Jul 01 2008
We did it! Where do we go from here?
In the last two weeks this grass roots effort has sprung up out of nowhere - we got a website, connected, and somehow got things done. Legewatchers coordinated all sorts of things from participation in the Kenilworth parade to transport to the rally to call and email campaigns and promotion in local media. We told our friends and family and spread the word however we could. Behind the scenes, we researched the lege and learned even more reasons to be frustrated and angry with their arbitrary pay raise. Robert Davis became our spokesperson, G8trgirl helped with research and posting, Monica set up a march in the Kenilworth parade, DeWayne got us some press in Monroe and Cindy was on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Liz has been instrumental in a number of ways especially research and tips and Tsivam did the legwork and helped get the permit for our rally (which we later canceled in favor of the one scheduled for 7/7.) Denise, Robert, Bev and Bill, Brad, and many others including the attorney who checked to see if our future use of House and Senate video is going to get us hauled to court, and the retired lege who advised and encouraged us… it’s simply amazing how most of us didn’t know each other but we all pitched in where we could and were instrumental in this huge success. All the website participation, emails, comments, tips and posts in the forum helped keep this going - there are too many people to name, but I can’t thank you all enough. We joined Bayou Buzz, Moon Griffon, Ringside Politics, bloggers of all stripes and countless others in expressing our outrage and between us all - WE DID IT!
[Added - I can't believe I forgot to mention John Roberts of Recall Pay Raise Tucker / Taxpayers Union of Louisiana who obviously was an integral part of getting the word out and motivating people to act on all this - the checklist that is proving so helpful to people organizing recalls was his plan. - Laura]
But we’re not finished. The people spoke and the Governor (finally) listened. We’re all - the whole state - taking a much deserved victory lap. But when we’re finished, we need to consider where we go from here at LegeWatch. Two sentences of Governor Jindal’s statement deserve particular attention:
“I know that some of the legislators are going to be upset that I broke my word to them to stay out of their business. But I am asking them to take out their anger on me – not on the people of Louisiana.”
They reflect a profound misunderstanding of what we expect from our state government and what the relationship between the legislature and those of us who granted them the privilege of representing us should be. Granting a pay raise is not the legislator’s “business.” It is the business of all taxpayers and we should not have been excluded from the decision making process. And if the legislators are angry, they have only themselves to thank for not approaching this more appropriately - namely, going to the voters, getting feedback on their job performance and asking for - not arbitrarily taking - a pay raise.
Unfortunately, that view can be considered Utopian and the likelihood in today’s political scene is that the legislature will, in fact, try to avenge itself on the Governor by stopping or stalling legislation he wants passed. It’s up to us to ensure that our representatives deal with prospective laws in a fair and honest manner. If they’re stopping or slowing legislation, it MUST be because it is the will of the people that the legislation not be enacted and not petty politics. But the only way we can ensure that is the case is to watch them and call them to account for their actions - or lack of action.
Additionally, a good deal of the lege’s justification for this pay raise is that they claim the work has become a full time job. Legewatchers can make a difference on two fronts. While it is true that the lege cannot control if the governor calls them into a special session, they can control how much work they make for themselves the rest of the time. The over 2,000 bills filed last session was simply too much. We don’t need that many new laws. They’re making work for themselves and they need to be held accountable for it; we want a citizen legislature, not a full time political elite. A good goal is to see the number of bills submitted reduced by half and public scrutiny will accomplish that. If the lege stops wasting so much time in regular sessions, there will not be so much of a need for the governor to call them into special sessions - and we can additionally pressure the governor to find other ways of working with the lege instead of calling special sessions - he is part of the problem too.
There will be a few changes in the website over the next week, and we’re still getting organized for the long term but among the immediate goals for Legewatch we need to start building dossiers on each and every lege who supported this pay raise. Even if we can’t get them recalled, we can certainly start planning for the next election. So please keep an eye on the site, stay in touch with us, and remain involved with holding our representatives accountable for what they do.
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WE THE PEOPLE
need reporters to keep us informed of situations we might not have access to in our daily lives. Like lawmakers sneaking behind closed doors to indulge personal greed. WE THE PEOPLE have determined that the politicians are wrong in taking so very much in an underhanded manner. They are employed on a short-term, temporary assignment. The position of a politician is to serve the community they represent. It’s a civic duty. Folks choose to run for an office under those particulars. Any changes made will be done by the citizens. I do agree that compensation for this duty should be addressed. I would suggest that those policians submit an appropriate bid to the public. Please get the public’s input before submitting so that you can present your proposal as professional, functional, well thought out, workable presentation.
Hear the interview with Sen. Ann Duplessis at WWL’s website.
The people of Louisiana cannot let down their guard. Keep your ears and eyes open.
Elizabeth, R.N.
I just read you article. Thank you for acknowledging all who contributed to achieve our collective goal..we did it!
You “cut right to the bone” to the two sentences in Gov. Jindal’s speech.
