From the Alexandria Town Talk: The state’s senior senator addressed the Police Jury Association of Louisiana convention Saturday about several issues, including an encouragement for communities to start thinking about smart growth.
It seems only appropriate on this day of Oscar to use a film analogy to sum up the soon-to-be-concluded ethics special session. And thanks to Mark Ballard over at the Advocate we’ve got it.
Also, the Advocate explains to the thicker among us, why “Montana-Gate” matters.
And the Town Talk digs deeper into the Jindal “do as I say, not as I do,” policy of governance.
As the Daily Advertiser sees it, it’s been a bumpy road for Governor Jindal over the past couple of weeks, and yet, coming into the home stretch, the Governor can point to at least a couple of bright spots of success as the Times-Picayune reports on two key elements of Jindal’s ethics package that now head into committee where the final details will be hashed out.
More here from the Advocate.
From the Associated Press: Calling a bill that would ban all cash campaign contributions “junk” Rep. Austin Badon physically shredded Rep. Cameron Henry’s SB 65 on the House floor yesterday. No word on who cleaned it up.
Yesterday, Daily Kos hosted a round-the-clock blogging fundraiser for Gilda Reed, a Democratic candidate for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district whose life story is something between “awe inspiring” and “epic.” Reed faces an uphill battle against several better-recognized Republicans in the race, and the 24-hour diary effectively introduces her to voters. (Notable among the diaries is the Daily Kingfish’s “We Need Reed.”) If you’re inspired by the entries, donate to Reed here.
From the Shreveport Times: High School games and plays among new exemptions to SB3.
Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, who last year was absolved by the state Ethics Board for charges stemming from his receipt of $1.8 million dollars in housing tax credits, comes to the defense of Governor Jindal’s plan to gut the state ethics board in a letter today to the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Claiming, oddly, that HB 41 does nothing to dimish the power of the board, Tucker and Jindal hope to offset widespread opposition to the effort from several good government groups. Tucker argues:
“This process will not “undermine” the system. On the contrary, I believe that these changes to the process strengthen the democratic system and place all parties, both accuser and accused, on a level playing field.”
House Speaker Jim Tucker has announced that the special session is likely to run until at least Tuesday of next week. Earlier it had been anticipated that the session would conclude by Saturday.
More here from the Advocate.
Representative Walker Hines’ (D-New Orleans) amendment to SB 8 that would drop the proposed $50 lobbyist cap to nada goes down in a vote of 16-87.
Update: Make that 17-86 as Rep. Jerry Gisclair has since changed his no vote to a yea.
More here on Rep. Hines’ trial by legislative fire here from the Advocate.
From the Times Picayune: Senator Dan Martiny (R-Kenner) on Jindal’s rhetoric, “I don’t allow people to call me corrupt. Doing all of this (at the special session) is window-dressing.”
From the Advocate: Representative Neil Abramson (D-New Orleans) on Jindal’s hypocrisy, “Good government is only good as long as it doesn’t include you.”
