Incumbent Disrict 24 state Sen. Elbert Guillory touts a new McDonald’s in Grand Coteau as a proven record of job creation, while Opelousas Mayor Don Cravins, the man vying for the same District 24 seat he held for 15 years, takes full credit for creating the state’s community college and juvenile justice systems.
The eye-popping, 90-minute exchange Monday afternoon on UL Lafayette’s campus between Guillory and Cravins offered tenebrous insight into how the candidates view themselves and their records, but gave voters even more knowledge on how the two view each other.
According to The Advertiser, the attack-style debate included multiple references to Cravins’ leadership in Opelousas in light of scathing audits on the city and the Opelousas Housing Authority, while Cravins brought up Guillory’s own ethical dilemmas and characterized the incumbent as a do-nothing legislator who’s out of touch with constituents:
“They have found a pattern of mismanagement, a pattern of giving contracts and money to cronies, to friends and family members. It’s all there. Compare the records,” Guillory said. “This is the record we’re talking about right there. Honesty and integrity? None.”
“He’s always been dishonest, he continues to be dishonest and he continues to not tell the truth,” Cravins said.
The jabs have been repeated by both candidates since long before the race began, but the bold and mud-filled campaigns of Guillory and Cravins still have political insiders guessing which candidate will secure the seat.
Guillory led the primary with 46.4 percent of the votes, with Cravins raking in a close 40.72 percent. The third District 24 candidate Kelly Scott, who received 12.9 percent of the vote Oct. 22, has since thrown his support to Cravins despite announcing post-election that he would not be endorsing anyone in the race.
One north Lafayette politico says Guillory has two big advantages in St. Landry Parish in the form of Sheriff Bobby Guidroz and Opelousas City Marshal Paul Mouton, both of whom share a disdain for the Cravins dynasty. With Guidroz winning re-election Oct. 22, one insider says Guidroz and Mouton are “trying to unite all of St. Landry against Don Cravins, but can that result in a victory for Guillory? I don’t know.”
Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret predicts that voter turnout will not exceed 10 percent in the Nov. 19 election, which keeps the District 24 race as one of the most unpredictable on the ballot.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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