Pivotal election year
Everyone recognizes that this is a pivotal year in the Louisiana legislature.
In our political world we have a constant struggle between philosophy and realism. Realism always trumps philosophy. For evidence you don’t have to look any further than how the Republican controlled Congress rivaled, if not exceeded, the spending and pork distribution of the era of the Democratically controlled Congress.
Due to term limits, the Louisiana legislature will experience unprecedented turnover this year. That extensive turnover means that those returning will come in with relatively higher knowledge, experience, and seniority than ever before. Not just relatively higher, but significantly higher. For example Patrick Williams (D - Shreveport) has only a partial term under his belt, but he will enter the legislature in the top half of the legislature, seniority wise
Louisiana like every other state in the Union has one main geographic divide. Louisiana’s is roughly described as north or south of the I-10 corridor. Northern Louisiana fights for its share of government spending every legislative session, but generally only gets the scraps, because south Louisiana holds a significant majority of the population and hence political representation compared to north Louisiana.
This election gives north Louisiana a chance to tilt the playing field a bit more northerly than in the past, but only if we vote to send back our incumbent and/or experienced legislators. Experience, knowledge, and seniority quite simply translate into power and influence. Those people will get the plum committee assignments and leadership positions. That bodes well for our area.
Cities and parishes along the I-10 corridor have already banded together to leverage what they can from the government. It is time for northern Louisiana to do the same. But until they do form an I-20 and/or I-49 coalition, all we can hope for is the power and influence of experience and seniority to fight for north Louisiana’s needs in the legislature.
This is not a year for on the job training in the legislature. That is why my support of legislative candidates is behind those with experience and incumbents.
In our political world we have a constant struggle between philosophy and realism. Realism always trumps philosophy. For evidence you don’t have to look any further than how the Republican controlled Congress rivaled, if not exceeded, the spending and pork distribution of the era of the Democratically controlled Congress.
Due to term limits, the Louisiana legislature will experience unprecedented turnover this year. That extensive turnover means that those returning will come in with relatively higher knowledge, experience, and seniority than ever before. Not just relatively higher, but significantly higher. For example Patrick Williams (D - Shreveport) has only a partial term under his belt, but he will enter the legislature in the top half of the legislature, seniority wise
Louisiana like every other state in the Union has one main geographic divide. Louisiana’s is roughly described as north or south of the I-10 corridor. Northern Louisiana fights for its share of government spending every legislative session, but generally only gets the scraps, because south Louisiana holds a significant majority of the population and hence political representation compared to north Louisiana.
This election gives north Louisiana a chance to tilt the playing field a bit more northerly than in the past, but only if we vote to send back our incumbent and/or experienced legislators. Experience, knowledge, and seniority quite simply translate into power and influence. Those people will get the plum committee assignments and leadership positions. That bodes well for our area.
Cities and parishes along the I-10 corridor have already banded together to leverage what they can from the government. It is time for northern Louisiana to do the same. But until they do form an I-20 and/or I-49 coalition, all we can hope for is the power and influence of experience and seniority to fight for north Louisiana’s needs in the legislature.
This is not a year for on the job training in the legislature. That is why my support of legislative candidates is behind those with experience and incumbents.
posted by Jack McLeod at 8:54 AM
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