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| This closely cropped photo appeared in today's Advocate. |
It’s rare when a screen name like “kindmaryjane” offers the most insightful analysis of DC politics, but this anonymous Times-Picayune online reader had it right when responding to U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry’s sign-carrying stunt during President Obama’s job speech Thursday night: “Keep it classy, New Iberia.”
Landry, the TEA Party-backed Republican who represents Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District, sat quietly among his colleagues as the president outlined his new $450 billion jobs package, then at one point during the speech held up a sheet of paper that read “DRILLING = JOBS.”
National media outlets have speculated that Landry’s childish act was only a minor infraction in terms of congressional decorum, but with Landry sitting just two rows behind the now infamous Rep. Joe Wilson (“You Lie!”), one analyst tells The Times-Picayune that GOP leaders who advised Republicans to respond in civility “couldn’t have been pleased.”
Landry tells The T-P Friday that “the poster was simple and concise but it is a much better and more thorough plan to create jobs than Obama’s speech:”
Landry spokesman Millard Mulé said the congressman did not let the GOP leadership know in advance of his plans.
An official with the House Parliamentarian’s office said that no one at the podium noticed the sign. Had it been displayed during normal House debate, a member could have raised an objection that the sign wasn’t consistent with the decorum expected of members and put the question of whether the sign was appropriate to a vote.
Perhaps Landry’s three-word “thorough” plan to stimulate job growth could have been better relayed to the president on June 1 when Obama invited congressional Republicans to the White House. Oh, wait. Landry was the only House Republican to decline Obama’s invitation.
Read the Times-Pic’s coverage here.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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