New Orleans      Louisiana is not a rich state, despite bounteous natural resources.  That’s a long story, not a short one.  Richland Parish in the northern part of the state not too far from Monroe is the opposite of a rich land.  Farming isn’t great.  The years have not been kind to many of these parishes running along the Arkansas border all the way to the Mississippi River.  I don’t fault the Republican politicians from the Governor on down for trying to do something for the people in that parish, but the ends used to justify such means are important no matter the rationalizations and intentions.

You may have guessed that we’re talking about data centers, and more to the point Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and its now parent, Meta, and the $50-billion mega data center fast tracked and under construction in Richland Parish.  Once this project was on the front page of the New York Times and then took up a full two-pages of the paper’s real estate in the front section, there was little doubt that once they looked behind the curtain, this was going to be an uncomfortable read on multiple fronts.

That’s not say it’s a simple story.  Did Meta get a sweet deal?  Oh, my goodness, yes!  Did they take advantage of the state by slick dealing and hard bargaining.  Oh, my goodness, no!  The investigation makes clear that Entergy, the state’s electric company drove the deal, enlisted the pols, and greased the skids from the first fancy dinner in New Orleans until the ink was dry.  Depressingly, almost everyone involved in any part of the negotiations seems to have been delighted to bend over backwards for Meta.  You can’t claim you were robbed, if you offer up almost everything for free from 1400 acres of state-owned property to Entergy’s wholehearted desire to enlist its biggest customer for almost half of the energy it produces in the state.
Even before desert and coffee, when Meta said it wouldn’t work without a huge sales tax exemption that was impossible with the legislature not in a fiscal session, Energy claimed there was a fix for that and with the governor and his economic development team’s help, they delivered that and more.

All of this was in total secrecry from the public.  More than 77% of the state’s senate signed non-disclosure agreements.  Almost everyone from local officials on up also signed NDAs.  Governor Jeff Landry defends all of this hush-hush wheeler dealing by saying, “How did Mark Zuckerberg build a successful company.  He didn’t do it by going out there and telling everybody what he was doing, what his game plan was?”  In other comments, he mocks “transparency.”

There’s no question that Meta made a good deal for itself.  They managed to off load much of the risk to a private equity bunch.  They can walk after four years, if the wind goes another direction.  They would pay a penalty, even if they would stick Energy and their investors badly.  They finessed their insurance problem and the risk of a huge development on a flood plain, by insuring only a small bit, adding some “Hail, Mary’s”, and a bit of “what me worry.”

Even if the jury is out and some Richland Parish folks are cashing in, getting work, and seeing their land get pricier, I still have a beef with all of Landry and the rest of their rationalizations.  They aren’t Zuckerberg.  Louisiana is a sovereign state, not a commercial enterprise.  It’s elected leaders by law and oath owe accountability to the public not at the end of this story, but at the beginning and middle as well.  It’s the state’s citizens and the state-regulated utility’s consumer base that are paying these bills and on the hook.  It’s the duty of elected leaders to steward their resources and money for all citizens, not to suit the pleasures of a private commercial enterprise no matter how large.  If you’re not willing to face the public and make your case, the rationalizations later don’t hold water, especially when the pols will be long gone from office while citizens and customers will be paying for decades.

This is similar undemocratic confusion for Trump and his administration, as they invest in private companies and bend over backwards for one after another.  Trump often seems to see America as his private concern.  Landry as a mini-me is playing follow the leader.  None of this works in a functional democracy.  The rationalizations are simply lies in the skin of a reason.