RSS Feed

Margaret Smith Romaire, a longtime resident of Morgan City, passed away on Monday, January 16, 2023 at the age of 95. She was welcomed into heaven by her loving husband of 74 years, Ferris P. Romaire, Jr. She was also preceded in death by her eldest daughter, Catherine Romaire Ballay; daughter-in-law, Terry Lombardino Romaire; parents, Willie and Emily Autin Smith; siblings, William Smith, Sadie Smith Adams, Odery Smith, Luella Smith, and Betty Smith Boudreaux.

Margaret leaves behind three grateful children, Dianne Romaire Romano (Michael), Robert P. Romaire, and Kim Romaire Noto (Gary); son-in-law, Herman Ballay, Jr.; grandchildren, Ann-Marie Ballay, Jacque Ballay, Melissa Romaire Mertz, Emily Romano, Amanda Noto Kleckley, Peter Noto, Maria Noto Moynihan, and Aimee Noto Kindle; and 16 great-grandchildren.

Margaret was a member of The Ladies Altar Society, Come Lord Jesus group, and the Ladies Garden Club. She was a wonderful and creative cook, talented seamstress, and lifelong fan of college baseball. Her life was filled with love and laughter, and she opened her heart, home, and kitchen to numerous neighbors and friends who she considered part of her family.

Her loved ones are thankful to the amazing friends and family who visited often throughout the years. They would like to give a special thank you to Margaret’s nephew Ricky Romaire, and her devoted caregivers Viki Daigle, Lisa Daigle, and Ashley Soto.

Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Monday, January 23, 2023 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, located at 2100 Cedar St., Morgan City, LA, with a Mass of Christian burial to follow at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be held at Morgan City Cemetery located at 450 Myrtle St., Morgan City, LA.

Happy birthday Monday to Teia Dolci, we love you, Reid, Ryan and Maddox … Happy belated birthday wishes Ryan Pellerin, we love you, Maddox, Reid and Teia.

Officials with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority are forging ahead with a new coastal master plan for 2023, and are now moving into a public comment phase through March.

CPRA officials discussed progress with the plan Wednesday during a meeting before the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board in Baton Rouge.

"We have an unprecedented opportunity in front of us," board chairman Chip Kline said of the 50-year plan. "There is a lot of issues that come before this board, and none is more important than the process we’re going through to update the plan. It is the most important work this board does."

The 2023 plan builds on the previous master plan’s efforts to reduce storm surge-based flood risk, provide habitats to support an array of commercial and recreational activities, and support infrastructure critical to the working coast over the next five decades.

"The annual plan presented to the Legislature this year will surpass last year’s plan" with an estimated $25 billion in restoration projects, Kline said.

The new plan includes fresh metrics for predicting future damage, with expected dollars of damage and "expected annual structural damage" included in calculations, said Stuart Brown, a CPRA assistant administrator of strategic planning.

"It’s an effort to better address questions of equity and a response to criticism to other metrics that have been used in projects in the past," he said.

The criticism centered on favoritism toward projects in more affluent areas with higher value structures, and the new approach takes into consideration the number of structures protected to provide a more balanced approach, Brown said.

The draft plan includes $2.7 billion in new diversions, over $19 billion in dredging, and another $25 billion in programmatic spending on barrier islands, small-scale hydrologic restoration, oyster reefs and shoreline protection.

Dredging, Brown said, "is by far the largest component of our restoration strategy."

The proposed spending includes $230 million in hydrologic restoration, $37 million in ridge restoration, $16 billion in marsh creation, and $2.9 billion in land bridge work, officials said.

The work is expected to result in between 233 and 314 square miles of built or maintained land that would otherwise be lost in 50 years. In terms of risk reduction, the draft plan would reduce risk by between 60% and 70%, or between $10.8 billion and $14.6 billion, based on a varying scenarios.

"Measured in expected annual structural damage the plan reduces coastwide risk by up to 78% under the lower scenario and 65% under the higher scenario," according to the Wednesday CPRA presentation.

