St. James rejects EBR-like prosperity killing

Maybe Together Baton Rouge ought to speed up plans to expand geographically and combine forces with another equally short-sighted, ideologically mistaken group.

As noted yesterday, the radical leftist interest group has taken not just a public relations hit, but also likely a souring in the mouths of Baton Rouge policy-makers, when its agitprop that sees corporations not as peoples and their lives but as piñatas waiting for bursting caused a real world backfire. Essentially, it goaded enough members on the East Baton Rouge Parish School System Board to deny property tax relief to ExxonMobil, already paying a seriously overburdening rate. In turn, the company signaled it would scale back significantly its area operations, consequently leading to the disappearance of jobs and wealth.

But no such resistance had cropped up in nearby neighbor two-doors-down St. James Parish. Among the parishes it has the sixth-highest property value exempted under this law, the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, and policy-makers there with no opposition recently put it on the hook to relieve an amount that would more than triple the amount of foregone dollars from 2015.

Maybe downhill from here for radical BR group

Baton Rouge policy-makers’ dalliance with the radical leftist interest group Together Baton Rouge has backfired, putting the city-parish and entity on the defensive.

TBR, founded nearly a decade ago, got on its legs courtesy of the Industrial Areas Foundation. The IAF, founded by Saul Alinksy who stridently opposed “dogma” and promoted situational ethics, despite that cleverly markets itself as “faith-based” and pitches itself to religious entities. TBR, which remains affiliated with IAF, adopted this model and as a result the majority of its members, which it assesses annual dues, are religious-based organizations.

But TBR hews to a particularly intolerant model of belief, most closely matching an imagined social Christian gospel that takes precedence over the teachings of the actual Gospels. In essence, it conceives the state as a theocratic instrument to impose its peculiar religious beliefs. This mixing of religion and state echoes that promoted in Islam except that TBR’s creed argues for greater government control over people’s lives, primarily in the taking of what people own and redistributing it, rather than Islam’s having government enforce a code of moral behavior based upon its tenets.

LA may end up traiblazer in abortion regulation

It may take awhile longer, but Louisiana looks set to shape state powers to regulate abortion providers, in a good way.

Last week, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to hear a decision made by a panel from it last September. The case involved operating restrictions upon abortion mills placed by the state back in 2014, but stayed from implementation because of the court challenge. The three-judge panel had ruled the state could proceed with the changes, which would tighten up provision standards on par with other surgical procedures and have doctors involved obtain admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles.

Affirming the panel would have allowed enforcement of the law starting yesterday. But opponents asked for a rehearing, which, although swiftly denied, automatically triggers a seven-day injunction. Undoubtedly, opponents will use that time to petition for the Supreme Court justice assigned to the circuit, Samuel Alito, to issue an injunction that invites the entire court to hear the case at a future date, further delaying enforcement of the law.

Perkins must not reprise Bossier shenanigans

The third time may not be the charm for Shreveporters and paying for garbage pickup.

Democrat new Mayor Adrian Perkins has proposed an $18 per month charge for providing this service. Such a fee, which almost all medium-and-above-sized cities charge – and all do in Louisiana, with larger cities’ levying months bills from $16 to $36 – Perkins says could go to shoring up low sanitation worker wages (some defected recently to Bossier City’s new private contractor) as well as pad the city’s reserves.

Shreveport has gone down this road before. Almost a decade ago, it levied a $2.50 per month assessment, only to have a disappointed citizenry successfully lobby the City Council to remove that within a couple of months. In 2016, the previous administration included a $12 monthly fee in its 2017 budget, only to have to withdraw that ignominiously after a public backlash.

The Advocate column, Jan. 27, 2019

With John Bel Edwards running on his record this time, lightning won't strike twice
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_dd067836-1f45-11e9-84de-8bd4e0198728.html

Links:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/david-vitter-tries-to-overcome-scandal-in-his-gubernatorial-bid/434910/
http://house.louisiana.gov/housefiscal/DOCS_TENYEAR/Means%20of%20Finance%20Trends.pdf
https://apps.bea.gov/itable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1#reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/unemployment-rate/?currentTimeframe=3&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_01262016.htm
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_12212018.htm
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-state-total.html
https://ethics.house.gov/outside-employment-income/outside-earned-income-limitation-applicable-members-and-senior-staff
https://jeffsadow.blogspot.com/2018/12/abraham-poses-serious-threat-to-edwards.html
https://twitter.com/JohnBelforLA/status/1086335449617043457
https://www.businessreport.com/industry/louisiana-candidates-governor-talk-industry
https://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/rep-abraham-uses-pilot-license-give-back-constituents

Orleans board caves to anti-Christian bigotry

It’s official: white progressivism and its anti-Christian bias has infected the Orleans Parish School Board, creating an ugly incident of bigotry.

