Felicia Kahn, Trailblazing Equal Rights Activist and a “Giant of the City of New Orleans,” Dies at 91
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]elicia Kahn, a pioneer of the modern women’s rights movement in Louisiana and one of the state’s most prominent political organizers, died this morning in New Orleans. She was 91 years old.
“We’ve lost one of strongest champions for equal rights and equal pay for women, but Felicia Kahn’s work will continue through the many people she inspired,” Gov. John Bel Edwards wrote, in a statement released on Twitter. I’m proud to say that I knew Felicia and will work to ensure that her legacy lives on throughout Louisiana and the nation.”
In a statement published on his Congressional website, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond praised Kahn as a “giant of the city of New Orleans.”
“(Her) work and passion gained her admiration throughout the country,” Richmond wrote. “One was never confused about her values or priorities, she was always in pursuit of the upward mobility and wellness of everyone. With her death we lost a champion for the advancement of women, and our commitment should be to carry on that work with the same determination and vigor. We will miss Felicia’s passion and vitality. Our city and the nation is better off because of the work she carried out each day.”
Kahn, a lifelong Democrat, remained actively involved in politics until her death.
Only two weeks ago, she was considering changes to the bylaws of the Independent Women’s Organization, a group that she relaunched in 2010 and now one of the state’s largest and most influential independent civic organization. During the same meeting, she was re-elected to the organization’s board of directors and named as a committee chair.
“I was born a Democrat, but Felicia Kahn helped raise me into the Democrat I am today,” wrote state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “She was a prominent part of my rise in public service and inspired my commitment to women’s equality, and for that I will be eternally grateful. Before I was even old enough to vote, I attended political organizing meetings led by Felicia. Her example made me long to become an advocate for the causes we shared.”
In 2016, Kahn attended her tenth Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Louisiana. At the age of 90, she was the second-oldest delegate in the country and became the subject of national and international media attention, including this segment on a popular current affairs program in the Netherlands:
Felicia Schorenstein Kahn was born on July 11, 1926 and grew up in Uptown New Orleans. Following her graduation from Isidore Newman School, where she had attended since the first grade, she enrolled in Newcomb College, earning a degree in sociology.
Because Kahn’s maternal grandfather, Sam T. Alcus, had earned a fortune in the lumber business in Massachusetts, her parents had always lived comfortably, though not extravagantly, and as a child, they encouraged her to pursue an education and an independent career.
Although diminutive in stature, Kahn’s mind was always a bundle of kinetic energy. “A force of nature” is how her friend Michael McHale of Lake Charles and many others described her on social media.
Kahn became involved in political organizing shortly after graduating college. She had been inspired by a meeting with Martha Robinson, then-President of the city’s League of Women Voters, and for the next seven decades, Kahn remained a constant presence and leader in countless causes and political campaigns.
The vast majority of her work occurred behind the scenes. In the early 1970s, for example, she helped push the Democratic National Committee to select more female delegates. But in 1975, she threw her hat in the ring in a race for state representative, ultimately falling short to Clyde Bell.
She ran again in 1979, but a 23 year old named Mary Landrieu decided to jump in as well.
In 2004, she discussed her career in advocacy with the Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies in an extended interview:
In 2004, she discussed her career in advocacy with the Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies in an extended interview:
How Low Will We Go?
Come on down to the Capitol, folks, where we’re having a giant clearance sale! We need to cut our inventory of programs in nearly every department, so now is the time to take advantage of these deep, deep reductions! Any of these items can be yours for just a fraction of a penny on the dollar!
We’ve got some total tools for you today.
First up: it’s the newest whole-House vacuum – the Neil Abramson! It doesn’t do the “roomba” – instead it tap-dances. And it sucks up to anybody! It even comes with a cloaking device. When you expect it to be there, it simply vanishes!
We’ve also got a deal for you on our all-weather yard blower; the Cameron Henry model. It blows hot, and also cold! And just like any good yard blower, it doesn’t really clean your sidewalk – it just moves the debris somewhere else!
We’ve also got a couple of great chainsaw models for you: the Ted James and the Walt Leger. Fire either of them up, and they’ll cut to the heart of the matter right away.
And our prices? We know you’re asking: how low will we go? Just look for the specially-marked tags.
If it’s tagged HB 9, it will cost one-third of a penny. Though we originally intended to let you choose your own discount, our management team finally settled on a number.
Seriously, HB 9, authored by House Ways and Means chairman Neil Abramson (D-New Orleans), was the first bill to move out of his committee Wednesday. It was amended to remove the language linking it to passage of Abramson’s resolution creating a group to study the need for a constitutional convention, which had failed in House and Governmental Affairs earlier in the morning. Then it was further amended by hard-right GOP loyalist Clay Schexnayder (R-Gonzales) to fill in the blank Abramson had left, delineating the percentage of the sales tax penny to be renewed: one-third of a cent. Abramson told the committee he fully recognized renewal at that amount, generating $360-million toward the fiscal cliff, had failed in the last special session.
“I also realize we’re in a crisis, and I want to build consensus around a solution,” Abramson said. “But I believe we need to do more than just solving the immediate problem, and this may encourage us to take baby steps toward looking forward to a permanent solution. It’s not necessarily what I personally want, but it has the option to change into different things.”
We had several major items marked 50% off and carrying the governor’s seal of approval, but management decided not to bring any of that inventory out onto the floor.
Those bills were HB 2 by Rep. Terry Landry (D-New Iberia), HB 3 by Rep. Kenny Havard (R-Jackson), HB 8 by Rep. Walt Leger (D-New Orleans), and HB 11 by Rep Chris Leopold (R-Belle Chasse). Any one of them would have added $507-million to our bottom line, and resolved nearly all the major shortages left in the budget.
You will find an item on the floor marked HB 4. This one is a half-penny now, generating $453-million for the bottom line. Its going to be reduced further: to 4/10 of a cent in FY 2022, and then to 3/10 of a cent in FY 2025, finally dropping off the books at the start of FY 2027. Authored by Rep. Stuart Bishop (R-Lafayette) and Sen. Rick Ward (R-Port Allen), it’s less than the governor’s targeted revenue number because it doesn’t extend the so-called “cleaning” of the other sales tax pennies.
“Nobody likes this, but it does solve the immediate problem,” Bishop explained.
There’s also the item that the majority of our sales staff wants to bring home. It’s tagged HB 11, designed by (authored by) Rep. Paula Davis (R-Baton Rouge). For just $4.40 on every $100 of value, this little beauty will help keep us in business by providing $421-million overall.
“I filed this because I believe point-4 is the right number,” Davis said. “One-third didn’t work. One-half didn’t work. This is good because my Republican colleagues don’t like it and the Democrats don’t like it. So maybe it’s the right bill.”
