Rep. Charles
Boustany’s campaign for the U.S. Senate slid closer to desperation mode in
its reaction to reaction over sketchy claims about the candidate’s personal
comportment.
It all began a week ago when advance copies of a
book came out about past murders of prostitutes in Jefferson Davis Parish. The story
has hung around for nearly three years but the author for the book added
new material alleging that Boustany had received services from prostitutes. No
credible sources have come forward to substantiate this claim.
Also it seems an aide for Boustany worked at a
motel frequented by the prostitutes. The campaign denied prior knowledge of
that about the aide and he left his post after the allegations surfaced.
Never forget that politicians seldom win their elections
because of intelligence. New Orleans provides us a perfect recent example of
enacting do-nothing policy based upon ignorance and lack of logic.
This week Mayor Mitch Landrieu signed
into law an ordinance that requires reporting of stolen firearms, bans handguns
and other dangerous weapons these from city recreational facilities, and
creates a crime of “negligent carrying” of a concealed firearm, triggered when
somebody is placed in “reasonable apprehension” of its discharge or is carried
in a way that also causes this discomfort by someone else. State law already
covers the last and the ban in parks extends current limitations, although
questionably given state
law regarding preemption. In other words, these provisions do next to nothing
relative to what already exists, and would have no impact on crime as criminals
will not have legal handguns in the first place and will brandish them anyway
in commission of crime.
But it’s the reporting requirement, within 48
hours of discovery of theft, that causes the real head-scratching. The thinking
behind it appears to be this prevents unscrupulous owners from selling weapons
to criminals and then by asserting past theft of these disclaiming any responsibility
for aiding in commission of a crime if the weapons turn up at the scene.
Just as natural as Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
wanting to raise taxes, so are complaints
about the federal government’s role and response to natural disasters such
as the flooding inundating the Baton Rouge region last month. It helps to
understand just what obligations it should have in order to gauge what should happen.
As immediate rescue gives way to recovery, some
state elected officials have begun lamenting what they see as slow federal
government action. Even Democrat Edwards, knowing that any criticism reflects
upon a Democrat Pres. Barack Obama
administration, has begun cautious chiding of the pace of the Federal Emergency
Management Administration and the American
Red Cross, contracted with the federal government to provide relief
activities. A few others, mostly mayors of affected municipalities, have joined
him and voiced trepidation that Congress
will not move fast enough nor sufficiently far enough to repair matters.
Herein lies the confusion. Up until the hurricane
disasters of 2005, the ethos of government responsibility for acts of nature
never included the notion that government should make people whole. Instead, it
would provide transitory assistance for individuals and long-term aid to
rebuild public infrastructure, but people would have to rely upon their own
good sense to live lifestyles that anticipated the odd tragedy here or there
and thusly to husband resources to compensate if and when that time came.
Maybe I should rename this blog from “Between the
Lines” to a phrase out of the James Bond ouevre
“Tomorrow’s
News Today.” Because that’s what it suggested around two-and-a-half years
ago concerning shenanigans going on within the justice of the peace system in
Louisiana.
That piece
focused mainly on the activities of Tony Thomassie, former constable for the
Jefferson Parish Second Justice Court, who for nearly 30 years racked up
enormous fees for apparently doing not a lot of work. But the way the system
works, where a constable serves a justice of the peace – Louisiana’s small
claims court – a JP has to sign orders and make judgments to generate
revenue-raising opportunities for constables, although some parishes like
Jefferson additionally pay their JPs and constables a set salary.
In the last years of Thomassie’s reign, who in
2014 was voted out of office after reports of his high take-home pay and
frequent sighting in bars in and around Marrero surfaced, Patrick DeJean held
the JP office in that district. The two tangoed to produce regularly
six-figure-plus annual revenues, even as other districts in urban areas, some
with much larger populations, came in with revenues only a fraction of that
size.
