Trump gone, Edwards now can follow science

You can start paying attention to the science now, Louisiana Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards: Republican former Pres. Donald Trump doesn’t live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue anymore.

For months, the evidence has mounted regarding the impact of lockdown policies typically touted by Democrats in governors’ mansions, Edwards included, showing their marginal effectiveness in stemming the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic doesn’t compensate for their costs in human suffering. A couple of recent research efforts reinforces that point. (These National Bureau of Economic Research papers are preliminary, without completed peer reviews.)

University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan measured the impact in terms of excess “deaths of despair,” which likely has claimed by now at least a couple of hundred Louisianans, caused by policies that restrict or shutter businesses. He discovered that these restrictions isolate people, wherein those with more fragile psyches became more likely to abuse substances and commit suicide and may account for a 10 to 60 percent increase in excess deaths nationally.

Caddo Commission sliding towards dysfunction

Days of dysfunction have returned to the Caddo Parish Commission, with some commissioners more eager to launch filibusters than to govern.

Over a quarter of a century ago, the Commission became hijacked over personal issues centered around the performance and policy choices made by the parish’s then-administrator. This led to lengthy meetings where members would launch soliloquies both about various issues of the day, some having nothing to do with the body’s responsibilities, and personalities involved. Elections in 1995 swept out or forced into retirement some involved, and others who remained quieted down afterwards.

That tendency has made a comeback, as last week’s meeting exemplifies. Two weeks earlier, half of the commissioners – all black Democrats – refused to adopt a resolution proclaiming National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (set nationally for Jan. 9), with one explaining some law enforcement actions of the prior year made it impossible for him to vote for blanket laudatory language. Earlier in the meeting, several last-minute resolutions consisting of current leftist talking points never made it to debate, with Republican Commissioner Todd Hopkins consistently preventing these from making it onto the agenda (late agenda additions require unanimous consent).

BESE tilt tops congressional races for intrigue

Of the three regional elections occurring in Louisiana this spring, the least of the bunch should prove the most fascinating.

The pair of special elections for Congress will have little to no drama. In the Second District, the departure of Democrat former Rep. Cedric Richmond attracted 15 contestants, including several repeat performers. And it actually provides, unusually, faint hope for Republicans.

Featured are past candidates Democrat state Sen. Troy Carter and Karen Peterson, who differ not much in their extreme liberal ideology (over the past five years he has averaged 29 and she just over 16 on their Louisiana Legislature Log ratings), but Carter comes off as less strident, more congenial, and does have Richmond’s backing, making him the favorite. But a scenario exists where Republican Claston Bernard, who is black as is Carter and Peterson, could win in the majority-black district.

Perkins tips reelection gambit: sprint to left

Shreveport Democrat Mayor Adrian Perkins, signaling his reelection strategy, has dropped any pretense that he won’t campaign and thereby govern ideologically from the hard left – as well as that he has any clue about economics.

Perkins in the main won in 2018 because he could present himself as a blank slate to voters. Having hardly spent any time in Shreveport as an adult, he magically appeared in town months before the election – just as he finished up law school, having spent his entire career either in school or in the armed forces – babbling about newness and change. With insecurity common in the Shreveport electorate, it was enough to convince many blacks, enough white Democrats, and some Republicans wearing rose-colored glasses to hand him the keys to the city.

Two years later, after a series of missteps and a disastrous U.S. Senate run, Perkins recently announced he wanted to keep the job after all, even as the city continued to hemorrhage residents without any resolution to economic development and other problems. Days later, he demonstrated his weakness by yanking a tax-increasing bond proposal he had floated less than a week earlier after it became clear he couldn’t muster a City Council majority to put it on the ballot.

Bossier City finally seeing electoral choices

It’s been two decades since Louisiana’s sixth largest municipality Bossier City has seen this much electoral competition, but will it end the same by sweeping a significant portion of incumbents out of office, or even go farther, in the most significant partisan contests not special elections in the state in 2021?

In the aftermath of those municipal elections, three City Council members left their jobs as a result of voter dissatisfaction principally over the decision to build and where the now Brookshire Grocery Arena. But current councilors independent Jeff Darby and Democrat Bubba Williams stayed on, and still in office from then are the two victorious at-large councilors Republicans Tim Larkin and David Montgomery. Joining them in a special election a year later was Republican Scott Irwin.

The revolt didn’t trouble Democrat Mayor George Dement, who won his record fourth and final term. That kept city Chief Administrative Officer Lo Walker in business, who as a Republican succeeded Dement in 2005 and has won reelection ever since.

