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City planner to take over as state bureau president
By Susan Finch
Staff writer
Attorney and city planner Victor J. Franckiewicz Jr. will take the reins next month as new president and chief executive officer of the Bureau of Governmental Research.
The private, nonprofit, citizen-supported research organization conducted a national search for a successor to Jim Brandt, who left in March after 12 years with BGR to become president of the Public Affairs Research Council in Baton Rouge.
Franckiewicz, 45, comes to the job with credentials that include two stints as an elected official in Mississippi and several jobs as a city planner.
He has practiced law on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in Louisiana for the past six years.
?Victor Franckiewicz has qualifications and experience that are especially compatible with BGR?s mission to encourage informed public-policy making and the effective use of public resources in the New Orleans metropolitan area,?
said BGR board chairman George
H.	Porter III in announcing the appointment. ?His background in administration, planning, research
and government service certainly equip him for the leadership of BGR.? Franckiewicz said he sees BGR?s primary mission as educational: to inform the public about efficient use of local gov-ernment resources in the metropolitan area.
He foresees BGR expanding its w?ork to include studies of how state legislation and the operation of state agencies affect local governments.
?We have a lot of problems to tackle, but (also) a lot of opportunities,? Franckiewicz said. ?I think
Victor J. Franckiewicz Jr.
New president and chief executive officer of the Bureau of Governmental Research
the New Orleans metropolitan region is really looking up,? to some extent riding a wave of national prosperity but also boosted by downtown redevelopment that has been spurred by expansion of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Franckiewicz, a Bay St. Louis native, was a Mississippi state senator from 1989 to 1993 and Bay St. Louis mayor from 1985 to 1989. From 1981 to 1985, he was supervisor of long-range planning at what is now Lockheed-Martin.
Other job experience includes stints as interim city manager of Picayune, Miss., special coordinator for the director of the Mississippi Coastal Program, and planning for the Gulf Regional Planning Commission.
He holds a bachelor of science degree and a master?s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans.
Franckiewicz lives in Slidell with his wife, the former Cheryl Bencaz. They have two children.
Treasurer corrects his campaign reports
By Manuel Rolg-Franzia
Capital bureau
BATON kouge ? The man in charge of the state?s financial books is having trouble keeping his own campaign books straight.
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to retire debt from the 1995 primary and general elections. Duncan has always filed reports in this fashion, Kilshaw said.
But campaign finance officials say the law clearly requires candidates to separate donations for current elections and for retiring debt.
campaign donations and to ensure that the $5,000 contribution limit for each election is not exceeded.
Duncan?s reports do not specify which Hibernia donations are dedicated to paying off debt and which will be used for the October election. Kilshaw and a Hibernia
Nursing home group ci
By Jack Wardlaw
Capital bureau
baton rouge ? The Louisiana Nursing Home Association warned Wednesday that ?critical under-funding? of the Medicare and Medicaid programs is jeopardizing care of the elderly in Louisiana.
?The two programs, which combined are responsible for paying for the care of more than 90 percent of the seniors in Louisiana, are being financed based on budgetary concerns rather than the real needs of real people,? association spokeswoman Lisa Gardner said.
Medicare is a health insurance program for senior citizens that is entirely under federal control. Medicaid, w'hich provides health care for the poor, is subject to state budgetary control.
The Medicare problem stems from the Balanced Budget Act that Congress passed in 1997, said Gardner and Joseph Donchess, executive director of the association. Spending reductions in the bill were expected to reduce by $1.3 billion the money available for skilled nursing care. But, Donchess said, a new study shows that the true reduction is ?nearly twice the
sanctions from ethics officials, but the revelation comes as the treasurer is preparing for what?s expected to be a strong challenge from John Kennedy, former secretary of the Department of Revenue and Taxation.
Kilshaw places the blame on what he calls a poorly designed campaign finance reporting form, and he stressed that Duncan has
not. rlono nnvthincr nnof-HIpal
intended amount.?
?Patients recovering ous illnesses are being ? critical physical therapj a new arbitrary cap on services,? and reim' rates for skilled care th< ceive at nursing homes scaled back from $30( $150 a day, he said.
Donchess said the p lows $1,500 a year in : physical therapy costs \ lar amount for occupj rapy.
?That doesn?t begin the surface,? said Steph ott, a Baton Rouge nu administrator.
?Federal policy is and pound-foolish,? Doi ?Patients requiring s fered at $150 a day at a cility are being re rehabilitation hospitals $600 a day, or are re hospitals at a much high
Donchess said both and Democratic leade gress have agreed to s situation by raising the far President Clinto signed on. The associati
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