It’s apparently the right price tag, as far as the management (i.e., the House GOP leadership) is concerned. It’s co-authored by Speaker Taylor Barras, and the amount of revenue it generates served as Appropriations chairman Cameron Henry’s number for the amounts he plugged into his supplemental spending bill, HB 1, on Wednesday evening.
“This removes the priority list in the original budget bill, and appropriates the money from the Davis bill,” Henry told his committee. “I picked the Davis bill, because we needed something to get the conversation going, We need to move along and get something over to the Senate.”
Henry’s “solution” doesn’t touch the full funding for health care. It allocates the revenue to fund TOPS at 90%, and higher education at 100%. It restores the 83% cuts made to district attorney and assistant DA salaries, and covers what DCFS needs to keep the SNAP benefits program running.
But it also assumes many departments and agencies will ask Civil Service for waivers, so they don’t have to give state workers pay raises.
Doors open at 10:30. Don’t miss out on the deals! Let’s make this sale a success so we don’t have to close our doors on July 1.
(And don’t worry about our sales staff. They (the Legislature) have a fully-funded budget to pay their salaries and per diem for the next year. Oh, and they have $40-million in reserves, as well. Wonder if anyone is going to mention contributing THAT to help keep the entire state business running?)
Speaker Pro Tempore Walt Leger: Compromise has been the greatest casualty of this strategy of politics.
In advance of the third special session, State Representative and Speaker Pro Tempore Walt Leger (D-New Orleans) delivered the following remarks to the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce on June 13, 2018.
As prepared for delivery:
The people in this room represent hope, prosperity and opportunity for this City, our region and our State. The fact that you are here speaks to our collective hopes and dreams. I know that your dreams, like mine, go beyond the operation of successful business enterprises, though that is important, I know that you seek a more deeply connected community rooted in a system of values that works for a common good. Incidentally, a functioning Legislature should join you in that dream and serve as a representative body that pursues policy initiatives through vigorous debate to promote peace in our communities and opportunity for our people.
My job today is to provide you with an overview of the recently completed legislative session…unfortunately, we have recently completed so many legislative sessions, I’m not sure where to start. We have in fact, completed 9 sessions since this term started in 2016, with a tenth beginning next Monday.
So I figured that I would start by sharing a quote…
“The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils, have in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished;…Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”
Well, does that remind you of anything? Sound familiar…the Advocate, the Times Picayune/Nola.com, Stephanie Grace, Jarvis Debarry, last week?… Instability. Injustice. Confusion. Our most considerate and virtuous citizens complain everywhere… many of you in this very room. The public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties.
That quote is from November 23, 1787. The Federalist Papers No. 10 and James Madison’s thoughts on the dangers of factions.
I share this with you not to focus on the negative, but to bring you comfort.
In today’s fast paced and ever changing world, it is tempting to seek stability and to harken back to a QUOTE “simpler time.” If you leave here with nothing else today, I want you to hear this: “We have been here before, we will be here again…. this too shall pass.”
Now why should we have hope? Well, over the course of the last year, unemployment is down a full point from a year ago and more people are working in the State of Louisiana than ever before, 2.04M, breaking the previous record in 2014.
DXC Technology has been heralded as one of the biggest economic development wins in the nation, and will bring 3000 jobs to New Orleans over the next five years, claiming stability in higher education as a motivating factor.
Just this week, it was announced that Accruent, an Austin-based technology firm will be adding 350 jobs over the next two years to a New Orleans office. Their CEO, John Borgerding, is quoting as saying:
“Since 2012, New Orleans has led the nation in technology job growth, and we are pleased to continue this trend with the talent we need to support our strong acceleration in new technologies … Given the vibrant corporate community and tremendous growth opportunities, New Orleans became the clear choice for our next wave of expansion.”
This from a CEO. Not a New Orleans or Louisiana Economic Developer.
Also, just this past week, it has been reported that Oklahoma, not Louisiana, is the incarceration capitol of the World. As a former prosecutor and the author of the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Taskforce, I know that this is another signal that Louisiana is moving in the right direction.
Spending taxpayer dollars on job training, re-entry, and educational opportunity rather than simply locking people up is a more efficient expenditure of tax payer dollars, while promoting better public safety and crime reduction and reducing the incarceration rate all at the same time. But we have a lot more work to do.
Though many lament the legislature’s failure to accomplish anything meaningful this year, I am proud to have co-sponsored a bill that will allocate $10M additional dollars to early childhood education next year. Rep. Steve Carter and I led a bipartisan effort, with collaboration and support from the business community, to invest meaningfully in our future. Early childhood education may be the single best investment of taxpayer dollars and the best way for us to change the trajectory of the state of Louisiana. This investment can set the table for a lifetime of learning, set our children up to compete in the global knowledge-based economy AND support our current workforce by ensuring that parents can fully participate, seek promotions, excel in their careers and know that their children are in a safe, high quality educational setting at the same time.
I also worked with my colleagues and the Governor to make Louisiana a better place to do business.
My bill creating the Louisiana Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council will provide an avenue for the legislature, the department of economic development and the Governor’s office to work in concert with small businesses and entrepreneurs across the state to remove barriers and unnecessary regulations in order to identify and enact policies that promote job creation and job growth, making Louisiana an even better place to do business.
I also worked with the Department of Health to create the Expedited Licensing Process, which is a first of its kind program to get much needed healthcare facilities through the licensing process as quickly and efficiently as possible, because while access to affordable and high-quality health care is essential to a healthy workforce, the healthcare industry is also big business. It employs tens of thousands of people in Louisiana and provides some of the highest paying jobs in our state. Neither patients nor our economy can afford to wait on a slow bureaucracy to be certified.
However, despite the major economic development wins, our failure to fund state priorities by the end of the second special session puts at risk our credit rating, our ability to upgrade our infrastructure and the stability of higher education and therefore our workforce. Instead, we are now facing a third special session, the seventh since 2016, to fix the very same structural budget issues that plagued us during the first special session two years ago.
I’m sure most of you have read various accounts about the breakdown in the House of Representatives that led to this unfortunate, unnecessary and costly third special session. And while reading, I’m sure that most of you were struck by the theatrics of it all. I know I was. The question I’ve been asked most over the last few weeks and months is “what’s wrong with you people.” You think it doesn’t make sense, and you’re right. You think you are fed up with politics, ask my wife what she thinks, she’s right here in front and she’s not shy.
But let’s not gloss over this, let’s talk a little about politics and political strategy and how we got here, and how we can move forward together.
Let’s agree at the outset that politics is something that exists, it is part of human nature.
It has to do with the way that we all interact, that we all engage as citizens, as a part of a community.
Political strategy, on the other hand, is a choice. We may disagree on the strategy, but we should at least be willing to accept that each legislator or group of legislators will utilize a strategy to accomplish their mission. Sometimes that strategy is well thought out and articulated, sometimes it is fly by the seat of their pants, but it is ultimately how one gets from here to there. Strategy is an essential part of politics. And politics is an essential element of our form of Government.
