Gov. Mike Foster and a couple of his legislative allies unintentionally provided pointed reminders last week of why state voters should think long and hard before going along with the governor's push to privatize state economic development efforts.

Foster was not thinking about his proposal to put state economic development responsibility in the hands of a private, nonprofit organization when he appeared before the Civil Service Commission at midweek.

Foster pointed out twice in his presentation that one of the primary purposes of the state civil service system is "to protect employees from political skullduggery and political control."

Yet, one of the main reasons Foster cites for wanting to create the new, nonprofit Louisiana Inc. is to take economic development employees out of the civil service system, which would eliminate their protection from getting caught up in political games.

Foster contends he can't do under current civil service rules what he wants to do -- and that's bring in staffers with six-figure salaries and offer big money bonuses as incentives to promote economic growth.

Foster hasn't made any real effort to work within the existing system. He didn't ask the Civil Service Commission for a few unclassified slots outside the civil service pay plan so he could hire some of the highly paid specialists he says the state needs.

Instead, the governor wants to put all of Economic Development under a Louisiana Inc. board of directors the governor would control. That means the governor would pretty much be able to hire and fire whomever he wishes in those six-figure job slots.

Thus, Louisiana Inc. could become a tremendous patronage tool for governors to use in rewarding friends and supporters, ripe for "political skullduggery and political control."

The day after Foster's appearance before the Civil Service Commission, a joint House-Senate panel was looking into complaints from the attorney general and others about the way Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle conducts his operations.

During that hearing, Attorney General Richard Ieyoub and others raised questions about Kyle releasing to the public and media audits that include allegations of unproved criminal activity by public officials.

Ieyoub suggested they would like it better if Kyle's allegations weren't so strongly worded and didn't surface until after prosecutors had a chance to review them.

Several legislators said they were loathe to muzzle Kyle.

Rep. Vic Stelly, R-Lake Charles, has been traveling the state touting an income tax increase package. Stelly said he runs into the same resistance at every stop.

"People are outraged," Stelly said. "When it gets to the end of my little talk, I'm dreading it. ... Every single time, somebody in the audience is going to say, 'Why should we do so-and-so and so-and-so, when all you guys are corrupt and all we have is corruption in Louisiana?' It's not true. ... But, perception is reality. ... The people are outraged, and they feel like we have more corruption than other states."

Sen. Robert Barham, D-Oak Ridge, echoed Stelly.

"Our problem in the past in Louisiana has been the lack of the light of day, not the presence of the light of day," Barham said. "The general perception that Mr. Stelly has found around the state is that we haven't done a good job ferreting out the wrongdoing from a state standpoint. ... It seems to me that where we can shine the light of day, we ought to be doing it."

Creation of Louisiana Inc., which Barham and Stelly support, runs counter to Barham's wish for sunshine.

Louisiana Inc. would enjoy some exemptions from the state's sunshine laws, particularly the public records law. That could make it hard for the public to keep up with how the agency spends the public money it gets.

In addition, while the legislative auditor would go over the books of the privatized economic development agency, Louisiana Inc. would be held to standards different from state agencies. The Louisiana Inc. law mandates the auditor use auditing standards appropriate for a private sector enterprise, and those wouldn't yield the depth of information an audit of a state agency does.

Louisiana Inc. is "trust me" government. It calls for Louisiana voters to trust their elected leaders to do the right thing and to put the interests of the state ahead of friends and cronies.

Perhaps Foster can be trusted with such freedom. But Foster has only three years left on his term. No one knows who might end up in control of Louisiana Inc. after Foster is gone.