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LA. LEGAL FEES
EXPENSE HIGHER
McKeithen Administra-
tion Figures Revealed
By C. M. HARGRODER
(The Times-Picayune Staff Car-remanded)
BATON ROUGE, La. — The administration of Gov. John J. McKeithen is spending more on legal fees that his predecessor did in 1963, a survey by The Times-Picayune shows.
In fact, the figure appears to be $221,203.80 higher per
year, or $1,110,435.80 as compared to $889,232 in 1963. Ac-
tually the figure is probably higher in that the compilation does not include those paid by the hour, the day or by the case.
A 1963 survey showed a total of 112 unclassified attorneys at $547,052 per year, plus 37 Civil Service classified attorneys at $342,180 a year.
CURRENT LISTING
As per the current listing of unclassified employes maintained by the Division of Administration, there are 100 attorneys. Their salaries total $645,675.80. as of Jan. 31, 1967, There were 42 classified attorneys. Their salaries total $464,760 in a year.
At least $66,500 a year of the unclassified payroll is directly attributable to special counsel to the governor or directors of special commissions (who are also attorneys) of special commissions named by McKeithen since he took office.
When The Times-Picayune published a survey in 1965, McKeithen took issue with it, and made his own study in which he claimed reductions in the legal payroll. He reported:
SPENDING CRITICIZED
"When I campaigned for governor I criticized the large amount of state money being expended for attorneys and public relations personnel. Inre-
afel yafter this administration
AO office I requested all agen- cies to economize in these
areas."
At the time McKeithen took issue with The Times-Picayune listing, he complained that many 01 the attorneys were in agen- ems "outside the authority of the governor." However, then, as now, the comparison was made with the 1963 figures which McKeithen originally criticized. ,
The office of the attorney general is accountable for 36 of the total unclassified list, .413d their combined annual sal-
es represent $229,095.96 of
total.
-"-According to the listing of un-
classified employes, here are
'
the agencies which employ at- torneys, and the salaries that are paid monthly (except as otherwise noted):
LIST
Division of Administration, $1,0l. (Employes of the division insist that Sidney Fazio, an un- successful candidate for the House of Representatives from Baton Rouge, has actually been on leave of absence since Oct. 15, 1966, but their own listing shows him as being on the pay- roll of the agency.)
Commission on Extension a n d Continuing Education, Crowley city Judge Edmund M. Reggie, $12,000 annually; Commission on Human Rela- tions, Rights and Responsibili- ties, the director and assistant director, both attorneys, $25,- 000 combined salaries; Ca- mille Gravel, special counsel
to the governor on Medicare, $17,500 annually plus a domiciliary expense allowance; Jerry Millican, special counsel to the governor for traffic safety, $12,000 annually.
Agriculture, $700; Ascension-§t. James Bridge Authority, $300; Banking Department, $750 for one and $400 for another; Bond and Building Commission, $300; Caddo Levee District, $600; Campti Levee District, $225; Cane Rover Levee District, $125; Casualty a n d Surety Division, $10,000 annually; Board of Administrators of New Orleans Charity Hospital, two at $300 each; conservation, two at $500 each; State Licensing Board for Contractors, $550; Louisiana Board of Cosmetology $700, and custodian of voting machines, $525; State Board of Dentistry, $200; East Louisiana State Hospital, $500; Fire Insurance Division, $5,400 annually; state fire marshal, $733.32; executive counsel to the governor, $14,000 annually; Baton Rouge Port Commission, $12,000 annually; State Board of Health, one at $525, one at $400 and a third at $600.
Louisiana Board of Highways, one firm at $1,250 and
one attorney at $250, plus others paid by the case. (The department also has 18 attorneys under civil service.)
Department of Labor, $600; Lafourche Levee District, $600; Lake Providence Port Commission, two paid $15 an hour each; the Legislative Council, one at $550, one at $600, one at $700, one at $1,000 per month and two
at $4) a day each; Board of Medical Examiners, $300.; Min-
eral (Board, one at $600 and another at actual expenses; Mis-
sissippi River Bridge Authority, $500; Motor Vehicle Commis-
sion, $500.
Board of Nurse Examiners, $40 a month; Occupational Standards, $400; Optometric Examiners, $200; Orleans Levee Board, $800; Pharmacy Board, $50; Pontchartrain Levee Board, $500 each for two; Practical Nurse Examiners, $50; Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, $300; State Police, $650, and
Public Service Commission, $10,000 annually; Board for Radio and Television Technicians, $500; Red River-Bayou Pigeon Levee District, $100; register of state lands, $700; secretary of state, $14,600 an-natty, and Wild Life and Fisheries, $700.
When McKeithen made his own survey in 1965, he insisted that reductions had been made in those agencies over which he had control and ordered all agencies to reduce their payroll to the level of April 30, 1964. The current payroll apparently surpasses not only that level, but the one of which the governor complained in the previous administration.
Cont. in Sec. 1, Page 2, Col. 1
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