stranger to getting rich off taxpayers- taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP Loans.

When it comes to school choice, Sen. Bodi White has concerns about taking kids out of public schools. Except when he tries to remove kids from Central Community Schools.

Both Ways Bodi White When it comes to school choice, Bodi White wants it both ways: trapping some kids in public schools, while kicking others out of his schools

While King Bodi rules, Louisiana’s most vulnerable students suffer.

The Louisiana School Boards Association says school boards simply can't afford to be transparent with taxpayer dollars.

Well, the cost of transparency = the cost of LSBA dues. So, maybe boards should reprioritize?

How Much Are School Boards Giving to LSBA? If transparency is too costly for school boards, we have a suggestion for some savings.

Watch Michael Faulk, Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, expose his organization's disingenuous, hypocritical arguments against school choice- in minutes.

School Superintendents Show Hypocrisy, in Minutes Louisiana Association of School Superintendents Michael Faulk's Disingenuous Arguments Against School Choice

Like any good businessman, coastal lawsuit trial attorney John Carmouche makes lots of investments- mostly in the judges who will decide how much taxpayers pay him in fees.

Judges Set Carmouche's Fees. He Invests in Them. Carmouche Invests Heavily in Judges Who Will Decide His Payout.

With legislators set to again debate school board transparency legislation, how true are the claims that Boards are already being transparent? We take a look at the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools new COVID fund dashboard.

"Transparency" In Name Only LSBA says their Boards are already transparent with taxpayer dollars. Is it just lip service?

Who's going to pay the trial-lawyers in Louisiana's coastal lawsuits? You, the taxpayer.

"The Taxpayers Have to Pay the Bill" Trial lawyers ready to stiff Louisiana's taxpayers with the bill for their lawsuits

The Louisiana School Boards Association dubiously claimed the COVID response kept them from lobbying last year. Now, their taxpayer funded lobbying efforts are hard to miss this year, from opposing school choice and transparency, to weighing in on tax policy- they're everywhere.

LSBA Ramps Up Lobbying Efforts COVID, Unfinished Learning no longer top priority of Louisiana School Boards Association We've previously reported on the taxpayer funded lobbying efforts of the Louisiana School Boards Association, and their advocacy for other left-wing ideologies. In a committee debate earlier this year, LSBA Lobb...

The Cosmetology Board is once again asking the legislature for higher fees with HB 670, citing a dire financial situation. Yet, their self-reported financial data shows them running a surplus and sitting on nearly $1 million.

Does Cosmetology Board Really Need More Money? Cosmetology Board once again seeking fee increase. Do they really need it?

Louisiana Swamp Watch Executive Director James Lee
joined Brian Haldane to discuss the education swamp's fight against parents, students, and taxpayers. Listen below!

LA Swamp Watch Talks Education Swamp with Brian Haldane Louisiana Swamp Watch Executive Director James Lee joined "Mornings With Brian Haldane" to discuss Louisiana's Education Swamp Here at Louisiana Swamp Watch, we've been reporting on the members of Louisiana's education swamp- the cabal of organizations fighting against pro-parent, pro-student polici...