Swatting gnats from his sweat-spattered forehead in the blistering heat last year, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser garnered state and national headlines day in and day out in the aftermath of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In particular, he seemed to be the go-to voice for CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the cable network that provided extensive coverage of the disaster. On Monday the rotund Republican turned that exposure into a campaign for lieutenant governor, a seat currently held by fellow Republican Jay Dardenne.
“Louisianans need a lieutenant governor who has real world experience creating jobs and a track record of standing up and doing what is best for our state,” Nungesser said from Belle Chasse Monday. “Louisiana needs a fighter who has been tested and delivered real results with the proven courage to stand up to large corporations, the federal government or whoever is standing in the way of doing what is right for our state and our people.”
Less than two hours after Nungesser made his announcement, Dardenne issued a release of his own, a video he created from an automated call of Nungesser endorsing him for lieutenant governor in last year's special election for the seat.
The call was broadcast in November 2010, according to Dardenne. View the video here. In the recording, Nungesser praised Dardenne for his leadership in protecting the state's coastline and lauded Dardenne as "a strong advocate for good government" and fiscal responsibility. "I know he'll fight to restore Louisiana's image in the wake of the oil spill," Nungesser said.
A local political consultant will help lead the effort to elect Nungesser: Amy Jones, senior partner in Jones Communications and perhaps best remembered for successfully running U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany’s first campaign for Congress in 2004, is communications director for the campaign. Jones says Nungesser will make his rounds across the state this week, appearing at Trynd Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Nungesser was elected president of Plaqemines Parish in 2006 and overwhelming re-elected in 2010 with 71 percent of the vote.
In announcing his campaign, Nungesser took credit for the Plaquemines Parish rebuilding effort following Hurricane Katrina, saying he helped win approval for 500 projects totaling $361 million to rebuild marinas and invest in fire stations and emergency equipment.
“Our state’s $9 billion tourism industry deserves a champion who will roll up his sleeves and work with the taxicab drivers, bartenders, restaurant owners and tourism professionals to find real world solutions to improve the industry and create jobs,” Nungesser said. “We don’t need a career politician who thinks the solution to our problems is to use more of our hard earned tax dollars to line the pockets of Madison Avenue advertising executives. Louisiana needs help from leaders who won’t back down until Louisiana is the state it can and should be.”
A lifelong conservative Republican, Nungesser is a small business owner who built a company with more than 200 employees. For more information about Billy Nungesser, click here or go to facebook.com/billynungesser.
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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Seems like Ms. Jones issued press releases for Rep. Boustany but should not be given credit for 'running' his campaign. She should be remembered for actually running the two failed campaigns of Sammy Kershaw for Lt. Governor. Maybe the third time is charm.