I will get back to this…but for a minute, let me walk you through the process the way I see it.
We all recognize that there are legitimate philosophical differences among legislators and parties as to what our government should do and how much it should cost taxpayers. In order to work through these differences, members advocate for their priorities-healthcare, higher education, early childhood education, the TOPS program, the department of children and family services…in order to fund priorities.
A combination of politics and compromise are generally necessary in order to reach an agreement-that is, if your goal is to actually reach an agreement.
But let’s say, hypothetically, that your goal was to discredit the other side, and ultimately get their leader – let’s say the governor – defeated in the next election. A strategy to achieve that goal might be to see the state government under his watch crash and burn. Let’s call this Operation Scorched Earth. An effective way to crash state government is to not fund it sufficiently to pay for the basic services some citizens need and others expect. A full-on government shutdown might be plausible in such a strategy of obstruction.
Now, in the best of times, forging compromise can be a challenge, Madison and dozens of others over time have discussed, at length, how challenging it can be. When times are good, it is important to have strong, effective leadership. But when times are tough-when oil prices are down, when the world and national economy are changing rapidly, when tariffs and trade wars dominate the news- good leadership is critical, especially in a state like Louisiana where international trade and commerce are essential to the health of our powerful and productive Port system. When times are tough, it is even more important that we execute the little things with precision. There is less room for error.
So, it is especially frustrating when our budget, a moral document that speaks to our priorities, is failed by our leadership and held hostage by an extreme political strategy. Instead of being used as a tool to build compromise, to build roads, to build ports, to build our future, politics is being used as a tool to obstruct, forcing us to limp from one special session to the next, each time avoiding true structural reform.
Compromise has been the greatest casualty of this strategy of politics.
Due to inaction, lack of compromise and ignored opportunities for real reform, the Legislature was forced to fashion a budget in the 2018 Regular Session encompassing $648 million in cuts and no replacement revenue for the $1.4 billion in taxes that will expire on June 30, 2018. That’s on top of hundreds of millions in reductions already made. These cuts threatened to shutter the state’s public-private partnership hospitals and put in jeopardy healthcare services for 46,000 people, while only funding TOPS at 70%, making $96 million in cuts to higher education, and placing public safety at risk through reduction to the Department of Corrections.
When this budget landed on the Governor’s desk, he vetoed it because it was irresponsible and it would have caused great harm to our State.
This failure to pass a responsible budget in the regular session coupled with the failure to replace temporary revenue in the 1st Special Session brought us to the 2nd Special Session with the immediate need to pass a budget and figure out how to fund it. However, for the first eight days of the second special session Session-a Session with the main purpose of passing a budget and funding it- I was the only member of the Legislature who filed a budget bill (HB 26). It sat for days without a hearing in the Appropriations Committee, but instead of moving the process forward, the Chairman of Appropriations refused to have a hearing and refrained from filing his own budget bill, despite the fact that the Chairman is traditionally the author of the budget. Instead, he blamed the Governor for vetoing the budget passed during the Regular Session and threw up his hands. He wasted even more time by trying, and failing, to override the Governor’s veto-a vote that came up nearly 20 bipartisan votes short of passing. It wasn’t until I tried to force a hearing on the House Floor and discharge the committee on Appropriations that the Chairman of Appropriations finally relented, filed his own budget bill and scheduled a hearing…this after wasting 8 days.
In the last thirty minutes of the second special session, on the 97th day of Session just this year, we found ourselves in a dire situation. We finally passed a budget at 11:42pm, but we didn’t have the revenue to fund it. Though the main instrument during the session was HB 27, by Rep. Lance Harris, the Chairman of the Republican Delegation, it was insufficient to fund the budget that had been passed and received only 38 votes in the House and had little to no support in the Senate because it failed to adequately fund the budget by only renewing 1/3 of a penny of sales tax. So, the Senate amended my HB 12 on the Senate floor to meet the need. It passed 32-6 and was returned to the House of Representatives after 11pm on the final night of Session.
The first time the House voted on this compromise bill, that renewed ½ a penny of sales tax, it fell six votes shy of the 70 needed to pass. When a last-ditch, bipartisan effort to reconsider the vote came up, a small group of Republican Legislators blocked the vote and ran out the clock, intentionally sending us to a third special session and claiming that the Senate and the Governor didn’t offer them a compromise.
Republican House members said they wanted a tax cut
Democrats agreed and HB 12 offered over $400 Million less revenue than last year
Republicans said they wanted to reduce the State General Fund
Democrats agreed and HB 12 reduced it by $200 million from what would have been a standstill budget as defined by legislation Sen. Jack Donahue passed in 2017
The Governor, the Senate and the House Democrats wanted the ½ a cent of sale tax to be permanent
HB 12 offered to make it temporary through 2025
The Governor wanted the budget shortfall funded at $650 Million, but Republicans wanted it funded at $400 million
HB 12 offered to fund it at $507 million-right in the middle
It’s not that there wasn’t a compromise. The compromise was on the table-they just rejected it repeatedly and irresponsibly. They say what they want is smaller government. They say what they’re fighting for is a smaller standstill budget. They say what they’re holding out for is less generated revenue. But if this were true, they could have, at the very least, allowed a second vote on the compromise bill that passed the Senate 32-6 with the support of legislators of both parties from every part of the State. They could have chosen the strategy of compromise over the strategy of obstruction. I don’t have to tell you that failing to pay your bills and keep your commitments is no way to do business. It sends the wrong message to the bond markets and to business people around the nation and the world. You know what sells…let’s ask GE, DXC Technology, Accruent…stable funding for higher education and a commitment from our Community and Technical Colleges and Universities to work with business to ensure a high quality workforce. That’s how Louisiana wins. Now, because just a few people refused to participate in the process and compromise, TOPS is short over $88 million of being fully funded. Higher Education is short over $101 Million Children and Family Services is short over $35 million of being fully funded, putting at risk over a BILLION dollars in federal funds Corrections is cut by $43M and the Juvenile Justice system is short over $45M dollars; We will now enter into the third special session of 2018 in order to avoid a government shutdown on July 1, 2018, and it seems our hypothetical scorched earth scenario from earlier is looking more and more realistic. We face the same fiscal challenges placed before us months ago, but make no mistake, damage has already been done. Higher education leaders came to my office months ago begging us to settle this matter sooner rather than later. Later was two months ago, when most students had already made their college decisions based on the award letters they were sent. Our award letters had asterisks by the scholarship amounts. The CEOs and other business leaders in our healthcare industry are already drafting documents revising contracts and services. People are angry, confused and scared. And it all could have been avoided, but here we are. We know what the options are. Now it’s just a matter of values. What do we value? As a community, as a business community, what do you see value in? Do you see value in state universities, community and technical colleges operating at a level where they can provide opportunities to our students, your children? Do you see value in a tax code that is simplified and uniform so that our credit rating increases and we can make capital investments in our infrastructure? Do you see