Lege Watch

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.

I was amused to notice two comments from the same IP address, submitted within 5 minutes of one another, with different names; both very sarcastic, vitriolic defenses of the pay raise. I’m not going to allow those comments to be posted where they were submitted because that sort of thing is often enough disingenuously referenced to “prove” that they are representative of us all. Since one includes a call to violence - sarcastic or not - they can’t go unremarked.

The first, allegedly from one Sandy Martin:

Hooray! We won! I can’t believe those idiots thought they could stand up to the people. They won’t ask for a raise now for another 28 years. I think they should work for free or even pay us for the privilege of serving us. I see my legislator in the grocery store and I always go up and give him an earful of what’s on my mind. I don’t care what he’s in the middle of. One time I saw him at my neighbor’s funeral and I bent his ear plenty. I wanted to get my son a job with the state. I think these legislators are stupid because they didn’t know that they aren’t supposed to get paid for their time. They’re supposed to steal enough to make it worth their while. I say we hang them all. I hate all public officials. They are a worthless bunch of ungrateful scumbags who don’t do anything for us. I get little teeny raises and they try to get huge raises that would make them rich. Rich people make money like $60,000 a year. Like that Stephen Moret guy. That’s rich.

Let the fisking begin:

They won’t ask for a raise now for another 28 years. I think they should work for free or even pay us for the privilege of serving us.

In the last 28 years, the mileage and per diem has been raised repeatedly, and overall compensation is considerably higher than the base pay would seem to indicate. It’s comparable with what other hybrid legislatures in the south make right now, and leges also enjoy numerous benefits and perqs. Additionally, no one in the lege now has been stuck at this pay rate for 28 years because they have not been in office that long. The terms under which they work now are the exact same terms they spent tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours to work under - often enough engaging, like my Representative, in some very dishonest and dirty campaigning. To complain now that they were tricked into taking them is specious. Continue Reading »

A lot of folks were disappointed that Steve canceled the rally and wanted to do something to

a) celebrate the victory!
b) promote their recall efforts

Good news - you still can!

We’re still participating in the Kenilworth parade tomorrow, Thursday, July 3.  Some legislators, especially Duplessis, have been openly saying how wrong voters are for being enraged about this attempted pay raise.  Others are trying to change the narrative so that the issue is not the pay raise, but the amount and the manner in which they attempted to get it.  LegeWatch rejects both arguments.

First, voters are absolutely entitled to be part of the decision making process where our tax dollars are being spent, especially when it comes to the compensation of our representatives.  Second, take a look at Louisiana’s misery index, courtesy of Forgotston, and tell me if these people deserve a raise at all.  Consider the amount of time they waste on Sazeracs, fleur de lis, and redundant legislation - while claiming it’s a full time job - and decide whether Louisiana deserves a citizen legislature who will prioritize on what’s really important, or if we need over 2,000 bills filed per session by people who aspire to be a full time political class.  For an example of the quality of the legislation they have already passed, consider the fact that due to sloppy ethics legislation, they triggered the resignations of over 200 people and had to pass yet another bill, SB 718, to try to correct the error.

So tomorrow you can declare your independence from a full time legislature, celebrate the pay raise victory, let them know we’re still watching, and promote your recall effort. Legewatchers are meeting at Monjuni’s restaurant between 3 and 4pm. (map)  This is a family event so keep your signs appropriate - and if you don’t want to make a sign, come on out and second-line with us!  The parade route begins and ends at the Kenilworth Middle School located on Boone Drive in Kenilworth. Please arrive by 5:45 p.m. for set up – you’ll recognize us by our Greedy Gator tee shirts!  (Tee shirt sales end at 5pm today; last chance to get them here.)   The parade begins 6:30p.m. and will last about an hour.   If you’re coming, let us know by posting in the comments.

And finally, we’re a little early with it but this should be our last email until next week, so -
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

This is a brief update to follow up on We did it! Where do we go from here?

One of the website changes I’ve made is to set up a proper mailing list, rather than me just emailing you from my Outlook account. Please add admin@legewatch.com to your address book to ensure you keep receiving these emails if you want to receive them - and if you don’t, there is now an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each message we send out. [Added - we will normally only send out one digest email per week - sorry to hit you with two today; this original post and now the correction.]

I’ve just spoken to the folks at F&D Sales who graciously took on this last minute project and did a great job with it. Of course now that the veto has been issued there isn’t going to be much call for these shirts. If you’d like one as a souvenir or to wear while you work on recall efforts, you have until 5pm tomorrow - Thursday WEDNESDAY, July 2, 2008 - to order. Continue Reading »

I just noticed this over at Bayou Buzz and I want to make a clarification:

An “Anti-Pay Raise Rally” WILL BE HELD JULY 7 at the STATE CAPITOL from 2 to 4 p.m. so please save that date. For more information, contact steve@bayoubuzz.com or call 504-339-3924 to help or to attend. The rally is being sponsored by Citizen Can and was idea initiated by Bayoubuzz Publisher, Stephen Sabludowsky.

