Jerry Parnell Payne, 1942-2024

In the world of politics, Jerry Payne didn’t particularly care to advertise his own role; he just wanted to get results and usually did.

Anybody involved in electioneering in northwest Louisiana over the past few decades knew of Jerry. He first entered politics through his lifelong and perhaps best friend, Republican former Gov. Buddy Roemer, when Roemer started his political career through election as a delegate to the 1973 Constitutional Convention. Jerry would continue to work with Roemer as the latter ascended the ladder up to the governorship.

Actually, their initial collaboration came in the field of data management. For the first quarter-century or so of his work life, Jerry served as an administrator mainly dealing with systems for tracking and processing financial transactions that would send him out of state for years at a time. For that reason, he never took a role in the Roemer Administration even though he was asked as a significant figure in Roemer’s defeat of Democrat former Gov. Edwin Edwards.

Session must plug holes in LA voting integrity

With Super Tuesday in the rearview mirror, Louisiana’s presidential primary and other elections straight ahead, and the 2024 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature to start soon, now is a good time for Louisiana to review its ballot integrity as other states surpass it on this account.

Historically, the state has done well compared to others in terms of votes cast under the name of an individual being cast by that individual, who is a citizen residing at the address registered. It was one of the early adopters of photo identification and positive identification upon registering and at the polls.

However, while one can register to vote online or mail that mandates eventual photographic identification preferably in the form of a driver’s license or special identification card (which require other documents assuring an accurate identity) also acceptable is any photo ID and some other documentation containing name and address.  Presentation of verified photo ID also isn’t needed when registering at a site that dispenses government benefits and the registerer also receives those benefits.

Events, data validating Landry troop deployment

Critics, including intraparty ones, of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s dispatch of state National Guard troops to Texas find their political positioning more tenuous after a recent spate of high-profile arrests of illegal aliens.

Two weeks ago college student Riley Laken in Georgia was murdered, allegedly by an illegal alien (an incident which Democrat Pres. Joe Biden has yet to address even as he promotes legislation named after a habitual criminal), focusing attention on criminal activity by illegal aliens. Under Biden, the U.S. southern border has become particularly porous, with such crossings up 277 percent under Biden compared to predecessor Republican Donald Trump. Unfortunately, this jump during Biden’s third year in office has led to a 257 percent increase in criminal noncitizen arrests compared to Trump’s third year in office; a 319 percent increase in assault, battery, and domestic violence; a 470 percent increase in burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, and fraud; and homicides and manslaughter going from 2 to 62, a 3,000 percent increase.

In response, Landry sent Louisiana troops to aid Texas in its Operation Lone Star, designed to interdict illegal aliens from crossing over state borders that has attracted like support from about a dozen states, for about a month. The estimated cost of this could reach as much as $3 million.

Make deals to reapportion LA Supreme Court

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s special legislative session turned out to be a massive success for him, save one goal – to reapportion the state’s Supreme Court. For that to happen during the regular session that starts next week, a little transactional politics may have to occur.

Currently, the seven districts suffer from severe malapportionment. Twice Landry, who has wanted this reapportionment for years, found that part of his 2024 special session calls thwarted by Senate Republican majorities.

The first try was somewhat rushed, provoked criticism from two sitting justices, and had the full Senate, which has a GOP supermajority, stall on it. The second attempt produced a somewhat better map that shifted the Second District, which will be open later this year, over to the east and down the Mississippi River that triggered somewhat less criticism for its rending of parishes (while still doing quite a bit of meandering and damaging, splitting Ouachita, Rapides, East Baton Rouge, and Lafayette Parishes), but GOP senators in committee torpedoed it.

Shreveport Council Democrats aim at Arceneaux

Shreveport Democrats’ plan to have the city’s electorate dump Republican Mayor Tom Arceneaux is fully afoot as they play Russian roulette with the city’s water and sewerage system.

The city remains under a consent decree that will demand hundreds of millions in spending to satisfy. Currently, $310.6 million worth of expenditures deemed critical need completion – most of which the city doesn’t have.

It doesn’t because of voter hesitancy triggered by the untrustworthy performance that featured many questionable spending choices of Democrat former Mayor Adrian Perkins, who on three occasions proposed large bond issues that included requests to fund water and sewerage. Out of around $600 million proposed, all of which involved property tax increases, only a $70.65 million estimated amount that ended up tacking on 2.5 mils for public safety made it onto the ballot and gained voter approval.

Left misleads on LA rebalancing criminal laws

As most of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s criminal justice reforms as legislation heads to his desk for his signature into law, Louisiana’s political left is working overtime to cast aspersions on measures reversing the ethos behind changes predecessor Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards had enticed, despite data showing very much such assertions are baseless.