value in a healthcare system that can offer access to care for all Louisianans, can provide graduate medical education for future physicians, and maintain our academic medical centers? I ask you, what political strategy has value if it fails to deliver results that can propel us forward? And maybe more importantly is it worth putting the people of the state through this in order to execute any political strategy? Now is the time for YOU to decide. The third special session begins on Monday. In five days. In five days, we will once again convene with a budget that does not fund our priorities. The same people will come together with the same information that they’ve had for the last three sessions. Should we expect the cycle to continue? In Federalist Paper No. 10, Madison warned that while it may be our wish for Enlightened Statesmen and women to adjust clashing interests and render them subservient to the public good, that “Enlightened Leaders will not always be at the helm.” We know this to be true: we don’t always have the best boss, or the best coach, or the best teammates, or the best managers. We all know that this is part of the roller coaster, the ups and downs. But when it comes to enlightened leaders in our government…well I have some homework for you. “ENLIGHTEN THEM.” You, in this room, have the power to demand more and demand better. You have the ability to tell your legislators not to crash the budget over 17 cents on every $100 dollars spent, the difference between .33 cents and .5 cents. You can enlighten them on the necessity of investment in higher education, in graduate medical education, in funding TOPS to keep our promise to families and children, in funding the Department of Children and Family services, which conducts 20,000 child abuse investigations and helps to care for almost 8,000 foster children every year. Now is not the time to allow frustration and inaction to set in…that would be the easy way out…now is the time to Press On. So REMEMBER, We have been here before, we will be here again…and this too will pass! Let’s agree that we here in this room—you, the business community of this Great City and Region—don’t have to be stuck with unenlightened leaders—you have the capacity and the responsibility to ENLIGHTEN THEM. I believe in you—and I’m honored to work for you. Thank you.Quietly, Jeff Landry joins effort to block disclosure of Americans for Prosperity’s top donors
Next week, in a courtroom in Pasadena, California, three federal judges will hear oral arguments from the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, in a blockbuster case that has wildly bounced back and forth between the courts for the past four years.
Although the hearing is occurring 1,800 miles away and in a completely different jurisdiction, Louisiana’s attorney general Jeff Landry has a stake in the outcome, a fact that, until now, had not been reported previously by the state media.
At its core, at least on paper, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra (before she was elected to the U.S. Senate, Kamala Harris was the defendant) is about the tension between a state government’s right to know who spends money on their elections and the right of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to redact the names of its individual donors from documents filed with a state attorney general.
But really, the case is about who is behind the most powerful, most influential, and most secretive political network in the entire country, a network founded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.
On January 27, 2017, unbeknownst to his constituents, Landry signed onto an amici brief in support of the Koch Network. The brief, which was written by the deputy attorney general of Arizona, was also endorsed by Landry’s conservative colleagues in Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Landry has never spoken publicly about his decision, which appears to have been made unilaterally and without knowledge of the administration or the legislature; his office has never issued any statement or press release concerning the case.
In fact, on the day the brief was filed, Landry’s “Media Room” reported on the arrests of three people on charges of child exploitation; the day before, it issued a statement about Medicaid beneficiary fraud.
According to archived data, the amici brief was only added to his office’s website in April of 2018, more than fourteen months later.
There’s a reason Landry has avoided calling public attention to the case: The core argument of the amici brief he endorsed is that a state attorney general should not be allowed to access certain records maintained by the Internal Revenue Service, which directly contradicts his very public campaign for the federal tax records of Medicaid recipients.
Quoting from the brief (emphasis added):
To the court in California, Landry argues a state attorney general could potentially use disclosures by the Koch Network to exact political retribution, that it was ripe for abuse by elected officials, and, more importantly, that there was no evidence that such disclosure to a state attorney general had ever resulted in a criminal conviction for fraud.
To the people of Louisiana, he has argued that he requires permission to receive much more detailed and personal information on more than a million of the state’s citizens in order to pursue investigations for Medicaid beneficiary fraud.
There are differences between the two situations, of course: One involves a small handful of the nation’s wealthiest conservatives who seek to influence the outcome of elections; the other involves 1.4 million people living in one of the poorest states in the country who need health insurance.
Yet, it should be unsurprising to those who follow Louisiana politics that Landry was so willing to help the Koch Network, even if it required directly contradicting his own central argument on Medicaid fraud.
During the past four years, the Koch Network, largely through their organization Americans for Prosperity, has spent a massive fortune in Louisiana, and while they were initially only concerned with federal elections, today, they have a daily and outsized influence in the decisions made by state legislators.
This infographic from a Harvard University project and the publication Vox provides context about the exponential growth of the organization. This year, it’s worth noting, the organization has claimed it will spend nearly $400M.
Notably, the Harvard project also reveals that a plurality of Koch Network donors, approximately 35%, are from the American South, with a large concentration in Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.
According to its most recent, publicly available 990 report, Americans for Prosperity spent more than $2.2M in 2016 with a political consultancy firm in Mandeville, Louisiana, Innovative Advertising LLC, making it, effectively, the organization’s single largest independent contractor.
Innovative Advertising, which lists husband and wife Jay and Jennifer Connaughton as its only members, changed its name in January of 2017; today, it is known as People Who Think. (The same report reveals that Americans for Prosperity paid Louisiana’s former state director, Phillip Joffrion, more than $130,000 a year). Jay Connaughton served as a media advisor for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Both he and his wife started their professional careers working for the Louisiana Republican Party.
The couple also owns the company Innovative Politics, which boasts its complete list of political clients.
Further down the page, the Connaughtons list another client, Jeff Landry, who they incorrectly claim to be the Lt. Governor of Louisiana.
The couple also made a fortune from Americans for Prosperity two years prior, in 2014, almost entirely in opposition to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in Politics.
The following is just a portion of what Americans for Prosperity spent in Louisiana against Landrieu (and in favor of Bill Cassidy):
Much of their spending was on canvassing “expenses,” which raise significant questions about the real extent of the organization’s volunteer activists. For example:
In addition, Americans for Prosperity also spent more than $120,000 with CornerStone Staffing of Dallas, Texas for phone-banking work against Landrieu.
As The Bayou Brief reported two weeks ago, one prominent Republican state senator, Danny Martiny, recently revealed that Americans for Prosperity had threatened to spend $100,000 against any Republican elected official who opposed the organization’s legislative agenda.
Jeff Landry understands this too.
Indeed, since Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a call for the first special session in January of this year, Americans for Prosperity has significantly ramped up its efforts and its visibility in Louisiana, and there are compelling reasons to believe that the organization’s sustained opposition to any tax renewals is at least partially responsible for the dysfunction.
