On election eve, Bossier way rears its ugly head

On the eve of city elections, controversy erupted at this week’s City Council meeting that displayed graphically the old Bossier political way, a mixture of electoral, transactional, and crony politics possibly involving corruption and certainly advertising for change from it via the upcoming electoral exercise.

Perhaps any or all of Republican Mayor Tommy Chandler, City Atty. Charles Jacobs, Asst. City Atty. Richard Ray (if watching the proceedings from afar), and nominal City Engineer Ben Rauschenbach had a sinking feeling when, during the meeting after GOP Councilor Brian Hammons had brought Rauschenbach to the podium for questioning about an agenda item, Hammons said he had an unrelated matter on which to query him. Hammons, whose day job is in building, then described a scenario where business owners were asking him about, and even petitioning for, the city reconstructing parking lots for private businesses – a matter they claimed the city had performed and one that never came before the Council for approval. He asked Rauschenbach what he knew of it.

The Waggoner Engineering employee, who by virtue of the firm’s contract with the city serves as its engineering chief, usually has information about projects and their costs at his fingertips. But this time he said he would defer to Jacobs or Ray to explain. Jacobs was present, and what ensued should be presented verbatim:

Landry finally defeats "baantjies vir boeties"

Last week, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry completed the inevitable defeat of baantjies vir boeties, making a bad but unfortunately necessary policy less obnoxious while telling special interests and courthouse gangs to go pound sand.

Baantjies vir boeties – “jobs for the boys” – was an expression heard in the old Republic of South Africa during the reign of the National Party up until majority rule came about in 1994. The instituters of apartheid pursued this strategy to keep white support from erosion by moderate-to-radical competitors focusing on economic class concerns that could distract from its racial politics message, doing so through heavy government regulation and spending to provide employment in both the public and private sectors. (Many other polities had ruling regimes that promised the same, but the old RSA example was the starkest in its brazenness.)

The same tactic, in the same sense that it was to use government power to reward supporters with jobs and other concessions, Democrat former Gov. John Bel Edwards foisted upon Louisiana when he stipulated changes to the Industrial Tax Exemption Program. This procedure had allowed a new concern a partial-to-total break from property taxes for up to a decade. The state’s Board of Commerce and Industry – mostly gubernatorial appointees and the rest being elected or appointed officials including a designee of the governor – rules on these with the governor having a veto power. Thus, a governor basically can dictate the parameters by which breaks are given.

Obtuse LA public defense board unnecessary

If this slovenliness is what we get from Louisiana’s Public Defender Oversight Board, policy-makers might as well chuck the whole thing.

Earlier this year, State Public Defender Remy Starns declared he wouldn’t renew the contracts of five of the state’s 35 district defenders. Perhaps not coincidentally, the five argued against a pay plan Starns had brought to the board last year that ultimately in the main was not accepted, which would have cut their salaries.

As a result of legislation last year, the Board underwent a name and function change. The changes took it away from an active management role and more towards the word added to its appellation, “oversight.” It did retain the power to oversee finances to the point to have power over financing decisions as under existing contracts.

Bill provides redress for subsidized bad policy

A bill the Louisiana Legislature will consider during this spring’s regular session would redress bad federal government policy that diverts use of lands within the state to low priority purposes.

HB 4 by Republican state Rep. Chuck Owen would allow individual parishes to have a final say over carbon capture sequestration within their boundaries, subject to a popular veto. The governing authority may disapprove of a sequestration siting, but if it approves a referendum may be called by 15 percent of registered voters to hold a vote disapproving. Either way, local interests will determine whether such projects get built.

That’s as it should be, because of the bias built into the tax code that is the only thing, other than ideologically-based faith, that prompts any building of these facilities placed underground to store carbon produced in industrial or consumer surroundings. Understanding the interlocked nature of the process explains where Louisiana is and why the law is beneficial.

Monroe council budget alterations unwise

A Monroe City Council majority seems determined to launch a risky pay raise plan and apportion more funds to a special district with a checkered recent history, contrary to independent Mayor Friday Ellis’ fiscal year 2026 budget.

In a special meeting, the Council proposed a number of changes to the Ellis plan. Most were incremental in nature in keeping with the roughly $72 million ceiling, but a couple stood out as significant.

One shoveled $323,000 more into salary increases for city employees. The Council majority of Democrats Rodney McFarland, Verbon Muhammad, and Juanita Woods previously had expressed a desire to attempt some kind of permanent pay hike.

