Jeremy Alford: Louisiana's rush to Washington
Next year’s Washington Mardi Gras, slated for the week of Jan. 27, was already expected to be a record-breaking extravaganza with a 75th anniversary celebration on tap and former Saints quarterback Drew Brees wearing the king’s crown.
The annual get-together has taken on a life of its own in recent decades and is now a multi-day festival of parties and events for a few thousand politicos who temporarily relocate from Louisiana to take over bars and hotels.
The landmark events, like a ball and dinner-dance, are put on by a nonprofit, while everything else is underwritten by corporations, universities, donors, elected officials, chambers of commerce and a parade of others seeking leverage via government relations.
The upcoming edition of Washington Mardi Gras, however, is going to be a touch different.
With Congressman Mike Johnson of Shreveport elevated rather suddenly to House speaker and Steve Scalise of Jefferson remaining in his No. 2 role as House majority leader, Louisiana and her politics are coursing through the veins of Washington like never before.
“Someone just offered me six Super Bowl tickets for two Washington Mardi Gras tickets,” said a laughing Tyron Picard of Lafayette, a lobbyist who moonlights as a senior lieutenant for the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians, the official nonprofit host of the Beltway shindig.
“I’m joking, I’m joking!” Picard added quickly. “But I’m not joking when I tell you we’ve never seen anything like this. Our krewe renewal rate was already approaching 100 percent. We’re having to tell people to dampen their expectations.”
A lot of folks will want access to what is arguably the most powerful D.C. delegation Louisiana has ever seen. Aside from Johnson and Scalise, the state also has two appropriators in U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, the 2024 chair of Washington Mardi Gras, and Congresswoman Julia Letlow. (That means they both serve on the budget-drafting Senate and House Appropriations committees, respectively.)
Mix in a new governor and new state legislative leaders, all of which will be seated just weeks before Washington Mardi Gras commences, and you begin to understand why the state’s oldest and hottest political networking event is as important as ever to those who make or spend money on Louisiana politics.
Proximity and access matter. Just ask the journalists over at Politico Influence. The insider publication noted recently that Speaker Johnson has a number of Bayou State names ready to advise him. Singling out health care policy, PI gave nods to Picard and lobbyist Camp Kaufman of Cornerstone Government Affairs, among others.
As for the actual work at hand in Washington, Johnson has put in writing a plan for the House that includes expedited consideration for appropriations bills, and working groups to explore related topics.
In a couple of weeks or so, the current continuing resolution — needed to avoid a partial government shutdown — will expire on Nov. 17, and Johnson may ask for another resolution to get the government into early next year, maybe into January or April. But that continuation will only be required “if another stopgap measure is needed,” Johnson told his colleagues in a letter last week.
As the new speaker, Johnson’s leadership skills will immediately be put to the test, and it’s likely many of these same issues will still be on the proverbial front-burner by the time Washington Mardi Gras rolls around.
That’s always the real threat looming over Washington Mardi Gras. Will the politics in D.C. be volatile enough to dampen the festivities? After all, partying during a government shutdown isn’t the best look for a politician from any state.
Until then, let’s hope for the best.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.