GOP makes electoral progress in NW LA

Mirroring their party’s declining statewide fortunes, Republicans continued to solidify their grasp with the upper hand in Caddo Parish elections, which may hold consequences for Democrat-majority Shreveport.

You can’t say the same about Bossier Parish – because Democrats there already are an endangered species. In and around Bossier City excepting the small towns to the north, what few races even had a Republican being contested, with several GOP candidates drawing no opposition including the 26^th District Attorney Schuyler Marvin, produced GOP winners, with the most high-profile being the passing of the city judge post from retiring Tommy Wilson to ally Santi Parks.

As another indicator of evaporating Democrat fortunes in Bossier, Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell – a fixture in Bossier elections for nearly a half-century – barely squeaked back into office. No thanks to Bossier, which handily gave it support to his GOP opponent from Ouachita Parish who hardly campaigned.

Perkins loss hints at his early political exit

The strange political saga of Democrat Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins continues, and at this rate his political career won’t last past 2022 – a slide that has the potential to put a shadow Republican in the city’s top spot.

When Perkins announced this summer that he would take on incumbent Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the political left swooned with visions of him as “the perfect candidate” (“the next Obama!”). That it would look solely at the demographics and ignore his checkered, short record as mayor – which only became more controversial as the campaign progressed – speaks volumes that they couldn’t spot a doomed candidacy from the start.

Naturally, Cassidy blew Perkins out of the water, with the party suffering its worst Senate electoral showing in history. Worse for him, the increased attention the contest invited onto his tenure compounded his difficulty in gaining reelection.

LA not ready to reject liberalism populism

Just when you think Louisiana might have turned from its liberal populism ….

A review of Louisiana’s election results might may one think this ancient trait in the state’s political culture may have receded further. Several contests provided data, beginning with Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy’s defense. Cassidy never was in any danger, but because 13 challengers flooded the field, including well-funded Democrat Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins and Democrat Derrick “Champ” Edwards, who racked up as much as 44 percent in a previous statewide try, the multiplicity of competition might hold him under 50 percent.

No worries; Cassidy stomped the field with 59 percent of the vote, the largest margin in a general election since 1998. Perkins led the also-rans, but humiliatingly with the smallest proportion that the highest-polling Democrat received since senators became object of a popular vote. Altogether, Democrats received only 36 percent, the least of any major party since 1984.

LA politicos invite reaping violence they sow

If a past lamentable event echoes prominently in a recent similar event, Louisiana Republican former Gov. Bobby Jindal provides the framework to understand why.

Last week, Donnell Linwood Hassell allegedly shot New Orleans Police Officer Trevor Abney, while injuring Office Brooks Duncan IV. Abney and Duncan were patrolling in their cruiser when with no apparent provocation Hassell fired at the car from a pedicab, evidence shows. Hassell appeared to be so under the influence of substances that upon arrest he took a detour to hospital before booking.

A black suspect trying to pick off white law enforcement officers uncomfortably reminds of events in Baton Rouge in the summer of 2016. Then, Gavin Eugene Long staked out and attempted to assassinate a half dozen officers, killing half and wounding the others. Long, who was black, proved less picky on the race of his victims by killing black Baton Rouge Officer Montrell Jackson, and intended to die that day in the course of taking out officers, in which he was obliged. He was drugged up at the time.

Cantrell politicizes with abdicating of duty

Even as it seems the problem won’t appear, it’s worth noting the marriage of politicization of an election and abdication of responsibility performed by Democrat New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

This past weekend, Cantrell complained that Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s office would not “provide support for generators” in as many as 11 precincts affected by Hurricane Zeta. The storm didn’t directly strike New Orleans last week, but it did topple power lines that blacked out these precinct locations. If the situation persisted into Tuesday, no power through electrical outlets would be available to run voting machines and other site utilities.

As it turned out, by Monday eights sites were on the way to power restoration. As for the other three, provider Entergy New Orleans said it would pony up a generator for one and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness would scrounge two more, while Entergy would take care of installation and transport of these.

LA higher education to suffer less from virus

Louisiana’s higher education institutions crow about enrollment gains in the face of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, but a leading research outfit says the state lost such students. Who’s right and what does it mean?

Many observers expected declines nationally with the virus running around. That could discourage attendance and might have stretched pocketbooks too thinly to have students and families shell out for tuition needed. Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center seemed to bear this out. Its latest update in mid-October using late September data showed a national loss of 3 percent, with undergraduate enrollment down 4 percent.

This continued a trend over the past several years nationally, while Louisiana has seen a drop in undergraduate students every year except from academic year 2017-2018 since 2011. Most alarmingly, first-time freshmen numbers nationally fell by over 16 percent. The organization said it had data representing almost 70 percent of Louisiana enrollment covered in its data.

Small comfort for hemorrhaging LA Democrats

Despite massive registration losses and obscured by the substitution effect relative to when to vote, Democrats have been making incremental gains on Republicans that could provide slight inconvenience to the GOP in next week’s elections.

Early voting has become the trendy thing, with the nationwide total already over half of all counted in 2016. For its part, Louisiana fell just under that figure. Further, Democrats have outpaced Republican substantially in states that record registration by party.

However, this likely won’t reveal much as far as the final numbers go. Nationally, in the few presidential elections where there has happened any substantial amount of it, Democrats historically have outvoted Republicans, but disproportionately when compared to election day. In 2016, despite more Democrats casting ballots prior to that day in large swing states, those went to GOP Pres. Donald Trump.

Edwards' pandering veto turns into self-parody

When there’s an opportunity to posture, rest assured Louisiana’s Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards will pounce on it like a crazed parade-goer eyeballing a loose Zulu coconut.

HB 4 from the recently-completed special session of the Legislature afforded him such an opportunity. The bill would have placed a one-house legislative check on parts or all of emergency proclamations after 30 days by a majority vote of the chamber.

Edwards vetoed it, for reasons that reveal a poverty of understanding the Louisiana Constitution and a surfeit of hubris in the most politicized way. It begins with his, whether obtuse, misdirection about the bill’s subject.

Backers double down on failed LA virus policy

When wrong about something, some people think becoming more strident and adamant about their mistaken view makes it less likely they’ll be exposed as wrong. Such is the case with Louisiana’s new head public health officer, Dr. Joe Kanter, on state policy concerning the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

To date, the heavy-handed response by to it by Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards has produced the worst health outcomes of any state. As of the week’s beginning, the state ranked third in cases per capita and fifth in deaths per capita, far and away the worst combined showing of any state.

The opposite approach has been taken by Sweden. Except for closing tertiary education institutions for a few weeks in the spring and limiting gatherings to 50 for an extended period, its government didn’t impose any economic restrictions. It did exhort people to cover their faces, keep distanced, and restrict interactions with the elderly.

Bill opponents misunderstand roles of govts

In the ashes of the failure of Republican state Rep. Lance Harris’ HB 38 from the just-concluded special session of the Louisiana Legislature, most disappointing was the demonstrated ignorance of some opponents to it.

The bill would have allowed the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget to review local governments that perform functions of or are law enforcement agencies that decreased spending on that function a quarter or more, unless their tax collections in the period dropped. If the JLCB determined the decrease harmed public safety, the offending government would lose the chance to receive capital outlay money from the state and any appropriations for sale tax dedications.

Harris, who is running for Congress, pitched the bill as a proactive antidote to the actions of a handful of cities nationwide that have made efforts to defund police departments under the allegation that they perform in a systematically racist way. None in Louisiana have attempted this, although extremist elements have called for this in New Orleans.