A former U.S. House speaker once sed dat all politics wuz local. An dat iz no mo true dan in de parish uf Calcasieu. An dem what’s runnin for state offices know dat very well.
Az you no doubt know, de Oct. 24 ballot will be a long one, an az far az we in dis area are concerned, probably de mos important vote we will cast will be for our police juror.
Wit de growth an construction we got comin to our area, de hard work uf our police jury iz a must. De Go Group wuz set up to make all de gubment agencies march to de beat uf de same drum. But you can bet your bottom dollar dat de Police Jury iz in charge uf dat group.
Dem 15 men an women who sit on dat jury will have to spend long hours for very little pay to make tings go well. Az far az roads and bridges an udder tings dat are part uf de growth process, we will soon see.
Uf dem 15, dar are six who have no opposition in de upcoming election. A free ride iz sometin you don’t see very often in police jury races, because dar’s usually somebody who’s mad at a juror an decides to run, an dat’s when they see what it’s all about.
De six who have a free ride are: Dennis Scott from District 6, Chris Landry from District 7, Kevin Guidry from District 9, Sandy Treme from District 11, Hal McMillin from District 14, and Les Farnum from the Maplewood area in District 15.
Let’s look at de districts dat will have to elect jurors. District 1 juror Shannon Spell chose not to run again, an we have Frank Webb and Kevin White runnin in dat district. District 2 finds Calvin Collins, Diana Ross and Big Mike Smith runnin. In District 3, Edwina Griffin isn’t runnin, but we have Eddie Lewis, Shelly Mayo and Ellaweana Jones runnin for dat seat.
District 4 finds incumbent Tony Guillory drawin opposition from Donald Thomas. Nic Hunter, who represents District 5, will face Bob Redmond.
In District 8, former juror an former BESE Board member Dale Bayard iz runnin against incumbent Guy Brame. District 10 finds Tony Stelly wit opposition from David Marcantel and Shalon Latour. District 12 iz de Carlyss area, an in dat district, incumbent Ray Taylor iz runnin against Judd Bares. And District 13 Juror Francis Andrepont will be facin Randy Gibbons.
Now, folks, we talk about parishwide and statewide races dat are gonna be on de ballot. But it’s dem jury races dat bring out new voters, an voters who have de choo rouge at dar juror.
For whatever reason, we urge you to go out and vote on Oct. 24. Pretty soon, dar will be announcements uf when an whar to vote early, if you gonna be outta town for a ball game or huntin trip. No excuses; get out an vote.
De Gloves Iz Comin Off
Az election day approaches, de candidates for governor are takin off de gloves an comin afta each udder. David Vitter, who iz expected to make de runoff wit State Representative John Bel Edwards, iz gettin lots uf heat from de udder two Republicans in de race — public service commissioner Scott Angelle and Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne.
De PAC advertisin attackin Vitter’s fellow Republicans tells us dat dey are puttin heat on him in de polls. Az we have sed before, politicians at dat level don’t do anyting witout havin a poll showin dem how de public feels about it.
Now, it’s no secret dat Vitter haz a boatload uf money, an it looks like he plans to empty dat boat in de final few weeks uf de election, attackin anyone dat looks like they might hurt hiz chances uf makin de runoff.
Now, Angelle an Dardenne have been doin dar own attackin, az well, figurin dat they have to eat into Vitters lead in order to make de runoff wit Edwards.
In de next few weeks, we gonna see our mail boxes filled wit fancy printed pieces. We also gonna have rotodial phone messages, and we gonna see beaucoup television ads; I hate to tell you, but you ain’t seen nuttin yet.
Az predicted before, when de runoff iz set, you gonna see millions uf dollars spent by de national parties on dis race. De Republicans will try to keep a Republican governor, an de Democrats smell blood in de water, an will attack de Republican candidate, regardless uf who it iz.