Last week, the body held elections for this year’s officers. In an unusual move, it suspended its own rules to allow holding over last year’s officers. This brought about the unanimous reelection of Democrat John Brown, and a 4-3 vote returning Democrat Leslie Ellison as vice president.

Plenty of controversy preceded the move. Originally, Ellison had wished to move up the ladder one place, following tradition, as Brown could not succeed himself after two yearly terms. Then, publicized past remarks Ellison made concerning students who identify themselves as something other than their biological sex stirred up opposition to her.

Insurance ban needed in proposed coop rules

The spirit of the law backs efforts by the Louisiana Public Service Commission to place significant limits on directors of electric cooperatives, including the prohibition of coop-paid insurance.

Last year, controversy erupted over reports that many directors received large emoluments from coops. The entities provide electricity under a membership model as Internal Revenue Service 501(c)12 organizations, meaning they must operate as nonprofits in order to secure tax-free status and directors serve part-time.

Originally, the federal government launched the coop concept in 1935 through presidential executive order. At the time, while most urban households had electricity, few did in rural areas due to expense. The U.S. government hoped that states would pass legislation establishing a framework for organizations with low overhead that could make power affordable to member/owners.

Barras puts LA needs ahead of Edwards'

Nothing has changed, so nothing should change, despite the histrionics of the Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration.

Last week, Louisiana’s Revenue Estimating Conference met again with an attempt to update forecasting numbers on revenue. The figures produced get fed into the budget process, with Democrat Edwards’ executive plan for state spending in fiscal year 2020 due in about ten days.

Currently, recognized revenues reflect estimates of nearly seven months ago. Two months ago, with the group mandated to meet no later than the end of the year, it gathered to consider an increase because of higher-than-expected oil prices. It had predicted throughout this fiscal year a price of $59.42 per barrel, but the two sources used by the political appointees – the Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, Republican House Speaker Taylor Barras, GOP Senate President John Alario, and university economist James Richardson – representing the Administration and Legislature thought that should increase to the $61-64 range.

Report reminds of group's leftist ideology

In case you’ve forgotten, a recent announcement by the Louisiana League of Women Voters reminds that the organization that claims nonpartisanship nonetheless marches in lockstep with Democrats of the progressive stripe.

Last week, the group at its annual convention released a report noting that charter schools potentially sap education dollars from traditional public schools, calling for changes in charter school board composition and transparency, and wanting greater state stringency in regulating such schools. In effect, the increased, unneeded regulatory details that would follow would hamper the ability of these schools to operate as intended. This adheres to a liberal agenda of protecting the one-size-fits-all model of education that empowers special interests over children.

Not that the study’s quality commends policy-makers to pursue such recommendations. Both the organization that represents the state’s charter schools and the state Department of Education panned the effort, each observing it to relay numerous corrections to the drafters of an early version and subsequently received no feedback. The report’s lead author herself has spoken often and publicly against the concept.

The Advocate column, Jan. 20, 2019

A low-rent king of deadhead jobs at Tax Commission 
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_c03e4718-19e3-11e9-a42b-ffa3779265f9.html

Links:
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_8e984096-15b6-11e9-950e-5f48353a7e8b.html
https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/former-assessor-faces-more-dwi-charges/article_a34e5872-6441-5e97-b8bf-31c2ad776c49.html
https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/former-assessor-takes-job-with-state/article_ae8cf20a-033a-5461-9951-b236feb77b28.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/west_feliciana/article_96ef5c0e-b68b-54d8-a8fa-89c8579e1688.html
https://wwwcfprd.doa.louisiana.gov/boardsAndCommissions/viewEmployees.cfm?board=536
https://wwwcfprd.doa.louisiana.gov/boardsAndCommissions/viewMembers.cfm?board=536
https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_c34b41a6-f633-11e7-9b4d-33fec3a1f8a8.html
http://oig.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/Zinna%20Lawyer%20Pleads%20Guilty%20-%20Bloomberg.pdf