In 2009, the last time the Louisiana Legislature conducted a fiscal session, the House Health and Welfare Committee shot down a proposed tax hike of $1, which would have created a new state tax of $1.36 per pack and brought the price of a pack of smokes closer to the national average.
What the stats don’t tell, we noted, and what we were unable to predict for the cover story, was what kind of fate such anti-smoking bills would have when faced by a governor who refuses to pass taxes — no matter the cause and effect — and a Legislature that is largely up for re-election later this fall.
And now we know the answer. Gambit Publisher Clancy DuBos was at a gathering of the GOP faithful in Harahan March 15 and says Gov. Bobby Jindal is already rejecting the idea. Jindal told a packed audience of GOP supporters and elected officials that he will not budge on his opposition to taxes — not even on cigarette taxes, which many people favor as a way to reduce smoking.
Jindal began his career in Louisiana public service under then-Gov. Mike Foster, who appointed the 25-year-old Jindal to the position of secretary of the Department of Louisiana Health & Hospitals. In 2005, the LHH came out strongly in favor of increasing state cigarette taxes:
Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Dr. Fred Cerise and other DHH medical directors said in a press release at the time that the increased tax on cigarettes proposed in the Legislature would lead to a decrease in cigarette smoking, particularly among young smokers and potential smokers.
House Bill 437, currently under review in the Legislature, proposes adding an extra dollar in taxes on each package of cigarettes sold in Louisiana. The tax revenue would go to fund other state programs.
Dr. Cerise, State Health Officer Dr. Jimmy Guidry, Medicaid Medical Director Dr. Roxane Townsend and the state’s nine public health regional medical directors all say the higher tax on cigarettes and a higher price per pack could serve as a big deterrent from smoking.
According to a 2010 table from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Louisiana’s state cigarette tax — at 36 cents per pack — is the 49th lowest in the country; only Virginia, with a state tax of 30 cents, was lower.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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As long as we have a repressive social order in Louisiana, where the great majority of our citizens are the "working poor" who will never acquire a modicum of small wealth, their only pleasure is smoking cigarettes. It does two things for them: (1.) It gives them relaxation (as their lungs are being destroyed imperceptibly); and (2.) it dampens their spirit, so they will not aspire beyond a situation which is stacked against them in Louisiana (there is no upward mobility in Louisiana, unless you marry into money or win the lottery ticket). This keeps the citizenry pacified and inert.
The politicans should not even tax tobacco. This is the only honest pleasure the poor have in Louisiana. It aids their early death, so they do not have to endure any further misery from a meaningless, unfulfilled vacuous existence.