[FoCHAT] CHATNews: LRA Board Eye-openers; LRA-LSU Customer Satisfaction Survey

[Melanie Ehrlich]

CHATNews, Mar. 20, 2010 
LRA Board Eyeopeners; LRA-LSU Customer Satisfaction Survey 
Dear CHAT members, 
Notes about the Road Home Program (RH) from the LRA Board Meeting  3-11-2010 
By Melanie Ehrlich,  LRA Housing Task Force Member 
Several members of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) Board referred to the sunset of the LRA Board in just four months. 
Robin Keegan, Executive Director of the LRA: We are working on a reallocation strategy and draft resolution about this leftover money from the Road Home Program for homeowners (homeowners whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina or the ensuing flood or Hurricane Rita). We can’t do real good thinking about reallocation until the next Board Meeting.  
Walter Leger, LRA Board Member and Chairman of the Housing Task Force: A survey of rebuilding by Option 1 homeowners by a nonprofit organization, Beacon of Hope, has shown that many recipients of these grants have not rebuilt. 
Keegan:  Those applicants might be able to sell their property back to the state. Just to be clear, only about 6000 applicants are now at the 3-year covenant deadline. 
Keegan:  We were able to spend about $160 million of RH money in just the last two months. 
Louisiana House Speaker  Rep. Jim Tucker: A lot of Road Home applicants have gambled their Road Home money away. During Superbowl weekend, I watched the TV news showing horrible looking abandoned houses in New Orleans. That’s because applicants have blown their Road Home money. After Hurricane Katrina there were record profits by Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans. Many applicants wasted their money. This is a historic point in time for us to get them. If we don’t do it now, it will be our fault. 
To their credit, Keegan and Leger said something to the effect of many RH applicants having financial problems preventing them from rebuilding. 
Speaker Tucker also said, “The state should get out of the recovery business as soon as possible and leave it to the legislature to apportion the money to the parishes who know what is needed in their districts.” 
Sen.  Murray said that he agreed that the money should come to the municipalities to apportion. “Local jurisdictions could spend money according to the dictates of Congress. Recovery is still lacking in a large part of New Orleans.” 

