District 44 House of Representatives candidate Vince Pierre on Monday threatened through his campaign to boycott Monday’s scheduled debate on the UL campus if a representative of the The Independent participated as a panelist. Dr. Robert Buckman, the UL journalism professor who arranged the debate, declined to acquiesce to the Pierre campaign’s demands; Emily Henagan, a UL journalism student and Ind intern, will be part of the panel of journalists posing questions to Pierre and incumbent Rep. Rickey Hardy.
By mid-morning Monday Buckman had worked out what amounts to a compromise: Pierre agreed to attend the debate but vowed to not answer questions posed by Henagan. (The debate format stipulates that questions posed by panelists be applicable to both candidates; in other words, no “gotcha” questions will be allowed.)
Ashley LaStrapes, Pierre’s public relations representative, tells The Ind that Pierre’s attempt to block this newspaper from participating in the debate stems from what Pierre views as unfavorable coverage over the last several weeks. “Every time he’s in the paper it’s negative in relation to someone that is quote-unquote a negative figure in the community,” LaStrapes says, referring to former City-Parish Councilman Chris Williams, a lightning rod in north Lafayette politics and a former political opponent of Hardy’s whom Hardy beat in a runoff four years ago for the District 44 seat. “[Chris Williams is] not a part of the campaign staff, but every time we talk to you guys it’s been the same thing — it’s been a question about Chris Williams,” LaStrapes adds.
In our Oct. 26 cover story, “The Ex Factor,” this newspaper examined the relationships between Williams and several campaigns including the Pierre campaign.
Hardy got 43 percent of the vote to Pierre’s 40 percent in the three-person primary Oct. 22. The third candidate, attorney Roshell Jones, received 17 percent. Jones has since endorsed Hardy for re-election. The runoff is this Saturday, Nov. 19.
Today’s debate is set for 1 p.m. in Room 241 of Burke-Hawthorne Hall.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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That said, Mr. Pierre has a solid point.
The Independent’s editor helped Representative Hardy perpetrate a hoax on his very own constituents (see “Up Against – Himself” - http://www.theind.com/news/901...t--himself ) by pulling a stunt and not appearing at the first round of debates. This combined with the terribly flattering coverage that Representative Hardy has received from this publication would make even the most sober reader take pause in trying to ascertain whether this publication can be considered impartial.
But a simple review of Representative Hardy’s record (something in which he constantly refers to and used as the main reason why he didn’t need to debate anyone) you will find that more than 20% of the time Representative Hardy hasn’t even done his job – vote. Hardy missed over 20% of the votes that have been cast in his chamber since being elected. (This isn't even taking into consideration the time Hardy was accused of voting other members machines.)
And let’s look at his legislative priorities… Hardy has now made it illegal to shop at yard sales with cash! Yep with his bill to supposedly combat stolen items from being resold by would be thieves, Hardy has made Antique Businesses and perhaps even yard sales in this state prevented from accepting cash for payment. This poorly conceived piece of legislation even by the most conservative legal observers calling it unconstitutional.
And what about trying to make people who test HIV positive into virtual sex offenders? Hardy filed a bill (later pulling it after all the criticism he got over it) that would have forced incarcerated individuals into a forced HIV screening and if they test positive they would have to mail a post card with their photo and HIV status to everyone who lives within 1 mile of them. Clearly this also has constitutional and privacy concerns.
And who can forget the times Hardy has appeared as the butt of the jokes of Late Night Comedians for his legislation.
Take all of this and add to it the Positive or even unbiased reporting on Pierre by this publication… (Do a search, and just read the headlines… all slanted IMHO)
I don’t think that you combat media biased by not talking or shutting them out… but can you blame the guy for considering it?