Jeremy Alford and Mitch Rabalais / LaPolitics.com
Legislation to pave the way for another constitutional convention in Louisiana failed to get approval from the House last year, but a respected public policy organization still intends to keep the issue on the front-burner in 2019.
For more than six decades the Public Affairs Research Council produced guides for voters, underwritten policy papers for legislators and provided testimony on a variety of topics, oftentimes with good government bent.
Fundamental law has been a focus as well, dating back most notably to the Louisiana Constitution that was ratified in 1974, although PAR had a voice in many of the preceding failed attempts to rewrite the charter.
In a recent interview for a feature in The Tuesday Tracker, PAR President Robert Travis Scott said that policy lineage will stretch into what should be an active campaign cycle this year.
“PAR will present a set of principles and recommendations,” he said. “Overall, it will be an invaluable source of information and guidance for this very important debate we’re having over the Constitution, it will elevate the level of discussion, and it will drive us in a worthwhile direction.”
While PAR will keep the issue alive in the public, it’s possible the topic of another convention won’t surface during the upcoming regular session of the Legislature. Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, has championed the issue for years, but doesn’t plan to file another related bill this year.
PAR will also address the state’s infrastructure needs during its annual conference in Baton Rouge. The event, “Transportation and Infrastructure: The Future of Louisiana Commerce,” is set for April 11.
Union Pacific Chairman and CEO Lance Fritz is slated to give the conference’s keynote address, joining a gubernatorial forum and a set of “PAR Talks” on the agenda.
Gubernatorial candidates nearly staffed up
The three declared candidates for governor are still in the process of building out their respective staffs as January gives way to February, but the incumbent in particular is shouldering the additional burden of having to juggle personnel in his own administration.
The most notable change for Gov. John Bel Edwards comes in the form of Richard Carbo, the former deputy chief who’s now serving as campaign manager. Linda Day, Edwards’ 2015 campaign manager, will be on staff as a senior advisor.
Two other veterans from the 2015 race, media consultant Jared Arsement and turnout constant Ben Jeffers, will be returning to their old posts.
The fresh faces likewise include pollsters John Anzalone and Zach McCrary, digital strategist Julie Ager and finance director Katie Penland, who comes to the team from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She’ll be working with Emilie Tenenbaum, who has handled the governor’s fundraising since 2016.
Congressman Ralph Abraham’s effort will be led by campaign manager John Vick, who perviously worked for U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and the Republican Party of Virginia.
Courtney Alexander, a former staffer for Abraham’s congressional office and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s 2014 campaign, will be taking over as the campaign’s political director, while Bill Skelly and Causeway Solutions will be handling polling and data analysis.
As previously reported, Lionel Rainey III will be Abraham’s general consultant, while fundraiser Allee Bautsch Gruenwald will be tasked with keeping the doctor’s war chest full.
Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone has named Bryan Reed as his campaign chief. Reed was previously the deputy political director for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Sarah Harbison, who formerly worked for U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and Treasurer John Schroder, is the krewe’s new political director, and veteran fundraiser Sally Nungesser will be building the campaign kitty.
Tony Fabrizio, who was the chief pollster for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, will be crunching the numbers for Rispone, too.
Your Political History: Underworld politics
While the late Carlos Marcello was best known as a lynchpin in the world of New Orleans organized crime for three decades, he also had more than a few political connections, both documented and rumored.
Targeted by late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the early 1960s, Marcello reportedly spent considerable resources attempting to influence politicians in Baton Rouge,
“Anytime a politician goes in there, he wants money,” he told associates in a conversation recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to Mafia Kingfish by John H. Davis, Marcello was introduced by an associate to a California insurance executive who was pursing government contracts.
The “executive,” however, was actually an FBI informant and his “associates” were undercover agents, all wired to record the dealings.
Working his political connections, Marcello angled for the company to get a lucrative life insurance contract for state employees.
In this particular instance, that meant cutting a deal with Commissioner of Administration Charles E. Roemer II that included a $129,000 cash bribe, plus a percentage of monthly profits.
In a series of clandestine meetings in hotel rooms in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the FBI taped Roemer taking cash from Marcello’s associates. Both men were indicted, however, before the insurance contract received final approval — and both were later convicted as well.
They Said It
“If you are a mayor and you shut down the government, they would put you in the ground, figuratively, within 24 hours.” —Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, on the government shutdown, on MSNBC.
“You know they’re all kind of like Marvin in Pulp Fiction. You know they just got shot in the face and they didn’t do anything wrong.” —U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, on government workers, on CNN.
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