In a sense, there’s nothing inconsistent about the invitation
of Loyola University of New Orleans to talk show host Van Jones for his
services as its spring commencement speaker. After all, both hold themselves
out as something they are not.
In Jones’ case, for the past dozen years he has
positioned himself in the political mainstream, culminating in a high-level
appointment to former Pres. Barack Obama’s
White House Office months after Obama assumed office. Almost immediately, he
found himself out of that job upon the publicizing of his past, which included association
with or membership in radical and communist organizations, his support of
similar individuals and articulation of communist ideology, and his peddling of
9/11/2001 conspiracy theories alleging U.S. government involvement in causing
the horrific event.
Jones was smart enough by the new millennium to
stop calling himself a Marxist and trafficking in its rhetoric, following the
trend of post-Watergate radicals who realized to increase their influence they
had to avoid labels viewed overwhelmingly scorned by the public and to jettison
Marxist terminology in their verbiage, all the while restating its concepts in
ways less alarming to people. But little else changed with his associations and
ideology. Recently, he became host of a CNN program, just after making
comments that framed the 2016 election results in racist terms.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has
picked up a couple of nicknames in his short tenure: the Accidental Governor,
because of his fluke
victory, and, more derisively, Gov. Honor Code, because of his insistence
during the campaign that he follows his alma mater’s version of that yet has
been caught
applying it inconsistently. Now might he add the appellation Gov. Blue
Nose?
That may come from a decision by his handpicked
Commissioner of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Juana Marine-Lombard
that restricts the ability of state breweries to sell their products. She provided
guidance in March and clarified it at month’s end regarding interpretation
of statute that defines
brewery operations.
Her conclusions took a restrictive approach and
will hamper these establishments’ operations, some potentially severely. Among
others things, she declared that on-site prepared food sales could not exceed
25 percent of total sales on premises; that off-site food preparers selling on
premises could not have a license to serve alcohol even if not serving any on
the premises; no other party could sell on or bring other alcoholic beverages
onto the premises; and advertising of any other event involving alcohol cannot occur
unless it involves sampling on the premises, which in that case cannot advertise
retail pricing. Already, state law permits on-site sales only to a ceiling of
10 percent of total sales, or no more than 250 barrels, whichever is greater.
Louisiana Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry may hope all that he
wants to that he’s not
subject to a political witch hunt, but he is.
Some months ago, he received a pair of public
records requests right out of left field. One asked for all correspondence
between Landry or any member of his office and “any representatives of
companies (and/or trade associations representing such companies) involved in
the exploration for and production of hydrocarbons.” The other sought a broad
range of documents related to Landry's travel to conferences, speaking
engagements and public appearances as the state's chief prosecutor, including
records for travel, lodging and meals, as well as records “showing all
contracts awarded to attorneys and/or law firms … to represent the state
and any state entities in litigation,” and documents regarding vehicles bought
by Landry's office. Added to it a couple of weeks later was contracts and
correspondence for legal representation that have been reviewed by his office since
his inauguration.
In other words, these wanted just about everything
involving Republican Landry’s conduct as a public official, his office’s relations
with parties to his subcontractors and anybody remotely connected to energy
firms, and his office’s dealing with approval of contracts let by other government
agencies. By the look of the scope involved, this fishing expedition related to
Landry’s cooling the jets on the Gov. John Bel Edwards
Administration attempts to sue
energy companies, his review and ultimate disapproval of language that courts
found Edwards had unconstitutionally included in contracts, and to any
manner of conduct in office that might conflict with state ethics laws.
In the resolution of what to do about its failing
schools, Caddo Parish found itself at the forefront
of continually evolving state practices of improving education.
Recently, the parish’s School District and the
state’s Department of Education concluded a pathbreaking agreement
to deal with schools previously identified as struggling academically. Extending
and amplifying an approach now taken with several district schools, the
deal forms a new entity governed by a district appointee, but advised by a
state liaison officer and local stakeholders, that will run 14 schools, most of
which in the past the state would have taken over and/or removed from district
supervision with conversion of these to charter status.
Historically, as opposed to the two largest school
districts in the state, with its troubled schools Caddo has largely retained
control. The state vehicle for administering these schools, the Recovery School
District, only ever has incorporated one Caddo school, and just a handful of
others gained independent charter status, despite at any given time typically a
dozen or so district schools’ performances would have merited state takeover
and/or conversion.
As
predicted, that big breeze you felt came from Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards whiffing
on his euphemistically-named “Budget
Stabilization Plan,” which more accurately should be called a “Budget
Inflation Plan.”
That’s because, without all the numbers quite in, in
the aggregate it asks for tax increases in the neighborhood of $608 million. It
would let lapse one penny of the sales tax, expand the reach of the remaining
four cents to services and transactions currently exempted, make permanent
reductions to tax exceptions scheduled to revert to full deductibility after
next fiscal year, amend the Constitution to
eliminate the deduction for federal taxes on income (rejected
in the case of corporations by voters last year), ratchet down income tax
rates a percent, and institute a new gross receipts tax euphemistically called
a “Commercial Activity Tax.” It also pledges unspecified reductions or eliminations
of exceptions and phasing out the corporate franchise tax.
Because income taxation happens on a calendar year
basis, the income tax portions would occur in the middle of next fiscal year.
To make up for that, repeals of exemptions would take place at the beginning of
the third and fourth quarters of 2017 while the extra cent of sales tax would
stay on until it scheduled expiration.
The Louisiana public gives a green light to
somewhat higher gasoline taxes but appears skeptical of tax increases as a
general policy, according to a survey
that also indicates the people’s preference to cut state spending before
raising taxes in general.
Yesterday,
the Louisiana State University Public Policy Lab released the first installment
of its annual survey. Just over 1,000 respondents produced a margin of error of
a little over three percent, although the low response rate (which tends
to induce bias in measuring a select set of behaviors) and extended period
(a month long) over which it collected data presents a little caution
concerning whether the results capture accurately attitudes on the eve of the
2017 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature.
One thing clearly comes through from the rich
array of data presented: their reaffirmation of the tendency of Louisianans to
identify by perceived in-groups and out-groups and citizens’ willingness to
cast blame or foist solutions on out-group members. This resonates as a legacy
of the state’s populist political culture, which encourages a Manichean
worldview that see politics as a zero-sum game: policy must favor your group at
the expense of others alleged to get the better of you in order to even things
out, leading to countenance of government-led redistribution.
It’s déjà vu
all over again for a broadband access project in Louisiana that saw the same
mistakes repeated, leading to its demise both times.
Recently, the Louisiana Board of Regents announced
that it would not proceed with a plan to extend its high-speed broadband network
into the state’s school districts. It would have used its own funds, leveraged
with a 90 percent federal government match, to do this, but only a handful of
districts responded affirmatively to the offer by a deadline, so it withdrew the
offer.
Higher education and Department of Education
officials expressed uncertainty, if not disbelief, over why too few districts
seemed interested. But representatives of the districts argued that a lack of information
and compressed schedule made many districts hesitate.
Look no further than Louisiana’s Sea Grant program for a
microcosm of issues involved in the battle to restrain government spending
growth.
Based in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, 33 universities allied with states and territories oversee these
programs that award funding meeting various criteria and provide other support
services. The program’s mission is to enhance the practical use and
conservation of coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources in order to create a
sustainable economy and environment. Louisiana State University runs Louisiana’s
version.
The Pres. Donald Trump
Administration’s initial budget zeroes
out federal funding for these, as it seeks to curtail spending and to shift
monies from domestic to defense concerns. By the beginning of the federal
fiscal year’s midterm U.S. debt will
exceed $20 trillion.
