Louisiana Politics: Business group taking new approach to state elections

If you think you know the election operations of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, think again.
Yes, the heart and soul of LABI’s election arm still resides with its four regional PACs, all of which achieved so-called “Big PAC Status” for the year, which means larger donations.
But now there’s also a front-end component that has been incubating for the past 12 months, an emerging on-the-ground super PAC that will make independent expenditures and a new focus on judicial seats.
A super PAC, or political action committee, can accept unlimited contributions, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and caselaw on the state level is stacking up to in regard to how such committees can and cannot operate.
The Louisiana Free Enterprise Institute is among the most notable additions to LABI’s arsenal, and it has been hosting “bootcamps” around the state to recruit conservative candidates; offer them a continuing policy and political education; and streamline messaging for the 2019 legislative races.
“We’ve trained nearly 80 people and we aim to at least triple that in the next two months,” said Marie Centanni, LABI’s director of public affairs and the head of the LFEI.
The association’s four regional PACs will still get the final say on which candidates are endorsed, but they will have a much larger pool of contenders to vet.
“Our four PACs are going to have more choices,” said LABI President Stephen Waguespack. “We had to do something different, given what’s at stake in both chambers this cycle due to turnover and term limits… If you keep going to the same hunting grounds, you’ll keep getting the same kind of candidates. This is a different approach. We realized coming into this current term that we couldn’t just sit on our hands.”
This will also be the first cycle that LABI unleashes its “Free Enterprise Super PAC.” Unlike the regional PACs that provide candidates with direct donations, the super PAC will position LABI’s election arm, for the first time, to make independent expenditures in races that are already underway.
PAC director Bo Staples estimated the super PAC is currently holding $128,000, a figure that’s expected to grow in quick order.
Finally, Waguespack said LABI is in the process of rolling out another new operation that will focus solely on judicial seats. While a report card system will be implemented to mirror the grading of legislators, recruiting and continuing education are taking place, too.
And while LABI has a long tradition of filing amicus briefs, the judicial program will allow the association to be more proactive than ever on that front, Waguespack added.

Political History: Ed Steimel story
In the long history of Louisiana politics, few figures have left as much of an impact as Edward Joseph Steimel Sr., the man who effectively made PAR a major player at the Capitol and created LABI. In an era when loud voices, huge personalities and big egos dominated that inside the rails, Steimel’s quiet and bookish demeanor stood out.
Despite spending most of his career in the Bayou State, Steimel was actually born and raised in Arkansas. He graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in journalism before taking a job with the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce in 1949.
Proving to be an effective communicator and fundraiser, Steimel joined the staff of PAR before becoming the executive director in 1954.”I knew almost nothing about government when I went to the Public Affairs Research Council,” Steimel would later joke with audiences.
He was a quick study and proved to be one of the most effective leaders at the Capitol. According to "The Politics of Reform" by John Maginnis, Steimel’s crowning achievement came in the fall of 1971, when PAR redrew all 144 legislative districts only weeks before voters went to the polls.
“The lights blazed late in the PAR offices at 300 Louisiana Avenue in Baton Rouge,” Maginnis wrote.
After guiding PAR through the 1973 Constitutional Convention, Steimel departed to help form a new group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. The following year, LABI won a huge legislative victory with the passage of the landmark Right-to-Work law. According to LSU political scientist Wayne Parent in Unmasking the Carnival, it was during the late 1970s and 80s that Steimel and LABI became a dominant force in the Legislature.
Steimel retired from LABI and politics in 1989 and spent the rest of his career as a fundraiser for LSU. He passed away in 2016.
Introducing Steimel for LPB’s "Louisiana Legends," Gus Weill remarked, “He was probably and often the lone voice for decency and good government in Louisiana for decades.”
They said it
“I play poker with friends, but I still cut the cards.” —U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, on the spending bill, on KALB-TV
“I can’t say there is anything I disliked about it.” —House Speaker Taylor Barras, on serving in the lower chamber’s top job, in The Daily Iberian
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Alford and Rabalais on Twitter via @LaPoliticsNow.