One ting’s for shore about our great state — dar’s always politickin’ goin’ on. An’ it’s about to kick up a notch or two az we vote for everyting from governor on down to dog catcher.
A recent poll conducted by a pretty reliable outfit out of Mississippi gave us a good idea uf who iz in de hunt and who should consider some udder line uf work. Triumph Campaigns conducted a poll uf 1,600 folks in our state an’ found, first uf all, dat 63 percent disapprove uf de way Jindal iz runnin’ tings.
Me, I taught it would be higher dan dat. It should be noted dat nearly 70 percent tink de state iz goin’ in de wrong direction. So Jindal ain’t gettin’ all de blame. Dem legislators and udder state officials are being blamed as well.
De poll showed what had been pretty much expected in de race for governor. Vitter iz at 35 percent, Democrat John Bell Edwards is at 33 percent, followed by Jay Dardenne at 15 percent and Cowboy Angelle at 11 percent. Of all dem what wuz polled, 11 percent sed dey wuz undecided in dat race.
De lt. governor’s race showed Baton Rouge mayor Kip Holden wit’ 33 percent. (Dat wuz before he wuz accused uf gropin’ a woman representin’ a company de city does bidness wit’.) Holden iz follered by Billy Nungesser and John Young at 23 percent with 22 percent undecided. Dis one could really flip flop in de next few months if de Holden stories turn out to be true.
Buddy Caldwell, de attorney general, appears to have trouble ahead. He’s pollin’ at an even 30 percent, az iz Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy, a Democrat. Former Rep. Jeff Landry iz tryin’ to get back in de political arena, but haz only 20 percent.
One ting dat caught our eye wuz de race for insurance commissioner, whar 41 percent were undecided.
Now folks, we remind you dat dem statewide elections are seven months away, an’ in our state, tings can change overnight. Me, I’m shore dar gonna be lots mo polls between now an’ October dat will show some real changes in how folks feel an’ how folks plan to vote.
Locally, we don’t see much happenin’ so far. De parish-wide officers probably won’t even have anyone qualifyin’ against dem. Some state representative races could be interestin’. We’ll follow dem closely an’ might even conduct our own polls.
Oil An’ Gas Boys In Town
De Louisiana Oil and Gas Association helt dar state convention in town recently. An’ all dem good ol’ boys in de oil bidness wuz whinin’ about de price uf oil. Az we tol’ you in de las’ issue, folks, dose in de know say we shouldn’t be hurt dat much in de way uf layoffs and shutdowns since most uf de land-based rigs are in de Tuscaloosa Trend north uf Baton Rouge and are pumpin’ oil, and de offshore operations are 10- and 20-year commitments.
Meanwhile, my stockbroker friend Max sent me one uf de many newsletters he gets every day from folks who claim to be experts in de field uf oil and natural gas. De article claims de Russians have control uf de natural gas market in Europe because it’s too expensive to ship oil from our area to Europe. But dis article claims dat before it’s over, Putin iz gonna be poutin’ az de price uf LNG falls, makin’ it competitive with the Ruskies. An’ dat would be good for our area, not only in production, but in growth uf de LNG industry.
Dat’s de opinion uf one uf dem oil and gas consultants. An’ you know what mos’ folks tink uf consultants.
Sweep ‘Em Out
Mos’ uf you who’ve been in dis great state for a number uf years can remember politicians like Earl Long and John Schwegman doin’ TV commercials whar day stand dar wit’ a broom an’ tell you day iz gonna sweep all de deadheads out uf de State Capitol.
Now Long did dat, but he replaced dem with hiz own deadheads. Den dar wuz de day Dave Treen called a special session uf de Legislature to decide what to do wit’ all de money de state wuz gettin’ from de oil an’ gaz industry. On de udder side uf de aisle wuz de legislators and state-elected officials ready to get dar hands on dat money in order to dole out political patronage jobs … like state dead cow inspector, state quail inspector, state board uf boards etc.
