Sound Off Louisiana

Gov. Edwards’ Commissioner of Administration, Jay Dardenne

Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns has been keenly interested in Louisiana politics going all the way back to when he was in second grade when, in 1971, then-Congressman Edwin Washington Edwards was seeking to become the next Louisiana Governor in a crowded field that included former Governor Jimmie Davis.  Burns’ father, Melven, who would pass away only 13 years after that election, was bitterly opposed to Edwards, so Robert, knowing nothing more at that point in his life than to “trust dad,” would support whomever his father supported, but he would also attempt to learn as much as he could about why his dad was so bitterly opposed to Edwards.

On the night of the primary, Melven was furious to see that Edwards finished first with 23.5% of the vote, and the candidate he supported, J. Bennett Johnston, finished a distant second with 17.8%.  Those were the days of closed primaries, and it was unheard of to be a registered Republican in those days, and nobody in Burns’ family was Republican (though Robert became the first to register Republican when he registered the day after his 18th birthday in 1981).

Melven told Robert that he hoped that Johnston could corral the support of the others in the race who failed to make the runoff and knock Edwards out.  That didn’t happen, and Edwards defeated Johnston by a razor-thin 0.2% of the vote, or less than 5,000 votes total.  Accordingly, Melven resigned himself to Edwards being the next Governor of Louisiana, but not without a last-ditch effort on Melven’s part to keep that from transpiring.

Melven explained to then eight-year-old Robert that there was one last small glimmer of hope, and that was that the Republican candidate, Dave Treen, might pull off a miracle and win the general election.  Melven even called Treen’s campaign headquarters and requested that a large “Dave Treen for Governor” sign be nailed to two trees in his front yard such that every car would see it as it passed by.  Robert even recalls his school bus driver at the time, Ms. Wallace, as she picked Robert up for school, asking with shock, “Your parents are voting for Dave Treen?”  Robert responded, “Yes, ma’am, Ms. Wallace.  I’m hoping you will too.”  She responded that would “never” happen.

Everyone reading this feature who was alive at the time knows it would have been impossible for Dave Treen to prevail in a statewide election for Governor in 1971 because the state was dominated by the Democratic party, and the results of the election reflected that fact as Edwards defeated Treen by a resounding 58-42 margin.

Robert, who has continued to live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana all of his life, has remained intrigued by Louisiana’s gubernatorial elections.  All of the preceding material was rehashed for one sole reason.  Burns watched the Friday meeting of the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the upcoming budget for Fiscal ’19, and his take is that he’s never in his now 46-year history of following Louisiana politics seen such a colossal miscalculation, blunder, and leverage-overplay as current Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has recently made.

By now, everyone not living in a cave is aware that Edwards opted to send “eviction notices” to residents of Louisiana nursing homes.  Evidence of the degree to which Edwards drastically overplayed his hand in that regard was on full display from friend and foe alike at Friday’s Senate Finance Committee meeting.  Members readily demonstrated their anger at the overplay by strongly attacking his messenger and Commissioner of Administration, Jay Dardenne, at Friday’s hearing after Dardenne first added to the animosity by first telling members of the Committee point-blank that, “You failed.”

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Five-minute highlight of Dardenne rebuking members of the Senate Finance Committee.

The retorts were fast and furious. First let’s examine the most influential one: Sen. President John Alario, who has been a close ally of Gov. Edwards:

Sen. President John Alario vents frustration with Dardenne to include it being the administration’s decision to send out those nursing home notices.

Alario’s commentary was quickly followed by Sen. Sharon Hewitt (R-Slidell), who has been mentioned as a potential rival of Gov. Edwards in next year’s campaign:

Sen. Hewitt vents frustration with Dardenne.

Next up to express their frustrations were Sen. Jack Donahue (R-Mandeville) and Sen. Bodi White (R-Central):

Senators Donahue and White vent their frustration with Dardenne.

If a casual observer didn’t know any better, he would think Dardenne still harbors resentment entailing his own defeat to Edwards in 2015 and is now quietly extracting his pound of flesh by sabotaging Edwards’ tenure as Governor.  That’s how bad this whole presentation came across.

The problem with that logic is that everyone knows Dardenne was taking his marching orders directly from Edwards, who has now proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is:  1)  arrogant, 2) a dictator (as evidenced by his unwillingness to provide budget details to the very legislators whom he now openly chastises), and 3) not remotely in Edwin Edwards’ league on political savvy.

