Lege Watch

I was just push-polled by Conrad Appel.  A representative of Western Research just called, asked some voting history and demographic questions, and then started with some increasingly negative questions about Polly Thomas.  The first was related to her taking a handgun out of her purse and “waving it around” at a meeting to prove she is tough on crime.  The second accused her of corruption; something about taking bribes and the school board.  (?)

Way to be honest and straightforward, Mr. Appel.  You just lost my vote.  We have enough sneaky, underhanded politicians in Baton Rouge; we don’t need to add you to their number.

[posted by Laura]

Well, I hope ya’ll are doing well after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. We continue to recover after Gustav and Ike. The last household of my immediate family got power back yesterday. There was no significant damage to any of their houses. Phew.

After all that excitement, it is hard to get focused back on Louisiana politics, but we have an election coming up in just seven days now. There are some storm delays in the election cycle due to the Hurricanes.

The at bat is in 7 days. These elections were delayed from Sept 6 due to the hurricanes. So who is running and what do we know about them?

Lets take a first swing at listing who is running. Please let us know more about these candidates.
Continue Reading »

Tags: election, Oct 4

The media is in a tizzy over all things ‘Palin’.

Goodness gracious, they need to come up for air.

One of their complaints is that she strong armed the firing of her former sister-in-law’s husband, a state trooper. Now that is a very serious allegation.

Apparently, the trooper in question needed to be fired. He used his taser on his nephew - in a training capacity. That is completely inappropriate conduct.

Here is the disciplinary letter that the Alaska State Troopers in March 1, 2006.

Link to Wooten’s Suspension Letter

The Senator in charge of the trooper gate investigation is Senator Hollis French (D). Here he is in a picture attending an Obama ‘08 rally! So he clearly is NOT impartial and should be replaced.

Apparently, Rep John Coghill (R) asked the Alaska Legislative Council to remove him from the probe. This request was denied by the head of the legislative council, Senator Kim Elton (D). Senator Elton also attended the same rally for Obama. So he is also clearly not impartial.

Apparently these democrats have scheduled to release their report in late October just 4 days before the election. Early enough to get maximum exposure and effect on the election, but with insufficient time for any lies, slander or misrepresentations to be cleared up.

So the actual scandal here is ‘Dirtgate’. It is certain corrupt legislators and their friends in the media trying to influence an election through the misrepresentation of facts.

Give it a rest already.

This slanderous, scandalous behavior by the media needs to stop.

Nick

Sigh, same song second verse. Could get better.

Stay safe.

Stay safe everyone.

Now here is a surprise. Now NOW does not want a woman elected to high office.

Not Every Woman Supports Women’s Rights August 29, 2008
Statement of NOW PAC Chair Kim Gandy on the Selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s Vice Presidential Pick

By the way, Kim Gandy is from New Orleans Louisiana.

Sen. John McCain’s choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.

A cynical effort?

She was one of the top two reform governors that McCain was considering. The other being Bobby Jindal

Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women’s rights, just like John McCain.

Women’s rights? Such as: The right to vote? YES. The right to hold high office? YES. Just exactly what women’s rights is she against?

The fact that Palin is a mother of five who has a 4-month-old baby, a woman who is juggling work and family responsibilities, will speak to many women. But will Palin speak FOR women? Based on her record and her stated positions, the answer is clearly No.

And what positions would those be?

In a gubernatorial debate, Palin stated emphatically that her opposition to abortion was so great, so total, that even if her teenage daughter was impregnated by a rapist, she would “choose life” — meaning apparently that she would not permit her daughter to have an abortion.

Curious, I though now was ‘pro-choice’. As in ‘Please support NOW’s work to pass the Freedom of Choice Act’. That the decision was so important, women have the right to choose.

Yet when this woman makes her choice, and chooses to have her baby, they are dissapointed?

It seems that NOW is not being honest about their position.

