Black Caucus: Louisiana In 'Dire Straits'
by WILL SENTELL - Advocate (excerpt)

Leaders of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus and others tossed around ideas Thursday on how to cope with state budget problems without unduly harming citizens.

During a two-hour forum, there was wide agreement that state services face huge problems because of a predicted $3 billion drop in revenue in the next two years. “We are in dire straits financially,” said state Rep. Herbert Dixon, D-Alexandria. “We have not seen financial conditions like this in my lifetime in the state of Louisiana,” Dixon added.

Another key focus of the meeting was criticism of plans to privatize some state services to save dollars. That issue is a key part of 236 recommendations submitted by the Commission on Streamlining Government, which met for months last year. “There seems to be an underlying assumption in Louisiana that state employees don’t do much work,” said Frank Ransburg, a longtime professor of political science at Southern University.