History gives Fields chance of Senate resurrection

He’s back, and he can win, although it’s less likely to happen than in another similar case seven years ago.

Democrat former Rep. Cleo Fields, who also served 14 years in the state Senate, will hold a fundraiser soon to reclaim his legislative post. Removed via term limits in 2008, his successor Democrat state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb must vacate for the same reason.

Despite nearly two decades in office, the most lasting image of Fields has him accepting an envelope with $20,000 in cash from Democrat former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who would later go to prison over charges presumably involving the source of those funds. Fields never faced charges and never has explained the transaction.

Confusion catches out LA foster children policy

If you get queasy when considering the old saw that the process of making laws is like watching sausage get made, imagine passing two bills that overlap on the same issue. That’s a wreck that caught up foster children policy this past legislative session.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services has considered the feasibility of extending foster care from age 18 to 21. It worked with Democrat state Sen. Regina Barrow, who has long taken an interest in children’s policy, to introduce a resolution to study this at the start of that session. In early May, both chambers had signed off on it, scheduling the report’s completion by Feb. 1, 2019.

But even before this, Republican state Sen. Ryan Gatti filed a bill to do the same for any foster child enrolled in high school or something equivalent. That passed out of the Legislature only days later, although it hinged upon receiving funding for implementation.

LA local hyper-governance causing problems

An incident regarding a Livingston Parish board reminds Louisiana of the hazards of hyper-governance.

Last week, the Livingston Parish Council removed a member of the parish’s Gravity Drainage District No. 5. He had spoken vituperatively to the body’s clerk after she reminded it of state law regarding open meetings and cast unwarranted aspersions over the accreditation of the board’s attorney.

As its members serve at the pleasure of the Council, now parish commissioners will have to find someone else for that position. But wouldn’t it make more sense not to have to go through all of this in the first place?

Banning felons from running improves governance

Louisiana’s voters should pursue reform lite, and better that they understand why they should.

This fall, the state’s electorate will pass judgment on Act 719 of the 2018 regular session, which prohibits unpardoned felons from running for any elective office until five years have elapsed since completion of sentence. In essence, it serves as a replacement for a similar constitutional standard struck down two years ago over a technicality in its presentation to voters, except that the ban lasted 15 years.

Its detractors generally fall back onto two arguments to defeat it, one of which makes no sense. A case brought by former state legislator Derrick Shepherd, convicted of a felony for activities in office, excised the previous stricture. His lawyer, former state Rep. Robert Garrity, calls the amendment “feel-good” and claims it’s “worthless” that will do nothing.

The Advocate column, Aug. 26, 2018

Serious question ... does John Bel Edwards really want another term? 
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_58baf266-a658-11e8-acb0-1f8cd8952fb5.html

Links:
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_6b8c4388-a174-11e8-b983-1b228a38c8d2.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_4f8d2118-4961-11e8-be2f-ab4eb7a08fc0.html
http://jeffsadow.blogspot.com/2018/03/edwards-red-meat-case-losing-streak.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_3bbbf70c-a0de-11e8-a69c-ab023a8e364f.html

Data show huge Medicaid expansion redistribution

Gov. John Bel Edwards won’t give up in trying to con the public into believing Medicaid expansion netted a win for Louisiana.

Periodically, his administration breathlessly announces with positive spin some new factoid about the program, which has put approaching a half million more Louisianans on the public dole. The latest comes from a survey that extrapolates the adult uninsured rate in the state has fallen by just about half from six months prior to expansion through 2017.

Fixating only on insured status does miss the larger point of access to health care. Perhaps less than in any other state, because of Louisiana’s archaic public hospital system, does the lack of insurance translate into no health care; plenty of those uninsured people had access to health care – for free – prior to expansion.

LA must appraise realistically ex-con homelessness

In addressing homelessness of ex-prisoners, now a growing concern with Louisiana’s recent changes in its criminal justice system, solutions that misunderstand the human condition will not alleviate this problem.

A recent report highlighted difficulties ex-convicts face in finding permanent housing. A report by the Prison Policy Initiative determined that about one percent were homeless, and another one percent lived in temporary shelter. The combined proportion doubles for freed multiple offenders. This contrasts with the general public, in which about 0.2 percent lived in one of these conditions.

Granted, two percent represents a very small portion of the overall formerly incarcerated. Still, if that exceeds the general population by 10 times, some factors must work to cause that. The question then becomes what public policy options may ameliorate this.

Letter lamentably misleads on Catholic doctrine

If Catholics want to have confidence in institutions surrounding their faith that sustain it, those in the institution not only have to act better, but they have to teach the faith accurately.

American Catholics have been rocked by news of the extraordinarily perverse actions of clergy in Pennsylvania, both in terms of sexual deviance and covering up the horrors from that. Now more than ever, to reassure Catholics that their belief is about the faith and not the people entrusted to minister to that faith, propagation of a true understanding of that faith is necessary.

Thus, it was disheartening to see a Louisiana example that fails in this regard. Recently, I authored a Baton Rouge Advocate column that in part addressed the death penalty. In it, I noted the Catechism change ordered by Pope Francis that withdraws support for capital punishment as part of Catholic teaching, which represents the first doctrinal change made by a pope in the Church’s history.

The Advocate column, Aug. 19, 2018

Why did it take Kyle Ardoin so long to withdraw from voting machine vetting process? 
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_9dc96148-a19a-11e8-bb66-8fa1084297d7.html

Links:
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/elections/article_b80dac1a-8ec8-11e8-b3ce-27bc6641f40a.html
https://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/05/louisiana_secretary_of_state.html
http://www.ethics.la.gov/CampaignFinanceSearch/ShowEForm.aspx?ReportID=71173
https://www.sos.la.gov/OurOffice/PublishedDocuments/20%20Sexual%20Harassment%20in%20the%20Workplace%20%2005-01-18.pdf
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/stephanie_grace/article_83af1752-8e8b-11e8-ad3a-2f2b641a80eb.html
https://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/08/louisiana_voting_machine_contr.html
https://apnews.com/3246eabcb70f4b45856da32251aaafe9

Hypocritical Edwards should change his rhetoric

Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards ought to reconsider pitching stones from his glass house.

Last week, at an annual Aspen Institute meeting, Edwards opined along with other of his party’s governors on the state of politics, in particular on the issue of divisiveness. (This same meeting last year Democrat former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu didn’t leave early when his staff implored him to return to the city as it flooded.) His words of wisdom: “Folks are just anxious. We ought not to vilify anyone.”

That’s nice, and surely “anyone” means even those Republicans who may run against him next year for his job. Except he doesn’t see it that way, by his past rhetoric.