Though he would not commit when interviewed by phone Wednesday, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle says he is interested in the District 2 Public Service Commission seat being vacated at the end of the year by longtime commissioner Jimmy Field of Baton Rouge. “I will say I am visiting with my family this weekend and would be looking to make an announcement sooner rather than later,” the Breaux Bridge native says. “I feel very confident at this point, but I need to visit with my family.”
The recently redrawn District 2 covers the parishes of Lafayette, St. Mary, St. Martin, Terrebonne, Lafourche, East Feliciana, West Feliciana and Point Coupee as well as parts of Iberia, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Livingston parishes. Field, a Baton Rouge attorney, has served as a commissioner since December 1996; he announced earlier this month that he would not seek re-election.
An independent regulatory agency, the PSC manages public utilities and motor carriers in the state. It has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms. Commissioners make $45,000 a year and get a $700 monthly car allowance.
Widely regarded as a hard worker, Angelle was the state’s liaison between the offshore oil and gas industry and the federal government during the 2010 drilling moratorium and more recently took the lead on the acrimonious “legacy lawsuit” issue debated in the Legislature. A Democrat until late 2010 when he switched to the Republican Party, he has close allies on both sides of the aisle.
Angelle says he’s attracted to the post because the work of the PSC can be critical in directing the overall economy. “I would say this much — that I fundamentally believe that since we’ve had six recessions since 1972 and all of them can be traced to high energy prices, that I have a passion for what I call the three Es: energy, economy and environment,” he says. “And I believe the PSC operates at the intersection of those three and that a highly functioning PSC can help improve the quality of life for all people in Louisiana.”
It's always a slippery slope when politicians complain about high energy prices, which are the fuel for South Louisiana’s oil and gas economy, but Angelle says there is no question that inflated prices can also drag down the local economy. “I think we all saw in 2008 when we had extraordinary energy prices we all felt it here. There is a balance,” Angelle says, noting that even energy officials acknowledge that there is a point where high prices are more destructive than beneficial for the area’s overall economy.
Angelle is just days removed from a tough legislative battle in which state lawmakers passed compromise legislation he believes will finally settle the dispute between the oil and gas industry and landowners over how to clean up environmental damage from past drilling operations. With Angelle taking the lead for the Jindal administration, two bills were approved to deal with the complex legal process in which landowners sought millions in damages from oil companies — claims industry officials have long argued were hurting energy exploration in the state. Expected to be signed into law by Jindal, the changes call for companies to clean damaged areas to regulatory standards but allow more extensive damages claims to be pursued in the courts. The battle was so contentious that U.S. Sen. David Vitter jumped into the fray (quite possibly exploiting the issue for his own political aspirations to seek the governor's seat in 2015), accusing Jindal of not providing adequate leadership.
“I think it was a fair compromise that is going to accelerate cleaning up the environment while at the same time providing a process, a transparent process, that I think was absolutely critical to landowners,” Angelle says. “So I think we will be able to accomplish what we set out to accomplish.”
Angelle, 50, has been DNR secretary since 2004. He was appointed by then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and reappointed by Jindal. When Mitch Landrieu resigned as lieutenant governor in 2010 to take over as mayor of New Orleans, Jindal named him to the post on an interim basis. As a condition of the appointment, Angelle agreed not to be a candidate in the special election to replace Landrieu.
Should he decide to run. Angelle will face fellow Republicans Ed Roy of Lafayette and Erich Ponti of Baton Rouge. Ponti, a state rep, is holding a June 21 luncheon fundraiser at the Louisiana Manufactured Housing Association in Baton Rouge.
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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