You
don’t need to reinvent the wheel, New Orleans City Councilor Helena Moreno
needs to realize.
Yet Moreno seems intent on doing just that. She
has asked the Council to
beef up its staff that deals with utility issues. It’s unnecessary and wasteful.
Currently, New Orleans only among American cities
regulates its electricity provider. In every other state, entities at the state
level oversee electric provision, which in Louisiana would mean the Public Service Commission.
Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely. This publishes five days weekly with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below).
10.4.19
Barras agrees; Earth resumes revolving
Louisiana’s Revenue Estimating Conference today provided
its first revised forecast since last June. And now the world can start turning
again.
You would have thought from the apoplexy issued by the Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration every one of the four times Republican House of Representatives Speaker Taylor Barras refused to accede to a change that the end of civilization was nigh. The higher forecasts proposed since November and finally accepted require unanimity among the four panelists, but Barras initially wouldn’t go along out of an abundance of caution over the state’s lackluster economic performance, perhaps the country’s worst.
All throughout, Edwards but particularly Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, his shill on the REC, kept whining about how not recognizing additional revenues would bring disaster, subverting criminal justice reforms and hampering efforts to improve reformation of juvenile offenders by preventing startup of a new facility. The Legislature – contrary to the Constitutional prohibition on contingency spending – had passed and Edwards signed a supplemental appropriation allocating money to these causes, which the Administration screamed up and down could not be fulfilled without REC recognition of higher revenues.
You would have thought from the apoplexy issued by the Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration every one of the four times Republican House of Representatives Speaker Taylor Barras refused to accede to a change that the end of civilization was nigh. The higher forecasts proposed since November and finally accepted require unanimity among the four panelists, but Barras initially wouldn’t go along out of an abundance of caution over the state’s lackluster economic performance, perhaps the country’s worst.
All throughout, Edwards but particularly Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, his shill on the REC, kept whining about how not recognizing additional revenues would bring disaster, subverting criminal justice reforms and hampering efforts to improve reformation of juvenile offenders by preventing startup of a new facility. The Legislature – contrary to the Constitutional prohibition on contingency spending – had passed and Edwards signed a supplemental appropriation allocating money to these causes, which the Administration screamed up and down could not be fulfilled without REC recognition of higher revenues.
9.4.19
Wage hike part of Edwards potemkim strategy
If he
champions so much an increase in the minimum wage, why would Louisiana
Democrat Gov. John
Bel Edwards advocate the least likely way to accomplish it?
In his 2019 state of the state address, Edwards stumped for SB 155 by Democrat state Sen. Troy Carter, which would put into the Constitution a minimum wage increase with perhaps more to follow. Louisiana is one of a few states with no state minimum wage, and one of 20 that in practice enforces the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for most workers.
He didn’t mention HB 422 by Democrat state Rep. Royce Duplessis that would unlock local governments to mandate their own increases. Nor did he give rhetoric backing to legislation, not on offer so far this regular session but commonly on the docket in past years, that would put an increase or several into statute.
In his 2019 state of the state address, Edwards stumped for SB 155 by Democrat state Sen. Troy Carter, which would put into the Constitution a minimum wage increase with perhaps more to follow. Louisiana is one of a few states with no state minimum wage, and one of 20 that in practice enforces the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for most workers.
He didn’t mention HB 422 by Democrat state Rep. Royce Duplessis that would unlock local governments to mandate their own increases. Nor did he give rhetoric backing to legislation, not on offer so far this regular session but commonly on the docket in past years, that would put an increase or several into statute.
8.4.19
Edwards disguised campaign speech flunks
The campaign reelection speech Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards
gave substituting for the annual state
of the state address distracted, misled, and outright lied.
With the traditional address granted to the governor at the opening day of Legislature’s regular session, Edwards issued forth a rendition decidedly distorted from the reality of Louisiana’s condition. The fact checking required and explicated would overburden the reader, but a few highlights prove illustrative of the con job Edwards seeks to perpetrate on the state’s electorate.
The governor crowed about record high state gross domestic product and numbers of Louisianans at work. But that’s because a rising tide lifts all boats: these numbers came about not because of anything Edwards did, but because of what Republican Pres. Donald Trump has done in cutting taxes and regulatory burdens – while Edwards has increased taxes and done nothing to ease constraints on business. In reality, he has failed to champion tort reform and encouraged legal actions against businesses following the law.
With the traditional address granted to the governor at the opening day of Legislature’s regular session, Edwards issued forth a rendition decidedly distorted from the reality of Louisiana’s condition. The fact checking required and explicated would overburden the reader, but a few highlights prove illustrative of the con job Edwards seeks to perpetrate on the state’s electorate.
The governor crowed about record high state gross domestic product and numbers of Louisianans at work. But that’s because a rising tide lifts all boats: these numbers came about not because of anything Edwards did, but because of what Republican Pres. Donald Trump has done in cutting taxes and regulatory burdens – while Edwards has increased taxes and done nothing to ease constraints on business. In reality, he has failed to champion tort reform and encouraged legal actions against businesses following the law.
7.4.19
Cantrell Cuba comments show ignorance
Is Democrat New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell stupid or merely gullible?
No other possibilities exist from comments she made about a recent junket to Cuba. The city hasn’t released exact figures, but it probably will cost taxpayers several thousand dollars (a total has been announced, but some of that includes private funds) to send her there, along with other area politicians, bureaucrats, and business and educational leaders.
Cantrell gave the same pie-in-the-sky answer that Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards rendered for a similar junket he took in 2016, bleating about economic ties with the communist island nation. Economic relations with Cuba beyond the trivial will happen no time soon and didn’t need any but the lowest functionaries to negotiate abstract deals that probably never will come to fruition.
No other possibilities exist from comments she made about a recent junket to Cuba. The city hasn’t released exact figures, but it probably will cost taxpayers several thousand dollars (a total has been announced, but some of that includes private funds) to send her there, along with other area politicians, bureaucrats, and business and educational leaders.
Cantrell gave the same pie-in-the-sky answer that Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards rendered for a similar junket he took in 2016, bleating about economic ties with the communist island nation. Economic relations with Cuba beyond the trivial will happen no time soon and didn’t need any but the lowest functionaries to negotiate abstract deals that probably never will come to fruition.