Consequently, even as Hayride publisher and great friend and supporter of this blog, Scott McKay, has openly speculated this may be the beginning of Gov. Edwards’ lame-duck tenure before being “cooked” next year, we are willing to take it a step further.

We deem this type “macro-level” screw up, when combined with the numerous “micro level” screw ups we’ve dutifully tracked during this governor’s 2 1/2 years in office, to be a death knell to his re-election potential.

We’ll see come October of 2019 but, Governor, this isn’t 1971 and, to borrow a phrase from Lloyd Bentsen, “You’re no Edwin Edwards!”

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Sen. John Milkovich, D-Shreveport

As Sound Off Louisiana reported on a previous feature entailing SB-260, corruption on Louisiana occupational licensing boards and commissions will likely get drastically reduced by merely providing a licensee who is subject to a hearing by any of those boards or commissions with the option to have his hearing adjudicated by an administrative law judge rather than the occupational licensing board or commission members.

The veribage presented at the preceding link entalied Sound Off Louisiana fonder Robert Burns’ own first-hand experience of pure, rank corruption on the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board.  As we indicated when we rolled out our first edition of the Republican Wall of Shame (RWS), our blog now has a strong following among fiscally-conservative Republican legislators.

Accordingly, several legislators read the post linked above, and Burns agreed to provide actual testimony of the episode at the Louisiana House Governmental Affairs Committee meeting of Tuesday, May 8, 2018.  That testimony is presented in its entirety in the following video clip:

Burns testifies on the need for SB-260 to apply to the Louisiana Auctioneer’s Licensing Board (LALB) from his own personal experience entailing Executive Director Sandy Edmonds’ “blatant payroll fraud.”  The attorney Burns references as prosecuting him at the “hearing” is convicted felon Larry S. Bankston, whom the LALB hired specifically for that purpose!

Rep. Ivey spoke extensively with Burns after the meeting, and he stated that he was stunned by his testimony.  Further, he said he intends to offer floor amendments which he discussed with Burns which would result in even more of a microscope being applied to these boards and commissions.

What has become obvious during this session is that, by the sheer volume of licensees across many of the licensed professions who have complained loudly to Louisiana legislators (and to Gov. Edwards), the message is now as clear as it can be that their constituents are fed freaking up with the corruption that is so rampant among so many of these occupational licensing boards and commissions.

Many legislators have pledged full support for further crackdown measures being implemented next legislative session, and we at Sound Off Louisiana want to commend Rep. Ivey and the many other Republican legislators who are going above and beyond the call of duty to respond to the loud cries of occupational licensees regarding matters such as that illustrated by Burns’ testimony above.

Rep. Ivey’s Committee-level amendments are highlighted below and, as indicated, he plans to introduce more (which he shared with Burns and for which Burns indicated full support) on the House floor when full debate transpires on Sen. Milkovich’s bill:

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.

Louisiana political strategist and pollster John Couvillon

Well-respected political pollster and strategist John Couvillon of JMC Analytics was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club meeting of Monday, May 7, 2018.  His two core topics were prospects for a “Democratic wave” in the Congressional mid-term elections later this fall and what he foresees regarding  Louisiana’s Legislative races in 2019.

Let’s break down what he had to convey:

Couvillon provides his rationale for seeing a “Democratic wave” in the 2018 Congressional midterm elections this fall.

Couvillon provides his rationale for seeing a very different result in the 2019 Louisiana Legislative races and cites party registration numbers that are likely troubling to Gov. John Bel Edwards.

In response to a question by Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns, Couvillon provides a quick assessment of the top three prospective Republican candidates he sees as potential rivals to Gov. Edwards in 2019.

In response to a question by Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns, Couvillon provides his take on how vulnerable Gov. Edwards may be on his emphatic statements that he would not raise taxes during his 2015 campaign for Governor, only to implement massive tax increases since his inauguration in 2016 and also his vulnerability to his having taken his quest for transgendered folk to use the public restroom of their choice all  the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court (where he lost) at significant cost to taxpayers.

In response to a question by Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns, Couvillon provides his assessment of voter enthusiasm for the 2019 Louisiana Governor’s race.

CLICK HERE to see Couvillon’s presentation in its entirety.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.