Most of the talk JT has heard this week comes from the Parish Council meeting Monday night. After reading Carolyn Roy’s account in our paper, JT was eager for more. He’ s pretty sure Mrs. Carolyn just hit the highlights—-or lowlights—of the meeting. So he is hoping for a sequel of what else might have been said or implied by the council members. With the Council pressed for funds, JT thinks they should consider selling preferred seating for their meetings. Since it’s a public meeting they can’t charge an admission fee, but for a seat closer to the action they might be able to get away with it. Or they could make it a pay per view presentation. Of course JT is kidding. BUT what they could and should do is to start acting like responsible adults and take the their office as an elected official seriously.
——-
JT is hearing talk from some Parish Commissioners about wanting to go back to the Police Jury form of government. The only thing JT has to say about that is…even with the police jury form of government, we will STILL have the money issues. The problem isn’t the form of government; it’s very likely the members themselves. As JT has said before…You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem.
——-
A couple of things JT gleaned from Senator Louie Bernard’s talk last week to the Agitators are, if you think that because this is a fiscal session and each lawmaker can only submit five bills that it will be fast and boring…..think again. Louisiana politics is NEVER either of those. One key thing is that reapportionment will not be addressed this session. That will be done in a Special Session next year. That’s because census numbers won’t be available until September. So the deadline for redrawing district lines for the state has been moved from the last day of this year to the last day of 2022. There are still lots of other hot issues to tackle. Besides, the Legislature almost always goes down to the last possible moment to complete the session. JT thinks one item that is flying under the radar is what’s going on at LSU. With all the stink coming out of LSU and their mishandling of incidents involving their athletic department and women….look for that to surface as one of the hot issues.
——-
Speaking of the senator; Louie, JT and others who have dealt with his district office know kudos belong to his legislative aid, Connie Melder. Things have certainly been unusual for the senator and his legislative aid who have dealt with the curveballs thrown by COVID. Louie said one of the best things about the job is getting to help people with their problems dealing with state government. He said a lot of their successes have been through the diligence of Connie and praised her dedication. ——-