If the dynamics present at the Louisiana Legislature this past session remain, the Bossier Parish Police Jury may be a step closer to term limits, thanks to a forthcoming special election.
No parish without a home rule charter has term limits, and among those only Lincoln Parish by statute is authorized to seek them (the allowed referendum never has been called). But Bossier Parish Republican state Sen. Alan Seabaugh tried to give two parishes a chance to have their police juries potentially subjected to term limits in this past session. One bill, SB 103, would have given Sabine Parish residents a chance to vote on whether to impose a prospective three-term limit prior to the next round of parish elections, while SB 113 originally would have done the same retrospectively for De Soto at some indeterminate date. Seabaugh represents the southern half of De Soto and all of Sabine.
The De Soto Police Jury previously on a couple of occasions had voted on the issue, most recently at the beginning of last year where a narrow majority resolved to ask for the citizen vote on term limits applied to them. By contrast, the Sabine Police Jury had just a couple of its members articulating a desire for limits with the remainder in opposition, but a significant portion of the public voiced support, as reflected in communications with Seabaugh and through a local radio talk show. The Jury has been a consistent magnet for criticism in recent years, featuring its insistence on raising taxes, citizens rejecting tax propositions several times at the ballot box, accusations of wasteful spending especially on a new library, ineptness in dealing with grant monies, and calls for resignations of if not recall petitions filed against multiple jurors.
Members of a legislative chamber generally defer to the wishes of another on his local bills unless another who represents that local government objects, and the other senator representing De Soto, the GOP’s Thomas Pressly, didn’t. Thus, the two bills sailed through the Senate. However, it’s a different matter in the other chamber and especially to the committee in charge of vetting such matters, in this instance the House Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs Committee.
SB 113 cleared, with the committee reasoning that as the Jury had resolved to ask for the local option election the people should have the chance. For the same reasoning, bolstered by a letter of opposition from a majority of Sabine jurors and from the special interest group representing those who sit on parish governing authorities the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, it rejected SB 103 despite pleas that a significant portion of parish residents expressed sympathy towards term limits and all the bill did was to tee up a vote to determine whether that was a majority.
The path was clear for SB 113, which had a minor change dealing with calling the election, but the Senate rejected the change because a move was afoot to concatenate the SB 103 text, minus retroactivity, onto it which could be accomplished in conference. The committee of three from each chamber, which included Seabaugh’s law office colleague Republican state Rep. Michael Melerine, one of Sabine’s two state representatives, the GOP’s Rodney Schamerhorn, and the chairman of the committee that axed SB 103 Republican state Rep. Foy Gadberry, unanimously approved. The thinking was Sabine residents otherwise would get no relief, and if defeated there still was time next session to bring back the De Soto portion with the certainty that its Jury would call for the election in 2026.
And it was defeated. When the report hit the floor carried by Melerine, aggrieved Municipal committee members called this an end run around the committee while Melerine said all of the aspects that had brought objections in committee had been fixed. Schamerhorn spoke, noting he couldn’t discharge the bill, so this was the way to free it from a hostile committee. But with unified Democrat opposition and a number of Republican joining them including Seabaugh’s Bossier Parish legislative colleague GOP state Rep. Dennis Bamburg, it died.
So, the lesson is clear: regardless of public opinion, legislators generally -- without dissent among Democrats and among a core of Republicans -- unless the local governing authority has majority support for it won’t support such a bill as they think at the committee level, as members said, to do otherwise “subverts” the committee and “negates our work.” It’s not even clear if, when such a bill made its way to the appropriate House or Senate committee, something like a petition with hundreds or even thousands of signatures would make a difference unless the governing authority asked for something like that, which puts the fox in charge of the henhouse.
As for the Bossier Jury, with these dynamics residents desirous of term limiting it can’t be saved by Seabaugh or anybody else. Only one member has expressed sympathy with term limits, Republican rookie Keith Sutton, who during the campaign talked of change to the Jury like that but once elected has all but disappeared and become indistinguishable from the insiders infesting the Jury. He has made no effort to bring up term limits for discussion, although as he may be the only one to favor them that may be a tactical retreat.
Now, he looks to get some company. The special election to fill District 1 after Bob Brotherton’s death comes up this fall with two Republicans contesting it: developer Lynn Beaty and union official Brent Moreland. Both have said they support term limits in at least some form. The results of Bossier City’s two recent successful initiatives on term limits, and the 3,000 or so signatures on the petition to get the charter change to the polls, is demonstration enough a good portion of the parish sees the issue favorably.
After that special election, Sutton will have another supporter and together the least they can do is bring up a resolution petitioning the Legislature for a citizens vote on term limits. Sure, they’ll lose but it would make for great accountability to have other jurors defend not having term limits and especially for Sutton to fulfill a campaign slogan. When dealing with insider, opaque, and secretive Bossier Parish Police Jury, you’ve got to start somewhere.
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