When asked about it last week before a committee meeting, Arnold took a deep breath and smiled. He straightened his Looney Tunes tie, staring down at Daffy and Tweety, before gesturing with his hands.
"I don't have a problem with Old Metairie," Arnold says. "It was just a message I was trying to send."
The message was intended for Metairie Republican Rep. John LaBruzzo, who was pacing the hallway outside the committee room. In a matter of minutes, LaBruzzo would present another bill to send a message in retaliation to Arnold, his family and other members of the Legislature.
Arnold, along with New Orleans Democratic Rep. Alex Heaton, helped kill a bill in February that would have consolidated the seven assessors' offices in New Orleans. On the surface, there's nothing unusual about their votes. But consider their family connections ' Fifth District Assessor Tom Arnold is the lawmaker's father, and Seventh District Assessor Henry Heaton is the other legislator's brother ' and things become a bit questionable.
That's why LaBruzzo filed a bill for the Legislative session to prohibit lawmakers from voting on legislation that would affect tax assessors to whom they're related. It's a very pointed bill ' pointed right at Arnold and Heaton ' and LaBruzzo says the fallout has been harsh, ranging from political threats to expletive-laced attacks.
Last week, when LaBruzzo went into the House and Governmental Affairs Committee to present his bill, Arnold was ready to pounce. LaBruzzo, however, knew the cards were stacked against him and voluntarily pulled the bill from consideration, vowing to seek an opinion from the state Ethics Board. Before Arnold could chime in, LaBruzzo was out the door.
Arnold stormed into the hallway looking for a reporter. "I was going to present this during the meeting," he says, "but [LaBruzzo] pulled the bill and left."
He held four sheets of paper in his hands, each explaining a different bill filed by LaBruzzo over the last couple of years. Every single one dealt with medical equipment ' LaBruzzo's profession.
"If he really wanted to change the rules," Arnold says, referring to the ethics code that prohibits lawmakers from voting on issues from which them might benefit economically, "he should have it apply to everyone."
More than anything else, the Arnold-LaBruzzo feud represents the state of assessor issues in the Legislature and elsewhere ' emotional, confrontational and sometimes comical. The legislation to consolidate the Orleans assessors into one office ' like others around the state ' is back this session. But it was yanked from the agenda earlier this month in a Senate committee when the votes didn't add up for passage, even with a personal appearance by Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The Council for a Better Louisiana, a nonprofit policy group, blasted the inaction and said if the concept is abandoned this year, the offices will remain a "symbol of wasteful government that treats taxpayers in that city unfairly and inequitably."
The consolidation issue isn't the only one on the table for assessors this session. The Louisiana Assessors' Association is prepared to support increasing the homestead exemption. The exemption allows homeowners to exclude the first $75,000 in fair market value of their primary residence from parish property taxes ' except in New Orleans. Altazan says an increase in the exemption could hurt local school boards that derive money from property taxes, but assessors want to help homeowners in storm-devastated areas.
The stance surprises come Capitol observers, as does the association's take on the consolidation issue. Altazan says the group is trying to stay neutral on consolidation, arguing assessors in other parts of the state shouldn't meddle with New Orleans' future. If anything, the residents should vote on such a change, he says.
The stances are especially unusual because the association has not ratified either one; instead, they are being presented at the sole discretion of the legislative committee. The LAA met prior to the session, but it couldn't get a quorum, Altazan says. Another meeting is scheduled for this week, but he doubts the positions will dramatically change.
On the horizon, Altazan says some of the members are eyeing changes made by other states to transition assessors' posts from elected to appointed. For now, he says, it's not a real threat, and not as relevant as issues like the homestead exemption. The about-face on that issue is telling, Altazan says, and could indicate that assessors ' like everyone else around the state ' are adapting to a new way of life post-Katrina/Rita.
"Maybe it's the signs of the times," Altazan says.
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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