Leger:  Members of the legislature demanded that the LRA do this so it would not be done politically or with respect to who has the most political power.   In apportioning this disaster recovery money, it did not matter which parish an applicant was from or how politically connected their representatives were, just how much damage an applicant had.
Keegan: There is $184 million of RH homeowner program funds not yet committed and HUD is making us keep an additional $100 million in escrow in case the $750 million of HMGP funds set aside for RH applicants mitigation (elevation,  elevation-reconstruction, and IMM grants of up to $7500 each) is not enough for the applicants. If that $100 million is not spent on HMGP, it can be spent on other RH needs. We are concerned about blight. “Blight removal is a priority.” In April, we will make a request to use surplus funds for things to help applicants who did not have enough money to rebuild like using ”creative financing.” 
Leger:  “Recovery dollars should go toward recovery.” 
I filled out the required card so that I could give public comments. I had taken time off from my job as a scientist and  traveled to Baton Rouge with CHAT core member Laura Lebon, who kindly went with me. 
I asked to give 3-5 minutes of public comments, to distribute a two-page handout to the Board Members, and to speak before there was any vote on RH issues. I identified myself as a member of the LRA Housing Task Force (HTF).
 The chairman of the LRA Board, David Voelker, was asked about my request for public comments by the Sergeant-at-Arms to whom I gave the card. Voelker, in turn, asked Robin Keegan apparently for her permission to let me speak.
 At first the Sergeant-at-Arms said it was up to the Chairman(Voelker) whether I would be allowed to speak at all (contrary to the open meetings regulations) and how long I could speak. He also told me that it was customary to only let the public speak AFTER a vote had been taken. So much for public input. 
Apparently, Keegan agreed to let me speak, although it should not have been the decision of anyone there whether or not I could speak, according to open meetings regulations.   
Voelker told the Sergeant-at-Arms that I could speak but only for 2 minutes, which I had never heard before in any LRA Board or Housing Task Force Meeting (HTF)! Five or three minutes are standard. 
 Limiting my chance to speak is particularly wrong given that in the last two and one fourth years the HTF met only four times  January 4, 2008, March 18, 2008, February 6, 2009, and December 04, 2009, despite requests from several HTF members for more frequent meetings. Moreover, requests from two members to have items about the “surplus” RH money and HMGP grants was disallowed at the last HTF meeting by the chairman of the HTF. About four of us HTF members still have outstanding requests for another meeting before the LRA ends. It is doubtful that it will be allowed, or if allowed, that members of the Task Force will be allowed to put items on the agenda. 
I summarize my comments to the members of the LRA Bd. of Directors. 
____________________ 
LRA Bd. Meeting, March 11, 2010  Public Comments, Melanie Ehrlich 
First I want to state that applicants who have been shortchanged on their RH grants do not need creative financing or some new slow bureaucracy. You heard earlier today about the extraordinarily slow HMGP program for RH applicants to elevate their homes. Applicants need to be given the money that they were shortchanged, which was often done in violation of RH’s own rules. 
CHAT is a grass-roots group. We have advocated successfully for many improvements but too many of these were later retracted or ignored. We have over 1600 responses from applicants to long surveys, hundreds of emails from top officials starting in Oct. 2006, data from former RH employees, and hundreds of other files that show that there has been extensive shortchanging of Road Home (RH) applicants in violation of RH rules. 
We are very concerned about LRA not spending the remaining ~$0.2 – 0.3 billion first and foremost to correct shortchanging mistakes of applicants 
Just one example, the very tip of the iceberg is a 96 year-old widow with two devoted sons who can’t get her rightful grant even though I personally interceded for her with Paul Rainwater and Robin Keegan. 
She owns a camelback house in NO, which had less than 30% of the total square footage on the second floor. All her utilities were on the first floor (as for Charity Hospital). She had 9 ft of filthy flood water in her home for several weeks but RH said it was less than 50% damaged (unlike the 20-story Charity Hospital, which the State argued had more than 50% damage although there was only flooding of the basement and 3 feet of water on the first floor). 
Many applicants had mistakenly low square footage or hastily done damage reports that led to gross underestimates of damage and incorrectly low RH grants. Mrs. Taggert had her appeal denied despite multiple mistakes in grant calculation, including in the square footage determination by a young, inexperienced “home evaluator.” 
Thousands of low-income or middle-class applicants have suffered financially and emotionally because of broken promises by RH. Many went to their grant closing only to find out there that the grant had been cut by many thousands of dollars, with no explanation, despite a RH rule about advance notice of grant cuts. 
RH has been characterized by enormous inconsistency in applying its rules and extraordinarily high rates of mistakes involving large amounts of money. 
This Board unanimously approved in May 2007 the LRA Road Home Statement of Principles including: 
“The calculation of Road Home program benefits should be consistent, fair, and accurate.” 
“Every applicant should have access to a fair and swift resolution of errors, disputes, and appeals. 
Instead, RH policy has been to continue to give lip service to the appeals of many thousands of applicants. Also, LRA has insisted that applicants give up their appeal if they want to get an elevation award. RH made it difficult for applicants to initiate appeals and wore them down with appeals lasting more than 1 year. 
Now, you can help slam the door shut on these shortchanged applicants or you can make sure that RH applicants get the remaining money, which is listed as a surplus only because of squeezing grants. 
I have a list of easy ways to help many, but not all, of the applicants who have been shortchanged and can’t rebuild. I handed the list out to each of you (see below).  
Implementing this recommendations would reduce blight, e.g., in my blight-stricken district of Gentilly in NOLA, and, more importantly, it would right some of the outrageous wrongs in grant processing. 
In 2008 an LRA-LSU Customer Satisfaction Survey, was conducted. The results were never released to the public. It was acknowledged, in writing, by an LRA official that the survey was biased toward satisfied applicants. 
I got this survey 8 months after filing a public record request for it.  55% of RH respondents stated in the survey that insufficient RH funds was a major impediment to their rebuilding. 

