BLOSSMAN IN HOT WATER OVER PITCH FOR ACADIAN SALESMAN Public Service Commissioner Jay Blossman can now officially be counted in the politicians-without-a-clue category. Blossman thinks it’s perfectly OK for him to use a PSC-generated list of more than 200 transportation companies — businesses he’s responsible for regulating — and then write a letter on agency stationery to those companies asking them to accept a sales meeting with his friend who sells a mobile technology product. Some of the companies were not too happy about Blossman’s bone-headed and heavy-handed move, and promptly alerted Baton Rouge’s Metropolitan Crime Commission. Now it’s up to the state inspector general to determine whether Blossman’s correspondence qualifies as an abuse of public office.
The friend that Blossman was pitching for is Nicholas Larussa, a new sales employee of Acadian Ambulance’s Acadian Monitoring Services division. Larussa’s sister apparently babysits Blossman’s children. The Times-Picayune wrote, “Blossman said he was impressed with the technology when Larussa showed it to him and offered to write a letter to let people know about the product. ... He thought his letter did not encourage the motor carriers to do business with Louisiana, but only encouraged them to accept an appointment if Larussa called. He said that if the law prohibits that type of letter, ‘the law needs to be changed.’”
In regards to Larussa, Acadian Ambulance Vice President Tyron Picard told the Picayune: “In retrospect, the fact that we had a junior salesperson who was probably not very experienced, coupled with the fact with not having a complete understanding of dealing with the governmental arena, I’m willing to chalk that up to youthful inexperience and aggressiveness on his part that he has probably learned a good lesson on.”
PINAC NOT RUNNING AGAINST BOUSTANY Local Democratic Party officials had been looking to former state Rep. Gil Pinac as their go-to candidate in challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Charles Boustany this fall. Pinac, who lost a bid last year for state Senate, is a Crowley Democrat in the mold of former 7th District Congressmen Chris John and John Breaux. However, at a caucus meeting last Saturday of party officials from across the 7th District, Pinac broke the news that he would not be entering the race. “He told us he made a decision that this wasn’t the right time for him to run,” says John Bernhardt, chairman of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Party Executive Committee. Bernhardt is still holding out hope that a Democrat will emerge to run against Boustany, but says “as of this moment there’s no candidate.” Pinac could not be reached for comment.
SEN. “WIDE STANCE” CRAIG TO “SERIOUS SIN” VITTER’S DEFENSE U.S. Sen. Larry “wide stance” Craig is defending fellow embattled Sen. David Vitter, saying Vitter should not resign over his “serious sin” involving an alleged D.C. prostitution ring. Idaho’s Craig was among several GOP senators who said Vitter’s possible testimony in the “D.C. Madam” prostitution case should not have compelled his resignation, The Hill reported April 8. (It turns out that Vitter didn’t need Craig’s support, as the case was set to conclude Monday without Vitter being called to the witness stand.)
“First and foremost, in these kinds of issues, it’s the state and the relationship you have with your state that really determines where you ought to go,” Craig told the D.C.-based publication. “That was certainly my case. The Senate itself wasn’t going to judge me. I would allow the citizens of my state to do so. And there is still strong support there.”
Craig was arrested last year and pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from an undercover male officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. He then tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea, blaming his “wide stance.” After initially saying he would resign, Craig decided to stay in office, citing support from Idahoans. Last month he announced that he would not seek re-election and claims that decision was made before his “playing footsies” controversy.
LOUISIANA EARMARKS UP FOR DEBATE During budget debates in recent years, average citizens, editorial writers and good government groups have all winced at the sight of funding for hot air balloon races and high school alumni groups. Why? Because it’s your money that’s supporting these questionable activities and groups.
These earmarks are traditionally included in the state budget without information as to how the taxpayer money will be spent or who benefits. That’s why some folks call it pork, or even political payout. Additionally, many of the earmarks support nonprofit organizations — some of which receive virtually all of their revenue from state government grants sponsored by individual legislators.
“The question isn’t whether or not these organizations do some good in our state, it’s how efficient is the job they are doing,” says state Treasurer John Kennedy. “If the state is going to continue to give money to these nonprofit organizations, at the very least taxpayers statewide deserve full disclosure about these projects.”
As a possible solution, Sen. Dan “Blade” Morrish, a Jennings Republican, has filed Senate Bill 106 to force lawmakers to reveal every last detail about their earmarks. Each funding request would have to include budget information, project goals, objectives and even information about connections with elected officials.
Kennedy is among the bill’s supporters and plans to testify when the Senate Finance Committee takes up the measure.
Contributors: Scott Jordan, Nathan Stubbs, Jeremy Alford and Leslie Turk
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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