Louisiana DOGE Secret Meetings May Have Involved Plans to Cut Medicaid

Several DOGE decisions at the federal level are likely to have serious consequences for Louisiana, but many residents are unaware that the state has also created it's own DOGE inspired taskforce under an Executive Order signed by Governor Jeff Landry.

Louisiana became one of the earliest states to launch a DOGE inspired taskforce on December 12, 2024, when Landry's executive order set the stage for DOGE's influence to reach deep into the lives of Louisiana residents via the "Fiscal Responsibility Program."

There are currently at least 16 state level DOGE inspired taskforces. While these state level taskforces are often advertised as "pro-small government," there seems to be a considerable amount of overlap between the policies being created at state and federal levels.

Further, there appear to be well connected groups with an interest in state taskforce operations. For example, a Louisiana think tank recently published an article praising Landry and Louisiana DOGE. However, that think tank is itself part of a larger network of institutes directly tied to the Heritage Foundation, suggesting interests in the "small government" program may extend far beyond state borders.

The same policy is being supported all throughout the United States under individual think tanks within the same large network. The network was created by an individual who served on the Heritage Foundation's board of trustees for two decades.

In the interest of transparency and keeping all Louisiana citizens informed, this post gathers information about Louisiana's DOGE into one place. Sources for this information can be found by scrolling to the references list at the bottom of this page.

Landry's signed order can be viewed here: https://www.doa.louisiana.gov/media/30optldt/jml-24-176-fiscal-responsibility-program.pdf

I have also created a list of all state level DOGE taskforces that I will continue to update as I find out more information. If you're interested, you can follow updates here:

https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/state-level-doge-inspired-task-forces-pop-up-across-u-s-promoted-by-republican-governors-love-of-small-government/

In a statement released the day the order was signed, Governor Landry seemed to emphasize his dedication to creating a government that serves the people of the state:

"In Louisiana, we always strive to have a government that is of, by, and for the people... A government that runs efficiently and effectively is a government that best serves her people."

However, less than four months since the creation of the task force, several statements by Landry seem to completely contradict this dedication. This post will be divided into 3 sections including the current introduction.

1. Introduction

2. Louisiana DOGE members and transparency law violations

3. Timeline of events following Louisiana DOGE meetings and Medicaid Program Audit

Landry's executive order states that the Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Program should be comprised of a minimum of nine members.

Four members of the Louisiana State Senate:

•Gerald Boudreaux- District 24 •Valarie Hodges- District 13 •Blake Miguez- District 22 •Jeremy Stine- District 27

Four members of the Louisiana House of Representatives:

•Stephanie Berault- District 76 •Adrian Fischer - District 16 •Jack McFarland- District 13 •Philip Tarver- District 36

•Chair: Steve Orlando

•Support staff, facilities, and resources provided by the Office of the Governor and other departments of the executive branch of the state government.

The taskforce chair, Steve Orlando, is a neighbor and fishing buddy of Governor Landry, who previously owned a very successful offshore oil supply company. Orlando was granted fairly broad power to lead the taskforce, which will examine Louisiana state contracts, purchases, and even individual employees in order to eliminate what they believe qualifies as wasteful spending.

Section 9 of Landry's executive order also directs all state departments, agencies, boards and employees to cooperate with his task force.

*Given what is currently happening with DOGE at the federal level, I feel obligated to warn any state employees that may read this: If you are asked to carry out orders you suspect may violate any laws or codes of conduct, it is in your best interest to consult with an attorney. Your cooperation on behalf of this executive order does not guarantee legal protection for any individual, and you can still be subject to penalties, fines, and even incarceration if your "cooperation" aids in violation of any existing laws and codes of conduct.*

Governor Landry has quite a complicated history regarding ethics violations claims (so much so that it requires its own dedicated post). The Governor's DOGE taskforce has already been accused of violating Louisiana transparency laws by several legal experts including the president of the Baton Rouge nonprofit, Public Affairs Research Council, and the senior attorney for three Louisiana governors (Buddy Roemer, Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco).

The taskforce is subject to public records law, and is legally required to hold open meetings. However, the taskforce has already held at least two secret meetings on state property in 2025.

One of these secret meetings was only discovered after Senator Blake Miguez posted a picture of the group to Facebook on January 28th. The picture, which is captioned, "It’s time to cut wasteful spending,” confirmed the taskforce met in the main dining room of the Governor's mansion, while the other meeting took place in the governor's suite of offices at the state Capitol.

The taskforce is required by law to:

1. Advertise when and where it will meet
2. Allow the public a chance to speak at meeting
3. Record meeting minutes that will become publicly available

Landry and members of the taskforce claim these group sessions, held on state property, did not qualify as "meetings," and therefore did not require adherence to the laws which would be required of anyone else.

