Politics Column for Sunday 020512

Edwards may not ride in parade

Former Gov. Edwin Edwards’ battle with pneumonia may sideline his plans to be king of the Feb. 18 Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade in downtown Baton Rouge.

Edwards’ wife, Trina, said her husband still is recuperating.

“We are hoping he is well enough, but I can’t say for certain he will be. He’s still not one hundred percent and his health is my main concern right now,” she said by email Friday.

The annual ball, parade and golf tournament are coordinated by the Society for the Preservation of Lagniappe in Louisiana.

The society’s treasurer, Dusty Kling, said there are no plans to replace Edwards as king. He said a cardboard cutout of the former governor may parade through the streets of downtown Baton Rouge instead of Edwards himself.

“He’ll still be the king, and we’ll come up with something,” Kling said.

Robideaux ribbed about winning post

Members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay swiftly elected state Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, as chairman Monday and promptly ribbed him.

Robideaux also is the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. He garnered the position after sparring with the governor over the loftier position of House speaker.

Robideaux wanted to become speaker. Gov. Bobby Jindal backed state Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles. Kleckley ultimately got the job.

“Don’t you wish every election was that easy?” state Rep. Karen St. Germain, D-Pierre Part, quipped Monday after Robideaux was selected chairman of the joint capital outlay committee.

“No comment,” Robideaux replied.

Twitter not enough to keep up to date

State Superintendent of Education John White told an audience that, during a recent visit to a public high school, he let students know that he used Twitter, which he thought would show them he was up to date.

But one student replied, “That’s great, welcome to 2006,” White recalled with a laugh.

Jindal objects
to ‘top-down view’

Gov. Bobby Jindal last week called for a leader in one of Louisiana’s largest teacher unions to resign because of comments he made about the governor’s proposals to give parents more flexibility in choosing schools by directing some taxpayer dollars toward private education companies and schools.

Michael Walker-Jones of the Louisiana Association of Educators, commenting on some of the hurdles to increasing parental involvement, said: “If I’m a parent in poverty, I have no clue because I’m trying to struggle and live day to day.”

The Ivy League-educated Jindal said he was “outraged” at the “elitism” of Walker-Jones’ statement.

State Treasurer John N. Kennedy then made comments similar to those of Walker-Jones’ in an editorial he wrote for newspapers about an earlier struggle to improve public school education. As an aide to then Gov. Buddy Roemer, Kennedy was involved in that revamp effort.

Kennedy wrote: “Parental involvement is also important, but it’s hard, if not impossible, for government to involve parents in their kid’s education if they are unable or don’t want to.”

When Jindal was asked Friday morning, through his press office, if he would now call for Kennedy’s resignation, his press secretary, Frank Collins, responded with a prepared statement late Friday.

Collins said in his own name: “We strongly reject those who hold an elitist, top-down view that low income parents have ‘no clue’ when it comes to their children’s education.”

Several pre-election polls found Kennedy more popular among Republicans than the governor.

Landrieu laughs at sheltered upbringing

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told an education summit last week that, as a teenager who attended a Catholic school, she was shocked to see the poor conditions at a public school she visited in New Orleans.

Landrieu said it was an awakening for someone who had a somewhat sheltered upbringing.

“I didn’t even meet a Protestant until I went to LSU,” she said, prompting laughter.

Two candidates vie for N.O. council

A legislator and a former legislator are vying against each other to become New Orleans’ city councilman at-large.

Running for the position are state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, and former state Sen. Cynthia Willard-Lewis, D-New Orleans. City Councilwoman Stacy Head also is seeking the seat in the March 24 election.

Badon said he believes he can push Head into a runoff.

Willard-Lewis lost a bid for re-election to the state Senate last fall when she and fellow state Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, ended up in the same district as a result of redistricting.

Adley: Retiring staff started at young age

A retiring Senate staff member got a round of applause Monday at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay.

State Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, said construction budget specialist Carol Fitch is retiring after 30 years of work for state government.

“Thirty-four years,” Fitch corrected him.

Adley joked that Fitch started working when she was 3 years old.

Jindal’s education plan gets high praise

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education proposals got a glowing review in a Wall Street Journal editorial Tuesday.

The piece said the governor wants to create the largest voucher and school choice program in America.

It said Jindal is starting his second term “with his education moon shot.

“It would be one giant leap for Louisiana students,” the paper said.

Edmonson builds case for pay raises

State Police commander Mike Edmonson used some recent success stories from the State Police Crime Lab last week to get the state Civil Service Commission to go along with raising pay levels for analysts who work there.

Civil Service staff had rejected the proposal, suggesting that the agency use commission pre-approved special entrance pay rates instead of adopting the permanent change in pay structure.

Edmonson took his case to the commission using some high-profile examples of crime lab work that has led to some big arrests and convictions, including that of convicted serial killer Derrick Todd Lee.

The permanent increase in pay grade levels is needed to recruit and retain staff who are being wooed away for higher pay at private crime labs and those of other states, Edmonson said.

The Commission agreed.

Civil Service panel re-elects chairman

The seven-member state Civil Service Commission re-elected David Duplantier, of Covington, as its chairman last week. Commission members also gave John McLure, of Alexandria, the nod for another term as vice chairman.

Duplantier and McLure are both lawyers.

The Civil Service Commission oversees state employee hiring, pay and other personnel practices.

Vitter to address Press Club Monday

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., will address the Press Club at noon Monday.

Press Club meets on Mondays at the De La Ronde Hall in downtown Baton Rouge at 320 Third St.

Lunch, which is served at 11:30 a.m., is $12 for members and $15 for nonmembers.

The public is invited, but only members of the Press Club and members of the news media are allowed to ask questions during the question-and-answer portion of the program.

Miss. GOP women president to speak

Rita Wray, the 16th president of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women, will address the Capital City Republican Women at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The group meets at the State Archives Building, 9125 Essen Lane.

Compiled by the Capitol news bureau. Contact email address is [e-mail].