Louisiana Politics: Lots of turnover for parish clerks of court

As much as 22 percent of Louisiana’s elected clerks of court may be retiring next year, meaning there will be several open seats this fall for what has become one of the most coveted local jobs around, regardless of the parish.
State Rep. Andy Anders and Sen. Mike Walsworth, for instance, will be running for clerk positions this cycle in Concordia and Ouachita parishes, respectively.
While both men bring a wealth of institutional knowledge with them in their bids, Debbie Hudnall, executive director of the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association, said the average age of incoming clerks is getting younger, tracking a similar trend LaPolitics has reported on among the Bayou State’s newest mayors.
There are 12 to 14 clerks who are expected to retire with the end of the current term.
That will translate into a lot of new faces along the local landscape, but will likely fall short of the 25 percent turnover produced run 2015.
Most of the leading candidates for this year’s open clerk seats, so far at least, appear to be coming from the staff level, such as the second or third in command.

RGA Guesstimate: $8M
investment for Louisiana
Operatives for the Republican Governors Association tell LaPolitics that Gov. John Bel Edwards will be its “top target” this fall, not that the GOP has many other options. Edwards is the nation’s only Democratic governor up for re-election in 2019.
Some politicos, based on their private conversations, expect the RGA to spend upwards of $8 million in Louisiana. RGA officials, meanwhile, will only say that the coming investment will be “considerable.”
According to POLITICO, the RGA spent more than $7 million on ads in the Florida governor’s race in 2018. In 2014, the group shelled out $14 million in Michigan, $10 million in Wisconsin and $6.2 million in Arkansas.
The RGA hosted their first Louisiana fundraiser of the cycle Monday evening at Ralph’s on the Park in New Orleans, flying in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. As the RGA has not yet picked a candidate to back, both Congressman Ralph Abraham and businessman Eddie Rispone received top billing at the fundraiser.
Louisiana in only one of three states that will elect a governor this year, joining Mississippi and Kentucky. By comparison, 36 states held their gubernatorial elections last year, forcing the RGA to spread around its resources.
“The RGA has already started spending some money here (in Mississippi),” said Adam Ganucheau, who covers state politics for Mississippi Today. For now, Ganucheau said the RGA has been pushing digital ads attacking Attorney General Jim Hood, the Democratic frontrunner.

Political History: JBJ's
dinner at Galatoire's
On the Friday before Mardi Gras in 1987, then-U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston decided to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Capitol Hill to enjoy some of the revelry of Carnival in New Orleans.
Around dinnertime, Johnston and his daughter ventured out from his French Quarter apartment and headed over to Galatoire’s. The landmark restaurant was one of their favorite places to dine in the Crescent City.
Since it was the Friday before Mardi Gras, however, Galatoire’s had a long line of patrons outside the door waiting to get in. Arriving without a reservation, the Bayou State’s senior senator at the time took a spot at the end of the line.
While they were patiently standing on the Bourbon Street sidewalk discussing what they were going to order, the Gipper — President Ronald Reagan — decided to interrupt their conversation.
“We had been waiting for about an hour when somebody poked their head out from the restaurant and said that President (Ronald) Reagan was on the phone,” Johnston told LaPolitics.
Reagan was considering appointing former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee as his chief of staff. He called Johnston to get his advice on the matter since he was a former colleague of Baker’s and was considered a rising star in the upper chamber’s Democratic leadership.
When they were unable to reach the senator at his office, the White House operator had tracked down Johnston at Galatoire’s.
“I went inside and took the call in a small room up on the second floor,” he said. “I told him I thought it was a great idea.”
After Johnston finished up his chat with the commander-in-chief, the senator went back outside, where his daughter was still waiting at the back of the line.
“We waited for about another 30-45 minutes, but it was sure good once we got in there, I assure you,” he recalled with a laugh.

They said it
“Not that the almond milk is not a tasty thing, I hear, but nothing is better than cows milk.”
—State Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, on dairy policy, on the Louisiana Radio Network
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