In retrospect, I am so thankful that I did not hesitate to call (which I had already done many times and left messages and sent emails) the rep. of my district on the last day of the session. He finally spoke to me and I said that I did not approve his Yes vote and that I hoped that Gov. Jindal listens to the voice of the people and vetos SB672…What a exhilarating feeling I have now!
Yes, you nailed it when you said our goal is to build cases on these who voted for the raise….their words and actions will be scrutinized, dissected, magnified, analyzed and documented for future reference.
Elizabeth: A.D. authored, orchestrated, railroaded,and rammed SB672 through the senate..and she had the audacity to say that two radio hosts orchestrated the anti-raise issue and the public “bought into it”…!!!! You need to read the notes of the Senate Finance Committee when she pushed the raise to the floor.
Liz, to which radio hosts does she refer? I’ve barely come up for air in the last two weeks. I never heard of Moon Griffon before but I’m told he was strongly against the pay raise and I listened to a little of his show online; was he one?
Laura: possibly John Osterlind of Clear Channel..he was shown on the tv piece talking on his show…is he radio?
I don’t remember AD saying any specific names…ask Steve S. and CB. I am sure they could steer you to the names of whom “she blames”
Liz: John Osterlind does the afternoon drive time show on WRNO 99.5 FM (and he’s brilliant).
AD is utterly clueless about what killed this travesty of a bill. How dare she claim that the Louisiana electorate were cowed by a couple of radio guys. If we were that big a bunch of chumps, she’d be making over $50k a year!!!
It can’t have been Osterlind lobbying against the pay raise - yesterday he didn’t seem to be aware that the whole “$16k” thing is a lie, and agreed with a caller that they need a pay raise.
Sorry…..he was talked about in the piece yesterday…I must have missed his position……
AD has herself dug deep into a trench of arrogance…she is in shock that she can’t supplement that she can’t have her “supplemental” lege pay and her VP pay.
If you haven’t visited forgotston.com, you need to…the cartoon is priceless and speaks volumes….I just emailed Duplessis and informed her that I am not ignorant..my moral compass steered me to the position that SB672 needed a veto..
Weather by planning or happenstance, Jindal looks like a genious. He sat back and let our reps show us their true colors, voting themselves an undeserved raise and then being arrogant to the people that voted them into the legislature. Jindal let us see for the first time what some of our polititions do behind closed doors. All the editorials and newspaper articles and letters to the editors have not come close to showing us what was going on in legislature. The number of citizens who have in the last two weeks started reading everything they could get their hands on to find out how their rep has voted in the past and the rididulous timewasting bills they are writing is unprecidented. I for one will not turrn a blind eye to Baton Rouge, in fact I see many other things happening there that need to be stopped. Today in the Lake Charles paper, several of the looser reps made venemous comments about their constituants, blaming everyone but themselves. I spent several hours emailing our local reps, thanking them for working with Jindal and asking that they continue to help the people of La.
Here’s where we go from here.
The recall people call for a meeting with the Governor, and the mythical conversation goes like this, kinda.
“Governor, you have yourself in a box. We both know that. Our voters are mad as hell. You know that. The pay raise was unconscionable, we both know that. Here is a solution that makes you the hero of the day. Issue an executive order for a special session of one-day duration, limited to one bill. Like a veto session. The bill is this, illustratively written.
The purpose of this bill is to establish a District Legislative Account held in trust by the Treasurer of the State of Louisiana. Effective upon passage of this bill, all legislative remuneration is to be administered by the Treasurer of the State of Louisiana for the voters of the respective legislative districts. All funds presently dedicated to legislative pay and expenses shall be conveyed to the Treasurer of the State of Louisiana to the credit of each legislative district account held in trust by the Treasurer, on a viral basis, that is, by head. Within 90 days, each legislative district shall hold a special election to approve or disapprove the amount each legislator states is necessary to operate the respective legislative district. If said requested amount shall fail, the amount in existence prior to June ?, 2008 shall be the official amount for operation of the respective legislative district. If no election is held, by default or design, the approved amount shall be the amount in existence prior to June ?, 2008. All future funds held by the Treasurer would come from the local Legislative district by a tax similar to a Garbage Tax District. No pun intended.This legislative district approval method shall be repeated in the future at the time of each and every general election of a legislator.”
Of course, this is a non-lawyer version, but I think you get the idea.
I also emailed AD & told her, we will be watching her to see if she tries to take revenge on Gov.Jindal. Also that it was never too late for a recall on her plus a lot of other comments. Thank all of you for keeping us informed on what’s happening & what we need to do to clean out the corruotion…..
Great job, Lege Watch! I am happy to know that you intend to continue with this very necessary ” eye on the legislature”. Citizen involvment is the way to turn this state around and make it what it can be. Let’s start with a review of current law for existing self-serving laws and work on having those repealed. Then concentrate on getting legislation that will make a recall possible when it is needed. Again, great job! CARPE DIEM!