Caddo School Democrats flex muscles with rerun

Haven’t we seen this game of Caddo Parish School Board Clue before: the Democrats did it in District 8 with Jeri Bowen?

Recently, this space mused whether the Board’s six Democrats would duplicate what they did in 2020 when a Republican member of the Board resigned to give Democrats a temporary one vote majority, which was then used to appoint a Democrat in the solidly Republican District 8 – 49 percent GOP registration then, 57 percent now – which hadn’t elected a Democrat (who later would switch to the GOP) in 30 years. The situation replicated when Republican Christine Tharpe resigned her seat as she moved out of the district.

At the special meeting this week, the Board considered three volunteers to serve until an election next spring. The only Republican was Cheyenna Newman, who hadn’t lived in the district long and hadn’t involved herself much in local education but who said her background in legal issues would commend her service to the Board. But, she mentioned an interest in promoting social emotional learning – a thinly-evidenced, faddish approach to learning reeking of wokeness expressly repudiated by the state’s board of education the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that would make any conservative Republican blanche at supporting her. As it turned out, none did, although being in the minority it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Campbell PSC dynasty try off to amateurish start

If Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell wants to see dynastic rule of his position, his son Nick is going to have to do a lot better job, if not hope for a sea change in voter attitudes.

 Foster Campbell at the end of next year will end a half-century career in political office, the last 18 on the PSC. Although term-limited, it had become clear in his last 2020 election that voter patience with his cornfield leftist populism was coming to its end. In that election he faced longtime Ouachita Parish Police Juror Republican Shane Smiley, who spent around $10,000 or more than $700,000 fewer than Campbell, yet Campbell won only 53 percent of the vote. As he has in three elections since 2014, Campbell lost his home parish of Bossier.

For 2026, attention mainly has focused on the candidacies of Caddo Parish Commissioner John Atkins and state Rep. Larry Bagley, both Republicans at the western end of the district. But apparently testing the waters is Democrat Nick Campbell, Foster’s son and until recently colleague in his insurance agency, presently working for Democrat Rep. Cleo Fields. It’s not his first foray into the political world; he has been a party activist for a number of years and served as a delegate at the party’s national convention last year.

New national, LA SNAP policies to help poor

This month kicks off momentous and welcome changes in Louisiana’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, with an assist from Republican-led federal government changes, to the benefit of taxpayers and SNAP clients.

Much pearl-clutching and hand-wringing has occurred over the programmatic changes of the federal-state effort, as a result of budget reconciliation legislation passed earlier this summer. Endlessly and erroneously referred to by the political left and media as “cuts,” in reality the changes – better restricting eligibility to citizens and lawful permanent residents, expanding the pool of individuals who must meet community engagement requirements, eventually penalizing states that pay insufficient attention to their inappropriate payment rates, and eventually shifting more of the administrative costs to states – promise a reduction of overall spending on it of up to 20 percent through fewer ineligible recipients and more efficient administration.

SNAP is generous, nationally adding $6.20 per person per day or a large portion of daily food expenses for a person willing to shop intelligently and to prepare food at home without overeating or excessive snacking. This is in addition to the myriad of other welfare programs for which someone may qualify under the same criteria.

Senate race varies big by whichever female runs

It’s now certain that a prominent female politician will enter Louisiana’s Senate contest held next year. But which one makes a big difference.

For months, rumors have circulated that Republican Rep. Julia Letlow will join the fray. She apparently has been courted by GOP Gov. Jeff Landry, who doesn’t seem jacked with the current field. Incumbent Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy likely signed his own political death warrant when he gambled on GOP Pres. Donald Trump losing massive influence among Republicans and voted for Trump’s impeachment and conviction on spurious charges, a mistake in Louisiana especially when Landry, who has political ties to Trump and his family, assumed the governorship three years later.

But neither does Landry seem to like as alternatives Republicans Treas. John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez, who have feuded with Landry on some issues. For whatever reason, the entrance of GOP Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta after them hasn’t discouraged Landry from encouraging Letlow to run.

Monroe needs to review privatized trash pickup

Not only are Monrovians’ taxes not going up, but also maybe a critical city service will become cheaper and even improve in delivery.

Last week, the Monroe City Council passed into ordinance 2025 property tax rates, holding these steady at last year’s levels. This came after the Council’s majority Democrats for the past month had talked up a tax increase of 1.81 mills to provide more dollars for unspecified spending they claimed necessary.

But at the meeting where the agenda had called for a public meeting to raise rates, instead that essentially was waved off when a promised amendment was entertained and passed unanimously keeping the 2024 rates. For whatever reason, the Democrats walked back from the tax hike.

Katrina +20: No NO silver lining to offset it

The silver lining from the Hurricane Katrina disaster was that its major victim, New Orleans, eventually would come out of it a better place to live. We now know in fact that hope has faded away.