For more than two years, Louisiana lawmakers have attempted to solve the fiscal crisis created by the reckless budgeting practices of former Gov. Bobby Jindal. Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that Jindal’s decisions created the current crisis, but, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s now easy to see the warning signs.
In his very first month in office, January of 2008, the newly-minted Gov. Jindal flew to Palm Springs, California to attend a secret gathering hosted by the Koch Network.
We wouldn’t have known of Jindal’s attendance if not for one simple mistake: A year later, he disclosed a travel reimbursement on his annual campaign finance report, labeling it as an in-kind contribution from Koch Industries.
In fact, on the day the brief was filed, Landry’s “Media Room” reported on the arrests of three people on charges of child exploitation; the day before, it issued a statement about Medicaid beneficiary fraud.
According to archived data, the amici brief was only added to his office’s website in April of 2018, more than fourteen months later.
There’s a reason Landry has avoided calling public attention to the case: The core argument of the amici brief he endorsed is that a state attorney general should not be allowed to access certain records maintained by the Internal Revenue Service, which directly contradicts his very public campaign for the federal tax records of Medicaid recipients.
Quoting from the brief (emphasis added):
Rather than impose sweeping mandatory donor disclosure rules, amici States have satisfied their law enforcement interests by traditional methods such as compliance audits and subpoenaing donor information after developing a particularized suspicion of wrongdoing. In sum, simple law enforcement interests cannot justify the California Attorney General’s generalized mandatory donor disclosure requirements.
Notably, the Harvard project also reveals that a plurality of Koch Network donors, approximately 35%, are from the American South, with a large concentration in Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.
According to its most recent, publicly available 990 report, Americans for Prosperity spent more than $2.2M in 2016 with a political consultancy firm in Mandeville, Louisiana, Innovative Advertising LLC, making it, effectively, the organization’s single largest independent contractor.
Innovative Advertising, which lists husband and wife Jay and Jennifer Connaughton as its only members, changed its name in January of 2017; today, it is known as People Who Think. (The same report reveals that Americans for Prosperity paid Louisiana’s former state director, Phillip Joffrion, more than $130,000 a year). Jay Connaughton served as a media advisor for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Both he and his wife started their professional careers working for the Louisiana Republican Party.
The couple also owns the company Innovative Politics, which boasts its complete list of political clients.
Further down the page, the Connaughtons list another client, Jeff Landry, who they incorrectly claim to be the Lt. Governor of Louisiana.
The couple also made a fortune from Americans for Prosperity two years prior, in 2014, almost entirely in opposition to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in Politics.
The following is just a portion of what Americans for Prosperity spent in Louisiana against Landrieu (and in favor of Bill Cassidy):
Much of their spending was on canvassing “expenses,” which raise significant questions about the real extent of the organization’s volunteer activists. For example:
In addition, Americans for Prosperity also spent more than $120,000 with CornerStone Staffing of Dallas, Texas for phone-banking work against Landrieu.
As The Bayou Brief reported two weeks ago, one prominent Republican state senator, Danny Martiny, recently revealed that Americans for Prosperity had threatened to spend $100,000 against any Republican elected official who opposed the organization’s legislative agenda.
Jeff Landry understands this too.
Indeed, since Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a call for the first special session in January of this year, Americans for Prosperity has significantly ramped up its efforts and its visibility in Louisiana, and there are compelling reasons to believe that the organization’s sustained opposition to any tax renewals is at least partially responsible for the dysfunction.
For more than two years, Louisiana lawmakers have attempted to solve the fiscal crisis created by the reckless budgeting practices of former Gov. Bobby Jindal. Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that Jindal’s decisions created the current crisis, but, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s now easy to see the warning signs.
In his very first month in office, January of 2008, the newly-minted Gov. Jindal flew to Palm Springs, California to attend a secret gathering hosted by the Koch Network.
We wouldn’t have known of Jindal’s attendance if not for one simple mistake: A year later, he disclosed a travel reimbursement on his annual campaign finance report, labeling it as an in-kind contribution from Koch Industries. Tell Us What We Want to Know (Even If We Don’t Know What That Is)
On the second day – first full working day – of this third special session, the Senate, with nothing to do, wasn’t meeting at all. In fact, they won’t be back till Thursday evening.
Proposed legislation in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has initial responsibility for the sales tax bills addressing the purpose of this special session, was perfunctorily explained, with minimal questions from committee members, and no public testimony asked or given.
That’s primarily because the “preferred” sales tax solution (at least, preferred by House GOP leadership) wasn’t being officially enrolled until the full House convened in late afternoon. That bill, HB 10 authored by Rep. Paula Davis, and co-authored by House Speaker Taylor Barras, would renew four-tenths of the fifth penny of state sales tax, and generate $421-million.
While Davis didn’t get her bill drafted in time for Monday’s session opening, she was able to make a House GOP Caucus video talking about it, in time to be released Tuesday morning.
In it, she says, “You will hear in the media and from this administration that we are fighting over a small percentage of a penny, and that it’s not a big deal. What we’re fighting over is much larger and more important than that. Over the last two years, our budget has grown by over $4-billion. We simply cannot continue to grow the size of government while we have the slowest economy in America.”
Important to note, however, that Rep. Davis voted for the budget which begins July 1, not once – but four times: concurring with the Senate amendments to it during the regular session, to override the governor’s veto of it during the second special session, and twice again for the same budget during the second special session. Now she’s standing up against funding everything she voted to include?
That’s part of the House Republican leadership’s plan.
The rest involves revising the already approved and signed-into-law budget, taking some of the money now allocated for health care and moving it to other budgetary areas. House Appropriations made the first moves toward implementing that scheme Tuesday.
First they called economist Greg Albrecht from the Legislative Fiscal Office to see if there might be any money they’d missed.
“If the Revenue Estimating Conference met tomorrow, what are the numbers? Are there any changes that we can include?” Appropriations chairman Cameron Henry asked Albrecht.
“Between now and July 1, we don’t expect substantial changes except recognizing revenue raised in last special session and this one,” Albrecht responded.
“Is there anything else?” Henry probed again. “I mean, members here are questioning how much money to raise. We raise it, and then two days later, more money magically appears from where an agency had it stashed!”
“That’s not my area,” Albrecht said, with a rueful chuckle. “I do revenue. That’s an appropriations-side thing. That’s y’all.”
Henry, who has been thoroughly incensed over the Senate “finding” 66.7-million more LDH dollars during the second special session, didn’t conceal his annoyance when he questioned that department’s officials.
“Are there other pots of money out there?” he asked LDH Secretary Gee, and the department’s chief financial officer, Undersecretary Jeff Reynolds, in clipped tones. “We never seem to get all of the information while you are here.”
“$40-million of that has been in the budget for weeks,” Reynolds replied. “That amount was in the version of the budget passed during the regular session. The majority of the rest – some $20.9-million – was added by senators during the second special session. Over our objections, I might add.”
