Edwards left no doubt about his lexicographical
placement with a screed he delivered published
in the pages of the Baton Rouge Advocate. The story covered his reaction
to the Republican-controlled Legislature
calling itself into special session to deal mainly with Wuhan coronavirus
pandemic issues, some others attached to recent storms, and a few miscellaneous
matters.
Legislators
have become concerned about the policy drift the state has taken over the
past several months, which consists of Edwards reluctant to surrender a hold
over the state’s activities imposed by his use of emergency powers that looks
compared to other states increasingly out-of-step and draconian that achieved a
double ignominy: the worst state economy since the pandemic erupted and the
most physical suffering from the pandemic. Somebody had to act while Edwards
fiddled.
Which left him unhappy when they did. He doesn’t
like the session’s 30-day length and breadth, saying two weeks at most and a
handful of objects would have sufficed: “You call a special session and have 70
objects. That is a regular session.”
Uh, yeah. Because Rome is burning while you act
like Nero. Louisiana is hemorrhaging unemployment benefit dollars that will
increase taxes and cut individuals’ payments, local governments are hurting,
perhaps thousands of businesses remain closed because of your restrictions and others
hampered in operations, and people chafe at your deprivation of their liberties
for something that, medically
speaking, has become less and less necessary. (Perhaps not coincidentally, as
Edwards drags it out, the
state’s top public health official decided to call it quits).
(Edwards can hide
behind the skirts of federal government advisers all he wants to defend his
handling of the pandemic, which drew approving noises from the Republican Pres.
Donald Trump Administration because Trump is running for reelection doesn’t
want to look “soft” on trying to prevent deaths – and in any event just gave
Edwards qualified support in that he was commended for his actions only through
the long-passed “summer post-Memorial Day surge” – but the very inconvenient
fact for Edwards is Louisiana has displayed, consistently throughout all phases
of the pandemic, the worst outcomes. A real leader would own up to that
responsibility and failure.)
Of course, as Edwards made clear, he either is clueless
or disingenuous about the main purpose of the session. Declaring the session as
a means to inject legislators intimately into the process of deciding whether,
for examples, how many bars can open when and for how long and serving in-person
or pick-up, he said, “You can't respond to a public health emergency by
committee.”
Uh, no, but that’s not what Republicans want to
do. They merely want check and balances on the near-dictatorial powers a
governor possesses with a declared emergency, with statute currently having
only an all-or-nothing legislative veto attached that only may specify the
period during which another emergency can’t be declared and can’t limit the
duration. The ideas batted about would give the Legislature a veto after 30
days, and if that happened the governor can come back with a different plan
immediately.
This is not a panel spilling out minutiae to deal
with a crisis. It’s a reasonable review – as
permitted in other states – to ensure accountability. Edwards making a
straw man out of the issue doesn’t make him leader, but a demagogue.
Add his either being inattentive or a liar when he
said critics hadn’t spelled out specifically to what they object in his
anti-virus measures. His office monitors this blog, and here I
have pointed
out
repeatedly,
as
time
passed
and
policy
evolved,
exactly what things were done wrong, and why, principally because of his
insistence of putting politics before science in this decision-making. This dodge
might fool gullible or wishful readers, but not those informed.
It all adds up to an intransigence injurious to
the people of Louisiana; in the words of the Advocate, concerning
alterations to wielding emergency powers, Edwards “has no intention of
surrendering it. ‘I don't think they are going to be successful in doing that,’
he said.” Meaning, he will resist, by use of veto if necessary, any efforts to demand
more accountability from him.
At least Edwards indicated some action should
occur on the depleted unemployment trust fund, which has compelled the state to
borrow money from the federal government. His bold solution? Wait on Congress
to do something: “That would be the best thing that could happen.”
But it may not act for months with election
politics swirling around. Anything else in reserve? Well, Edwards said the
state could use remaining portion of its share from the federal CARES Act to
help shore up the fund.
Now he tells us? It turns out even
though he was told about this option four months ago he rejected it in
favor of larding up the budget with Act money, inflating
the general fund by $600 million year-over-year. Unless he wants to shortchange
local governments which likely will need around $714 million in aid to get
through their budget years or to cut state government, he has spent it all
already with nothing left for the fund.
The only thing worse than an absence of leadership
is pretending to provide it when in reality you offer up only unserious
recommendations. And then you complain about the adults in the room trying to fill
the void. Say hello to John Bel Edwards.
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