Leftist media fearful of Landry promotion

Scared to death that he will ascend to the state’s top spot in 2023, the Louisiana political left’s long knives have come out for Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry, aided by sympathetic media mouthpieces.

Landry convincingly leads in fundraising for that election cycle over any other sitting official or declared candidate, and it’s a great bet that he hasn’t collected $2 million or so just to run for reelection. As a staunch conservative, he would prove a nightmare to the left that barely hangs onto relevancy in the state currently with only Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards in the way to thwart reform efforts.

So, liberals look for every opportunity to cast aspersions, any aspersions, onto Landry. By way of example, they’ve snagged a couple of recent issues to serve that purpose.

Spending law to hike costs to LA taxpayers

While national Democrats misnamed the bill the “American Rescue Plan,” in Louisiana it really should bear the moniker the “Louisiana Left Rescue Plan” – to the detriment of Louisiana taxpayers.

This new spending law addresses an economy well on the rebound, throws lots of money to states many of which have done better than expected in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic (whose economies suffered largely self-inflicted wounds for political reasons in the first place), and spends less than a dime on the dollar for direct payments combatting the virus. Little needed “rescuing,” much less the bonanza of debt-fueled benefits almost American will receive.

It’s part of a political strategy. Democrats will try to run for reelection by reminding folks about how many goodies they flung their way, distracting from their pursuit, even if it turns out unsuccessfully, of an extreme leftist agenda in Washington. Regardless, the damage already may have been done.

Spending spree to test LA school reforms

The recently-enacted federal spending bill that Democrats barely pushed Congress through won’t help the country economically. But it will pursue a leftist agenda that includes suppressing school choice and accountability to the detriment of Louisiana children.

Less than 10 percent of the money in the new law directly addresses immediate effects imposed by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. As for the rest: expansion of unemployment benefits to simulate a universal basic income, check; money to states that increases the more a state taxes and spends and locked down its economy over the past year, check; pension bailouts for unions, check; subsidies to offset the hemorrhaging of socialized health care spending, check; all sorts of progressive pet projects, check.

But perhaps the most insidious part of the spending law, of which schools in Louisiana may garner half of the state's allocation, force-feeds dollars into traditional public schools while discriminating against non-traditional options. Before the bill became law, Louisiana Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards raised some eyebrows when his recent budget presentation massaged one-time money – use of which he previously characterized as not “honest budgeting” – to include $40 million for education pay raises. This would create a continuing commitment for which future dollars aren’t available, unless taxes rise.

Spending bill to inhibit right-sizing LA govt

National Democrats have done their best to back Louisiana Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ attempts to thwart right-sizing state government with provisions in their recently enacted spending bill.

That new law, which will toss around a half-billion dollars onto the state and its local governments ostensibly to address economic difficulties presented by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic – even as the large majority of dollars don’t even indirectly address the problem, most of the spending doesn’t occur for at least a year, the economic problems stem from supply attenuated by largely ineffective commercial restrictions that won’t respond to a nightmarishly-large taxpayer- and debt-fueled cash infusion, and states have yet to spend much generated by previous such efforts – carries with it a host of restrictions on the money’s use, geared to keep state and local governments as inflated as possible. Some encourage this policy generally, with others more targeted.

A number of states, Louisiana included, as a response to slower economic growth and higher unemployment in their legislative sessions this year have come up with supply-side responses designed to lower the cost of doing business to increase the supply of jobs and goods and services produced. Other measures attempt to steer money towards pent-up problems. The federal law does its best to sabotage those.