Some of the ends are coming aloose

Just last week, we noted that John Bel was gearing up for reelection by paying off Gayle Benson with a sweetheart deal for Superdome renovations right before he paid off Jim Bernhard with this Energy Partners/Johnson Controls deal. So far so good.

But the largest contracts let by the state are with the managed care firms who administer the state's privatized Medicaid program. Altogether these contracts total something close to $8 billion. The current deals were negotiated during the Jindal administration (that process was not without its controversies) and were kept in place by John Bel even after the state accepted the Medicaid expansion.

Those contracts are up for renewal now and, for whatever reason... just ahead of election time... John Bel has decided to shake things up a bit. The new deal brings the number of contractors down from five to four. It also replaces another of the existing companies.  Humana has been cut in while Aetna and Louisiana Healthcare Connections are out. Which means we have to ask who is John Bel paying off here and what is their relationship with Humana? 

We don't know the answer to that yet. But we do know LHCC has a friend in Cedric Richmond's orbit.

U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, penned a letter Friday to Edwards raising concerns about the decision to drop Louisiana Healthcare Connections from the state’s managed care system. He warned of lost jobs in his district and said 84,000 of his constituents receive health care through LHC’s network, raising the possibility of patients losing access to their providers with the change.

Today LHCC and Aetna have filed some sort of appeal.  And a joint legislative committee will begin considering the new contracts sometime in September. Again, right in the middle of election season. Can't imagine anybody there would be up to making any mischief for any reason.

What could possibly go wrong?

The John Bel administration is about to enter into a big contract for privatizing energy systems servicing state buildings. The deal is with a company called LA Energy Partners.  Who are they?

The agreement would see LA Energy Partners take over the chiller systems at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge, as well as make a host of energy upgrades at 31 state buildings.

If approved, the deal would set the state for any state entity to “opt in” to a similar agreement with the company, which is a joint venture between Bernhard Energy Solutions and Johnson Controls Inc.

Bernhard sounds familiar to you probably.  Here is why.

Bernhard Energy is controlled by Bernhard Capital Partners, a private equity firm founded by Jim Bernhard, who co-founded and ran the energy services giant Shaw Group before its $3 billion sale to CB&I in 2013. Bernhard, a former Democratic party official, was floated as a possible candidate for governor this year before he ruled it out.

Oh boy oh boy. Sure, Bernhard has been a big wheel in the State Democratic Party but his Shaw group was always happy to contribute to whichever Democrat or Republican was in a position to help it make money.  It was at least in part through Republican channels that Shaw made a ton of money "dewatering" New Orleans after Katrina.

Last week FEMA gave out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts to engineering and construction firms to build an estimated 300,000 temporary housing units. Those contracts were awarded without competition under rules that allow agencies to bypass normal procedures during an emergency. Several went to companies that have been major financial supporters of the Bush administration. One firm, Shaw Group Inc., of Baton Rouge, is on the client list of lobbyist and former FEMA director Joe M. Allbaugh, though he has said he does not get involved with contracts.

Shaw also was picked last week by the corps for a $100 million contract, with one of its first tasks to pump floodwater out of New Orleans. The agency contacted two other companies to generate competition for the work, a corps contracting official said yesterday, but only Shaw responded.

Later, Shaw greatly benefited from Bobby Jindal's Hazard Mitigation grant program which came under scrutiny in 2011 from the Legislative Auditor.

The findings seem to fit in with years of complaints from applicants and HMGP staffers alike, who said the program is plagued by miscommunication, convoluted verification procedures and ever-changing policies. The policy changes were mostly intended to speed up a program that took almost three years to pay significant dividends for homeowners but was "front-loaded" to pay program management fees to a prominent state contractor, the Shaw Group.

At one point late last year, one of every four dollars paid out by the program had gone to Shaw for administrative fees.

Despite these criticisms, Shaw's role in the program was continued and expanded. This was in addition to the scratch they picked up building Jindal's sand berms to nowhere following the 2010 BP oil spill. They must have just happened to be in the right place at the right time again.

The berm project has been a boon to Louisiana industry: although many of the dredging companies working on the project have out-of-state headquarters, all have a major presence in Louisiana. The Shaw Group, the lead contractor on the project, is based in Baton Rouge and has been one of Mr. Jindal’s leading campaign contributors over the years.

Anyway, so, according to the Advocate today, Jim Bernhard was thinking about running for Governor this year. This will be the second time he's almost gotten in John Bel's way but was convinced to step aside somehow.  Surely this new LA Energy Partners contract coming when it does is just a coincidence.

Meanwhile, back to today's story, look who else is here.

Bernhard Energy Solutions partnered with the HVAC firm Johnson Controls at the behest of the Edwards administration after both companies submitted proposals to land the state energy deal.

Ooohkaayy. So what we have here is a big expansive contract to do energy efficiency in government buildings involving one high profile political operator AND Johnson Controls.  Never seen anything like that before. What could possibly go wrong?