Please do not further oppress hurricane/flood victims by diverting their rebuilding money from them.
When I finished speaking, the only response was from Leger, who said the following. 

I agree with some of the things that Ms. Ehrlich said but others I disagree with. I appointed her to the LRA Housing Task Force.  She says things that make us look bad (If I had been given an extra couple of minutes to speak, I would have said the statement that was in my handout to the board about RH doing much good.)  I saw that survey that she mentioned. “That survey was biased toward DISSATISFIED applicants. Those are the types who take surveys. I don’t believe the statement that a member of the LRA staff said that the survey was biased toward satisfied applicants.“ 
I was in effect being accused of lying about the bias of the LRA-LSU Customer Satisfaction Survey toward satisfied applicants.  I responded to the Chairman, David Voelker,  “May I respond to Mr. Leger.” 
He said, “No.” 

I said, “Mr. Leger is wrong. I have documents to prove everything I said.”
So, CHAT members, I share words from those documents with you but not the name of the LRA official who gave those documents to an LRA lawyer to give to me in response to my public records request.  I am concerned that the official might receive negative repercussions from obeying the law and sharing these emails, despite the fact that sharing them with the public in answer to a public records request is required by Louisiana law. 
Below are excerpts from those emails.  I also give some explanations that are based on the full documentation of the survey, which  I got almost a year after my public records request and which I will post in the future at our website. 
Among those at LSU responsible for the survey were Kirby Goidel, Professor, Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, LSU, 225 578 7588; Robert K. Goidel, kgoidel at lsu.edu; Christopher B Kenny, pokenn at lsu.edu;  Kathryn D. Rountree, krount1 at lsu.edu Operations Manager, Public Policy Research Lab, LSU.
 This survey cost $42,592.88 of taxpayer money. 
  
2008 Emails about the LRA Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by LSU, Baton Rouge 
The LRA official: “It looks like there was a mistake on the global satisfaction survey. It appears that too many questions were skipped over if the person responded that they did not get the information they needed. A “no” response should have triggered the question, “Was the[ICF] representative able to connect you to someone who did have the information you needed?” It looks like every subsequent question about their satisfaction was also only asked to those who said “no.” This gives us a very incomplete picture of satisfaction. How can we rectify this.?” 
LSU email response:  First, let me apologize for the problems with the data. Second, and more importantly, let me provide some options for addressing this. 
 “Option 1. Use statistical analyses to draw some conclusion about the data….” 
Option 2. Call those respondents again. 
“Option 3. We can start over from scratch and provide you with new data.” 
“Let us know which option you prefer and will [sic] get busy correcting the error.” 
  
Email response from the LRA official in which bias is acknowledged.  I quote verbatim. 
“I don’t think number 1 will work because of the inherent selection bias…” 
  
In another email, the LRA official correctly wrote the following about the bias. 
“..some pie charts and bar graphs- would just like it put into a document with minimal explanation… Note that the questions about appeals, phone contacts, etc. are not valid because they screwed up the survey (skipped responses when they shouldn’t have)- so we can only focus on the overall satisfaction and use of funds questions.” 
  