Palin also had to withdraw her appointment of a top public safety commissioner who had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, although Palin had been warned about his background through letters by the sexual harassment complainant.

That is their other top complaint? That is extremely weak. Palin is a very popular governor in Alaska. She has worked to clean up corruption in that state.

What McCain does not understand is that women supported Hillary Clinton not just because she was a woman, but because she was a champion on their issues. They will surely not find Sarah Palin to be an advocate for women.

Or perhaps just not a champion for NOW?

Sen. Joe Biden is the VP candidate who appeals to women, with his authorship and championing of landmark domestic violence legislation, support for pay equity, and advocacy for women around the world.

ROFLOL. We are now all Alice living in Wonderland now.

Finally, as the chair of NOW’s Political Action Committee, I am frequently asked whether NOW supports women candidates just because they are women. This gives me an opportunity to once again answer that question with an emphatic ‘No.’ We recognize the importance of having women’s rights supporters at every level but, like Sarah Palin, not every woman supports women’s rights.

Indeed! Clearly NOW does not support women’s rights.

###
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906

Well, at least they only gave her one minute and thirty seven seconds to speak.

This is a terrible speech.

What an embarrassment this person is to our state. Even Nagin or Blanco would have been a better choice of speakers. It is a pity they would not, could not let Governor Bobby Jindal speak instead.

The text of her speech.

Mary Landrieu from the Great State of Louisiana.

Well, at least she got her name right.

It has been 3 long years, since hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the failure of the federal levee system devastated New Orleans, the region and the Gulf Coast.

The FEDERAL levee system? The FEDERAL levee system! The FEDERAL levee system !!!

She admits and takes no responsibility or blame for this disaster upon her self at all !!! She has been our Senator for a long time before this storm struck. She is as culpable as anyone in the Government.

When I moved to this area 24 years ago, I looked at the FEMA flood maps for possible hurricanes. New Orleans either remained unflooded or under twenty foot of water. The breakpoint was for Cat. 3 hurricanes. For storms less than that category, the city remained dry. For storms above that category it was flooded. For Cat. 3 storms, the outcome depended on the particular storm.

That was why when we woke up Saturday morning to face a Cat. 5 storm bearing down on the city, we immediately hightailed it to the emergency shelters in Monroe. The levees were not designed for a storm of this magnitude.

The Bush White House and the Republican leadership and FEMA showed up not just late but wholly unprepared.

Our Federal representative, Bobby Jindal, certainly showed up. That is why he is the Governor of Louisiana today.

Ahem, now who was our Senior Senator during this time period? Where was she hiding?

America deserves a FEMA that works.

We certainly do.

We also deserve representatives that work and don’t just posture. Bobby Jindal certainly rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Don’t remember Landrieu doing much at all.

A FEMA that understands the best ways to leverage the private sector and the robust non-profit community. A FEMA that will help us rebuild our communities with respect; dignity; and determination.

Huh?

I was very impressed many aspects of FEMA’s response. The Coast Guard response in particular was spectacular. It is time we all started re-evaluating what happened from a less emotional. standpoint.

I was very unimpressed with the response of the state government. I was also unimpressed with the response of the local governments.

Where is her demand that the “Road Home” program start to work?

America deserves a president who is willing to lead. Who will cut through the red tape and serve the people not the bureaucracy. And a president who will stand with mayors and governors and not against them to get the job done.

President Bush responded very quickly to this disaster. He called the Governor and the Mayor and got them to declare the first ever mandatory evacuation for New Orleans. On the day before the storm, Governor Blanco said this at the Mayor’s press conference declaring a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.

‘GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: Thank you, Mayor. I want to reiterate what the mayor has said. This is a very dangerous time. Just before we walked into this room, President Bush called and told me to share with all of you that he is very concerned about the citizens. He is concerned about the impact that this hurricane would have on our people. And he asked me to please ensure that there would be a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.”

