Posted on 11/23/2015 9:03:13 AM PST by abb
It didn’t take long for Governor-elect John Bel Edwards to show his true colors. In fact, it only took about 12 hours after he was elected governor.
The fresh air he was claimed to bring to Louisiana is now a whiff of the stench of Louisiana’s corrupt past. Here are the members of the transition team, according to the Times-Picayune.
The transition team, which will operate from the Kirby Smith Hall on the campus of LSU, will include Laura Leach of Lake Charles; Mayor Jamie Mayo of Monroe; Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newel Normand; state Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, of Baton Rouge; Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches and Richard Lipsey of Baton Rouge. A website with information about the transition is forthcoming.
Edwards made those announcements and took questions from reporters during a news conference at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. He declined to name any members of his cabinet, including his commissioner of administration.
Laura Leach is the husband of former Louisiana Democrat Party chairman Buddy Leach. Leach’s tenure is marked by Republicans gaining both houses of the legislature and struggling to field candidates for statewide office. He was so inept that Democrats decided that Karen Carter Peterson was a better pick.
Jamie Mayo has been Mayor of Monroe since the turn of the century. He’s also a perennial candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat in his spare time.
Newell Normand started his career as former Sheriff Harry Lee’s driver. Normand represents the Jefferson Parish courthouse mob. That parish’s politics is a sewer of corruption and incompetence.
Sharon Broome scored a 30% from LABI this past session. She’s likely the next mayor of Baton Rouge. The good news is that she’s sober more often than Kip Holden.
Taylor Townsend is a trial lawyer and former state representative. He was beaten in 2007 when he ran for State Senate by Gerald Long.
Richard Lipsey is a Baton Rouge businessman who donated $5,000 to John Bel earlier this month. He buys and sells politicians in order have access.
Edwards also named as his chief of staff State Sen. Ben Nevers. Nevers is another old school hack. He filed legislation to weaken accountability standards on behalf of the teachers unions, is responsible for a series of shady reservoirs in Washington Parish, held contracts from the Washington Parish and St. Tammany School Boards while head of the Senate Education Committee, and filed a bill this past session to impose an oil processing fee this past session. Nevers is an old school hack.
Meanwhile guess who is coming to lunch.
LouisianaFedTeachers @LaFedTeachers
Gov-elect John Bel Edwards will address our convention tomorrow at luncheon! @JohnBelforLA #2015LFT 6:46 PM - 22 Nov 2015 · Lake Charles, LA, United States
The bad old days are back in full force.
“The business community, which opposed his candidacy, is already nervous...”
Yep. When I went back in August for Katrina’s 10th anniversary, the new business and heavy industry thriving in plain view, along the highways and streets where I drove, was jaw dropping.
Areas that had been blighted, abandoned slums for years BEFORE Katrina were newly renovated and bustling with activity—lots of new jazz and rock venues, with apartments and lofts nearby.
Empty, weedy lots are now stacked with newly built offices, condos, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, night clubs that did not exist when I left in 2007.
More LA people are employed now than ever in LA history. That’s backed up in census data.
All this as a result of Jindal’s business-friendly tax and investment policies, focused on oil and infrastructure, as well as a refusal to kowtow to enviro-nazis who seek to regulate Louisiana’s chemical refineries out of business.
These manufacturers and refineries in turn spin off thousands of subsidiary businesses, in construction, heavy industry, trucking and shipyards (IOW, jobs for men, which reduces need for social services for women and children) technology, restaurants (New Orleans’ restaurants have doubled since Jindal took office!) entertainment and tourism.
Jindal also championed school vouchers and instituted tough ethics rules and auditing of expenditures.
Yeah, it makes sense to toss it all away, just ‘cause Vitter dropped his shorts for a hooker. It just isn’t possible he learned his lesson, moved on, and is capable of continuing sound fiscal policies that benefit the state as a whole.
I’m predicting within a couple years under Edwards, the state will be back in the toilet.
Jesse Helms came the closest, but even he supported the “fairness doctrine” before the advent of talk radio.
Moved out of Maryland for Falls Church, VA last year. Haven’t gotten around to updating my profile page here.
Smart move, not as bad as Md. yet at any rate. But it’s heading in that direction for sure.
Not so much.
McAwful and the Democrats suffered a large defeat by keeing the Commonwealth’s Senate solidly in Republican hands. Also big loss for Gun Control in VA.
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