Now, dis iz in sharp contrast to what my fran Max an I saw at dem governors forums what de Chamber uf Commerce put on. At dat forum, all four candidates talked about demselves, an what they had in mind for fixin Louisiana. None uf de candidates attacked de udders in de race. But‚ it wuz obvious they had taken some kinda poll, because they all talked about de need for a new I-10 bridge, an de need for workforce trainin, an how we needed to have mo money for roads and bridges.
Watch dis election in de next few weeks, folks. It’s gonna be a better show dan de circus.
An Den What?
De new governor who will take office in January will have a whole lot on his plate, right from de beginnin.
Dar are already reports uf a $100 million shortage in dis year’s budget. Dat’s afta all de book cookin dat Jindal did in order to say we had a balanced budget when he jumped into de presidential race.
Afta dat, de new governor will have to deal wit a radder hostile legislature dat wants to change de way de speaker uf de house iz selected.
Many uf de 105 members uf de house feel dat current speaker Chuck Kleckley became way too “Jindal Friendly‚” and would like to see a more independent house. Former house speaker Bubba Henry sez he wuz independent when he served as speaker durin de Edwards administrations. An if you believe dat, I got some golden eggs to sell you.
Now, dar are several legislators who did learn from Kleckley, an are tourin de state talkin to legislators at dar offices in dar home towns. Dar are about a half-dozen candidates who want dis speaker’s job, because uf de power it brings. De speaker haz a great deal to say about who gets what committee assignments an udder state appointments.
Needless to say, de speaker ting won’t be resolved until dar’s a new face in de mansion. By de way, de shortfall for next year iz expected to be about $1 billion. But, folks continue to want to be elected, despite these headaches.
CVB Shines Again
We were very happy to learn of de Convention and Visitors Bureau gettin a very important award recently. Our local bureau beat out bureaus from throughout the south to win de Shining Example Award.
Now, folks, we are talkin about de CVB beating out bureaus from Florida, North Carolina, and all de udder southern states.
In addition to projects like de Creole Nature Trial Adventure Point and udder projects, de bureau helped bring in $385 million to Calcasieu Parish in travel expenditure. We tip our hats to Shelly an de entire staff at de CVB.
Hillary Stops By To Get Her Share
It’s no secret dat serious politicians work waaaay ahead uf time getting money togedder to run a campaign. Hillary Clinton iz no different.
Recently, while in Baton Rouge, Clinton made a speech bashin Bobby Jindal for opposing Obamacare. Later dat evenin, she had a fundraiser, where she picked up $400,000.
De fundraiser wuz helt at de home uf high-profile Democrat Jim Berrhard. Tickets were $2,700 per person, or, for $27,000, you could be listed as an event host.
Nice to see Hillary cares about de po folks.
Deep Taughts While On Hold Wit Suddenlink
10) Didn’t KPLC an our community do a great job uf rememberin de anniversary uf Hurricane Rita?
9) Should I pull out my brown paper bag when watchin Saints games?
8) Can LSU keep addin dem Ws?
7) Why does Sedonia’s dog’s haircut cos mo dan mine?
6) How far are de Astros gonna go in de playoffs?
5) When iz Jindal gonna drop out uf de presidential race?
4) What’s de prospect for fall ducks?
3) When is my buddy Tom gonna bring me some mo uf dat great venison sausage?
2) Ain’t it great to see dem Texans bring dar money to us every weekend?
1) Why doesn’t everyone wear blue an gold on Fridays to show support
for McNeese?
Final Shot
My franz Lefty and T-Claude decided to go to de LSU-Syracuse game. Me, I warned T-Claude not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen.
T-Claude reported to me upon dar return: Here’s a shocker — Lefty had too much to drink on de flight. When he ordered hiz ninth Bloody Mary, de flight attendant told him she thought he’d had enough. Lefty den told her he thanked her for her opinion, but to get him anudder Bloody Mary, or all hell would break loose.
Well, all hell broke loose, an Lefty made mos uf de flight in handcuffs. De Syracuse Police were waitin for him at de airport. He paid a fine an missed de game, an T-Claude‚ him, well, he missed de game, too. Bet you T-Claude don’t go to no mo games wit Lefty.
‘Til next time, lache pas la patate.
Comments are closed.