*

That is the hope of the people of America and that is the promise of Barak Obama.

Barak has promise but he has never been in a position to respond to any major emergency. We simply do not know how he will handle or respond to an emergency of this magnitude. How about giving us Bobby Jindal instead?

God bless our efforts to recover and God bless Louisiana.

God bless us all indeed.

*

With all the hue and cry about the pay raises, a key fact to keep in mind is that had voters been doing our jobs, the legislature would not be in the condition it is in today.  The time to start tracking our legislators is during the campaign - and it certainly doesn’t stop after the elections.  Now is the time to start thinking about the next election; go here to make sure you’re registered, know who the candidates are and what they stand for.  The bottom line is that while it’s easy and fun to grumble from the cheap seats, we ultimately get the government we want to have.  In District 9’s state senate race, we don’t even have an incumbent to contend with, so this is an excellent chance to make sure we get the best candidate available.

Conrad Appel is running for Steve Scalise’s old state Senate seat.  I got a call from someone at the beginning of August who knew almost nothing about the candidate or the campaign.  Because his website was so uninformative (since updated) I sent them a few questions - as an individual, without mentioning LegeWatch.  It took nearly three weeks and several attempts to get them, but here are Mr. Appel’s answers are in red.

1. Does Mr. Appel view service in the legislature as a full or part time job?
I plan to serve as a Citizen Senator in the old sense. That is in a part time fashion in Baton Rouge and as full time as possible at home in the District.

2. Should the legislature have a pay raise – if so, why and how much?
No, the current guys and those such as myself that are running know what the time commitment and pay are and have accepted that.

3. What will his criteria be to determine whether an outcome is best achieved by passing a bill, asking the Governor to issue an executive order, or whether a given situation is best left for other agencies/organizations or the public to resolve?
My basic instincts are that less government is better. Based upon that I would always defer to having an outcome be driven by the Executive branch or agencies before legislation.

4. Will he pledge to refuse earmarks/pork?
All expenditures should pass through the legislative process so that we are able to set priorities and manage the expenditures.

5. Of what political party is he a member?
Republican

6. What is the highest tax rate that Louisiana residents should pay?
If you a referring to income tax, I would like to see it be reduced to 0% to match competing Southern States. That would require a major overhaul of the budget process and couldn’t be done on a whim.

7. How exactly does he plan to “make our streets safe” from criminals?
Crime in general is a socio-economic problem that has proven difficult to control because we always attack it in a piecemeal manner.There is no easy or quick fix. The way I think I break the problem down is into its sub-components. There are criminal justice and punishment issues, there are social issues, there are economic issues. Each of these contributes to either the problem or the solution. For brevity’s sake suffice it to say that I recognize the significance of all of these elements functioning as a whole and that we as a people need to realize that no one element of itself will solve the problems. My personal strengths are in the areas of economic development. Others such as my friend Newell Normand are strong in the areas of criminal justice. I will give Newell and the other members of the criminal justice system the tools that they need to support their efforts. Still others are strong in sociological issues. There must be a disciplined effort in all areas if we are to do better.

8. Redirect educational dollars into the classroom – from where?
I spent two years as a Commissioner on a Governor’s Task Force helping to redesign the Workforce Training aspects of State Government. At the first meeting the Governor informed us that $750 million was spent annually on Workforce Training. It took us a long time but we were able to get into the workings of that budget and redirect funds into areas that brought results. It can be done if there is a will to do it.

9. What will he do to support increased drilling off of Louisiana coasts to help increase the supply of oil in the United States?
The increase in drilling will be brought on by demand for crude oil , supply and demand in a pure sense. There is nothing that a State Senator (short of speaking on the subject) can do to drive this process. On the other hand there are areas that I am aware of that would assist the State in our efforts to capture the benefits of enhanced drilling. One is the construction of a new offshore supply and service port at Venice, La .