In udders words, billions — billions wit’ a “b” — uf dollars haz been squandered in our state an’ iz still bein’ wasted on studies, commissions and consultants. Every bridge an’ highway project haz had beaucoup studies conducted to see how to do it. Every department uf state gubment haz contracts for all sorts uf tings.
Now Jindal haz reduced de number uf state contracts by a bunch. But a lot mo needs to be done. Like Huey Long once said, “Let dem go out and find honest work.”
Higher Ed Folks On LPB
We recently watched a program on LPB whar de heads uf de tree higher education boads complained about how fundin’ or lack uf it wuz gonna soon start affectin’ higher education in our state bigtime. Well, let’s start right dar with cuts.
Represented wuz de LSU Board uf Supervisors, Southern Board uf Supervisors and University uf Louisiana System. Why tree? Why not have a boad uf higher education? Let’s see de legislator who would vote for dat an’ survive re-election.
It wuz pointed out dat Louisiana haz more state universities dan Florida or Alabama. Let’s see which legislator would dare get up in a session and make a motion to close colleges in our state.
But here are dem folks we mentioned protectin’ dar home turf an’ cryin’ about needin’ mo money. Why have all dem colleges wit’ 8 or 10 students in a class at de junior or senior level? Combine course offerings. Save money for a change instead uf cryin’ about needin’ mo money. De LSU in Alexandria should have never been built. But dar again, it wuz political patronage and protectin’ uf turf. An’ we haven’t even mentioned de retirement systems uf lots uf dem colleges dat ain’t even close to bein’ funded right.
In de next few weeks, dem folks we mentioned are gonna go to Baton Rouge an’ beat up on dar legislators for more money to continue bidness as usual. We hope our legislators will consider de mamas and daddies dat send dar kids to college before jackin’ up tuition again.
Mike Does Well At Fundraiser
Me an’ my wife Sedonia went to a fundraiser for State Rep. District 33 Mike Danahay recently. It wuz a political who’s who uf Calcasieu Parish.
Mike iz up for re-election in October. along wit’ udder state legislators, as we described earlier. Now, Mike has done a fantastic job as de representative for de district dat is basically west Calcasieu Parish.
Az uf now, we have heard uf no one in de race, an’ doubt he will have any real serious opposition, if any. Dat’s what happens when you take care uf folks in your area an’ bring needed projects to de area. We wish him well in de upcomin’ legislative session.
Marsh Madness Great For Area
For de second year, Lake Charles hosted de LHSAA Basketball Championships for Girls and Boys. Again, de numbers were great. But now de Convention and Visitors Bureau will have to bid for de next two years.
Seein’ how de CVB haz pretty much sewed up every high school athletic event for our area, one would hardly tink dat anudder area uf our state would make a bid. But dem high school principals dat vote on de event site can trow you some curves sometimes.
But we know de CVB will be workin’ hard to land Marsh Madness here for at least two more years. Great job on de part uf everyone who made dis year’s Marsh Madness a success.
Deep Taughts While Having Grits At KD’s
10) How come I can’t make good grits like Henry at KD’s?
9) Is it true dat yet anudder LNG plant will be announcin’ soon dat day are comin’ to SWLA?
8) Will T Claude run for justice uf de peace?
7) Why are crawfish still priced too high?
6) Considerin’ de gamin’ numbers for SWLA, are udder outfits considerin’ movin’ to Lake Charles?
5) When is Anthony gonna come trew on his promises for redfish, cegars and steak at Vic & Anthony’s?
4) When am I gonna realize dat HP iz in de ink bidness an’ not de printer bidness?
3) Why do all de game wardens say my fran Snookie iz a person uf interest?
2) What will de shrimp season be like dis year?
1) Why does my neighbor tink I’m supposed to feed hiz dogs?
Final Shot
My fran Lefty went to de St. Louis Catholic game at Burton Coliseum for de state semi-finals. Naturally, he had a few cold ones before he went.
As de game progressed, Lefty, him, he wuz none too please wit’ de calls bein’ made by de referees. It wuz at some point in de second half dat police escorted him out uf de buildin’. It seems like Lefty told de ref he didn’t have no daddy … but not in dem exact words.
‘Til next time, lache pas la patate.
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