Here is some explanation from me of what was being discussed in the many emails about the survey. 
A major bias was introduced into the survey so that of about 7800 responses, LSU staff only included less than 10% in the final report! 
Not only is it biased to throw away most of the responses but one of reasons for excluding them was that if an applicant stated that they did not receive the information they needed from the RH contractor, ICF International, in Question 5, the paid questioners from LSU stopped asking any more questions in the phone survey. If the survey was incomplete, they excluded it. So, they preferentially removed the applicants who did not receive the information they needed from ICF.  In other words, the huge numbers of dissatisfied applicants who could not find out what was going on with their application, often for many months or more than a year, were excluded from being included in the survey analysis. 
An additional bias, to which the LRA official did not object,  was that the only applicants called were those who had been contacted by ICF or subcontractors within the 2 weeks prior to the call.  Therefore, all the many applicants left in limbo by ICF were excluded from the survey. 
There was yet another source of bias to which the LRA official did not object. Of the 503 applicants whose responses were included in the survey (and not discarded) as of May 2008, only 2% were in appeals and 8.5% had telephone contact with the resolutions department. The rest had contact with a housing assistance center staffer or a RH PAL (personal action liaison, supposedly a case manager in the system instituted in 2008 to replace dispute resolution).  But someone at LRA decided then that they needed to introduce into the questionnaire some more satisfied applicants by adding a fifth category of applicants, late in the survey. This category was applicants who just received their grant within two weeks of being surveyed. 
The late Homer Branch, MD, was a core CHAT member who was originally promised a $150,000 RH compensation grant but eventually received 0 dollars even though an administrative law judge (for the few months RH allowed them to give a third level of appeal) ruled that he was wrongfully deprived of his grant. He had helped me review the LSU survey data. He explained from the data sent to me that the statistically analysis used to remove many of the applicants who were allowed to complete the telephone survey was flawed. He said that the justification for removing many who were allowed to complete survey had to do with the generation of a graph in which they were considered outliers, based upon the assumption that the data followed a bell-shaped curve for satisfaction ratings from 1 to 5. The problem is that the data did not follow a bell-shaped curve at all, so removing “outliers” was further biasing the results of the survey. 
Here is what the LRA official wrote about the distribution of responses to the survey. 
“Looking at the data it seems that most people are either really happy or really mad (lots of 5’s and 1’s) so just graphing the averages…can be misleading.” 
  
That is precisely what we have been saying at CHAT for 3 years, ever since they starting giving out the money, many thousands of applicants have been fairly helped but also many thousands have been shortchanged in their grant. For example, http://app1.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf/6F905AB4148A123C8625753D0066BD41/$FILE/00008378.pdf, P.20 
See below for CHAT’s recommendations for how to spend “surplus” RH funds that are the result of squeezing of grant amounts. 
In addition, in case you want to know who is on the LRA Board of Directors and how they have failed in their oversight of the program to correct the excesses, inconsistencies, and irregularities that led to so many justifiabily “really mad” applicants and so much blight from RH applicants who were not given fair grants to rebuild, see below. 
  
Best wishes, 
Melanie Ehrlich 
Co-Chairman, Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT)  http://chatushome.com 
Member of the LRA Housing Task Force 
Comments:   http://www.chatushome.com/blog/?p=64   
  
My list of recommendations to the LRA, which I initially shared with LRA Executive Director at a January meeting between her, Lara Robertson from OCD, Ted Guillot (Louisiana Constituent Services), and Frank Silvestri, CHAT Co-Chair. We had been told that they would be seriously considered but can get no further response about them. 
CHAT Recommendations for “surplus” Road Home (RH) Funds: 3/11/10, www.chatushome.com 
For all categories below, give first preference to those who applied for low-income (ACG) assistance; give grants only for repair/rebuilding; require proof of repair/rebuilding as for recent changes in the ACG grants 

Correct some of the very many mistakes in damage estimates. Recalculate damage estimates for those who had at least 3-5 ft of water in their 1- or 2-story home for >1 week as determined by aerial photos  and other publicly available documentation but were given a less than 50% damage estimate by RH. Recalculation of  % damage would be based on these public data sources.
Correct some of the many mistakes in pre-storm value determination for RH applicants who had their previously purchased certified appraisal disregarded entirely by RH because it was more than 20% higher than RH's pre-storm value (PSV) determination. Give those applicants an extra 20% for their PSV.  Applicants with their own appraisals that were 19% higher than RH’s PSV already got the additional 19% added to their PSV by RH.
Correct mistakes that rescinded eligibility for ACG. Give ACG grants to applicants who had their income very close to the qualifying income during initial income determination. Funds permitting, also give ACG grants to low-income applicants who were very close to the income threshold.
For those applicants in limbo because of minor technicalities about home ownership or residence for  grant approval, apply more realistic rules.  
  
These recommendations come from more than 3 years of data collection about the RH by CHAT. 
  