As Senator Valarie Hodges attempted to explain in an interview, "We’re just talking to people about who we’re going to hire... We’re trying to decide what we’re going to do. They’re not meetings.”

The New Orleans Advocate reported that Governor Landry has also claimed he doesn’t "believe the group is a public body subject to the state public meetings law, even though eight of its nine members are state legislators, it is planning to spend tax dollars to hire outside consultants and is meeting in government buildings."

Landry believes the public should wait to learn what is being discussed in meetings until December of 2025, when the task force will generate a final report of recommendations for budget cuts.

Melia Cerrato, a First Amendment expert at Tulane Law School, disagrees with Landry's belief, stating that a body advising the government must be transparent. "This specific task force is going to provide recommendations on crucial issues, including cutting government services and jobs. Citizens have a right to know the deliberations of this group.”

When asked why the group was not meeting publicly, Governor Landry is quoted as saying "We have regulated ourselves in this country to the point of dysfunction. Law after law after law hinders the ability of government actually to act.”

When told that independent law experts believe he is legally required to hold open meetings, Landry replied, “I don’t like to worry about what I’m telling people. I like to show people. At the end of the day, the citizens of this state are demanding more out of their government for less. This government, the federal government, the things (President) Trump is doing, all we want to do is make sure our tax dollars are spent better and more wisely.”

As Cerrato also pointed out, Landry’s own executive order calls for public input, and the taskforce is making decisions about how our tax dollars should be spent.

Given that he seems to have no intention of making these meetings public, Landry's definition of a government "for the people" may differ from the one commonly used term of a government representative of its voters. It seems important then to clarify who exactly "the people," Landry is actually representing might be.

Regardless, these are my tax dollars, and your tax dollars, and programs that our friends, family, and neighbors are relying on.

The task force announced in February they would be pausing all activities following criticisms for violations of public transparency laws. However, this was followed by Landry announcing the task force would be partnering with a legislative auditor in it's mission to eliminate unnecessary spending.

Meanwhile, Landry has invited citizens to share their suggestions on how they would like to see the state saving money by emailing: ladoge@lla.la.gov

It is unclear how and when the taskforce would partner with the auditor while meetings are allegedly paused, but what is clear is that the recommendations of the taskforce are not proposed to take effect until after the final report has been generated and reviewed. However, a timeline of recent events in Louisiana may suggest that recommended cuts from the taskforce meetings have already been set into motion.

The New Orleans Advocate also reported that previous attempts to reach Chair Orlando, Senate President Cameron Henry of Metairie, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier of Eunice, and Landry’s office regarding the meetings have not always been successful.

Orlando indicated via text message that the taskforce would always follow meeting law requirements, but so far there has not been a clear acknowledgement of how the group plans to do that.

However, these are all public officials. They claim to want accountability yet refuse to be held accountable. I encourage all citizens that have any questions or concerns about the meetings or any of the information provided here to call and email the Louisiana Governor, Senate President Henry, House Speaker DeVillier, Chair Orlando, and all of the Senators and Representatives involved in the taskforce. Feel free to ask them to explain the timeline of events in the next section.

During the meetings that weren't meetings, the taskforce heard pitches from different consulting firms, and then discussed potentially hiring the firms to do "a deep dive," into state entities and employees to aid taskforce investigations.

One of the consulting companies the group met with was Guidehouse, a firm from the D.C. area, and one of the top consulting groups contracted by both federal and state governments.

Guidehouse was recently contracted by the federal government in 2024 to "accelerate digital transformation, and revolutionize how government agencies tackle mission-critical challenges and drive transformative change."

A webpage for Guidehouse states "Delivering meaningful business results across geographies calls for a local “boots on the ground” approach with a global understanding of where our work has impact. Our worldwide reach spans over 50 offices across four continents."

The Guidehouse team the task force met with included at least one individual with ties to Louisiana. That team member was Tara LeBlanc, a former senior official at the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), and according to her LinkedIn page, current "director," at Guidehouse as of October 2023.

A Guidehouse LinkedIn article welcomes Ms. LeBlanc as she joins the firm, and says that as the former Medicaid Executive Director for the LA Department of Health, she previously "designed and implemented plans to elevate Louisiana’s pioneering public health emergency unwinding strategy and enhance outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries."

LeBlanc served as Medicaid Executive Director for LDH from June 2022 to October 2023, Interim Executive Director from October 2020 to July 2021, and Deputy Director from December 2019 to October 2020. Prior to being named Deputy Director, LeBlanc served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Aging and Adult Services.

In addition to LeBlanc, another former LDH employee is currently employed as a director for Guidehouse.