Prudent to overkill marks BC incumbent spending

In Bossier City Council elections, one incumbent seeks balance in utilizing campaign resources while another relies on his decades in office rather than dollars, yet the remaining other tries to shatter all spending records (which are his), reflecting both political realities and candidate personalities.

Of these three incumbents, Republican Councilor Chris Smith has conducted the kind of campaign most typically seen, according to campaign finance reports filed through Mar. 9 activity. He has spent – as an at-large candidate, the total amounts usually would be somewhat higher than for running in a district – with emphasis on eye-level media and digital contacting.

Actually, relative to the size of his constituency, his campaign hasn’t spent all that much, just over $10,000 in 2025, leaving him with over $20,000. His fundraising is an eclectic mixture of city political insiders, such as City Attorney Charles Jacobs (who opposed him in a lawsuit over the Council’s refusal to follow the city charter that Smith joined to see that the Charter was followed), large contractors of the city such as Waggoner Engineering and Live Oak Environmental Services, and reformers.

LA Democrats facing long-term minority status

Louisiana Democrats will find themselves in an even deeper hole if national trends rippling down to the state and parish level continue apace.

Late last year, the U.S. Census Bureau released state population estimates. Earlier this month, it released county population estimates. For Louisiana, in an absolute sense it was mixed bag, but in a relative sense overall positive.

The state gained population to have the most since 2021, at a slower rate than most other states, but the first half-year of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s tenure certainly improved over the eight years of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards when the state lost over 100,00 folks, tempered by the fact that there was a net loss of U.S. citizens but that was offset by more non-citizens in residence, whether legally.

Now started, LA should clear quickly death row

Louisiana leaders must recognize the struggle they have invited with anti-capital punishment ideologues that wish to cancel democratically-made policy, and how to win it.

For many years, politics prevented the state from carrying out executions, by political pressure zealots put on suppliers of chemicals used for the lethal injection method, the only method allowed in recent decades until last year, and the presence of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, who for political reasons refused to admit he was one of those zealots until late in his second term and would stand in the way of legal changes to add (in the case of electrocution, add back) methods to executions.

But the elections of 2023 and principally Republican Gov. Jeff Landry capturing the office broke the logjam, and last year electrocution and nitrogen hypoxia became legal methods. After a few months to set up an entirely constitutional protocol – reaffirmed days ago – regarding hypoxia, the state announced it was back in the justice business and started to queue up executions, beginning with Jesse Hoffman who has been sitting on death row for 27 years.

Resoluteness on executions needed to save lives

Perhaps by the time you read this Louisiana will have seen through its first implementation of capital punishment in 15 years. As opposition to it finds expression through those ideologically opposed to it, through sympathetic media, as well as those caught up oversimplifying the issue, keep in mind that this opposition may not care about whether justice is served or whether it behaves ethically, as to them any means justifies the ends of stopping executions.

Waiting in death’s wings is Jesse Hoffman, Jr., whose gruesome kidnapping, rape and murder of Mary “Molly” Elliott earned him a capital sentence nearly three decades ago. He has remained on death row for so long because Louisiana law didn’t permit executions other than through lethal injection, and ideological activists had scared of companies from making available the chemicals to accomplish this, until the state added nitrogen hypoxia as a method.

The usual suspects have tried to stop or delay his Mar. 18 fate with the mask. Likely a number of them are principled opponents who don’t know or for whatever psychic reason ignore that having capital punishment, with carefully investigated cases of those who with extreme malice aforethought killed somebody, consistently applied saves lives. The problem is, they may not be driving the anti-execution train that puts justice aside to promote personal or ideological reasons.

Monroe should seek efficiencies, not tax hikes

Maybe Monroe policy-makers should think outside the box if they want to reduce the city’s operation on a fiscal knife-edge and provide pay raises for city employees without hitting up taxpayers for more dough.

At the last City Council meeting, which appended a budget hearing onto it, some councilors expressed a desire to see annual salary increases, perhaps at the 2.5 percent level, for city employees. Some also wanted more money for recreation facilities. The problem is there’s no money for any of this.

The proposed fiscal year 2026 budget showed overall about a $2 million or three percent revenue boost in the general fund that pays for most city operating activities. Raises for those functions at the desired level would gobble up more than half of that increase, as salaries, wages, and benefits comprised 69 percent of the FY 2025 budget spending. Indeed, 70 percent of that increase was going to public safety which consumes 40 percent of city spending, meaning this function would bear the brunt of any redirection of revenues at current levels.