Posted on 11/24/2015 4:09:08 PM PST by abb
Governor-elect John Bel Edwards told Republican House leaders Tuesday afternoon that he backed New Orleans Rep. Walt Leger III, a fellow Democrat as Speaker of the House, Majority Leader Lance Harris said.
The Republican majority in the Louisiana House would prefer one its members in the top leadership role and passed a resolution to that effect during a meeting in the State Capitol.
The 61 GOP representatives in the 105-member Louisiana House met for several hours behind closed doors to discuss how to handle the incoming administration of a Democratic Party governor. Traditionally, Louisiana governors choose the leaders of each chamber, approve the choice of committee chairmen and sometimes the individual legislators assigned to key committees. It’s a power unusual in other states that also have a constitution requiring co-equal branches of government.
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Even if the House were 95/105 Republican, the Speaker under Edwards would be a Democrat from the remaining ten members.
Vitter has matched Huey Pierce Long, Jr.’s record. Both have lost one election for governor.
I believe it is SOP only in LA, the only state with the jungle primary.
CA and WA have jungle primaries now.
Actually, WA and CA have a “blanket primary,” which is a bit different than LA’s “jungle primary.” In the blanket primary, everyone runs on the same ballot regardless of party, and the top teo finishers on primary day (which could be a candidate with 99% and a write-in with less than 1%) meet in the general election a few months later. In LA’s “jungle primary,” the “primary” is on the general-election day, with the top finisher bei g elected if he got 50%+1, and with a run-off a coue of weeks later between the top two finishers if no one got over 50%.
Thank you for correcting and clarifying that point.
Both are fagitronic, I’d say the “Jungle” is worse though, it’s corrosive to GOP unity.
I was glad when they got rid it for federal races at least but they up and put it back after 1 election!
I’m gonna be pissed if the CA Senate race is between 2 rats. That would be one urine soaked “blanket”.
Given the RINOs as of late, they’re a special shade of asparagus-accented urine.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/john_bel_edwards_wants_new_orl.html
John Bel Edwards wants New Orleans Democrat to lead Republican House
John Bel Edwards To State House Republicans: ‘Screw You, I Want A Democrat Speaker’
November 24 21:39 2015
by Kevin Boyd
It’s been up in the air who would be Speaker of the House since John Bel Edwards was elected governor. In this state, it has been a custom that the governor appoints the leadership of both legislative chambers. Senate President John Alario is expected to be reelected, but it was unclear until today which way John Bel Edwards was going.
The House Republican Delegation met today and agreed unanimously that the Speaker of the House should be a Republican. After all, Republicans not only retained their majority in the House but they actually gained two seats.
Delegation chairman State Rep. Lance Harris (R-Alexandria) said that while the Delegation is willing to work with Edwards to fix the state’s problems, it’s best that a Republican Speaker should help with the task. “We believe than an independent Republican speaker, being backed by the majority Republican Delegation, can be most effective in tackling the challenges we face.†said Harris in a press release.
If the Delegation gets its way, it would go a long way to making Louisiana’s political climate functional. It would create a truly independent Legislature for the first time in decades.
But John Bel wouldn’t have that. Harris took his release to the Transition Office and gave it to Edwards. A source close to the Delegation tells The Hayride that State Rep. Sam Jones (D-Franklin) was in the room with Edwards. Edwards then called State Rep. Walt Leger (D-New Orleans) and put him on the speaker. Edwards told Leger that he was his choice for speaker, while Harris was in the room. Edwards then told Leger do whatever it took to get the 9 Republican votes to win. Then Edwards told Harris he was free to run whoever he wanted, but they would lose.
Edwards has not only decided to treat the House of Representatives as if it was Democrat controlled, but he personally insulted Lance Harris. This is playing old school Chicago-style politics. This is giving the middle finger to Lance Harris, House Republicans, and their constituents.
What will now likely happen is that Republicans will now engage in a scorched Earth campaign against the Edwards agenda. Instead of muddying the waters, Republicans will now stand firmly opposed if Walt Leger becomes Speaker. There will also be consequences for the Republican turncoats.
Julia O’Donoghue of the Times-Picayune is also reporting that Leger is Edwards’s pick for Speaker. Her reporting makes it seem that Leger is all but certain to get the job and she’s probably right.
John Bel Edwards said Sunday he was going to govern Louisiana in a “moderate, inclusive†fashion. The reality is, he’s going to govern as a poor man’s Edwin Edwards. Just like Edwin, John Bel is going to bully and push around those who don’t go along with him.
We’re pretty sure that’s not what Louisiana voted for on Saturday night.
“A Dem will be Speaker: it’s tradition, and many Republicans will cheerfully go along. They don’t want to be called “obstructionistsâ€.”
It will be a crying shame if they go along with this. The guy they want to be Speaker is a New Orleans Dem which should speak volumes. I know they do things differently in Louisiana, but the Republicans shouldn’t get beaten down because Edwards won by a lot over the deeply flawed Vitter. And that’s because the GOP won everything else (legislature, attorney general, SOS, lieutenant governor, etc) generally in a landslide. As an example, voters overwhelmingly chose for attorney general the extremely conservative Tea Party right-winger Jeff Landry over the more ‘moderate’ Dem-turned-Republican Buddy Caldwell
Edwards ran as a Republican lite (socially very conservative) and that is clearly the direction LA voters want. So the House Republicans shouldn’t let the Dems take the top box in the House, especially considering that they just expanded their majority there, too.
What you write applies to 49 states but not LA, where the governor chooses leaders of both state House and Senate.
There are differences in the LA brand and those in CA and WA but the same general principle.
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