Temple rejection needed absent his clarification

If he doesn’t clarify his remarks adequately, Louisiana state senators need to reject later this year appointment of Collis Temple, Jr. to the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors.

Every year, the Senate considers gubernatorial nominees to various positions. When a vacancy occurs, either because a term expires or somebody leaves a post, the governor can make an interim appointment who may serve through the end of the next legislative regular session. If by the end of that session a nominee hasn’t received a favorable vote by the chamber, the position becomes open again.

Temple gained a place on the Board, which governs the LSU System, when Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards tabbed him about a month after the Legislature adjourned for 2020. He then became renominated for a different spot on it three weeks later because another nominee chose to decline in order for his firm to continue to compete for system business.

Deviant LA keeping bad blue state company

One of these things is not like the other, which is bad news for Louisiana now and in the near future.

Earlier this month, U-Haul released its 2020 statistics for rental surface transport units, from which it calculates (essentially by computing incoming and outgoing traffic) a measure of state migration growth. It has done this for states off and on since 2007, but has made it a regular practice from 2015 on.

And, with one exception, Louisiana has fared poorly since then. Starting then, among the 49 North American states and the District of Columbia (Hawai’i obviously not included), it has ranked 35^th, 8^th, 40^th, 47^th, 40^th, and last year 44^th in terms of arrivals vs. departures.

Science shows harm from Edwards virus strategy

Even when the outcomes stare him straight in the face, Louisiana Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards still ignores the science attached to government handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. That ethos and the playbook it spawns, embraced by his fellow Democrats helming their states, bodes ill for human freedom and dignity going forward.

Last week, Edwards took the opportunity to extend gubernatorial restrictions on state citizens that have constituted his policy response to the virus, which include compulsory face coverings for most individuals in most public settings, limitations on public gatherings and commerce, and the outright closures of some targeted businesses. Things have improved slightly, as the state has fallen to only seventh in per capita deaths among the states – a trailing indicator that should show relative decline as an early adopter now burning through a reduced uninfected population pool – but Edwards’ policy more than anything else has caused this lamentable statistic.

Because it doesn’t follow the science, as confirmed days prior to his announcement with the release of some follow-up research from the middle of last year. Stanford University researchers compared the heavier-handed policy response of eight countries, including the U.S., with the lighter touch of two, Sweden and South Korea. The former has logged statistics equivalent with other developed states and better than many while instituting partial public gathering bans and face coverings in certain situations rarely and mostly only recently, and the latter has done much better compared to almost anywhere in the world while only recently introducing any restrictions at all outside of isolated instances and regarding the most packed social environments (although many of its population voluntarily began wearing masks in public starting about a year ago).

Old wine in new bottles stings LA taxpayers

Swapping old wine into new bottles didn’t make the grape harvest any less bitter, according to a new release from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.

That office studied state classified personnel expenses from fiscal years 2013 through 2020. These employees comprise just over three-fifths of the state’s full-time equivalent workforce, although the study excluded some such as those employed in higher education institutions. What it discovered confirmed the corrosive effects of pay policy changes starting in 2018.

After he had made half of appointments to the State Civil Service Commission (and could count upon the sympathy of the elected classified employee representative), Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards took a pay plan in need of reform and, if anything, made it worse (ratified also by narrow legislative majorities). In a new form, it perpetuated the masquerade of performance pay raises for cost-of-living boosts, because almost no employee in the state receives a rating making him ineligible for a raise, much less triggering eventual separation.

Foolish Caddo officials threaten public safety

And this is how irresponsible politicians decrease public safety, in this case in Caddo Parish.

Earlier this month, the Parish Commission – unlike the other major government bodies in the state’s northwestern-most two parishes, still refusing to meet in person – rejected a proclamation supporting in the parish National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, which was Jan. 9 nationally. It stated that “the Parish of Caddo is the proud home to many dedicated law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to keep our community safe … these officers stand as leaders and teachers in the community, educating the citizens about the importance of public safety; and the Caddo Parish Commission appreciates the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices made by officers and their family members on a daily basis in order to protect our schools, workplaces, roadways, and homes.”

A last-minute agenda item offered by Republican Commissioner Mario Chavez, at least it drew the unanimous support for addition at a late date – unlike a few Angry Left talking points offered up parroting national Democrat policy preferences in the form of resolutions sprung at the last minute without text brought by Democrat Commissioner Ken Epperson. They received a varying number of vetoes, but Republican Commissioner Todd Hopkins voted nay on all, later stating he wouldn’t approve of any resolution for which he hadn’t seen the text.