Landry launches DOGE-like government savings initiative
23rd December 2024 · 0 Comments
By Julie O’Donoghue
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — Following in the footsteps of President-elect Donald Trump, Gov. Jeff Landry will establish a program to seek out waste and inefficiency in state government.
Landry signed an executive order on December 12 to establish a new government efficiency task force and named oil and gas executive Steve Orlando as the state’s new Financial Responsibility czar. He will be in charge of overseeing a new Fiscal Responsibility Program and calling its meetings.
He and other members of the task force are supposed to evaluate the state’s current expenditures, state contracts and staffing levels for potential cuts. They will also look for places to reduce wait times for state services and see where public spending can be cut by taking advantage of technology, according to Landry’s executive order.
The group’s first report is due Dec. 31, 2025.
Orlando, chairman of Allison Marine Holdings, is a longtime supporter of the governor’s. He runs one of Landry’s political action committees, Louisiana Citizens for Job Creators, and has lent Landry his private plane for travel, according to The Times-Picayune.
Orlando is also on the board of directors for Harvey Gulf International Marine, a company that Landry political supporter and confidant Shane Guidry owns.
Landry’s government efficiency order resembles Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, which billionaire tech leader Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy lead. The government-cutting initiative has been given the acronym DOGE in a nod to the cryptocurrency dogecoin, in which Musk is a substantial investor.
Alongside Orlando, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice also appointed four legislators from each chamber to the task force.
Henry picked Sens. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs; Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia; Jeremy Stine, R-Lake Charles; and Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette. DeVillier selected Reps. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro; Stephanie Berault, R-Slidell; Phillip Tarver, R-Lake Charles and Adrian Fisher, D-Monroe.
In his executive order, Landry listed his record of cutting government spending as an elected official.
The governor claimed he’s helped reduce the state government budget by approximately $2 billion. But most of that $2 billion automatically came out of the budget as a result of cuts in the federal government spending and not decisions Landry and other state officials made.
In fact, Landry has grown state spending in some agencies since becoming governor in January. He has increased Louisiana State Police spending, for example, by adding a new troop in New Orleans.
The governor has also pushed a number of tough-on-crime laws expected to cost the state more money. They will result in longer prison sentences for incarcerated people.
This article originally published in the December 23, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
