Houma business attorney Ravi Sangisetty, the Democratic nominee in the 3rd Congressional District, said he wants the field of candidates to discuss a wider range of issues before the Nov. 2 general election, beginning with infant mortality rates.
“Every single parish in this district has an infant mortality rate higher than the national average,” says Sangisetty, who is pro-life like the race’s other contenders. “This is a moral imperative. The federal government hasn’t delivered for the children of south Louisiana.”
He added that is should be viewed as an extension of the abortion issue.
“Being pro-life is about protecting the born and unborn,” Sangisetty says. “Creating a culture of life means we need to protect our infants.”
The national infant mortality rate average is 6.22 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the 3rd Congressional District, which includes portions of Acadiana, suffers 8.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“We need to fund prenatal care in this country and make sure that expecting mothers have the resources to safely carry their children to term,” Sangisetty adds.
Downer gets nod from good government group
The Alliance for Good Government last week endorsed the campaign of Hunt Downer of Houma, one of the candidates in the 3rd congressional District’s Republican primary runoff. Jeff Landry, a New Iberia attorney and businessman, is on the Oct. 2 ballot as well and competed for the group’s endorsement Thursday evening.
The alliance was created in 1967 consists of four parish chapters, including Orleans, Jefferson , St. Bernard and St. Tammany. It’s a nonprofit advocacy group that strives for accountability and effectiveness in government.
Downer is a former speaker of the state House and a retired major general with the Louisiana National Guard.
PEC’s still falling behind Landry
Landry already has the support of a majority Louisiana Republican party’s parish executive committees in the 3rd Congressional District, including Ascension, Assumption, Iberia, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John and St. Martin.
Last week, St. Bernard Parish Executive Committee puts its support behind Landry as well. That means the only 3CD parishes not on the board are Terrebonne, which is expected to stay out of the race, and Plaquemines, which is expected to back Landry in coming weeks or stay neutral, depending on its fluctuating membership.
Landry also has the backing of the Louisiana Republican Party and a sizable portion of its leadership. Critics contend there’s one main reason Downer fell behind in the hunt — he was once a registered Democrat, previously campaigned for President Bill Clinton and served in the cabinet of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. But Downer has managed to pick up an endorsement from the JeffersoJefferson Parish Executive Committee, which is also the parish with the fewest number of voters in the district.
JUNE 20 Here's the transcript of the esteemed journalist Rush Limbaugh's recent spot on Sen. Elbert Guillory. Guillory's video explaining why all black folks need to go running right over to the GOP (and no, one of the reasons given is not that you can't get elected Lt. Gov. as a "D" in this state) is "amazing" and a "tear-jerker" to Mr. Limbaugh. Of course, he doesn't mention that Guillory thought enough of the D party to join it so he could get elected to the state senate. But Rush doesn't disappoint; he does manage to make the spot about him in the end.
JUNE 20 Here's a WBRZ investigative piece on a foundation in Baton Rouge that may have some problems. Like what, you ask? How about under-reporting income by $700K or having a member who gets contributions by telling folks about her mystical experiences? This lady says it all began 30 years ago when a bishop who died "spoke" to her from his coffin, letting her know that she was not "out of her head." Um, OK.
JUNE 20 Here's another analysis (or post-mortem, as the case may be) for Gov. Jindal's recent post in Politico. This time, it's from the editorial board of the LSU Reveille. The kids say there were some problems with the column; mostly, they were related to Jindal insulting his friends, his enemies, and everyone in between, including himself. The contradictions Jindal displayed weren't lost on these students -- or anybody else.
JUNE 20 This post by the editorial board of the Picayune congratulates former Saint Steve Gleason on the "inspiring" way the man has responded to a mean-spirited and just plain appalling skit on a radio station about him and ALS, the paralyzing and fatal disease he has. As usual, the editorial states, Gleason directed attention from himself and to the disease, which he says is misunderstood, underfunded and ignored. Maybe this will bring some attention to the disease, the board writes.
JUNE 20 The Advocate posts this story about the sudden death of James Gandolfini, the television, stage and film actor probably best known for his role as Tony Soprano on the HBO series. Gandolfini died while vacationing in Italy, the story reports. He won three Emmys for the Sopranos role, but also was honored with a Tony nomination for God of Carnage.
JUNE 20 Clancy DuBos writes here about the legal, financial and political quagmire that is NOLA law enforcement these days. Sheriff Gusman and Mayor Landrieu are facing off in federal court, and as DuBos says, the stakes are high. Gusman's prison is "a hellhole," DuBos writes, and Landrieu claims the books there are "deliberately unfathomable." Gusman says everything's hunky dory, but it would be better if he got more money from Landrieu. What a mess.
JUNE 20 Blogger Tom Aswell says Gov. Jindal needs to quit touring the country bragging about his "gold standard" of ethics reform -- because it just ain't true. Aswell gives us a lot of statistics on our dismal ethics record, including a long list of violations committed by our fearless leaders and political groups. Taken all at once, it's not a pretty picture, and certainly not a golden one.
JUNE 20 This post in the Picayune reports that a contractor pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme that involved fake bids and kickbacks. The contractor said he cut a deal with a guy working for Orleans Sheriff Gusman to submit fake bids so his real company could "win" work for the sheriff, the story says. The former sheriff's employee already has pleaded guilty, the story says. Meanwhile, Sheriff Gusman says he hasn't been contacted by any investigators.
JUNE 20 Here's a Huff Post blog by Jason Linkins, taking a few shots at Gov. Jindal for his recent Politico column. For instance, he takes issue with Jindal's advice that the GOP "stop the bedwetting," pointing out that there were certainly some Jindal-positive patches on those damp sheets. But the main gist of the column is that Jindal was singing one tune back in November, but he's using a different score now. Either way, it's hitting a sour note with Linkins.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to offer shares of its stock to the public for the first time.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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