Events one year ago launched Cassidy decline

While national Democrats – and their Louisiana lackeys – attempt to obscure a year of policy failure by unsupported fantasy and hyperbole about unrest at the U.S. Capitol on year ago, the anniversary is relevant for Louisianans in that it set the stage for the political decline of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy as he launched his quest for Strange New Respect.

Almost immediately after a mob infiltrated the Capitol seeking to delay Electoral College tabulations over the belief insecure elections in several states made an accurate victory declaration impossible – who video footage showed after members of Congress fled, with many of the few hundred many ushered in by Capitol police, mostly wandered aimlessly, acquired souvenirs of various kinds, and engaged in very minor vandalism before trickling out, kind of like the dog who actually caught the car and didn’t know what to do with it – the political left not only went into hyperventilation mode about the “insurrection,” but also it tried to incorporate Republican former Pres. Donald Trump as the genesis of it all. Never mind, of course, in a speech given to nearby protesters Trump never hinted that a bunch of listeners should deploy violence down the street to accomplish their aim, and even went so far as to instruct that any such protest should occur peaceably (although the Federal Bureau of Investigation already knew, and later would confirm, a handful of protesters were trying to organize a less peaceful response), all the while not engaging in any legally or constitutionally suspect behavior.

Nonetheless, Democrats quickly tried to paint Trump as, if not the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the federal government, dastardly enough to rile a revolutionary army into existence to prevent a change in executive power. Within hours this hoax began to unravel and has done nothing else since, and anyone with a scintilla of political judgment astute enough to govern the country and honest enough to exercise it from the start knew the very worst about which Trump could be accused on this issue was adhering to his typical undiplomatic leadership style by not anticipating that any remarks, no matter how benign, might encourage more high-strung members of the listening audience to engage in trespass.

LA: thing not like the others, detrimentally

Yet again, it’s not bad enough that Louisiana keeps undesirable company among the states, but that it’s also the one thing that’s not like the others – and there are policy reasons why that is the case.

The 2021 edition of the United Van Lines National Movers Study once again verified the state’s migratory population drain, through its revelation that Louisiana ranked eighth most excessive of those people renting moving equipment leaving rather than arriving. In the year after the census, the federal government noted only New York, Illinois, and California had a higher proportion of people leave than stay than Louisiana.

Those three states also ranked higher than Louisiana among negative movements, along with New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Only the Bay State escaped losing net migrants, ending even up.

On chief, Chandler picks up biggest policy win

The predictable and inevitable finally came to fruition, handing Republican Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler a much-needed personnel win where he has had a rough go of it his first six months in office.

Facing a hostile City Council majority of a different political faction who backed the incumbent that Chandler defeated last spring, it has slowed several of his choices to lead city departments. And, in the biggest defeat of his young tenure, Chandler couldn’t get past that majority his original choice for chief administrative officer, although months later he secured his next choice.

Until now, he also was left hanging with a personnel move made almost the moment he entered office over which the Council had no authority. To the displeasure of that majority, he reassigned former chief Shane McWilliams from that role and announced his intent to nominate a new chief for Council approval, appointing Chris Estess as “substitute” chief.

LA to keep paying for ineligible Medicaid clients

Louisianans continue to pay unnecessarily for bad Medicaid decisions made by Democrat Pres. Joe Biden and Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, punishment that doesn’t look to end soon.

The state approaches the sixth anniversary of Edwards’ unwise choice to force the state into Medicaid expansion. For about a third to a half of the newly eligible who already had health insurance this welfare expansion shifted this cost from them onto the backs of taxpayers, and for the latest fiscal year available (2020) meant an extra $366 million taken from the wallets of Louisiana taxpayers – besides the portion of their federal taxes that went to pay for it.

Worse, it did little to save money by reducing emergency room visits because the proportion of recipients with extended waits for primary care went up by a factor of 14, as relatively few providers participate in the program that faced much increased demand because of expansion. This explains why uncompensated care costs have remained flat over the past three years – which expansion advocates said would drop considerably upon its adoption – at around $1.1 billion.

James bailout points to LA Democrat weakness

And another indicator that Louisiana’s Democrats have thrown in the towel when it comes to the short-term goal of more favorable policy-maker district reapportionment and longer-term goal of advancing an agenda came when Democrat state Rep. Ted James announced his imminent departure from the Legislature.

James said he will resign soon to take a mid-level job in Democrat Pres. Joe Biden’s Small Business Administration. Aside from his law practice, he has no experience as a businessman and, as MacAoidh noted with such rich irony, has a voting record hostile to business in general.

But James is halfway through his final term, has no chance to win any statewide office next year or apparently take a realistic shot at incumbent Democrat Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s job after, and would have to face an incumbent of his own party of he wished to attempt immediate continuance of his legislative career in the state Senate. And as much as Biden appears bound to a single term in office so James may serve fewer than two years in that post, his criminal law practice going forward mustn’t have looked too promising without his holding a legislative seat.