2008 was a banner year for political stories in Louisiana. Each new year seems to one-up the previous with more sensational scandals and bigger upsets.
Clancy Dubos, once again, has put together the starting line-up for This Year in Louisiana Politics.
You can read his article in full at its source -> HERE <-
I’ll attach excerpts below. First, I want to add a tie for the number one spot.
(My) 1. Governor Jindal’s handling of Hurricane Gustav - Put the Legislative Pay Raise issue aside (though Clancy has it batting seventh and playing center field); in the end, he handled it appropriately. Gustav was Governor Jindal’s chance at tilting in the lists. With Legislative debates raging back and forth, you can direct blame at any one of a hundred people. That’s not the case when a Hurricane hits you between the eyes. It’s truly sink or swim time, no pun intended. His predecessor did not fair well when it was her turn, which was a key factor in her decision to not seek re-election. The Wunderkind handled Gustav like an old pro.
Here are the stories per Clancy:
1. Bill Jefferson’s Political Demise - Who would have thought that the mighty Jefferson Machine would be brought to its knees by a humble, soft-spoken, Vietnamese-American, political unknown who finished fifth in a local legislative race a year earlier? Truly, Republican Anh “Joseph” Cao’s victory over Dollar Bill was a David-versus-Goliath tale…
2. Mary Landrieu’s Re-election - Louisiana’s senior U.S. senator won by her biggest margin yet — nearly 120,000 votes — proving once again that her opponents underestimate her at their own peril…
3. GOP Sweeps Louisiana Congressional Elections - That’s right, Republicans won all seven contested Louisiana congressional elections this year — the year that Democrats thought they could stage a comeback…
4. Cannizzaro Wins DA’s Race - Former Judge Leon Cannizzaro survived a barrage of attacks to win a bitterly contested Orleans Parish DA’s race. He did it by putting together a bi-racial coalition that should serve as a template for the next mayor — and that’s not saying that the next mayor will or should be white…
5. Ethics Reform - It seems so long ago now, particularly after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s messy fall from grace. Yet, less than 11 months ago, the nation showered praise on Louisiana (and its new governor) for enacting a much tougher set of ethics laws. Of course, the new laws don’t apply even-handedly — the governor’s office and top staff are immune from transparency requirements. For now.
6. Federal Investigations - Jim Letten may or may not stay on as U.S. attorney, but he already has left his mark on local politics. In 2008, his office indicted the siblings of Dollar Bill Jefferson in multiple cases, sent restaurateur Stan “Pampy” Barre to prison (after getting him to wear a wire), indicted and convicted state Sen. Derrick Shepherd of Marrero and launched a new investigation into the local NOAH scandal — which was triggered by blogger Karen Gadbois. By any measure, that’s one helluva year.
7. The Legislative Pay Raise Debacle - We now know how it all went down: new Gov. Bobby Jindal promised leges he would not veto their pay raise bill if they voted for his voucher bill. Nobody anticipated the public backlash — and lawmakers certainly never anticipated Jindal’s ensuing vetoes of pet projects (which seemed remarkably tied to how leges voted on the voucher bill). Voter disdain for the pay raise was so intense that even Jindal’s stratospheric popularity plunged — until he broke his promise to lawmakers and vetoed it…
8. Louisiana’s Fiscal Roller Coaster - State officials began the year with a binge, spending a surplus of more than $1 billion. Now, less than a year later, they’re singing the blues about a projected deficit of almost $2 billion…
9. The New Orleans School Board - Perhaps the most underreported political story of the year is the political and policy sea change that is coming to the Orleans Parish School Board as a result of this year’s elections. The new board will be decidedly more conservative, anti-union and whiter than any board in the last two decades. If you think school board meetings produced fireworks before Katrina, stay tuned.
10. Louisiana’s New Supreme Court Majority - Once again, this bucks a national trend, as Barack Obama’s election as president will no doubt give us a more moderate U.S. Supreme Court. Here in Louisiana, retiring Chief Justice Pascal Calogero was replaced by Republican Judge Greg Guidry of Jefferson Parish, whose election gives the court’s “conservative” faction a 4-3 edge.
What other stories do you think deserved to make the list?
