Robert Adley questions Jindal's claims of cutting spending

At last Louisiana’s beavers can breathe easy. For all the promises of streamlined government and warnings of layoffs that accompanied Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $341 million “cost-savings” plan to balance this year’s budget, it appears the few flesh-and-blood, full-time state employees who actually will receive pink slips include the eight who work in the office that trapped 1,451 beavers last year.
The rest of the so-called cuts include about $32 million for not filling vacant jobs, some $57 million from one-time money in health-care programs and about $80 million in unused appropriations after goods and services were paid.
By law, this unspent money, otherwise, would become surplus on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Former state House Appropriations Committee chairman and now-Sen. Robert Adley says Jindal’s budget jiggling didn’t really reduce state government spending. “You cut that money, but it’s not really a cut because you weren’t spending it either,” said Adley, R-Benton.
Complete story in The Advocate