Displaying items by tag: Louisiana governor

Former Louisiana Governor and former Presidential candidate in the 2016 elections, Bobby Jindal has penned another oped for the Wall Street Journal, this time, writing about the somewhat ironic success that the Democratic Party is having in certain areas of which it should not be succeeding.

There's another shoot-out between our cowboys Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards-Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry at the Baton Rouge Capitol not-so-OK corral.   Edwards, a Democrat and Landry, a Republican, have fired at one another almost weekly, from Dodge to Tombstone from Lake Charles to Monroe. Today's it's the Red River Commission. Here's how the two gun-men are 

For history sake, here are the bullet points:

Current Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser has brought up an interesting idea.  Have the governor and the lieutenant governor run together on the same ticket.  Such a system exists in a majority of states across the nation.

As Nugesser states:  “The ticket idea seems to work well in other states. We ought to consider it. The only way I can do the best job I can do is to have a good working relationship with the governor.”

It is early, but the jockeying has already begun in the 2019 Louisiana Governor’s race. The incumbent, Governor John Bel Edwards, is vulnerable as the only Democrat in a statewide elected office in Louisiana. In fact, Edwards is the only Democrat Governor in the Deep South.

He was elected in unusual circumstances in 2015, with a vulnerable GOP opponent, then U.S. Senator David Vitter. He was able to win because he shrewdly focused on his military service throughout the campaign. Edwards also campaigned as a conservative Democrat who defended the Second Amendment and was opposed to abortion.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has a 49% approval and 35% disapproval rating per a new survey released today. Sixteen percent don't know or have no opinion.  The Morning Consult national survey ranked the most and least positive governors.

Today, two announcements have hit the wires which indicate that a sense of optimism could be coming.

First, a press release measuing $1.49 billion in good news. The second is a statement by Governor John Bel Edwards promoting economic growth this first quarter of 2018 in GDP.

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that his request for a third extension of the federal temporary housing program for survivors of the August 2016 floods has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through January 15, 2019. Gov. Edwards requested that homeowners be given additional time and the low rent for the Mobile Housing Units (MHUs) be retained as survivors rebuild their homes that were either severely damaged or destroyed by the floods. The incremental rent increases on the MHUs remains in place.  FEMA has confirmed this will be the final extension to the program.

Today, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced $60 million in new coastal projects to be built and paid for with funds from the settlement of the Deepwater Horizon, BP Oil Spill.

In the same week that CNBC ranked Texas as the state with the best economy in the nation, Bankrate listed Louisiana as the 4^th worst state in the nation to retire. Analyst Taylor Tepper cited the state’s “very high crime,” as one of the reasons for the poor ranking. This makes sense because retirees usually do not want to move to a state where they will be robbed or murdered.

Finally, after three special sessions and a regular one, it's time to relax, do the things that hard-working legislators (and governors) long to do after a long grueling hard-fought battle over the budget--pick up the pieces of one's life and, if at all possible, spend quality time with family, check out those hires burning at the office and hopefully take a moment of leisure.

The fiscal cliff, that seemingly insurmountable object in front of every legislative session since Bobby Jindal took his shot at taming the budget, is fixed. Yes, fixed. At least, on paper and hopefully, in reality, until perhaps, the next mid-decade.

The Louisiana legislators and governor, who have spent almost every day in session since mid-February of this year, have settled upon a budget deal that reduces the sales tax from five cents to 4.45 cents. Today, The Advocate reporter Tyler Bridges, who has been there with the legislators as each tick has tocked on the capitol clock, took a few moments to discuss with me--the session and the budget agreement. The interview occured via Facebook and Twitter Live.

Below is the video transcript of the relevant portions of the interview with Bridges, who will also soon post a "behind the budget deal scene" article for The Advocate.