Louisiana Politics: Senate chairs look to new session

By JEREMY ALFORD
& MITCH RABALAIS
In fiscal sessions of the Louisiana Legislature, like the one that convenes April 8, members of the Senate are typically in a holding pattern during the opening weeks since the annual budget bill and most all tax proposals must originate in the House.
Senate Finance Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, said that since there’s no agreement yet on the Revenue Estimating Conference in terms of the money that can be spent during the session, panel is largely on pause, watching and waiting to see what happens.
“I’m assuming at some point the speaker has a change of heart,” LaFleur said of House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, the holdout vote on the REC.
LaFleur added that the Legislature is likely to see more gaming bills this session, particularly those focused on establishing sports betting and collecting the generated revenues.
“A lot of people will be trying to grab that money,” he said.
Video poker bills, however, are expected to be light, if not non-existent.
“We won’t be filing any gaming bills,” said Alton Ashy of Advanced Strategies, a lobbyist for the Louisiana Video Gaming Association, “at least not for video poker.”
As expected, Senate Education Chairman Blade Morrish, R-Jennings, said that his committee’s major issue to consider will be Gov. John Bel Edwards’ teacher pay raise proposal. Morrish expects the proposed $1,000 salary increase for teachers and $500 for support personnel to encounter little opposition.
“It’s not nearly enough, but it’s the best we can do,” he said.
Morrish told LaPolitics that he is also considering introducing legislation that would change the TOPS program in order to free up more money for early childhood education, a glaring need he has noticed during his tenure as chairman of the education committee.
Judiciary C Chair Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge; Health and Welfare Chair Fred Mills, R-Parks; and Labor and Industrial Relations Chair Neil Riser, R-Columbia, all admitted that they have not seen many bills come forward yet, but that is expected in a fiscal session when members are limited to five bills.
Riser said that he does expect the Edwards Administration to reintroduce its bills on equal pay and the minimum wage, while Mills said that his committee will be looking at prescription benefits and freestanding emergency rooms.
Newbies brace for first session
Eleven new legislators have been elected since the term’s seventh special session adjourned June 24, including freshman Sen. Bob Hengens, who claimed his promotion after serving in the House and navigating it’s wild political terrain.
Of the 10 remaining districts in this count, seven have already been filled and three others will be filtered through runoffs on March 30.
If you have already familiarized yourself with their campaigns and issues, the seven fresh faces belong to Wayne McMahen (R-HD10), Stuart Moss (R-HD33), Mary DuBuisson (R-HD90), Chris Turner (R-HD12), Ed Larvadain III (D-HD26), Mike Johnson (R-HD27) and Ryan Bourriaque (R-HD47).
These newbies, of course, won’t be pacing Memorial Hall alone. Three more reps will be selected by voters in two weeks, just in time for the session, via the following March 30 races:
HD17: Rodney McFarland Sr. (D/34 percent in the primary) versus Pat Moore (D/49 percent in the primary)
HD18: Tammi G. Fabre (R/23 percent) versus Jeremy S. LaCombe (D/43 percent)
HD62: Roy Daryl Adams (I/31 percent ) versus Dennis Aucoin (R/45 percent)
This is a heck of a time to jump onto the Capitol carousel, not that the contenders had anything directly to do with the resignations of their predecessors. Nevertheless, in just seven months, almost to the day, they’ll all be standing for re-election.
For now, many are still trying to figure out their committee roles, and there are plenty of assignments to go around.

Political History: Elaine Edwards gets Gridiron laughs
This week, elected officials, staff, journalists and other members of the Capitoland chattering class will make the trek to Baton Rouge’s American Legion Hall for the annual Gridiron Show. While the funny sketches and humorous songs preformed by the reporters are all meant in good fun, there was a time when the jokes about politicos were a little more biting.
In 1978, then-Gov. Edwin Edwards was plagued by reports of corruption in his administration and the publication of "Just Takin Orders," a book by former gopher Clyde Vidrine. While the author was far from a reliable source and the manuscript had many glaring errors, much of the colorful information contained in the book provided the material for that year’s edition of Gridiron.
Writing about the show in "The Last Hayride," LaPolitics founder John Maginnis said, “There was no lack of bad taste that night on the part of the reporters as they reenacted the spicier tales from the book. The governor sat through the show poker faced as usual, but his wife appeared far less amused.”
According to Maginnis, when Edwin Edwards was called on-stage for the traditional gubernatorial rebuttal, he shocked everybody by pulling out a copy of Vidrine’s book and asking the first lady to join him.
With the audience sitting in stunned silence, the normally shy and diminutive Elaine Edwards strode to the mic and started reading from a particularly salacious passage that involved Vidrine’s recollections of one night when her husband allegedly took multiple women into his hotel room for sexual liaisons.
“Well, of course, that’s untrue,” she said. “Anyone who knows my husband knows he would have been asleep after the first one.”
The governor stood next to his wife, beaming with delight.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Alford and Rabalais on Twitter via @LaPoliticsNow.