Mark Thomas served as the Deputy Secretary of LDH from June 2018-July 2022 before becoming a director for Guidehouse in July of 2022. A June 2018 article featuring Thomas states that as deputy secretary, Thomas supervised the offices of Behavioral Health, Aging, and Adult services.

It is unclear if the Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Program hired Guidehouse following LeBlanc's pitch at the meeting that wasn't a meeting, but a series of events that have occured since the meeting was held, suggests that a public record of what was discussed would be quite useful to have.

•Between Jan. 28 and Feb 4th, 2025 the Fiscal Responsibility Committee holds two secret meetings. During one of those meetings, Guidehouse director and former Medicaid Executive Director for LDH proposes a pitch for a deep dive into Louisiana state spending.

•2/21/25: Gov Landry proposes his budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year with flat funding and continued reductions in government spending, decreasing from $45.39 billion in 2025 to $44.96 billion in 2026. The largest amount of savings would be coming from cuts to LDH.

Proposed cuts include:

$11 million in savings in the Louisiana Department of Health

$1 million in savings in the Department of Energy and Natural Resources

$2.3 million in savings in the Division of Administration

•2/26/25 Taskforce partners with Louisiana legislative auditor The taskforce paused its work in February after it was accused of failing to adhere to transparency laws.

Following the announcement of the task force partnership with auditors, the governor did not comment on whether or not taskforce meetings will continue and if they will be made public.

Legislative auditor Mike Waguespack, shared his excitement to join the task force in a media interview, and used an oddly familiar phrase to describe the task force's effort:

"We do a lot of audits on state agencies that get put on a shelf... we have a group that will potentially look at our audits and take action. We’ll be the boots on the ground. I’m super excited about this.”

•3/11/25 Louisiana Department of Health Medicaid program targeted by Louisiana Legislative Auditor report.

The report claims the Louisiana Department of Health failed to properly oversee some $2.4 billion in Medicaid spending over five years.

Louisiana's Managed Care Incentive Program (MCIP), is aimed at improving the health of the state's neediest patients. The program was run by multiple Louisiana hospitals who are now accused of spending more than half of the program's money on administrative expenses and "other costs" that allegedly did not have a measurable impact on patient health outcomes.

Louisiana DOGE partner and Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack was quoted as saying “The sole focus of this program was to improve the health outcomes of Medicaid beneficiaries but that’s not happening... The funds are not making it all the way down to the hospitals that are doing the work.”

The MCIP was established by the legislature in 2018 and went into effect one year later. The recent audit claims that more than 18% of the program expenditures between 2019 and 2024 (~$437 million) went to non-milestone activities such as submitting reports and holding meetings.

•3/13/25 Following Medicaid audit, Louisiana think tank with Heritage Foundation ties calls Louisiana DOGE "a model for fiscal responsibility."

The Pelican institute praised Gov. Landry for initiating the program, claiming the move is necessary to prevent millions wasted on "inefficient Medicaid payments, misallocated education funds, and bloated administrative costs." The article specifically cites $100 million flagged by Louisiana's Legislative Auditor in 2022 for improper Medicaid payments.

The pelican institute was founded in 2008, and is an affiliate member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a nonprofit organization that serves as a central network for conservative and libertarian think tanks in the U.S. focusing on state level policy.

SPN was itself founded in 1992 by South Carolina businessman Thomas Roe, who served on the Heritage Foundation's board of trustees for two decades. Roe allegedly founded SPN at the urging of Ronald Reagan, and by 2011, it had grown to include 59 "freedom centers," or think tanks in all 50 states.

•3/20/25 LDH Secretary Retires One week after the Pelican Institute praised Landry and Louisiana DOGE for partnering with a state auditor and targeting Medicaid's wasteful spending, the leader in charge of the largest budget in state government, LDH Secretary Michael Harrington announced his retirement.

Landry named Drew Maranto, as interim secretary. Maranto joined the LDH in January 2024 as chief of staff and was promoted to undersecretary in June. Maranto formerly worked as deputy chief of staff for Senator Bill Cassidy and Surgeon General Ralph Abraham before being promoted to LDH undersecretary when Harrington was hired.

Landry claims that Harrington always planned to step down from the position by spring, after being named Secretary in June of 2024. Harrington took over the position of secretary after Landry and and Louisiana Legislature shifted secretary Ralph Abraham to the newly created position of surgeon general. This shift put Abraham in charge of state health policy and public health while leaving administrative and financial duties for Harrington.

Abraham made national news when he released a memo announcing that the state of Louisiana would no longer support mass vaccinations. The memo was released shortly after the Senate confirmation of RFK Jr for secretary of health and Human Services. Abraham believes the affordable care act should be appealed and has opposed the expansion of Medicaid as far back as 2014.