Robin Keegan’s slides from the LRA Board Meeting 
http://www.lra.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/meetings/2010/Board%20Meeting%203-11-10/EDReport3-11-10.pdf 
CHAT comment: I am glad to report that now the average success rate for State Appeals of RH Grants is 17% , not high at all, but better than the abysmal 5-7% during 2008/2009. 
  
>From the LRA website 
 “The Louisiana Recovery Authority Board of Directors assists Governor Bobby Jindal in leading Louisiana's rebuilding efforts. The Board helps provide vision, creativity and leadership to identify, prioritize and address the short- and long-term issues of recovery. The Board oversees LRA activities and recommends policy, planning and resource allocation for recovery programs and services.

The Board is made up of: 

13 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate who serve staggered terms.
Four ex-officio members (the speaker and speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate) for a total of 17 Board Members.
Board members are respected leaders and citizens. One member is appointed from each congressional district.”





Appointed Board Members
David Voelker, Chair
Rene Cross
Jaswant "Jas" Gill
Andrew Guinn
Thomas Henning
Raymond Lasseigne
Patricia Schuster Leblanc
Walter Leger, Jr.
Roy O. Martin, III

Sean Reilly
John E. Smith 
Ex-officio Members:
Sen. Joel Chaisson, II
Rep. Jim Tucker
Sen. Sharon Weston Broome
  
  
  
  
  
  
Dr. Norman Francis, Chairman from October 2005 - June 2008
Dr. Francis was named President of Xavier University in 1968. His tenure as president is among the longest of any college president in the United States. During that time, Xavier University has seen unparalleled growth. The campus, which serves more than 4,000 students, is now home to a $15 million Library Resources Center, a 430-bed, $13 million dormitory and a $23 million Science Complex, which includes a new School of Pharmacy. On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush honored Dr. Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian. After serving as Chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority Board of Directors for nearly three years, Dr. Francis stepped down in June 2008 to devote more time to Xavier University.
Walter Isaacson, Vice-Chairman from October 2005 - June 2008
Walter Isaacson is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of Time Magazine. He is the author of "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" (2003) and of "Kissinger: A Biography" (1992). Isaacson coauthored "The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made" (1986).
Isaacson was born in New Orleans. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC, and in Aspen, Colorado. 
Dale Atkins
Attorney Dale Atkins is the Civil District Court Clerk for Orleans Parish. She is a graduate of Xavier Prep in New Orleans, Notre Dame University and Southern Methodist University Law School. She is a member of the Louisiana Trial Lawyer's Association. In 2004, Atkins was appointed to the Southern University Board of Supervisors, representing the Second Congressional District. The Southern University Board of Supervisors Board manages and supervises of the institutions of higher education, statewide agricultural programs and other programs which comprise the Southern University System. Atkins serves as Chairman of the boards' Personnel Affairs and Policy Committee and also serves as Chair of the university's Presidential Search Committee.

Rev. Harry Blake
Reverend Harry Blake is a leader in community renewal. Reverend Blake is Pastor of the Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA, and President of the Louisiana Missionary Baptist State Convention, the oldest Baptist organization with more than 450-member churches across Louisiana. Reverend Blake has also served as the Dean of the Congress of Christian Education and Chairman of the Evangelical Board for the Louisiana Missionary Baptist State Convention and was elected General Secretary of the National Baptist Convention.

Donald T. "Boysie" Bollinger
Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., a family-owned business established in 1946 by Boysie’s father. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. is a full service marine construction and repair operation headquartered in Lockport, Louisiana with 12 divisions in Louisiana, two divisions in Texas, and activities extending into the international market. Bollinger serves on the Board of Directors of Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (LWCC), American Equity Underwriters, and the University of LA System.

Kim M. Boyle
a partner in the employment law group in New Orleans office of Phelps-Dunbar, Kim Boyle is actively involved in improving the city of New Orleans, serving on the Bring New Orleans Back Commission as the Chair of its Health/Social Services Committee and as co-chair of the Committee for a Better New Orleans/Metropolitan Area Committee. Boyle was the first African-American President of the New Orleans Bar Association. Prior to joining Phelps-Dunbar, Boyle served as Judge Pro Tempore, Division I, for the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish. She is also a former assistant professor of law at Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans.

