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TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF
Or, in the case of Lafayette’s most colorful and quotable state representative, to put them on
By Walter Pierce
Photos by Robin May
This being a year in which statewide offices are chosen and constitutional amendments as well as two local and very important propositions are decided, the Oct. 22 ballot before voters will be a long one. But that doesn’t mean political junkies will get their fix.
A sliver of voters in north Lafayette can anticipate a good, old-fashioned brawl in the races for Senate District 24 and House District 44. In the former, incumbent Sen. Elbert Guillory goes against Opelousas Mayor Don Cravins, who held the Senate seat previously and whose wife Patricia was defeated by Guillory two and a half years ago in a special election. In the latter, incumbent Rep. Rickey Hardy is up against Vincent Pierre, whose uncle, Wilfred, previously held the seat and who for most intents and purposes represents the old-school black political establishment in Lafayette that Hardy defeated four years ago.
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THE UNCHALLENGED: City-Parish Councilmen Jay Castille and Kenneth Boudreaux, above, along with state Sen.-elect Page Cortez, Rep. Nancy Landry and Rep.-elect Stuart Bishop have an easy path to victory on Oct. 22: no opponents. |
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So far, so good. But for many in Lafayette Parish, the political gods didn’t exactly crank the excitement knob.
Working your way top to bottom among candidates, in fact, there will be several races — both statewide posts and within the parish — that won’t be on the ballot at all because only one candidate, typically the incumbent, is the only person to qualify for the race. And as the trend of Lafayette Parish becoming more conservative continues, this lack of competition could become the norm rather than the exception.
“I think that the districts that are drawn are more ideologically consistent than ever,” says Pearson Cross, a UL Lafayette political science professor. “We just went through a redistricting process, which has something to do with it. The second thing that has to do with it is Republicans are becoming so much more homogenous in terms of being conservatives... As a result, there’s no real sense in running against someone who feels the same way you do about most issues, unless it’s strictly about wanting the position.”
Working our way down the list of 37 statewide, parishwide and local seats up for grabs in Lafayette Parish on Oct. 22, there are 12 seats for which no election will be held because only one candidate qualified. That’s nearly a third.
State Treasurer John Kennedy can fold his wallet — he’s in without a fight. So too are state Sens. Fred Mills and Jonathan Perry, state Reps. Nancy Landry and Taylor Barras, Tax Assessor Conrad Comeaux, Clerk of Court Louis Perret, Coroner Kenneth Odinet and councilmen Kenneth Boudreaux and Jay Castille. State Rep. Page Cortez, meanwhile, gets to slide over to the Senate without a competitor while political rookie Stuart Bishop walks into Cortez’s House seat unscathed.
“Term limits now make it more likely that with these legislative seats people will wait until there’s an open seat,” adds Cross. “So people who want to run are saying, ‘Well, I’ll hang out a little bit and maybe have an open seat or a special election or won’t have to run against an incumbent.’”
MAY 20 This post by blogger CB Forgotston draws parallels between Gov. Bobby Jindal and two individuals he probably doesn't want to be aligned with: President Obama and former governor Edwin Edwards. CB says Jindal's trying to jack up the debt ceiling (an Obama play, according to CB) and buy votes from GOP leges who normally wouldn't go for that (an Edwards play, CB says).
MAY 20 Here's a post in the Baptist Message from an alumnus of Louisiana College. The author, Larry Burgess, calls on the leadership of the private school to take care of some pressing problems. Physical plant issues are critical and unaddressed, some faculty make so little they need government health care, and there is an atmosphere that does not encourage honest discussion, he writes. It's time to get things back in order, he says.
MAY 20 This post in Gambit tells of a benefit concert scheduled to raise money for the 19 people shot during a Mother's Day second line on Frenchmen Street in NOLA. Among them was Gambit blogger Deb Cotton, who spoke frequently about violence in the city and reported on the city's second line culture. Gambit's foundation, along with other NOLA non-profits, also is selling t-shirts to raise money for the victims.
MAY 20 Blogger Robert Mann is critical of the personal interest some legislators take in their work here, sharing the comments one NOLA solon made in explaining his decision to vote against a bill that would require people to stop discriminating against female workers. His wife might lose some salary, so he was going to have to vote against the equal pay bill, Conrad Appel said. Appel and everyone who heard him should have been ashamed, but they weren't, and that's what is wrong in that building, Mann argues.
MAY 20 American Press columnist Jim Beam writes about the budget again here, urging kudos for the House and its efforts to try to fix the budget as opposed to passing on a flawed and messy rubber-stamped document as it usually does. The Senate already is poo-pooing the effort, but instead Senators should be trying to find a way to improve it as well, Beam argues. He also has some predictions in here from LABI and CABL.
MAY 20 Here's a link to the photo gallery from Tulane's graduation this past weekend. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint played together and received honorary degrees. The Dalai Lama was so entranced by their performance he got up from his seat and walked across the stage to stand next to them. He even participated in a second line with his own personal, saffron-colored umbrella. To the graduates, he urged them to think about creating a peaceful, hopeful life and society.
MAY 20 This Picayune story questions the rhetoric of NOLA officials who say the city, aside from having a "murder problem," is safe. The talking points generally are that the criminals are killing each other, but everything else is OK. The police chief there says that even Lafayette is more dangerous than NOLA. But crime experts interviewed here say that NOLA's numbers indicate one of two things: either people are so used to violence they don't report it, or somebody's "fudging the numbers."
MAY 20 The Advocate's Mark Ballard writes about some of the background maneuvering that took place during the development of budget alternatives in the Legislature. From Rep. Joel Robideaux being called a "tax and spend liberal" to robo-call influence, Ballard lets us in on some of the work that happens behind the scenes but usually doesn't make it into the Advocate's daily coverage of the session.
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