New Orleans state Rep. Austin Badon wants to abolish the gubernatorial pardon process, which would include the state’s Board of Pardons, saying the move would save the state about $384,000. That amount includes $356,000 paid each year in salaries and benefits to the five members of the board, including recently appointed former state Rep. Rickey Hardy.
The board is responsible for making recommendations to the governor regarding applications for clemency and pardons of state prisoners, but the governor does not have to act on its recommendations.
A pardon, whether granted by the governor or automatic for first offenders who finish their jail sentence, probation and parole, restores most of a convicted felon’s rights.
Lawmakers must approve Badon’s House Bill 85, a proposed constitutional amendment that would then go to a vote of the people. Badon also filed House Bill 84, a measure that spells out the details of the proposed constitutional change. The Times-Picayune reported:
“The Pardon Board spends a hell of a lot of money ... to make recommendations to a governor who may not use them,” Badon said. “It is a good-government measure and the right thing to do.”
The proposal will need a two-thirds vote in the Legislature and then approval by voters in the Nov. 6 election. Badon said if it passes, it would become effective Jan. 1. ...
The measure would also take away the governor’s powers to grant reprieves and to commute sentences. “This will end all pardons in Louisiana,” Badon said.
Badon said he also wants Louisiana governors to avoid the trouble that former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour encountered when he pardoned 198 individuals, some convicted decades ago and freed for years, in the last days of his term in office. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has gone to court to challenge Barbour’s pardons.
Read more here.
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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