Donna L. Brazile
New Orleans native Donna Brazile is Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute (VRI) and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She is currently the founder and managing director of Brazile & Associates, LLC, a political consulting and grassroots advocacy firm based in the District of Columbia. Brazile is also the author of "Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics," a memoir about her life in the political arena. Brazile, a veteran Democratic political strategist, was the first African-American to lead a major presidential campaign , serving as the campaign manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000.
John Brewster
Mr. Brewster is Executive Vice President for NRG Energy, Inc. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President, International Operations and Regional President, South Central Region of NRG. He’s also served as Vice President, Worldwide Operations of NRG, Vice President, North American Operations and Vice President of Production for NRG Louisiana Generating, Inc. Prior to joining NRG, Mr. Brewster spent 22 years with Cajun Electric Power Cooperative, where he was Vice President of Production.

Mr. Brewster has been involved in the energy business for the last 30 years both domestically and internationally and continues to represent NRG on several international boards.  He has served on the Executive Committee of Western Systems Power Pool, the board of directors of the SERC Reliability Corporation and the Operations Committee of the Southwest Power Pool.

Tim Coulon
Tim Coulon has dedicated much of his life’s work to serving the people of South Louisiana. From 1995 - 2003, Coulon served as President of Jefferson Parish. Under Coulon’s leadership, Jefferson Parish embarked on the most extensive capital improvement initiative in Jefferson’s history which included a $221 million road improvement program as well as the $350 million Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project (SELA). Coulon also serves on Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District Board.

James Davison
James Davison is the founder and Chairman of the board of Davison Transport, Inc. and Davison Petroleum Products, LLC. He is also the founder and chief executive officer of the Squire Creek Country Club. A native of Ruston, Davison earned a business administration degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1959. He holds memberships on several boards and organizations, including the board of trustees of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, SECURE (Committee of 100), Louisiana Tech Alumni Association, the Ruston Kiwanis Club, and the board of directors of the Lincoln General Hospital.

Donna D. Fraiche
Donna D. Fraiche is currently a shareholder in the New Orleans office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz and a member of the health care and public policy departments. Fraiche served as the first female president of the organization now known as the American Health Lawyers Association and is currently a fellow of the Association. Fraiche currently chairs the Louisiana Health Care Commission and is president of the Louisiana Bar Foundation. She recently served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University. She served as president and Chair of the Board of the World Trade Center, founded the New Orleans Regional Medical Center and is a diplomate of the American College of Health Care Executives. Fraiche is on the adjunct faculty of Tulane University's School of Public Health and Administration and served as a preceptor for the residency program in health systems management. Fraiche is a New Orleans native.

Sibal S. Holt
Sibal Holt retired from the AFL-CIO in March 2005, after serving the state's largest union for 31 years. In 2004, she became the first African-American woman in the country to run a state-level AFL-CIO. Prior to her election as the union's president, Holt served as its secretary-treasurer. Holt, a native of New Orleans, graduated from LSU with a degree in English. She completed a two-year course in leadership at Auburn University.

Dr. Alex Johnson
Dr. Alex Johnson is the former Chancellor of Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to this post, he was President of the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. Following Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Johnson has contributed his expertise to the recovery of New Orleans as a member of Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s “Bring New Orleans Back Commission” steering committees on education, strategic healthcare issues, and economic development, chairing its workforce subcommittee. He was appointed to the Hurricane Recovery Advisory Committee by the New Orleans City Council and is a “champion” with the Louisiana Recovery Authority’s Louisiana Speaks Campaign.

Linda M. Johnson
Linda Johnson currently serves as the Human Resources Supervisor for the Georgia Gulf Corporation. In November of 1999, she was elected to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and began her first term of office in January 2000. Johnson, of Plaquemine, Louisiana, is a member of the Iberville Chamber of Commerce, the Iberville Head Start Advisory Council, the Iberville Economic Development Commission, the Louisiana Chemical Society, and the National Association of State Boards of Education. Her main areas of education focus are early childhood education and changes in the design of high schools.

