Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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Feb. 5
The Houma Courier on coastal restoration in the Gulf of Mexico:
Our region faces an urgent challenge in preserving and restoring our coast.
One of the most persistent problems we face is our coastal crisis. We are losing an alarming amount of land, a situation that is bringing us ever closer to the Gulf of Mexico and leaving us more and more vulnerable to future storms.
At the same time, our land is sinking and the water level is rising, exacerbating the problems that have endured for decades.
How well we are able to respond to this dilemma and how successful we are in turning it back will go a long way toward determining how long we, our children and our grandchildren will continue to live here.
While we have been appallingly slow to address our coastal issues, progress has begun to occur. And perhaps momentum now can take hold and carry our efforts forward.
One of our most positive signs is the development of a 50-year plan by the state. The Coastal Master Plan, which is currently undergoing its five-year update, envisions $50 billion in coastal projects and other work aimed at making as many of us as feasible safer from storms.
Even if all the money were available - which it is not - the battle would be uphill. Our long neglect of our coastal plight has made the situation much more severe than it was even 10 or 20 years ago.
Still, it is encouraging to see a plan. That alone is evidence that the state is working on addressing our problems.
And, if the coastal plan is fully implemented, it could have another enormous benefit for our region.
Not only would we be making ourselves safer, we could be creating jobs in water management.
As the oil downturn continues, our workforce is still suffering. The oilfield will return to its usual health eventually. But even when it does, having a more diverse economy will certainly be a positive outcome.
“People are thinking about how do we make this an industry,” said Simone Maloz, executive director of Thibodaux-based coastal advocacy group Restore or Retreat. “And how do we export this industry to other places as well. It’s been a nice silver lining to this problem that we’re facing now is that this could be workforce development, it could be diversity, and it could be an economic driver for our area.”
It is exciting to think that we could be seeing real progress in combatting our coastal loss. But it is also heartening to envision a future along a restored coast that supports a newly diversified workforce.
Coastal restoration will be working for us.
Now, we have to put our efforts into making the coastal plan a reality. Some money is being devoted to it, but it’s not nearly the tens of billions that will be required.
Our area has put its own money to work. And the state is taking a renewed interest in paying for this urgent work. But the federal government has yet to embrace this as a priority.
When and if that takes place, our region could reap tremendous rewards.
Online: https://www.houmatoday.com/
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Feb. 6
The American Press of Lake Charles on Louisiana’s new Independent Party:
Louisiana voters who wanted to be called independents couldn’t register that way until an independent party was formed, and it has finally happened. However, those voters who don’t want to belong to any party have only one choice - register under the “No Party” banner.
Former state Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Ruston, sponsored legislation in 2011 that would have allowed political candidates not registered with a political party to list “independent” on the primary or general election ballot. However, the bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Bobby Jindal, who said it was in conflict with existing law.
Gallot was in the Senate in 2014 and tried again to help voters who want to be independents without having to join a party. A Senate committee would only accept the measure if it simply removed the prohibition against forming an Independent Party, and it became Act 594 of 2014.
Pat Bergeron, a Democrat turned Republican, is the chairman, and Bill Bryan, an election attorney, is the treasurer of the new Independent Party. The party has some 56,000 registered voters, but it is still in the process of organizing.
Louisiana had 2.97 million voters at the start of 2017. That includes 1.32 million Democrats, 893,601 Republicans and 763,281 in other parties or no party. The secretary of state’s website reveals Democrats have lost nearly 193,000 voters over the last decade. Republicans gained over 202,000 voters, and the other party and no party group added over 157,000 voters.
The statistics on the number of independent voters in this country are confusing. Pew Research shows there are 39 percent of the people who say they are independents, 32 percent who say they are Democrats and 23 percent who say they are Republicans.
What voters do is much different. One report said 48 percent of voters identify as Democrats or lean Democratic and 43 percent identify with or lean Republican. That leaves 9 percent who are independent
Bryan told The Advocate he’s frustrated with the rhetoric of the two major parties in Washington, D.C., and at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge.
“Things have gotten so polarized. It’s hard to have a discussion even,” Bryan said. “If people know you are a Democrat or if you are a Republican, you shut down.”
Robbie Hogan, an LSU political scientist who studies political parties, told the newspaper it’s understandable how people feel. They want another option, he said, because they are tired of voting for the “lesser of two evils,” which often leads to undesirable consequences.
Whether the new Independent Party becomes that option remains to be seen. Bryan said the election of President Donald Trump and the popularity of Bernie Sanders, an independent who votes with Democrats, indicates voters are looking for something different.
The new party would be wise to set up a fairly loose structure that leaves room for independent voters who express a wide range of opinions. Otherwise, it could become dogmatic like the two major parties.
Online: https://www.americanpress.com/
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Feb. 6
The Advocate of New Orleans on Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and his stance on an employment standard:
In the frequent sniping against Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, by Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, the former now can throw a GOP name back at the latter: President Donald Trump.
The new president has upheld the orders by former President Barack Obama that federal employment policies will include specific protections against anti-gay prejudices, so that U.S. government workers are not at risk in their jobs because of their home lives.
A perfectly reasonable notion, and one that Landry has had trouble grasping.
Landry sued the governor, refusing the attorney general’s traditional pro forma approval of legal contracts. His reason: The contracts included a nondiscrimination clause.
That case is wending through the courts, with the attorney general having won an argument narrowly focused on the question of gubernatorial authority, not the rightness of the issue.
But that Trump has done the same thing bounces off of Landry, an avid supporter of the new president.
In an interview with the USA Today Network, Landry declined to say whether he supports or opposes the federal order. “That’s a federal question, and I’m a state attorney general,” he told the publication.
As Landy has enthusiastically endorsed suing the U.S. government on political questions while Obama was in office, the whiff of hypocrisy is difficult to avoid.
Obama acted on the principle that employment policies are supposed to be set by the executive branch under the general terms of laws established by Congress. In the state litigation, Landry is arguing that Edwards’ order creates new law, but in our view the governor is exercising his authority in the executive branch in a way that others have done before him.
Whatever the outcome of the disputes, which strike us as more political than legal, an overarching question is whether Edwards is right. Does it make Louisiana more competitive as an employer, as a purchaser of contracted goods and services, to require that business is done without discrimination?
The answer to the question is obvious. Across the nation, companies are rejecting the notion that anti-gay prejudices are a basis for actions in employment or contracting. In Louisiana, major employers have put into place similar standards.
If there is political benefit to Landry’s aggressive actions, specifically contrary to those embraced by Trump, that will be determined at future occasions in the polls. We just say that Louisiana’s government will lag well behind standard business practices if Landry’s view prevails in this case.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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