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By Walter Pierce
U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry is a wealthy man, and that’s not sitting well with U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, his wealthy opponent in the race for the 3rd Congressional District.
In a recent post on LAFactCheck.com, an anti-Landry website operated by Camp Boustany, the New Iberia tea partier is assailed for — gasp! — having him some money. Lots of money. A $13 million net worth according to the Center for Responsive Politics. (The Washington Post estimates Landry’s net worth to be just over $8 million.)
If accurate, that would make Landry the 39th most wealthy member of Congress. Boustany — by comparison at OpenSecrets.org, the website of the CRP, which tracks political money — is a pauper, coming in with a 2010 net worth estimated between $1 million and $1.7 million. Poor guy, he’s merely the 160th wealthiest member of Congress.
But LAFactCheck.com grinds some pretty tasty sausage out of Landry’s wealth, suggesting he’s been padding his pockets thanks to his gig in Congress:
Even worse, since Landry announced his run for Congress in 2010, he has been living high off the hog. Landry’s net worth jumped 233% since announcing his initial bid for Congress. Joining liberals Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry in raking in the cash, there’s no question Jeff has made it big since going to Washington. Since we know Landry is a pro at making backroom deals and soliciting under-the-table agreements for votes, it should come as no surprise that Landry went hog wild once he got to Washington when special interests came knocking.(Be sure to check out this Snoop Dog/Kanye West link referenced above.)
Does Landry know that during the time his wealth increased nearly two and a half fold, the average American family’s net worth dropped almost 40%? While American families are hurting, Landry has been partying it up with liberal Hollywood celebrities Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. With antics like that during the toughest economic period for the average American since the Great Depression, can we trust out-of-touch Washington politician Jeff Landry to fight for what’s right for the average South Louisiana citizen?
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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