Columns, Gambit

The last true liberal?

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:40:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford When I told Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, last week that she may be the last true liberal in the Louisiana Legislature, she didn't try to shake the label or qualify her record, one which dates to her winning a House seat in 1999. Instead, she offered a polite, "Well, thank you.…

Digging in their heels

Clancy DuBos — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:40:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos There's an old saying that politics makes strange bedfellows, but it's equally true that hard times can drive a wedge between natural allies. The latter appears to be the case with Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman.…

A new four-party system

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Near the end of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco's single term in office, it was considered a big deal that House Republicans were able to form a caucus that actually made a dent in the process, if only to muck things up temporarily for Democrats and the Queen Bee. It was viewed as the beginning of a shift in legislative power and the end of blanket Democratic control in Baton Rouge.…

The beginning of the end

Jeremy Alford — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford "I wasn't planning on working Sunday." That's what Rep. Katrina Jackson told Speaker Chuck Kleckley last Tuesday afternoon.…

A transformational leader

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos Successful university presidents transform their institutions. Some leave lasting legacies as well.…

State Sen. Joe McPherson and Howdy Doody time in Baton Rouge

Jeremy Alford — Tue, 28 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Few things were more comical than former state Sen. Joe McPherson at his most frustrated. A self-described country boy with a shock of salt-and-pepper hair and a push-broom mustache, McPherson hails from Woodworth, a community of roughly 1,000 people just south of Alexandria.…

How we heal

Clancy DuBos — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos The Mother's Day shooting on Frenchmen Street and its aftermath last week had an eerie familiarity to it. I didn't recognize it at first, but by week's end it occurred to me that the collective trauma felt across the city — and the passion that moved so many to respond to the tragedy with such generosity — was a bit like Hurricane Katrina.…

Higher ed, lower funding

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford With less than three weeks remaining in the legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal continues to drain money from higher education. Few probably realize exactly how much higher ed has lost under Jindal.…

A failure to lead

Clancy DuBos — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos Imagine yourself the manager of a local grocery store. Now imagine that you forgot to order king cakes in time for Carnival season.…

Other people's money

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Ever wonder what Orleans Parish Assessor Erroll G. Williams and Jefferson Parish Assessor Tom Capella get paid? Last year, their base pay was $125,290.…

This land is your land (for $2 million)

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Among the contingencies propping up Gov. Bobby Jindal's budget proposal is a unique and possibly unprecedented land deal involving the state selling properties at a significant markup to ... itself. That's the latest twist in the winding debate over Jindal's proposed $24.7 billion budget, which is short on revenues by about $1.3 billion.…

Another budget stalemate?

Jeremy Alford — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Over the past several weeks, conservative lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee have questioned if, not when, the budget will be passed during the ongoing session that adjourns June 6. That means, not long after Gov. Bobby Jindal has "parked" his controversial tax swap plan, his budget could be stalling.…

'Deliberative' secrets

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos Four years ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal hoodwinked lawmakers, the public and most of the Louisiana Press Association into supporting legislation that he uses to keep virtually all his administration's records from public view. He also uses his enormous power to prevent that law from being overturned or narrowed.…

Litigation nation

Jeremy Alford — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Jeremy Alford Considering all the litigation that has been filed against his initiatives — plus the anticipated lawsuits — it's remarkable that Gov. Bobby Jindal has time for anything outside of a courtroom. Unlike former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who wound up on the wrong side of the law with a string of corruption charges, Jindal's time in court has more to do with his policies and his administration's questionable interpretations of the state Constitution.…

Red-flagging the OIG

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos In 1982, the New Orleans City Council allowed the local utility, then known as New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI), to pay the cost of a low-turnout referendum to transfer utility regulation from the council to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC).…

Advice ... and a warning

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos A lot of folks can take credit for convincing Gov. Bobby Jindal to "park" his much-maligned "tax reform" plan last week, none more so than Dan Juneau, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). In the Capitol's pack of lobbying hounds, LABI is The Big Dog — particularly on tax matters.…

Angry birds: Louisiana legislature edition

Jeremy Alford — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Jeremy Alford on the "fiscal hawks" bedeviling Bobby Jindal's administration -- from the right by Jeremy Alford A few years ago, a handful of pesky Republicans gave way over time to a larger flock of angry birds that eventually became known as the fiscal hawks. There is also a Crowe in the Senate and a Dove in the House, but neither flies with the hawks, who built nests in the Capitol last year in hopes of returning to roost there permanently.…

Separated at birth?

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

by Clancy DuBos When was the last time you saw Marlin Gusman and Ray Nagin on the same courthouse steps ... or on the same beach in Jamaica? Uh-huh.…

Jindal's usual allies are nowhere to be found

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Gov. Bobby Jindal's political prowess over the past five years cannot be ignored. He began by taking on issues that appeared hefty to voters but which actually took very little political capital to bring down, such as "reforming" the ethics code and cracking down on Internet sex offenders.…

What was Bobby Jindal smoking?

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Clancy DuBos on the governor's plan to raise state sales taxes by Clancy DuBos There's a classic scene in the movie When Harry Met Sally where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are sitting in crowded deli arguing about whether a man can tell when a woman fakes an orgasm. Crystal insists he can tell — and that no woman ever faked it with him.…

Bobby Jindal's tax game

Clancy DuBos — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Clancy DuBos says legislators need to propose alternatives to the governor's tax swap by Clancy DuBos Even though he still doesn't have a final draft of his tax plan, Gov. Bobby Jindal has launched his statewide campaign to sell his gospel of wealth. He's hoping to generate citizen support that will convince wary lawmakers to back his proposals.…