Officials expect to distribute fact sheets detailing the plan’s expected impact for the state’s different regions, parishes and communities in the coming weeks.

The draft plan was published on Jan. 6, and the public comment period is now open until March 25. CPRA will hold public hearings in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houma, and Lake Charles in January and February, after which officials will incorporate feedback into an updated draft that will be presented to the CPRA board on April 19, Brown said.

The CPRA expects to submit a final plan to the legislature by April 24.

More information about the plan, public meetings, and ways to submit public comment is available on the CPRA website, https://coastal.la.gov/

Before he was endorsed by the Louisiana Republican Party last fall, Attorney General Jeff Landry was confined to asking most entities for just $5,000 each to underwrite his personal candidate account and $100,000 a piece for Cajun PAC II, his leadership account.   

For the past two months, however, Landry has been moving key allies — more than half of the State Central Committee’s 230 members signed affidavits for his controversial endorsement — into important finance-related positions at the party.

Now Landry can encourage supporters to give an additional $100,000 to the Louisiana Republican Party to support this year’s ballot. So far the party has raised $721,000 since Landry’s endorsement and most of that money (the GOP gets a small cut) has been transferred into a subsidiary checking account referred to as the Victory Account.

As of last week the Victory Account had $525,000, and it’s growing by the day. The account will be dedicated solely to electing Landry as governor. Conservative donors, particularly those who are pro-Landry, seem to love the idea. Businessman Lane Grigsby, for example, kicked in $25,000 last month and Ross Laris of Raceland ponied up $100,000.

Many politicos rightly thought the GOP endorsement, when first delivered in November, would translate into a fundraising increase for the party. While that may be the case in the long run, the actual reality of the endorsement is that Team Landry has gained a new and powerful finance account that can 100% coordinate with his campaign. 

This new arm of Landry’s fundraising apparatus joins a personal campaign finance account that’s holding $5 million and a leadership PAC with $1.5 million ready to spend. But how much money could the Victory Account eventually raise?

If Landry finds himself in a corner, the party endorsement could pay dividends well beyond the Victory Account. Due to the endorsement, the party was able to send a “Rule 11” letter to the Republican National Committee — a letter that’s usually transmitted in the fall during gubernatorial election years.

The letter allows groups like the RNC and RGA to begin spending immediately on behalf of the endorsed candidate. The RNC is now also allowed to transfer unlimited amounts to the state GOP. While unlikely, especially with big battles in states like Kentucky on tap, Landry will no doubt enjoy having that in his back pocket. (When businessman Eddie Rispone and former U.S. Sen. David Vitter previously ran for governor, they didn’t receive the benefits of a “Rule 11” letter until October of 2019 and 2015, respectively.)  

Unable to coordinate with the Landry campaign is Louisiana Citizens for Job Creators, a supportive super PAC that has about $300,000 in the bank and a history of raising a heck of a lot more. You can expect the super PAC to be heavy on the media side this year, with Ben Yoho of the Strategy Group Co. hired to produce television spots in the coming months. 

Aside from contributing to what will be a record-breaking year for spending on a governor’s race, Landry is also introducing a new fundraising structure. He’s among the first gubernatorial candidates to successfully deploy a joint fundraising committee, or JFC, called the Louisiana First Fund.

Neither new nor novel, the Louisiana First Fund is essentially an umbrella organization for Landry’s personal campaign finance account and Cajun PAC II, his leadership account. Donors who would normally cut two checks to the two organizations can instead cut one large check to the JFC, the Louisiana First Fund, which then distributes the money to the two accounts using a formula that’s published here and based on the giving thresholds we all know and love.

Between all of the accounts mentioned above, there’s $7.3 million sitting in banks available to spend on or in support of Landry’s gubernatorial bid. So far. And it’s doubtful any of the major candidates for governor will be able to match that sum any time soon. 

On the other hand, few in this race believe the state’s highest office can simply be purchased. While money certainly helps, the fundraising leader doesn’t always gain the favor of a majority of voters.

For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow