Mary Landrieu Embarrassed, Superintendent Wants Legal Fees Covered – Wingin’ It Wednesday

This week on "Wingin' It Wednesday", panelist Carol Ross, Mike Stagg, and former congressman Jeff Landry (in for Warren Caudle) joined "Mornings with Ken and Bernie" to discuss the question of whether or not the school board should cover legal fees incurred by the Superintendent as well as Senator Mary Landrieu's recent comments regarding Obamacare.

Here's what the panel had to say:

1. Lafayette School Board member Tehmi Chaisson says the School Board should not be liable for attorney fees incurred by Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper.  Cooper says the Board should have been prepared for this eventuality when they decided to reprimand him and planned to hire a firm to investigate nebulous charges.  According to Dr. Cooper his contract allows him to retain council if action is brought against him by the Board.  Do you think the Board is liable for Dr. Cooper's legal fees?

Carol Ross started us off:

They still haven't specified what the charges are, I was reading the report yesterday. Generally speaking, public officials involved in legal action during their course of duties, then the public body for which they represent picks up the tab for their legal fees.
This is just the tip of the iceberg though. This is a symptom of what's really going on in the school board.
They're at war right now and this is just another expression of that war. I don't see how the school board can claim that their legal fees will be paid for by the school system but the superintendents cannot when they are two sides of the same war.
What I'd like them to do is dial it back and get back to the business of educating kids. They hired Dr. Cooper because of his expertise. There are some very good parts of his Turn Around plan, some I don't agree with but the man is a professional. They need to get their heads on straight, get back to the business of educating the kids.

Mike Stagg added:

This all goes back to the fact that Superintendent Cooper hired someone that wasn't the choice of school board members and they're upset, and they've been upset ever since and they're trying to retaliate. The school board is learning like the 97 oil and gas companies being sued by the Southeast Louisiana Louisiana Flood Protection Authority that contracts matter, and that they impose binding obligations on both sides. If you're going to require an employee of your to take up legal burdens, then you're going to have to pay for those costs.
Can one attorney represent both sides because they're both being paid by the same pile of money?
But this is just a vendetta run-a-muck.  This is directly traceable to the hiring of the Director of Maintenance. And while they were not pleased with the hire, the people he works for love the performance of the guy doing the job.

Jeff Landry Concluded:

I'll say this, if it's in his contract and the tax payers have to foot that bill, I think the board has the responsibility to know what kind of contractual obligations they are getting themselves into, and they need to conduct themselves according to the contract.
At the end of the day, I think Mrs. Carol said it all, let's get back to educating the kids of Lafayette Parish.

2. Senator Mary Landrieu recently said she is embarrassed to travel to Spain or France because their citizens have better healthcare than Americans.  In light of the economic situation in Spain and France do you think she has a right to be embarrassed?

Jeff stated:

I'm sure what Mike wand what most liberals and Democrats will tell you is, they'll start to throw out things like "info mortality rates", but the problem is when comparing healthcare around the world, you need to look at services delivered and outcomes, because the United States leads in cancer survival rates, it leads in post-heart attack care; it's real simple, just ask anyone, when you get cancer…where do you want to go for treatment.

Carol added:

What Jeff is talking about, the World Health Organization is the one that reports these statistics, but they do it in a true apples to oranges way. We report all the statistics include crime deaths and things like that. They do selective reporting which is, well it's an agenda driven organization, like most are.

 

Mike stated:

Trying to convince people not to take health insurance coverage so that they and their families can have a quality of life that doesn't threaten them with bankruptcy when one of their family members gets ill.
Denying healthcare to Louisiana citizens through medicaid expansion that would cost the state zero dollars, according to DHH and according to the legislative fiscal office, and trying to discourage people from taking part in state exchanges which will make the cost of insurance less for them.

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think about today’s Wingin’ It Wednesday topics. Who got it right, who got it wrong, and who was way off? Let us know in the comment section.