John T. Landry
John T. Landry is Director of Development for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. A retired business executive, Mr. Landry received the LADA "Dealer of the Year" Award for the Parishes of Lafayette, Iberia, St. Martin and Vermilion. He served on the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association Board of Directors and on the Pontiac, Buick and GMC Truck Zone Dealer Councils. He currently serves on the Acadiana Region Board of Directors of Hibernia National Bank. A resident of Abbeville, Louisiana , he is a past president of the Abbeville Chamber of Commerce, Abbeville Kiwanis Club and also served as a member of the Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry.

Laura Leach
Laura Leach is one of the principal owners of Sweet Lake Land & Oil Co., Inc. in Lake Charles, LA. She earned her bachelor's degree in business administration from Louisiana State University in 1961. Her professional affiliations include: the LSU Foundation, LSU Alumni Association, Swine Palace Productions, LSU Campaign Leadership Team, LSU Libraries, Claiborne Society, College of Education Development Council, Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, serving as state president, Lake Charles Symphony, and the Boy Scouts Council. Leach is a native of Lake Charles.

Dr. Calvin Mackie
In 1992, Dr. Calvin Mackie co-founded Channel ZerO, an educational and motivational consulting company. He has been active on the public speaking circuit for over ten years giving motivational presentations to numerous educational, civic and corporate institutions. Mackie is also a tenured associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans, specializing in heat transfer and fluid dynamics. Mackie, a New Orleans native, is an active member of the National Speaker Association, the 100 Black Men of Metro New Orleans, and a board member of New Orleans Computer Access Program (NOCAP); a nonprofit organization that places computers in the homes of New Orleans Public School first graders.

Mary Matalin
Mary Matalin formerly served as assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was the first White House official to hold that double title. Prior to joining the Bush/Cheney White House, Matalin hosted a number of talk shows, including CNN's Crossfire. She also founded and co-hosted the Washington-based political weeknight talk show, 'Equal Time', which premiered in May 1993 on CNBC through 1996. Matalin also co-authored the best-selling political campaign book "All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President" with her husband, James Carville, who was the chief campaign strategist for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Mary and her husband who is from New Orleans reside in Virginia with their daughters.
David Richard
Lake Charles biologist David Richard is executive vice president of Stream Property Management Inc., a private company that manages the Stream family estate in southwestern Louisiana, as well as 150,000 acres of diverse wetlands in southern Louisiana. He also manages Stream Wetland Services, a consulting company specializing in wetlands restoration. Prior to his current position, he spent 16 years as a wildlife biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. During his tenure at Stream Property Management, Richard was instrumental in securing wetlands restoration funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He also participated in the writing and implementation of Coast 2050 Plan for Louisiana. While working with Wildlife and Fisheries, he maintained 85,000 acres of wetlands within the Rockefeller Refuge. During this
 time, he was responsible for monitoring and surveying several species associated with the wetlands including waterfowl, alligators and furbearers. He is a member of the Louisiana Wildlife Biologists Association, the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the Louisiana Landowners Association, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. 


Virgil Robinson, Jr.
Virgil Robinson Jr., a native of New Orleans, serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Dryades Savings Bank, which he has done since its inception in 1994. Before joining Dryades, Robinson had served as Executive Vice President at Liberty Bank and Trust in New Orleans and senior vice president at Jefferson Guaranty Bank in Metairie, La. His banking experience ranges from lending to operations to branch administration, including executive management positions with several New Orleans area banks. Robinson is a graduate of Grambling State University, as well as the University of Oklahoma-Norman and the American Institute of Banking. Prior to his banking career, he played professional football for the Green Bay Packers, the New Orleans Saints and the Shreveport Steamers.

