The Press-Herald column, Mar. 21, 2018

The senator who saved East Bank
http://press-herald.com/the-senator-who-saved-east-bank/

Links:
http://bossierpress.com/open-container-plans-face-new-challenge/
http://press-herald.com/bossier-citys-downtown-project-is-mired-in-lack-of-planning-follow-through/
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=233455
http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_53663bd8-0acf-11e8-b484-6b5ffb54727f.html
http://jeffsadow.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-rules-on-la-breweries-need.html

Cantrell can jumpstart campaign donor reform

If LaToya Cantrell doesn’t do it, the state should.

The present New Orleans City Council member and incoming mayor, Democrat Cantrell during her campaign pledged maximal transparency from her administration. That promise got off to a rocky start when she made her transition team members sign nondisclosure agreements.

At least she has released information about who has donated to her transition, which neither state law nor city ordinance requires. At that dissemination, which revealed a list chock full of city contractors, Cantrell reiterated another campaign talking point, that she would seek to ban contractors from donating to political campaigns. She mentioned that the relatively late date of her formal induction into the office, May 7, made impractical an effort to do so through state legislation as the regular session ends about a month after that, but noted she would look at other options to achieve this goal once in power.

Disaffected Democrats driving LA pessimism

Democrats in particular are driving frustration in the Louisiana public, perhaps egged on by unkept promises from Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Such a conclusion comes from data gathered by Louisiana State University’s Public Policy Research Lab. The first release from its 2018 Louisiana Survey came last week, focusing on questions of trust in politicians and government and assessing its performance, as well as perceptions of the population’s political views and attitudes.

Of note, after last year where those respondents thinking the state headed in the right direction exceeded marginally those who thought the opposite, this year’s results followed the reverse trend of recent years. With half thinking wrong direction, 11 points more than the opposing view, this overall negativity adhered to the pattern since 2012. The year before had slightly more saying wrong direction, but this may have been a product of an election year).

Term limits encourage unneeded elective post

Louisiana’s Republican Sec. of State Tom Schedler confirmed how one goes about giving away a job for life, at least during good health.

Last week, Schedler announced he wouldn’t run for a third term, as a result of a sexual harassment suit brought against him recently. An employee accuses him of, if not stalking-like, obsessive behavior towards her that interfered with her personal and professional lives, while he says they had a consensual sexual relationship.

If there’s one statewide office the least infused with politics that enables it occupants to stay as long as they like – since the aftermath of the former Gov. Huey Long era previous office occupants left only out of progressive ambition or ill health – it’s this one. Typically, when desired, holders cruise to reelection.

The Advocate column, Mar. 18. 2018

How did Louisiana dig up its budget hole? Overspending; Luckily, there's a fix for it...
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_3869ddd4-27db-11e8-99c6-7be7596305cb.html

Links:
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_67026458-2313-11e8-b187-93d623f42c0f.html
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/time-series/statistical_abstracts.html
https://www.nasbo.org/reports-data/state-expenditure-report
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/popest/nation-detail.html
https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/spi/2006/spi0306.htm