Landry signals realistic climate policy ahead

The hits just keep coming from Louisiana’s governor-elect, signaling major and welcome changes from the policy path of the current chief executive.

Yesterday, Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry announced that he would appoint Aurelia Skipworth Giacommetto as head of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. Giacommetto served as the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under Republican Pres. Donald Trump, is trained as a biologist and lawyer and has extensive experience working in the chemical and public policy areas. As with all gubernatorial appointees prior to receiving Senate confirmation, she will retain the job unless the Senate doesn’t vote to confirm her by the end of its 2024 regular session.

The choice will discomfit the political left, because Trump! In its bizarre worldview, anybody or anything having to do with Trump not only is a terrible thing for mankind, it’s entirely illegitimate within the American political system. That’s why it has loathed Landry, who Trump likes, and this selection likely will be the first of many to work it into a lather.

End minority party committee head practice

With the accession of both legislative chamber leaders for the 2024-28 term of the Louisiana Legislature now settled, a question of whether to retain the practice of granting minority party members committee chairmanships is up for debate – and change.

This practice almost no other state follows. A few here and there will place a minority party member at the head of a temporary committee, or perhaps give one a vice chairman’s slot. Some allow for minority reports to be issued about legislation. But in today’s era, the only states that appear to do this (absent special situations where party representation in a chamber is even between the two major parties, or Nebraska’s unicameral/nonpartisan organ) are Louisiana and Texas.

Texas legislators appear to be making a conscious effort to back away from the process. This year, its Senate Republican leadership shed the last minority member who had been a chairman, while its House Republican leadership reduced its number to eight of 34 standing committees, and a deliberate emphasis to shunt Democrats as chairman to low-profile panels. Texas has small GOP majorities in each chamber at present.

BC Council wise to delay questionable renewal

The Bossier City Council’s decision to allow plenty of time to vet a propose four-year extension of its public-private partnership with Manchac Consulting appears wiser than ever as more details and analysis emerge about it – all of which buttresses the case that competitive bidding take place to manage city most engineering, public works, and utilities functions.

Last week, the Council stalled an attempt to begin the process of considering the no-bid extension. As originally cued, the Council could have signed off on a rate representing an increase of 50 percent over the deal that started in mid-2021, or $195,000 monthly, as early as Nov. 21. Instead, it will deal with the deal at the beginning of 2024, about three weeks prior to the agreement automatically extending for the existing three years at $169,000 monthly, starting mid-2024.

The extra time will give the city time to work through some issues, beginning with city ordinance allowing for only a three-year maximum on the life of a contract. However, state law allows local governments to use five years as a maximum, and as state law takes precedence over ordinance, the city could violate its ordinance and still have a legal contract as long as it doesn’t span more than five years. When the city initiated the arrangement in 2016, which then only covered utilities, it was for five years, and when it renewed in 2021, incorporating previous amendments and adding others, a three-year term was used after initially setting it at another five and a whopping increase to more than $303,000 per month that the Council quickly yanked.

Call extra session in 2024 before court deadline

Louisiana’s reapportionment saga rumbles on, now with the politics of electoral succession mixed in.

Last week, after the U.S. Supreme Court the previous month had ruled a district court that originally at the behest of special interests had ruled invalid the state’s latest congressional reapportionment had moved too fast to impose an alternative, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel drew up a calendar for state action on the matter. It said the state had to come up with a new map by Jan. 15, although the “district court will also have discretion to grant limited additional time if requested,” or else then a redraw would fall to that court.

This creates an interesting political timeline. Jan. 8 will turn over a new Legislature and install Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry as governor. An extraordinary session would be required, since the regular session won’t convene until mid-March. There’s general agreement that the new batch of elected officials should handle the matter, as they will have to deal with the aftermath of anything that happens as a result of any actions, or inaction, taken.

Veterans' Day, 2023

This column publishes every Sunday through Thursday around noon U.S. Central Time (maybe even after sundown on busy days, or maybe before noon if things work out, or even sometimes on the weekend if there's big news) except whenever a significant national holiday falls on the Sunday through Thursday associated with the otherwise-usual publication on the previous day (unless it is Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Christmas, or New Year's Day when it is the day on which the holiday is observed by the U.S. government). In my opinion, in addition to these are also Memorial Day and Veterans' Day.

With Saturday, Nov. 11 being Veterans' Day, I invite you to explore the links connected to this page.

Competitive Caddo contests cued in runoffs

Somewhat surprising results in October Caddo Parish elections left some very competitive runoff contests on Nov. 18.

