Two more candidates who were expected to run in the Oct. 22 election are making it official: First-time office seeker Stuart Bishop has made official his intention to seek the District 43 state House seat being vacated by Rep. Page Cortez, who hopes to abandon the House and move into term-limited state Sen. Mike Michot’s District 23 chair; and state Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, will be center-stage at a $250-per-couple re-election fundraiser scheduled for Aug. 24 at the Petroleum Club.
Bishop’s intention to seek Cortez’s House seat has been public knowledge since late winter, although the Lafayette businessman has long said he would wait for Cortez to announce his candidacy for the state Senate before making his own candidacy official. The 35-year-old is an officer in his family-run concrete business, Baldwin Redi-Mix. A Republican and LSU alumnus, Bishop will be making his first run at elected office, although he acknowledges that he considered seeking the District 43 House seat last election cycle.
“I’ve looked at this seat since I move to Lafayette 14 years ago,” he told The Ind in late February. “I’ve always been interested in politics. You and I both know politics is about timing and opportunity, and just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.”
An attorney by vocation, Landry is winding down her first term in the House. She boasts an impressive list of special guests, sponsors and hosts for the Aug. 24 fundraiser, among them Gov. Bobby Jindal (honorary chair), Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle, Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain, Michot and fellow state Sen. Jonathan Perry, along with fellow Reps. Joel Robideaux, Page Cortez and Simone Champagne. Numerous prominent Acadiana companies and trade organizations are also listed on the invitation.
Qualifying for the Oct. 22 election will be held Sept. 6-8.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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