I was more optimistic in my review five years ago, where I concluded things were better both at the state and local, New Orleans, level despite a disaster that cost around 1,400 lives and, in inflation-adjusted terms two decades later, over $200 billion to sort out. In New Orleans, I noted how there had been positive change in terms of education and flood protection that came from overcoming political hurdles the dismantling of which became possible because of the widespread devastation that made revolutionary reforms possible.

The hope was the momentum would continue, for several reasons. With traditional populist-based political networks disrupted, perhaps candidates and organizations focused more on getting stuff done than dividing spoils among supporters would strengthen. Perhaps attitudes would shift to place greater emphasis on industriousness to benefit private sector activities that would include less government intrusiveness that catered to special interests and ideology. Corrupt activities would diminish and more attention would be given to sore spots such as crime fighting.

Cassidy digging deeper hole on vaccine policy

Chalk up a W for Republican Rep. Clay Higgins and an L for GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, resulting from Food and Drug Administration decisions on Wuhan coronavirus vaccines.

This week, the FDA, under the Department of Health and Human Services, ended blanket emergency use authorizations for these vaccines, reducing availability from 6 months on up in age to those individuals who had a co-morbidity risk. The process starts with an assessment by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, at panel with eight members at present, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another HHS component.

That panel made news recently when HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. dismissed all members because he felt it had a slavish mentality towards acceptance of widespread and indiscriminate vaccination recommendations. Kennedy prior to his assuming the top position at HHS made his name as a critic of indiscriminate vaccinations, questioning whether the benefits outweighed the harm to individuals although sometimes these featured claims with thin scientific evidence behind them.

LA gives roadmap to negate current VRA assumption

Louisiana has given a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court what it wants, argumentation to cancel one of the greatest con jobs in legal history.

Today, the state turned in its brief in Louisiana v. Callais as requested by the Court. Heard last spring, the Court took the unusual step of delaying any decision on the case that has invalidated the state’s congressional map, pending the addressing (scheduled for Oct. 15) of the question whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act conflicts with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The state had complained there was conflict, claiming it had to follow the Allen v. Milligan precedent that said states had to follow jurisprudence from Thornburg v. Gingles on down, which fleshed out Section 2. That line led to the assumption that if a minority group in a jurisdiction met certain criteria (the “Gingles Preconditions”), no matter whether there was any discriminatory intent it was assumed that any reapportionment plan, regardless of how well it adhered to traditional principles of reapportionment (such as keeping communities of interest together, contiguity, reasonable compactness, etc.), if there wasn’t some kind of rough equivalence of the proportionality of majority-minority districts among all to the proportionality of the minority race in the constituency then this constituted “vote dilution” that by definition was discriminatory, justifying the use of race as the preferred criterion in drawing a map.

Order may bring end to Orleans cashless bail

New Orleans is in the crosshairs again of the Republican Pres. Donald Trump Administration with his executive order designed to determine which state and local jurisdictions use cashless bail regimes and then find means to withhold federal dollars from recalcitrant ones.

Orleans Parish will make that list because of an initiative begun several years ago. New Orleans eliminated bail for anything but more serious crimes, and Orleans Parish courts further circumscribed its use partly by choice and partly because of law suits. Worse, the “progressive” prosecutions sought by Democrat District Atty. Jason Williams have caused a voluntary disarming of sorts by his office on even major crimes asking for reduced bail amounts, if not outright dismissal of felony charges.

Naturally advocates of more lenient measures to ensure court appearances have gotten into an uproar over this, although whether the order will make a significant difference remains to be seen. Much will depend upon the degree to which jurisdictions actually practice cashless (or very reduced) bail policy as well as the potential leverage with what federal monies could be withheld. For example, New Orleans would have about 5 percent of its revenues at risk should Trump be able to cordon off federal funds (that $47 million does also include state money, so this would be even less), an amount if forgone which may or may not convince its elected officials to abandon the experiment.

Monroe Council Democrats seek veto-proof majority

Monroe City Council majority Democrats are determined to overcome the agenda of independent Mayor Friday Ellis with their own and by increasing taxes to do so, the Aug. 12 Council meeting demonstrated.

At it, the three Democrats, who are black, passed a resolution authorizing study of district boundaries with an eye towards mid-cycle reapportionment, which municipalities nationwide rarely do and is unprecedented in Louisiana. Those councilors spoke of potential demographic changes since the 2020 census, even though only those data legally may be used for reapportionment purposes, as well as alleged citizen dissatisfaction over the 2022 exercise hammered out by the previous Council that since then gained two new members.

By the census, Monroe has a 65 percent black population with its councilor districts having black proportions in percentage points of 14.63, 45.41, 86.35, 80.32, and 95.62 percent. In fact, District 2 has a white proportion of only 45.17, meaning Monroe has three majority-minority and one opportunity, or black plurality, district out of five, which suggests a 70 percent or more black population. And given Monroe’s population concentrations and somewhat sinuous borders, with tentacles shooting north and south, it seems difficult to draw a map that could pump up much District 2’s black population proportion.