Speaker Pro Temp Walt Leger (D-New Orleans) asked Reynolds for clarification of that statement.
“In accordance with discussions we’ve had with you, we reduced the income compatibility variable to qualify for Medicaid from 25-percent to 10 percent. At the insistence of Senators Hewitt and Allain, HB 1 identified money not needed in our budget, on the presumption that people will be disqualified from the Medicaid program,” Reynolds explained. “We are not comfortable with that, at all. We don’t have any accurate numbers – just anecdotal assumptions by those Senate members. And we won’t know if this is right or wrong before November, when we start getting the monthly reports for the new fiscal year.
“My feeling is that this will require a midyear reduction,” Reynolds wrapped up his answer to Leger..
Rep. Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge) then felt the need to voice his displeasure over the amount of money made available for LDH.
“We feel slighted at times because we are not getting all the information,” Edmonds said, adding, “When we don’t ask an exact question, you don’t give us an exact answer. Are there any other funds besides these that now have money in them, like a Hurricane Gustav or Isaac fund that might or might not have money in it—act of God funds, pharmacy, any and all – that if I don’t know about, I don’t know to ask about?”
“I can’t spend a dollar without the legislature appropriating it,” Reynolds answered simply, clearly a bit confounded by the blaming tone and the weird logic driving Edmonds’ question.
You see, House Appropriations held no hearings on the budget during the previous special session. The Republican-dominated committee did not call any department heads to testify or answer questions about what was essentially a spending plan rewritten by the Senate near the end of the regular session. In other words, how could LDH – or any other department – officials provide information or answer questions when they were never asked?
Rep. Scott Simon (R-Abita Springs), chairman of the House Health Committee, had a question for LDH Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee: “How many people are enrolled in Medicaid expansion now?”
“473-thousand, presently,” Dr. Gee answered.
“Don’t get real comfortable with that number. We’re going to revisit this again in the next couple of days,” Simon said with a smirk, implying that the controlling members of the committee do intend to strip funding from the Department of Health and apply it elsewhere.
Henry took over again, questioning LDH’s using funds to pay 89-percent of the so-called “13th payment” to the managed care organizations. It’s a debt that’s been rolled over repeatedly, incurred in the final year of the Jindal administration.
“Was that the best use of the money? We here didn’t know that money was even available!” Henry fumed.
“It was allocated in the supplemental budget bill, specifically for the purpose,” Reynolds responded. “The House approved it.”
Yet Reynolds, who has been with LDH for 30 years, and a couple of weeks ago announced he’s leaving the end of this month to take a similar position with LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, didn’t point out the other obvious part of Henry’s prevarication about not knowing the money was available. That supplemental appropriations bill? Henry is the author.
The Appropriations chairman had another “saving” question/suggestion for LDH, as well.
“What about the Civil Service pay raises – do you intend to implement them?” Henry asked Reynolds.
“We have to,” Reynolds replied. “This legislature appropriated the money for them, and Civil Service approved them.”
“Why can’t you just go to Civil Service and ask for a waiver?” Henry inquired. “I believe it’s called a ‘layoff avoidance plan’ waiver.”
With the enacted FY 2019 budget, LDH is guaranteed its full funding, and under Civil Service law, the only way they could avoid implementing pay raises is if the department was required to sustain a massive budget cut – one that would otherwise require layoffs of state workers.
That could be where House Appropriations is heading, with all of this – massive cuts to health care, despite Gov. John Bel Edwards, Senate President John Alario, and Senate Finance chairman Eric LaFleur all making statements that this special session call does not permit re-legislating anything but one small section of the budget.
It would be cruel and dishonest for House Appropriations to do this, but it would be entirely in keeping with the modus operandi of this group dominated by some of the hardest of the hard-line Republican extremists in the House.
Remember, this is the committee that originally advanced a budget (during the regular session) de-funding the public-private partner hospitals, while reducing the amount of income profoundly disabled nursing home residents could receive to retain their long-term care benefits. Instead, they fully funded TOPS.
And it’s this same group that cried foul when notices went out to those nursing home residents regarding their impending loss of eligibility for benefits.
Once the Senate changed the budget around, fully funding health care, but cutting most other state departments by 24%, this same group of House Republicans proudly claimed – at the end of the regular session. “We saved the people of Louisiana.”
They stuck with the budget plan to fully fund health care throughout the second special session, not questioning any departments about the impacts of that budget – and now, they apparently want to go back and gut health care yet again.
And through it all, there’s still the sales tax question. Republican hardliners – who also control what bills get out of Ways and Means – are now stuck on the 4/10 of a penny proposal, while Democrats and moderates are still lined up behind the half-penny.
Ways and Means will debate and advance sales tax bills on Wednesday, and Appropriations will move their budget modification bill, as well.
One thing is certain; it’s going to get ugly…again.
A Ship of Fools, a Band of Pirates, and a Mutiny by the Majority
On the morning after the second extraordinary session of the Louisiana legislature ended, once again, in failure, The Advocate did something extraordinary itself: On its front page, above the fold, it featured a story about the inevitability of another session and an incredible report about the ways in which key members of the legislature appear to have used their positions in government to advance their business interests. But that wasn’t the extraordinary feature of the day’s paper.
Directly below the fold, on the front page, The Advocate published a blistering editorial, admonishing Republican leadership in the state House for failing the people of Louisiana.
It is rare and notable for a newspaper to feature an editorial on its front page; it’s even more unusual if that opinion was written on behalf of the newspaper’s editorial board. The Advocate, publicly but also subtly, was taking a bold position.
In the print edition, the headline of the editorial reads, “A ship of fools sailing nowhere.”
Unfortunately, that’s not the headline most readers saw. On its online version, the paper restyled the headline as “Our Views: In Louisiana politics, compromise is a dirty word and residents bear consequences,” which stripped the column of its punch. Online, the paper also failed to note the fact that the column ran on the front page of its print edition, which stripped it of its context as well.
Unfortunately, that’s not the headline most readers saw. On its online version, the paper restyled the headline as “Our Views: In Louisiana politics, compromise is a dirty word and residents bear consequences,” which stripped the column of its punch. Online, the paper also failed to note the fact that the column ran on the front page of its print edition, which stripped it of its context as well.
But, regardless, “A ship of fools sailing nowhere” is a perfect metaphor, and on the eve of yet another special session, it is one worth revisiting and extending.
