Jeremy Alford/Lapolitics
Treasurer John Schroder hasn’t yet been on the job for a full month, but he’s keeping tabs on the ongoing budget chatter and the political mood at the State Capitol heading into next year’s legislative sessions.
Schroder said in an interview last week that he intends to keep his office’s entire 83-person staff in place. And a review of departmental processes, from leave time to purchasing and travel, has already started.
But his top priority, in terms of closing out 2017, is to communicate with the top bond rating agencies to let them know how the budget process will work in 2018 and what that means for revenue.
That said, Schroder’s attention will eventually turn to the Legislature.
“I’m not going to be a ghost,” said Schroder, adding he has already had meetings with lawmakers about bills that are being drafted. “I will be actively involved and I will be here daily.”
Asked about the governor’s revenue plan that was announced last week, Schroder said, “It’s going to be very difficult to raise taxes in this state. I won’t even argue if we need it or not. The citizens don’t want it… Look, you have to clean a house before you put furniture in it. We’re buying furniture and don’t have a house.”
He added, “The governor and I have always had a cordial relationship. I expect that to continue. We’re sort of cut from same cloth — similar backgrounds, similar neighborhoods. I’ll support the governor when he’s right. And it won’t be personal, because personally I like the guy.”
Schroder did say the he was concerned that last year’s tax and budget task force, which he created legislatively and the governor is relying on for his own plan, didn’t spend enough effort investigating budgeting practices.
“The only thing the task force really accomplished was on the tax side,” the treasurer said. “My position has always been the same. I think we need to start on the budget side. Not the revenue side.”
Here are a few more highlights from Schroder’s interview…
— On Speaker Taylor Barras: “We have talked at length. We spoke Tuesday. I’ll continue to ork closely with Taylor. I don’t always agree with him, but I like disagreeing with him because he’s a nice guy. You just can’t yell at the speaker.”
— On Secretary of State Tom Schedler’s proposal to eliminate midterm special elections, like the one that got Schroder elected: “I support it 100 percent.”
— On his decision to fully pause his campaign operation: “I did it on purpose. When you talk to people and listen to people about why they are losing faith in the process, it’s the politics. That bothers me, as a veteran, that what built this country people have lost faith in… I always let my work speak for itself, and I hope to do the same thing as treasurer.”
— On testifying before the Revenue Estimating Conference: “I’m going to try to do that more regularly, whenever the REC is meeting.”
— On budget cuts: “I met with (Commissioner of Administration) Jay (Dardenne) and he told me to prepare for a 10 percent reduction. I told my staff to prepare for the worse case scenario.”
— On the treasurer’s authority: “I’m going to work hard on matters related to transparency and accountability. You don’t need legislation to do that.”
Political History: Clinton, Edwards and the other Troopergate
By late December of 1993, Edwin Edwards was looking forward to some rest.
The 66-year-old governor, then in his fourth term, had spent the majority of the month shuttling between tense casino license negotiations and packed parties at the Governor’s Mansion. With a few free hours on one quiet afternoon, the governor decided to head out for some horseback riding, a favorite activity of his.
Shortly after Edwards mounted his mare, however, the horse bolted and ran, suddenly bucking her rider. Thrown from the saddle, the governor landed hard, painfully jamming his shoulder and injuring his back.
Edwards was taken to the hospital, where doctors found that he had fractured a vertebra in the fall. The governor, bedridden with his injuries, was carefully attended by the physicians and his then-girlfriend, Candace Piccou, an LSU nursing student.
While Edwards recovered, reports surfaced alleging that President Bill Clinton had used State Troopers to facilitate extramarital affairs when he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton, Edwards’ old friend from their days as neighboring governors, viciously denied the charges.
The ensuing scandal became known as “Troopergate.”
With the national press consumed with “Troopergate,” Louisiana reporters were curious if Edwards had conducted his affairs — if there were any — in a manner similar to Clinton. The governor, after all, had always played to the perception that he had been womanizing for years, even telling reporters during the 1991 campaign that he and opponent David Duke were “both wizards under the sheets.”
When a reporter reached Edwards’ bedside phone and asked if he also used State Troopers to arrange affairs, the governor simply said, “I’m too egotistical for that, I handle things on my own.”
The quote ran the following morning, Christmas Eve.
They Said It
“Mr. Graves, you’re going to guarantee this is only about fish and not about Cajuns, right?”
— Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, asking Congressman Garret Graves about his coastal restoration legislation
“Actually, Mr. Chairman, you made a good point, because we were talking yesterday about whether we can designate Cajuns as fish.“
—Graves, in response
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