In essence, Landry’s increases severity of sentences for some crimes, for 17-year-olds convicted of some crimes, and lengthens incarceration time for many convicts. Edwards’ had done the opposite, on the theory that the existing measures were cost ineffective, or that any reduction in crime was more than offset by costs involved. Indeed, more vocal advocates of the so-called “smart on crime” approach actually argued that you could have it both ways, reduced crime and costs.

At the very least, the left wishes to delegitimize Landry’s restoration with claims along the lines that being “tougher” on crime won’t make much of a difference, if not make matters worse, and certainly would cost more. A typical leftist view on the philosophy behind his package is “there is no firm empirical evidence that confirms” that “more stringent punitive measures [are] a criminal deterrent.”

Another Supreme Court map failure benefits Cox

The soap opera concerning possible reapportionment of Louisiana’s Supreme Court districts looks to spill over to a third try in the 2024 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, caught up in electoral politics directly affecting at least one declared candidate for the open Second District seat later this year.

At the First Extraordinary Session, the Senate refused to move a bill that would have accomplished this. It did so again this week during the Second Extraordinary Session, although under somewhat different circumstances.

Crucial to understanding the machinations involved, consider the context. Nothing legally requires the state to do this. As judicial elections cover offices not considered policy-making and therefore not necessary to represent constituencies, neither equal apportionment nor guarantees that district arrangements not impair the ability of minority groups to elect candidates of their own choosing apply to judicial reapportionment questions. Thus, Louisiana’s current environment of seven districts with enormous population districts and just one majority-minority district in a state where about a third of the population claims black ancestry is perfectly constitutional.

LA should prohibit preying on pregnant girls

If Louisiana wants to boost parental rights, protect some lives, and make Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom waste some of his money, it should join other states in making criminal activity that attempts to spirit unemancipated minor girls out of state to receive abortions.

This week, Newsom announced that he would dip into his own leftover campaign funds – perhaps a bit prematurely, as he collected these dollars in defense against a recall petition he successfully beat back, but another appears on the way – banked by an affiliated organization to fund media buys in several states that have, in the case of Idaho since last year, or are considering laws these laws. He already ran some in Tennessee and says he’ll spend millions.

Recognize this, of course, as a last-minute ploy to sell himself as a replacement for Democrat Pres. Joe Biden, whose low polling numbers and consistent running behind and significantly Republican former Pres. Donald Trump in the polls have increased the chances that party powerbrokers will try to stage an intervention to get him to desist in attempted reelection. An ad or two appearing in conservative states isn’t going to make any difference in whether laws of this nature pass or fail, but it does raise his profile.

Legislature needs to add sore loser provision

A major tweak that the Louisiana Legislature should make to its recent changes to candidate qualifying for certain offices would prevent “sore losers” from trying to game the system.

Earlier this year, the state instituted semi-closed primary elections to determine partisan general election candidates, essentially nominating them for office. Starting in 2026, this will apply to all federal legislative candidates as well as members of plenary statewide executive and judicial bodies. The law will make parties award nominations thus eligibility to run in the general election using their labels, where they can be joined by candidates not from a recognized party – currently the two major plus Greens, Libertarian, and Independent – on the general election ballot. In these primaries, only party members and any no party registrants who choose only on party’s ballot may participate.

But the law doesn’t prevent someone from running in a party primary who loses then to run in the general election under any label other than recognized parties’ or as no party. This subverts the idea of preventing other parties’ registrants to determine a party’s sole general election participant, even if the loser runs under another or without a label.

BC cuts tiny part of venture capitalist losses

The chickens continue to come home to roost over Bossier City’s profligacy of the past three decades as its agenda of government as economic development machine through interventions into the local economy with taxpayer dollars cascade from failure to failure.

Recently, headlines about how the city has squandered wealth and opportunity have focused on the duplicative Walter O. Bigby Carriageway and provision of expensive recreation for a tiny minority of city residents or for non-residents while discouraging other residents from using these facilities. But while these come from relatively recent poor decisions, there are some huge expenses with little payoff in the past often forgotten.

At over $65 million in cost, the Brookshire Grocery Arena has turned into a perennial money-loser. Since its opening in 2000, it had only three years where it turned a profit, the last in 2006. Its total losses through 2022 have been a startling $9.655 million. And while some of its desperate boosters (echoing arguments made about the millions of dollars going into city park facilities restricted to out-of-towner use) claim it can make that up through taxes paid by visitors to arena events, it’s laughable that non-residents to arena events during their trips could have bought in the city goods worth $386.2 million, the break-even point.