In 2015, John Bel Edwards, a Democrat and, at the time, a largely unknown state representative and a small-town lawyer from Amite, defeated the most senior and most powerful Republican in the entire state, U.S. Sen. David Vitter. It was a sensational and consequential victory; Edwards was the first Democrat to win a statewide office after fourteen consecutive elections and the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. Remember, the conventional wisdom, at least during the first full year of the campaign, was that Edwards would lose to Vitter in a landslide. Throughout the course of that year, though, the news out of the state Capitol was increasingly grim. There was talk of billion dollar structural deficits; the state’s bond rating had been downgraded; emergency rooms were closing. And the governor at the time continually refused to accept federal funding for projects both big and small. Jindal had first been elected by presenting himself as a skilled technocrat, and then he spent the majority of his tenure focused on fighting culture wars and with sights on the White House. Louisianians were eager for him to leave. Several early polls showed that if Hillary Clinton had been running against Bobby Jindal heads-up, Clinton would have won Louisiana easily. Jindal, his style of politics, and his political ideology had grown out of fashion in the state. People were ready to fix things, instead of blowing things up. Edwards’ victory was resounding, 12.1 points, double-digits, and contrary to the conventional wisdom being peddled by the Republican establishment, Edwards didn’t win because of anything David Vitter ever did in his own private life. (Remember, Vitter had won his previous statewide election by double-digits, well after his name became at the center of a national scandal involving the D.C. Madam). Edwards won resoundingly because, unlike Vitter, he represented a clean break from the policies of the outgoing governor, something Louisianians desperately wanted. During his campaign, Edwards repeatedly pledged that he would accept Medicaid expansion funds; by the end, all three of his Republican opponents made the same pledge. At the time, Jindal’s approval ratings were abysmal, lower than anyone in the state and than any other previous governor. The people of Louisiana spoke, clearly. They rejected the Republican establishment. The leaders of the Louisiana Republican Party scrambled. Their donors had invested vast fortunes into the race, and they had largely taken for granted that Vitter would prevail. By the time it was clear that he couldn’t, it was too late to do anything. The real battle would now be about protecting the political power these Republican leaders had always enjoyed under Jindal.Our ship isn’t led by fools. It’s been commandeered by pirates.
Edwards would not get a honeymoon. Republican leaders were petulant after Vitter’s embarrassing loss, and almost immediately, they began plotting against the new governor. John Bel Edwards would be the first governor in modern Louisiana history deprived of the custom of effectively selecting the Speaker of the House. For decades, the coordination between the speaker and the governor had been critical to ensure the efficiency of the legislative process. Edwards had wanted Walt Leger (D- New Orleans) to serve as speaker, and at least initially, his nomination and appointment seemed inevitable, if not perfunctory. Leger required just 53 of 105 yeas. He’d only need to convince a dozen Republicans to vote in favor of what had always been ministerial. But two Republican leaders, Lance Harris (R- Alexandria), the head of the House Republican Caucus, and Cameron Henry (R -Metairie), a friend and former aide to Congressman Steve Scalise, stood in the way. Henry had been all but guaranteed the speakership in a future Vitter administration, and he decided not to be inconvenienced by the fact that Vitter lost. When it became obvious Henry couldn’t get the necessary votes, however, he and Harris recruited a term-limited colleague who wasn’t widely-known at the time, Taylor Barras (R- New Iberia), as the consensus candidate. They then called in a group of ten newly-elected Republican legislators who had demonstrated a willingness to follow tradition and vote for Leger, the governor’s endorsed candidate. In a closed door, late-night, marathon series of meetings at the Capitol Hilton in downtown Baton Rouge, they pressured the ten freshmen to reconsider. The gamble paid off. Leger lost the speakership; Barras won, and from the very beginning of his term, Gov. John Bel Edwards has dealt with a legislature led by their most extreme and radically ideological Republican members, the very people who had enabled and embraced the policies of former Gov. Bobby Jindal. They’re not and have never been serious policymakers. They are a small band of political pirates, and the ship was easy to steal. It’s worth noting these legislators aren’t particularly well-respected by their fellow Republicans, several of whom have made their dissatisfaction public. Today, there are more than enough votes to replace House leadership, and until that happens, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming session, the pirates will continue to steer the ship.Do the Majority in the House of Representatives have the Courage to Mount a Mutiny on behalf of the People of Louisiana?
Consider this: During the last special session, only twenty-one members voted against Leger’s bill for a half-cent sales tax renewal and also for Harris’s bill for a third-of-a-cent renewal (three of whom were Henry, Harris, and Barras).
The Speaker, Chair of Appropriations, and Chair of the House Republican Caucus are outnumbered. Public opinion is not on their side. They have no guns or swords. In fact, the dirty little secret around the state Capitol is that they don’t even have the votes within their own Chamber. Just take a look at the votes on the key bills in the recently concluded special session. All three of the pirates were on the losing side. Bigly. The Advocate was right on point – the pirate’s political mission to obstruct the Governor has blinded their regard for the policy outcomes of their actions. TOPS cut? So what? 10,000 inmates released to the streets? Too bad. DCFS defunded? Fend for yourselves. Higher educations slashed yet again? Dig deeper, Mom and Dad. But the question is: When will the focus of the peoples’ anger transition from the pirates to the willing accomplices? That’s right. The two dozen or so House Republicans that continue to ride shotgun and turn a blind eye to Captain Taylor, First Mate Lance, and Cameron the Skipper. Because after two years, and now seven special sessions, their willingness to accommodate the political ransom demands of Barras, Harris, and Henry, many of the so-called moderate Republicans in the Louisiana House are just as culpable for the harms being inflicted upon the people of Louisiana as the small band of political pirates we’ve all come to know. When the legislature reconvenes today, will those in the moderate middle finally garner the courage to stage a mutiny on behalf of the people of Louisiana? On behalf of our students, seniors, working families, sick and disabled. Or, will they continue to ride along as a ship of fools being piloted by a handful of political pirates?Digging In: Entrenchment on the Far Right
One hundred years ago today, U.S. military troops were engaged in the Battle of Belleau Wood. The first major victory for American forces, which joined World War I three years after hostilities began, it was achieved primarily by Gen. James Harbord’s refusal to entrench his troops. Entrenchment to that point had resulted in little movement along the Western Front, but immense attrition of troops on both sides – an estimated 4-million casualties over three years.
While many had hoped the two-week furlough between special sessions would remind the Capitol’s combatants who (their constituents) and what (their local colleges, hospitals, and roads) they’re fighting for, it appears the time away from the trenches has hardened some lawmakers’ resolve to dig a deeper hole when they return.
Certainly, advocates for higher education, TOPS, and SNAP benefits have been waging an all-out social media campaign to encourage lawmakers to fight for funding these vital programs, while Koch Industries-supported Americans for Prosperity and even Grover Norquist (of the no-tax pledge that persuaded former Gov. Bobby Jindal to help create this mess) have been urging lawmakers to duck-and-cover and hold the line.
Take Rep. Jay Morris (R-West Monroe), for example. This week he sent a letter to his constituents, writing, “I have trouble telling the citizens in northeast Louisiana that they must pay more taxes to fund our priorities when, in fact, I think we are wasting money… probably lots of it… and are funding things that probably aren’t the priority of a vast majority of citizens. We spend money subsidizing the Benson family through the Saints and Pelicans, we divert $100 million per year to subsidize horse racing, we subsidize Hollywood to the tune of $180 million per year and we also give exemptions from sales taxes to big business but most small businesses have to pay full freight to name but a few.”