10. What will he do to help restore our coastline?
The answer is much the same as question 9. Despite what you may hear from other candidates the real solution is money on a scale that can only be supplied by the Federal government. Certainly if there are State issues that will help the process I am committed to support of them but its taken decades of neglect to get us where we are today and it will take even longer to repair the coast (assuming that we get Federal funding).

11. What will he do to hold the Corps of Engineers and others accountable for the deplorable condition of our levees, and to see that they are adequately repaired?
I belong to an organization known as the Flood Protection Alliance. We have been building relationships with the new Corps people for two years. Our goal is not to punish but to insure that the billions that will be spent on upgrading the system will be spent in an intelligent manner. For instance we have helped design a poldering system that will compartmentalize the City and Parish should there ever be another catastrophic failure.

12. Will he pledge never to vote on anyone else’s behalf, and never to allow anyone to vote on his behalf?
I consider that being a Senator will be the highest honor that I will have achieved in my career. In no circumstances will I allow someone to vote for me nor will I vote for someone else. I know that sounds condescending but you will note from my resume that I am not a perpetual candidate and that I am running because I am uniquely qualified to be a State Senator. I am not looking for another job, a promotion, or a title. Therefore I believe that what I am saying is based upon true commitment.

Alan Leone’s website already answers some of these questions - although his site doesn’t look as good as Appel’s, he had a lot more content out there to begin with and I think that speaks well of his campaign.  In the interests of fairness, I’m going to offer them the chance to answer these same questions.  Leone, if you recall, ran against Aaron Broussard after Katrina.

If any Democrats are running for this seat, I haven’t been able to locate them.  If you know of any, please post them in the comments.

Obviously, we’re not doing a lot of posting right now - for my part, I have some real-life issues that are sharply limiting the time available to me for politics.  Hopefully that will change soon.  There’s also just less to write about, since the lege is not in session.

In the meantime, please do use the forums to keep in touch with each other.  We had some spam postings at one point, including porn spam, but I’ve removed those and taken measures to stop that from happening again.  (Thanks again to those who notified me so promptly by email about those.)

One of the measures to prevent it from happening again is that all new accounts have to be activated by hand.  If you don’t already have a forum account and you want one, go ahead and register, but ALSO send me an email so I know you’re a human and not a spam bot - then I will activate your account.  My email is admin@legewatch.com.

Thanks!!

Well, one of our (NOT SO) illustrious state senators had a very bad weekend.

State Sen. Derrick Shepherd was released early Sunday morning after being arrested Saturday night, accused of punching his ex-girlfriend and stealing her cellular phone and $100, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office reported. (link)

Oh my.

Ask, and you shall receive. I wished that Governor Jindal would break out his veto pen, and he finally did:

He thusly axed 258 items to the tune of $16 million (and said indirect savings were $27 million more), over ten times what he excised from the supplemental bill and about double the number from the last 12 budget bills combined. This in and of itself perhaps tells us there hasn’t been a lot of good prioritizing in past budgets.

It’s amusing to watch leges flip out over the loss of their pet projects. Or it would be, if it weren’t sad that so many worthy projects are now unfunded. But the core problem here is not that Jindal has vetoed them. It’s that the legislature, and whoever runs these projects, did not see to it that they were appropriately funded to begin with.

While Mary Landrieu issues press releases bragging about picking Federal taxpayer pockets for an ethanol project which is obviously a state issue, the Louisiana lege does the exact same thing on a smaller scale. Continue Reading »

The veto session is held 40 days after the session ended.  So by my count, NOON on the Fortieth day is Saturday August 2nd, 2008.

The declaration from each legislator that such a session is not needed must be received before Monday, July 28th.

On another subject, Louisiana will be hosting the National Conference of State Legislators in New Orleans at the Morial center from July 22, 2008 to July 26th, 2008.  So we can probably find most of our legislators partying down there on the week before the session starts should they hold one.

N.

Continue Reading »