He looks a little like The Donald. And now he sounds like him too.
Tired of fielding what he says are “many inquiries concerning President Barack Obama’s citizenship and requests that the Secretary of State prevent his name from being place on the ballot in Louisiana’s Nov. 6 Congressional and Presidential elections,” SOS Tom Schedler is asking state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell for an opinion on the matter. Schedler’s plan was posted on his facebook page March 13 via a letter signed by “William E. Crawford, Attorney, Department of State.”
“We have received a huge amount of letters, faxes and emails on the subject,” Brandee Patrick, Schedler’s public information officer, told The Independent this morning.
The facebook post acknowledges that Schedler does not have federal or state authority or discretion to investigate, refuse to qualify a candidate or refuse to place a candidate on the ballot on the grounds he or she may not qualify.
Why Schedler’s office doesn’t just tell that to those making the “many inquiries” is unclear. It seems Shedler prefers to play the conspiracy theorists games.
The fringe has continued to promote this theory despite that Obama released his official birth certificate from Hawaii in 2008, the Hawaii Department of Health’s confirmation based on the original documents — and birth announcements published in August 1961 in two Hawaii newspapers. Wonder how someone could fabricate that? 
Last year the president played his own Trump card. He publicly released a certified copy of his original long-form Certificate of Live Birth, seeking to end once and for all the so-called “birther” issue after Donald Trump's double comb-over became a nauseating sideshow distraction in the presidential election and the country’s more pressing problems.
Patrick said she this morning she would forward to us Schedler’s letter to the AG and a letter he wrote to constituents, but we had not received them by 12:30. She also said Schedler would return our call, but we have not heard from him.
The AG’s office has yet to receive the letter as well. “You might want to contact the Secretary of State’s Office. To my knowledge, we have not received a request for an opinion,” says Amanda Larkins, Caldwell’s director of communications.
We were unable to find the post on Schedler’s facebook page this morning. View it below.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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St. Petah don't you call me for I can't go, I owe my soul to the company stoah.