Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The race for lieutenant governor is the nastiest around — and A portal into THE steamy three-way fight for the heart of the state GOP.
By Jeremy Alford
Sexual harassment, extramarital affairs, drug use and prostitutes. In the white-hot race for lieutenant governor, these are the issues you haven’t heard much about. But they’re out there in the political ether, being floated to reporters and editors by operatives hoping the allegations will make their way into headlines — and then into attack ads.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Repealing the Lafayette Home Rule Charter and returning to separate governments for the city and parish of Lafayette is an ideological exercise that everyone — no matter their political stripe — should support. It cuts to one of the most fundamental tenants of democracy: representation. It is rankly unjust that people who do not live in the city Lafayette, who are neither subject to its property tax nor stakeholders/customers of its utility system, would have a voice at the table. Where residents in the small towns, through their representation on the City-Parish Council, have a vote in matters pertaining only to the city of Lafayette, the Hub City enjoys no reciprocal influence. And it shouldn’t.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Gautreaux, Montgomery and Theall vie for Division M judge seat. By Heather Miller
When voters head to the polls Oct. 22, the ballot for a district judge’s seat in one of two sections completely devoted to family court will include three Lafayette lawyers with extensive backgrounds in family law.
U.S. District Judge Richard Haik has no doubt seen a cavalcade of human depravity during his decades on the bench. So can anyone question the severe sentence Haik handed down last week against former Acadiana High teacher Stephen Hurst?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
District 3 City-Parish Councilman Brandon Shelvin’s campaign finance report was disappointing at best — disturbing at worst. By Leslie Turk
The Independent’s ongoing reporting on Brandon Shelvin’s history in the Lafayette business world has revealed deeply troubling questions about his judgment, ethics, honesty and suitability for the public office he holds. So imagine our surprise when we reviewed his campaign contributions, which were due to the Louisiana Board of Ethics 30 days before the Oct. 22 primary.
There’s $250 from Sheriff Mike Neustrom’s campaign fund; $250 from the law firm of Mike Skinner, a former U.S. attorney appointed by President Bill Clinton; and $250 from Nick Gachassin Jr., who served as first assistant state attorney general under Charles Foti.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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