jgv

The Louisiana State Legislature convenes today at noon. May God Protect Us All

As always, h/t @goodjobsfirst.org

It's a lot of dollars!

In case anyone wants to add that to the drawing board

After teacher pay amendment fails, Landry says Louisiana must ‘return to the drawing board’ After voters failed to pass an amendment last month that would have made one-time stipends Louisiana teachers received last year a permanent part of their salaries, Gov. Jeff Landry wrote in an open l...

Something that feels under-discussed lately (in part because of the distraction of Amendment 2) is that one relatively easy way to raise teacher pay would be to stop giving huge tax breaks to corporations and put those dollars towards paying teachers

The reason people don't trust these efforts, btw, is the only thing the Governor has been transparent about is his belief that he and his donors should have full run of this state, however they see fit. This election really should make legislators reconsider their role in that.

Gov. Jeff Landry says the 'far left' killed Louisiana amendments. Here's what the data shows. Jeff Landry blamed defeat of four constitutional amendments on "far left liberals." Not so, say those on the left and the right.

Good stuff here www.nola.com/news/politic...

As I said before - people of all political stripes voted down the amendments put on the March ballot. The idea that this was some sort of ideological battle is not right; this was fundamentally an election about trust, which brought people together across ideological lines

Interesting

Same for Social Security, same for Medicaid, etc., etc.

Useful opportunity to note - whenever a politician talks about “reform[ing] Medicare,” unless those words are immediately followed by “to expand it to more people and services” or “to cover everyone,” they always mean cuts to Medicare

Louisiana lawmakers might revise rejected constitutional amendment on taxes • Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana legislators might put portions of a constitutional amendment overhauling state budget and tax policies back on the ballot.

Reporting from @jsodonoghue.bsky.social lailluminator.com/2025/04/01/l...

Somehow not an April Fool’s joke. But you know what they say, when nearly 2/3rds of all the people who showed up to vote in record turnout for a March election just to overwhelmingly reject your constitutional amendments, try try again

Anyway, thinking of writing a book; "How to Win Enemies, Alienate Friends, and Hoist With Your Own Petard"

And not trying to be glib. I think a lot of the current political conflict going on in Louisiana - and the reason this campaign was so acrimonious - is that Landry and his circle have made very clear whose opinions are and are not valued, who's allowed at the table to negotiate

Not the first to point this out, but remarkable that Landry is so instinctually a "you're either with me or you're against me" kind of guy that even in prepared press statements, he can't help but blame everyone but himself, even his constituents, whenever things don't go his way

The Edwin Edwards Coalition is Back and Better Than Ever

Interesting

Anyway, now that we have put this behind us, let’s do something about the insurance crisis and give Louisiana teachers and school staff an actual (and long overdue) pay raise

The amendments did get a majority of voters’ support in some parishes - but it is undeniable that these amendments were rejected by all sorts of people, of all races, colors, and creeds, and despite what the Governor and other supporters say, it’s not because we were duped

Despite the spin that the Governor and his allies are trying to make stick, the fact is that voters all across the political spectrum in Louisiana soundly rejected his continued efforts to manipulate the state constitution to serve the interests of corporations at our expense

But, if they’re interested - I firmly believe that elections should be decided by the people, not billionaires and corporate interests, and would welcome their support in fixing campaign finance in Louisiana

There is something a little funny about Landry (frequent user of his donors’ private jets), AFP + Pelican (arms of the Koch network) bellyaching about the influence of money to explain why voters rejected their clear-as-mud case for these amendments

“We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a State that is conditioned for failure,” is a hell of a thing to say about the people of the state you’re supposed to serve as Governor, but I can understand why these kinds of numbers might make anyone nervous

Amendment 2 never really guaranteed a “pay raise” for teachers. We cannot allow the Governor or the legislature to hide behind the people of Louisiana resoundingly rejecting their scheme to avoid fixing this.

It’s time that Louisiana actually gave teachers a permanent pay raise

In Louisiana energy ‘inflection point,’ who should pay for billions of dollars of new power? A yearslong debate over whether industrial customers should be able to break out of Entergy’s control over the power sector is coming to a head.

Good piece here

Imagine being a South Louisiana politician who looks at the utility services provided by Entergy and saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and also let's raise everyone's electric bills to give them even more money"

If you live in a green shaded precinct, your new voting place on Election Day will be at ReNEW Laurel (820 Jackson). Is it on the route? Lol yeah it is. The parade starts at 10am. Early vote to avoid the drama.

And for Amendment 2 as well. Just as a reminder: despite the language on the ballot, Amendment 2 does not raise pay for teachers, and in fact, doesn’t even guarantee all teachers will see their pay stay the same as it was for the past two years. More below

Good morning - today (3/22) is the last day to Early Vote in Louisiana for the March 29th Election. Please vote no to them all, thread on why for Amendments 1, 3, and 4 below notothemall.org