While LegeWatch is working via this website to arrange buses for our members who are outside of Baton Rouge to attend this rally, Steve Sabludowsky is the rally organizer. He applied for the permit, and it’s his baby. We’re just attending his party, so to speak.

There may have been some confusion because on June 18th I posted information about the requests for a rally and what I thought it might take to pull it off. On June 19th I updated the post to note that I had applied for a permit and was waiting for approval. On June 20th I posted this:

We had originally applied for a permit for this coming Monday, and it was approved. However… after speaking to Steve Sabludowsky about his Citizen Can idea, considering ways that we can have the most impact, and considering that we’ve had emails from folks upstate who want to actually charter buses and come down for it, we canceled our application. Continue Reading »

Just got word from Steve that the permit for the rally is approved - Monday, July 7, from 2 to 4pm on the Capitol steps. Because of LegeWatch reader requests, we’re checking into the idea of a march from the capitol to the Governor’s mansion.

Please let us know if you’re attending, if you need transportation or you can help arrange transportation for your city.

We are working to organize charter buses to help people get to the rally, but we need to hear from you ASAP on that. Whether or not you need help with transportation, please fill out the form to give us some idea how many people to expect.

If you represent a group or organization who is attending, please email admin@legewatch.com - we need to hear from you ASAP.

Thanks!

cforms contact form by delicious:days

UPDATED: The video has been added!  Thanks, Rachel Wulff and WDSU!

If you caught the news on WDSU last night you got to see LegeWatch, of all things.

The video is not online, and I couldn’t record it, but you can read the online story [and watch the video!] here. BayouBuzz and Recall Pay Raise Tucker were also featured.

People are fired up, and staying fired up. The response has been so big it’s been difficult to get a handle on it but we’re finally sorting through it all and coming up with ideas for how we can work together within LegeWatch and with other groups. Check back later today to use the forums - among other things, they can be used to arrange meetups. If you signed up and expressed a desire to be a district organizer, I’ll be emailing you later today.

We’re also going to have a meeting in the New Orleans metro area this coming week, so check the forums for info on that meeting.

We had originally applied for a permit for this coming Monday, and it was approved. However… after speaking to Steve Sabludowsky about his Citizen Can idea, considering ways that we can have the most impact, and considering that we’ve had emails from folks upstate who want to actually charter buses and come down for it, we canceled our application. Because we’re political novices, we simply jumped the gun. We WILL have a rally, but we’ll need to give our folks more time to plan to attend, and we’ll work together with other groups so we can have the maximum impact.

So stay tuned in for an announcement within the next week, and keep working on your signs!

“I am very sorry to see the Legislature do this,” he said “More than doubling legislative pay is not reasonable and the public has been clear on that”.

He’s sorry! That’s it? Should we just accept his apology and turn our heads? Ignore this unprecedented legislative pay raise as it appears our state leader is prepared to do?

As stated in Jindal’s Action Plan pamphlet, one of his key points was “PROHIBIT legislators from giving themselves pay raises that take effect before the subsequent election. Any increase in salary approved by the Legislature should take effect after the next election so the public can decide who deserves the compensation.”

The fact that Jindal mentioned legislative pay raises in his campaign brochure makes one wonder just how much discussion was going on about pay raises behind the scenes prior to the gubernatorial election.

Bobby, Bobby, Bobby…….exactly WHO is going to PROHIBIT it? The citizens of Louisiana obviously can’t PROHIBIT it.

Melissa, please find Bobby’s copy of “Governing For Dummies” and give it to him…….while you’re at it, look through those 5,000 pens on his desk and find the one that says “Veto Pen” and give it to him.

M. stepped up and did the legwork, and I’ve applied for a permit for a rally. Details coming later today!!

Update 2: Still waiting on confirmation, but in the meantime, we need to start thinking about signs. Any ideas?

Update 3: (5:10pm) No confirmation yet. But get your signs ready, because if our first request is not approved, we’ll work on getting another date and location.

Continue Reading »

I’ve just emailed everyone who signed up:

Thanks for signing up! We’ve made a huge amount of progress in less than 48 hours; getting the site up, getting the word out, and starting to get people organized. We’re going to provide a checklist for recall efforts, and we’re going to seek advice from the folks involved in the Blanco and Broussard recall efforts to make sure ours are successful. We’re also planning ahead for the next election. For the moment, we’ve established some goals to get us started and listed some areas where people can pitch in. These are published on the website and at the bottom of this email, and they will be subject to change as we get some feedback from everyone who’s signed up. (Remember: we’re new at this too!)

We’re looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks!!

If you didn’t get it, please whitelist admin@legewatch.com. The rest of the email was a link to the new Goals page, so if you haven’t checked it out, please do so and decide how best you can help.