Prior to Abraham, Courtney Phillips was secretary of health from April 2020-2024, and was preceded by Rebecca Ghee, who served as secretary from 2016-2020 and led the expansion of Medicaid in Louisiana.

Mark Thomas, the former LDH employee who is currently employed as a director for Guidehouse consulting agency alongside Tara LeBlanc, served as deputy secretary under both Ghee and Philips from June 2018-July 2022.

Thomas supervised LeBlanc's office when MCIP was established by the legislature in 2018 until LeBlanc was promoted to Deputy Medicaid Director in December of 2019, the same year the legislation went into effect. LeBlanc would serve as Interim Executive Director from October 2020 to July 2021 before being promoted to Executive Director in June 2022 until October 2023, when she left LDH and joined her former supervisor, becoming a director at Guidehouse consulting.

This means that LeBlanc was involved in designing and implementing plans to improve outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries during 4 of the 5 years (2019-2024) that the Louisiana Legislative Auditor claims MCIP funds were misspent on administrative costs such as submitting reports and meetings.

Speaking of meetings, it sure would be helpful to have some recorded minutes from the meeting that wasn't a meeting that Landry's taskforce held with LeBlanc prior to Landry announcing plans to slash $11 million dollars from LDH and partner with the Louisiana legislative auditor.

If we had those meeting minutes, we would know if there was any discussion regarding MCIP spending in the pitch given by LeBlanc.

However, since the taskforce was just trying to decide what they were going to do, and the meeting wasn't really a meeting, they didn't have to follow the law, and no public records exists. Darn. Isn't that just really inconvenient for everyone except for Landry and DOGE?

References:

State Level DOGE task forces pop up across United States: •https://pimento-mori.ghost.io/state-level-doge-inspired-task-forces-pop-up-across-u-s-promoted-by-republican-governors-love-of-small-government/

Landry announces DOGE like task force: •https://lailluminator.com/2024/12/13/louisiana-gov-jeff-landry-launches-doge-like-government-savings-initiative/ •https://www.wdsu.com/article/louisiana-governor-creates-own-doge/63941808

DOGE executive order •https://www.doa.louisiana.gov/media/30optldt/jml-24-176-fiscal-responsibility-program.pdf

Louisiana DOGE violation of transparency laws •https://www.nola.com/news/politics/jeff-landry-created-group-meets-in-secret-to-cut-spending/article_920e929c-e32e-11ef-915a-dbb1b1826804.html •https://www.nola.com/news/politics/jeff-landry-wants-spending-task-force-to-meet-in-secret/article_ce25f6b0-e4cf-11ef-bc96-cbd91739186b.html

Guidehouse Consulting •https://guidehouse.com/industries/state-local-government •https://guidehouse.com/locations/ •https://guidehouse.com/government-contract-vehicles •https://guidehouse.com/news/advanced-solutions/2024/guidehouse-accelerates-digital-transformation-with-google-public-sector

LDH 2018 Newsletter

•https://laddc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LaDDC_News_Leadership_Changes_at_OCDD_and_LDH.pdf

Landry Proposed 2026 Budget Cuts •https://www.klfy.com/louisiana/gov-jeff-landry-unveils-standstill-budget-emphasizing-fiscal-responsibility/

Landry partners with legislative auditor •https://www.nola.com/news/politics/jeff-landrys-louisiana-doge-to-work-with-auditors/article_9fae9dc4-f478-11ef-8d56-332511026662.html

Legislative Auditor claims LDH failed to oversee Medicaid claims https://www.nola.com/news/healthcare_hospitals/louisiana-health-department-failed-to-oversee-parts-of-state-medicaid-program-audit-says/article_c59da822-fdfb-11ef-8015-9f4118cb1f63.html

Pelican institute praises Louisiana DOGE https://pelicanpolicy.org/tax-budget/louisianas-doge-a-model-for-fiscal-responsibility/

Pelican Institute and the Heritage Foundation: •https://spn.org/organization/pelican-institute-for-public-policy/ •https://spn.org/organization/heritage-foundation/ •https://spn.org/history/ •https://web.archive.org/web/20150626172710/http://www.spn.org/about/ •https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/state-policy-network-union-bargaining/

LA Dept of Health Secretary Retires •https://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2025/03/21/louisiana-health-secretary-retires-gov-landry-names-interim-replacement/ •https://www.nola.com/news/healthcare_hospitals/interim-secretary-ldh/article_7722f299-210e-4994-b968-9c63b7a415a9.html •https://www.225batonrouge.com/food-drink/meet-baton-rouge-guy-behind-titan-coffee-co-serving-small-batch-coffee-alongside-cute-dog •https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/20/mayo-abraham-face-th-district-debate/70035864/