Dr. Mary Ella Sanders
Dr. Mary Ella Sanders is a practicing radiation oncologist and former Interim Chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center (LSU-HSC). Born in Jackson, Mississippi, she relocated to Louisiana during her childhood and grew up in the public school system of Baton Rouge. Dr. Sanders earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1975. Dr. Sanders was appointed to serve as Interim Chancellor of the LSU-HSC in January 2001, where she served until October 2003. Following her appointment, Dr. Sanders remained at the LSU-HSC as Vice Chancellor of Clinical Affairs following her role as interim chancellor. Most recently, she has accepted a position as a Radiation Oncologist at the LSU-HSC in Shreveport.

John E. Smith
A banking executive with more than 30 years of experience, John E. Smith serves as the 2006 Chair of the Greater Slidell Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina who has served as the president of the Northshore Banking Division of Whitney National Bank since 2003. Before joining Whitney Bank, Smith managed many several divisions of New Orleans-based Hibernia bank, starting in 1981. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hospice Foundation of the South, the Northshore Regional Medical Center and the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation and on the Board of Commissioners of the St. Tammany Economic Development District.

Dennis Stine
Dennis Stine is Chief Executive Officer and partial owner of Stine Lumber Company, Inc, a Sulphur, La.-based building material company founded by his father, J.W. Stine in 1954. Stine, a native of Sulphur, Louisiana, attended Sulphur High School. He received a Bachelors degree in Accounting and a Masters in Business from McNeese State University. Stine served as Louisiana State Commissioner of Administration in 1988-1992 during the Roemer Administration and two terms in the House of Representatives. Stine serves on the Louisiana State Trooper Association, Christus Health Board of Directors, Region V Health Care Commission, Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, Blueprint Louisiana, Council for a Better Louisiana, Community Foundation of Acadiana, Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, and Allied Building Stores.

Matthew G. Stuller
Matthew G. Stuller, Sr. is Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Global Strategist of Stuller, Inc., North America's largest jewelry manufacturer and distributor. Stuller, Inc. employs 2,000 people in three continents and has numerous subsidiary companies. Stuller, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, serves on the board of trustees of Ascension Day School and the executive board of directors of the Evangeline Area Boy Scouts. He is also a member of the Young President's Organization, Sons of the American Revolution, and the United Way's Alexis de Tocqueville Society.

Susan L. Taylor
Susan L. Taylor is editorial director of Essence magazine. Taylor has been the driving force behind one of the most celebrated African-American owned business success stories of the past three decades. She oversees the editorial operations of the magazine and writes the popular "In the Spirit" column each month. For more than a decade, the Essence Music Festival has been a major event in New Orleans, Louisiana. Affectionately known as "the party with a purpose," the festival features three days of concerts by leading artists, motivational seminars and a marketplace. A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Susan L. Taylor was the founder of her own company, Nequai Cosmetics, before becoming Essence's fashion and beauty editor and, in 1981, its editor-in-chief. In 1999, Taylor became the first African-American woman to receive The Henry Johnson Fisher Award from the Magazine Publishers of America, the magazine industry's highest honor. In 2002, Taylor was
 inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors' (ASME) Hall of Fame, which celebrates the career-long records of excellence, creativity and impact of a select group of highly influential magazine journalists.

Rod West
Rod West serves as Region Manager for Entergy's New Orleans Distribution Operations. In this role since December 2003, Mr. West manages Metro New Orleans' electric distribution system. Prior to this assignment, Mr. West served as Director of Regulatory Affairs for Entergy New Orleans, Inc. West's primary responsibility was managing Entergy's financial and regulatory outcomes for its $600,000,000.00 utility operation in New Orleans. West joined Entergy Corporation in April 1999 as Senior Regulatory Counsel where he represented Entergy Corporation in its regulatory litigation group.

Mike Woods
Mike Woods is a leader in higher education. In 1997, Woods was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System. Woods has been a leader on the board, serving as the Chair of the Finance Committee and Vice Chair of the Board. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board, a position he has held since 2004. Woods also currently serves as President of the family owned and operated Woods Operating Company, Inc. and is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Law and Non-Profit Governance and Decision Making at Louisiana State University- Shreveport.
Past Ex-officio Members
Former Sen. Diana Bajoie
Sen. Yvonne Dorsey
Former Sen. Don Hines
Former Rep. Joe Salter
  
  
  
 
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