The sheriff’s race to replace retiring Republican Sheriff Steve Prator classifies as one of these – not surprising that it produced a runoff between Republican former Shreveport Councilor John Nickelson and Democrat former Shreveport police chief and chief administrative officer Henry Whitehorn, but surprising that Nickelson pulled 45 percent, 10 points clear of Whitehorn in a race on paper that favors the Democrat. A major factor here appears to be differentially reduced turnout between partisans, with Democrats more likely not to have voted. If that pattern repeats, and it may well given Prator and his considerable influence backed Nickleson, the general election leader will win.

However, this hot race may affect the dynamics of other contests in the parish, although few remain unsettled. While most parish commission races drew multiple candidates, only one had more than two. Incumbents and favorites held off challengers – including past District 8 Democrat appointed Commissioner Ronald Cothran, who ran in District 10 this time and barely knocked off two challenging Democrats, including one who barely lost four years ago – the only big surprise came with District 1 Republican Todd Hopkins losing to the GOP’s Chris Kracman in the race with the highest turnout. A gerrymander solidly favoring Democrats created almost no interparty competition, leaving only one contest not internecine and all settled without a runoff.

Don't let carbon capture, hydrogen mania cost LA

It’s not going so well for climate alarmists in Louisiana at the other end of the continuum, either.

While one strand of alarmism focuses on a ruthless propagation of non-fossil fuel-based sources for energy, no matter the costs or inconvenience, another seeks to mitigate fossil fuel outputs, such as carbon and methane, by circumventing or diverting production of these in the energy production process. Two such tools in pursuit of the latter are hydrogen and carbon capture use and sequestration.

Hydrogen can be used as a method to carry another fuel or by itself, burning without natural carbon dioxide or methane release unless the process of its production – it rarely exists in nature purely, so otherwise it has to be detached from some other elements like from oxygen in water – causes this. CCS works around processing release by collecting it before atmospheric emission, in making hydrogen or straight combustion.

BC has chance to improve contracted services

New owner, but same old Manchac Consulting Group: shielded by its political allies on the Bossier City Council, it continues to enjoy privileged status and an ever-deeper reach into Bossier City taxpayers’ pocketbooks that an embattled Council majority bloc wants to impose without considering any other options.

The firm that has worked on Bossier City projects since 2010 and which took over public works through a formal public-private partnership agreement in 2016 a couple of months ago was bought out by Waggoner Engineering but remains as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Waggoner is based in Jackson, MS but for many years has had a Louisiana presence in Baton Rouge where Manchac is located. It and its original owner and founder Joe Waggoner and his affiliated companies have been active in donations to Louisiana politicians of both parties (although more often Democrats) for statewide, legislative, and local offices, but have concentrated local candidate giving in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

This may explain the more aggressive search for business Manchac recently has undertaken. As the merger was being negotiated, it offered its services to the Cypress Black Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District, and appears actively to be searching for other opportunities.

Avoid gouging LA taxpayers, ratepayers over wind

Rather than driving Louisiana energy customer bills sky high, the new Legislature and incoming Republican Gov. Jeff Landry Administration need to cut off at the pass special interests and rent seekers.

Regarding accelerating use of offshore wind-generated power to meet arbitrary goals applauded by climate alarmists, both Democrat Pres. Joe Biden and Democrat Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards haven’t had a good few months. Biden wanted 30 gigawatts of power capacity nationally from wind by 2030, and Edwards shot for 5 GW by 2035. At present, U.S. capacity stands at 150 MW at one location off of Rhode Island.

The story goes that these installations provide lots of jobs to build and few costs to maintain, staying out of almost everybody’s way. To jag along this development, Biden had a then-Democrat-controlled Congress lard up almost $11 billion dedicated to offshore wind expansion and dangle various tax credits from 10 to 30 percent for those involved in production and support of offshore wind power generation. Some states, but not Louisiana, added their own incentives.

Election results strengthen Seabaugh influence

Early voting has started for the Nov. 18 runoff elections for state and local offices in Louisiana, but that doesn’t need resolution to declare the biggest winner in northwest Louisiana elections this cycle: Republican state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, who is emerging as the region’s kingmaker.

Who will become state senator for District 31 in a couple of months in a far-flung district anchored in southern Bossier and Caddo Parishes, which together will have the plurality of population, and extending south. For a region, that is one of the higher-profile elected offices to attain, but more impressively is the strength Seabaugh showed at gaining it.

Known as an unwavering limited government conservative, that and his take-no-prisoners style of advancing his policy objectives has created many enemies on the political left and among get-along-go-along Republicans in name only. They banded to find a popular non-politician malleable enough to carry their water in retired collegiate basketball coach Republican Mike McConathy. Not only had his time on the hardwood in Bossier and Natchitoches Parishes built up considerable positive name recognition, but his father had served as Bossier school superintendent.