State Rep. Bobby Badon, D-Carencro, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election in October for a second term as the District 39 representative. Stung by a January 2010 arrest for OWI and, in June of this year, the release of the state police video of the arrest following a public records request by The Advocate, the former Carencro City Council member cites the expansion of his business and farming interests for his decision not to seek re-election. Following is the statement Badon released to the media Tuesday:
After long thought, deep discussions with my family and friends, and some prayer, I have decided that I will not seek re-election as State Representative for House District 39. My term in the Louisiana House of Representatives ends in January.
Before my 2007 election I served two terms on the Carencro City Council. I want to thank God for this opportunity to serve the good people of District 39. I also want to thank the people of Lafayette, St. Landry and St. Martin Parishes who entrusted me with the responsibility of representing them in the House of Representatives. Over the last four years, my work in Baton Rouge resulted in more than $17 million in state-funded projects coming to District 39. I will continue to ably represent the people of District 39 until my successor takes office in January.
My decision not to run is bittersweet. Although I do believe my constituents would have given me the opportunity to continue to serve them, the expansion of my business and farming interests is keeping me very busy and is taking more and more time away from my duties as State Representative. I am creating jobs and bringing opportunities right here in Lafayette Parish. I am confident in my abilities and proud of my accomplishments as State Representative of District 39. While I value my constituents in St. Landry Parish and St. Martin Parish, Lafayette Parish is the heart and soul of District 39. More than three-quarters of the residents of District 39 live in Lafayette Parish. Being from Lafayette Parish, it gave me a better understanding of the needs of all of my constituents. I feel it will be important for the next Representative to also have a full understanding of those needs and the needs of all the District.
Thank you and God bless.
MAY 21 Gambit columnist Clancy DuBos writes about the Mother's Day shooting, and how the stages of shock and blame and healing mirror those traveled by the same city following Hurricane Katrina. The city will recover, just as it did following the storm, by reaching out to help the people injured most seriously by the event, DuBos writes. It's how we heal, he says.
MAY 21 Here's a post on the Advocate (but buried on a subpage, not on the front) that reports something Louisiana Voice reported some time ago: a top DOE official lives in Los Angeles and "commutes" to Baton Rouge. The positioning of the story caused a stir on Facebook Monday, with several posters asking if the Advocate was covering someone's hiney. Sentell's stories on DOE are notoriously soft, and this one is no different: don't expect any hard questions in here.
MAY 21 Here's another post from blogger Tom Aswell about the "course choice" program. He's already reported on kids being signed up without their consent or knowledge, and has more here: For example, he tells of a six-year-old who was signed up for high school Latin. He also digs a little deeper into the sister companies of the main one operating in Louisiana; all of them seem to have complaints against them. Stinky.
MAY 21 Given the 80 percent cut in higher ed funding since he's been in office, it's clear Gov. Jindal would rather give tax cuts to out of state companies than have a functioning system, blogger Dayne Sherman argues in this post. The cuts have been such a disaster, Sherman says, that it will take 30 years to fix what's been broken. He says he believes the aim is to shut down most of the schools before Jindal leaves in 2016.
MAY 21 Blogger CB Forgotston says there are too many elections in Louisiana, and they're costing us too much money. The proof is in the pudding: turnout for most of these nonsensical pollings gets worse and worse, CB opines, even as millions of dollars that could be spent on health care or higher ed go down the tubes. The legislature must take action to stem the tide of pointless elections, he says.
MAY 21 Here's an interesting investigative piece by WVUE on the retirement benefits of some Jefferson Parish public employees. According to the story, the taxpayers are paying 100 percent of the retirement contributions of employees who started work prior to a certain date in April 1986 -- and have done for more than 30 years. It costs the parish millions annually, and might not be legal, the story reports.
MAY 21 This post on Bayou Buzz provides insight from Louisiana's intrepid pollster, Bernie Pinsonat, on the winners and losers from this year's legislative session. But to hear Bernie tell it, there's almost nuttin but losers: Jindal, the Republican party, the Fiscal Hawks all get big goose eggs in his win column.
MAY 20 This post on The Lens takes a look at a huge (either $500K or $250K) bill that one NOLA charter now has for school lunches. The RSD says the charter group didn't fill out the proper paperwork for federal reimbursement, but the story details how the RSD didn't ensure the people running the charter had the proper training, despite requests from hapless charter employees trying to fill out forms. Either way, somebody's asleep at the wheel.
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