Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Written by Jeremy Alford
How Gov. Bobby Jindal, with nothing but the power his office provides, put a damper on the Legislature’s recent streak of independence.
“That’s just stupid.”
The assessment offered by the mother of Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, when he told her that the House wouldn’t have the votes to override a gubernatorial veto of a cigarette tax
When something happens “inside the rails,” meaning those tiny, intricately carved borders that keep lobbyists and others off the floors of the House and Senate, it’s usually a reference to an event or occurrence that impacts lawmakers only. It’s juicy fodder for hacks and flacks, but doesn’t mean much to the general public at large.
That’s how the Legislature’s recent streak of independence measures up. It’s “inside the rails” and doesn’t likely resonate with your mom or neighbor or postman.
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| Rep. Rick Gallot |
Gov. Bobby Jindal saw to that last Tuesday when he vetoed legislation meant to renew a 4-cent cigarette tax. Lawmakers hooped and hollered about getting it to Jindal’s desk, but he had the final say with the stroke of a pen.
Two days later, House members attempted to override Jindal, but their effort came up a dozen votes shy of the 70 needed to buck the man who’s positioned where the buck supposedly stops.
How did Jindal do it, especially since House Bill 1, the stat’s budget plan, is devoid of any fun funds? It has been common knowledge since the regular session kicked off in late April that the administration would have one arm tied behind its back without the use of earmarks and pork projects, which are offered up as payment for votes, practically since the beginning of legislative time, and their absence this cash-strapped session has been blamed for some of Jindal’s policy failures. (Read: merging UNO and Southern; selling off prisons; proposed budget cuts; tuition increases; and so on.)
But then there’s House Bill 2, the state’s annual construction plan. It is very much in play as the session winds down. The plan, known as the capital outlay bill, includes projects in practically every part of the state, but it’s finalized in the fall by the commissioner of administration and state Bond Commission — regardless of how the bill passes.
A senator, who requested anonymity but also asked that the interview take place in the view and earshot of administrative staffers, said that “capital outlay is being dangled over our heads like meat” for all of the major floor votes over the past two weeks or so. “That’s all you hear people talking about,” the senator said. “We’re being threatened with these projects.”
A high-ranking legislative staffer on the House side added that the administration in many cases is telling lawmakers that their project priorities could be changed if they don’t follow suit. Projects in House Bill 2 are organized by five different priorities. Some mean cash will be available in the coming fiscal year; others are essentially a holding place.
The staffer said many lawmakers are still proud of the battles they won this session, but Jindal, with the power of the purse strings and veto pen, prevails in the end: “He wins the last battle.”
It’s an interesting time at the state Capitol these days. House members who are term-limited are saying their good byes, even though quite a few will attempt to move over to the Senate where other outgoing pols are giving final addresses, too.
In his farewell speech, Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Ruston, suggested that thumbing a nose to power is sometimes required — if only to keep things lively. “If you’re good, you get called to the Governor’s Mansion to eat cookies, maybe get a company man t-shirt,” he said.
Last week, after several lawmakers switched their votes to protect Jindal’s veto record, there was certainly a good deal of cookie-eating going on. Hopefully, they were also listening to Gallot’s speech last week, for he offered some deep words of political wisdom.
The words are especially true as you consider that the cigarette tax vetoed by Jindal eliminates $12 million annually for various health care programs. That, and there’s the capital construction project in Small Town Louisiana that won’t get built now because some rural lawmaker wouldn’t bow to the governor.
Politics has a way of leveling the playing field. Eventually. At some point. “What goes around comes around,” Gallot said, “sometimes quicker than you think.”
Jeremy Alford can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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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