Morris, who filed no bills or resolutions attempting to curb these subsidies during this year’s prior three sessions, nevertheless has been pounding the verbal warpath about them, whining repeatedly in committee and on the House floor about “turning a blind eye to waste and continuing to fund questionable priorities.”
Because of the restrictions in this call for the third special session, he cannot file any bills to address this.
He sits on the Ways and Means Committee, which controls the movement of any tax bill that could alleviate the impending fall off the fiscal cliff. And he is telling his constituents, “Although there is immense pressure to vote for more taxes, I believe we can find other ways to fund government adequately if my colleagues will get up the willpower to take on special interests and the bureaucracies.”
Entrenchment. Digging in and going nowhere.
Other lawmakers from northeast Louisiana are ready to advance, win the war, and go back to civilian life. Sen. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi) speaking at the Northeast Louisiana Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, said, “It makes no sense not to pass the half-cent sales tax. Not one person has asked me not to vote on a half-cent.”
Sen. Mike Walsworth (R-West Monroe) said, “Whatever the House sends us, I’m going to vote for it.”
Further west along I-20, the ultra-conservatives’ “inactionary hero,” Rep. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport), has his rifle loaded, his polished bayonet fixed, and has settled in to treat his trench foot while awaiting his mustering out.
Seabaugh, who proudly admitted his intention to kill the second special session’s last chance for taxes to fix the fiscal cliff, told 710 KEEL radio last week, “People in Louisiana don’t want a tax increase. I’ve heard it over and over and over and over.”
You can’t dispute that Seabaugh has heard that… every time he accepts a campaign check from Koch Industries, LABI, or Lane Grigsby. Seabaugh, who is presently being vetted for a federal judgeship, has received $1,000 from Koch, $250 from a LABI PAC, and $500 from a Lane Grigsby-controlled PAC since this term started in 2016. That’s a mere pittance, of course, compared to what his campaign took in from those same sources for the 2015 race: $17,000 from LABI, $2,500 from Koch, and $7,500 from the Grigsbys and their PAC.
Is it pay-to-play for Seabaugh?
Consider what else he told KEEL regarding his opposition to the half-cent sales tax bill in the most recent special session: “The devil in the details was the cleaning of the other pennies – the removal of the business tax exemptions,” Seabaugh said. “When every economic indicator shows the state is going backward and our businesses are struggling, the last thing you need to do is hit ‘em with another tax increase.”
On the other hand, “when every economic indicator shows the state is going backward,” maybe you should try investing more in government programs to improve roads, and schools and health, rather than giving tax dollars to corporations?
(As for my earlier reference to treating trench foot, it’s interesting to note that Seabaugh scrubbed all tweets from his Twitter account – five years’ worth – last week.)
Contributions from these same groups have spiked for a nominal Democrat, as well.
Rep. Neil Abramson (D-New Orleans) has been raking in the campaign cash since his 2016 appointment as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Abramson, who is term-limited, received no campaign funding from Koch, LABI, or Grigsby in the 2015 election cycle, despite receiving a 97/100 on his LABI scorecard that year. In 2016, he scored a 38. But his campaign coffers (for an “undetermined election”) have swelled – according to his 2016 and 2017 campaign finance reports –by $1,000 from Koch Industries, $10,000 from LABI PACs, and $5,000 from Grigsby-affiliated PACs.
Remember, Ways and Means is the first filter for each and every tax-related bill that’s filed. It will be interesting to see which – if any – sales tax bills escape that committee this time.
What about Rep. Cameron Henry (R-Metairie) and Rep. Lance Harris (R-Alexandria), the standard-bearers for Camp Obstruction?
Henry, who said in a post-regular session video, “The best thing for our constituents is for us not to be in Baton Rouge – to be home, at the grocery stores and churches, and people be able to say, ‘Hey, I really need you to cover this’,” seems not to have spent this furlough doing that. Instead, he’s been in his lab playing mad scientist, cooking up a new way to try and gas the upcoming third special session.
The Appropriations chairman wants to reopen hearings on the approved and signed-into-law budget, rather than simply supplementing the budget – which he authored – with any sales-tax supported revenue for the numerous agencies and programs left short due to the fiscal cliff. He says he can do this because the special session call permits a technical change to the budget.
As Henry told The Times-Picayune \ NOLA.com’s Julia O’Donoghue, “You can’t open up a section of a bill. It is all of it or nothing.”
The budget protects the state Health Department from any additional cuts, whether additional revenue is raised or not. It was written to require equal appropriations of any new revenue to all of the other budget areas facing cuts: higher ed, TOPS, sheriffs’ housing of state prisoners, the food stamp program and more.
As the budget stands now, lawmakers can’t pick and choose how much money will go where.
“Members may want to give some agencies more money and some agencies less,” Henry told Greg Hilburn with Gannett. “It would be irresponsible to raise money without holding hearings on how to spend it.”
Henry is supported in this by House Republican Caucus chairman and Appropriations committee member Lance Harris, who told Hiburn, “The hearings will also allow our members to interview agency heads and see if we can’t find some other savings.”
And in the midst of all this, on Monday, U.S. Senator John Kennedy called for Gov. John Bel Edwards to resign, and instead let Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser “take a shot.” Nungesser, if you recall, in collaboration with former LA GOP chairman Roger Villere, fell prey in spring of 2016 to a bogus promise of exclusive rights for Louisiana to process Iraqi oil.
The governor’s office called Kennedy’s request “absurd.”
One could almost hear the echo of a now-legendary battlefield response given during the Battle of Belleau Wood. After U.S. Marines were repeatedly urged to turn back by retreating French forces, Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines uttered the now-famous retort, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.”
How will this entrenchment against renewal of needed tax revenues scar Louisiana, and for how long? It still seems as though a bombing run – changing the Speaker, and with him, the chairmen of both Appropriations and Ways & Means – remains an open avenue to victory. Without that, Louisiana could – like the landscapes of France and Belgium a hundred years later – remain scarred by the trenches that have been dug.
In the words of 1st Sgt. Dan Daly, who began the Battle of Belleau Wood by urging his men of the 73rd Machine Gun Company forward, “Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?”
How will this entrenchment against renewal of needed tax revenues scar Louisiana, and for how long? It still seems as though a bombing run – changing the Speaker, and with him, the chairmen of both Appropriations and Ways & Means – remains an open avenue to victory. Without that, Louisiana could – like the landscapes of France and Belgium a hundred years later – remain scarred by the trenches that have been dug.
In the words of 1st Sgt. Dan Daly, who began the Battle of Belleau Wood by urging his men of the 73rd Machine Gun Company forward, “Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?”