Louisiana Voice

In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, “Ah’m proud–Ah say, Ah’m proud to say that Louisiana’s premier political cartoonist has come out of retirement to be featured from time to time in LouisianaVoice posts. That tickles me like Miss Prissy’s feathers in mah ear. Heah’s a couple of his initial offerings:”

(with apologies to L.D. Knox)

A post on social media by an unidentified Bossier City resident gave further insight to the horrendous shooting deaths of eight children in the Cedar Grove section of Shreveport over the weekend.

The post was anonymous because the copy of it that was sent to LouisianaVoice did not contain the author’s name. LouisianaVoice has chosen to reprint the post with the original grammar unchanged:

“The suspect [Shamar Elkins] was a former young soldier of mine and I have known him since he was a child,” it said of the shooter and the ensuring events that ended at the writer’s home. “He called me Uncle as I helped raise him without a father present.

“I have no involvement in the actual incident. The suspect went on a chase with police to my residence after the murders, I guess looking for that safety that he had in me as his adopted uncle and trusted offices. I had spoken with him just yesterday about his possible divorce. I didn’t pick up any indicators of murder/suicide and I should have!

“I was totally unaware of all of the events taking place this morning when my cameras suddenly activated that there was activity in my doorway. I went and heard his voice, My Nephew, and then opened the door unknowingly, and he was standing there with his short barrel AR carbine. We talked for a little under a minute and then he put the barrel to his mouth and DONE. When he fired, I assume that the police thought he was shooting at them or me so they then opened fire. I got some glass in my arm from secondary kinetics.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE BABIES! They are in a much better place now I know, but the imprint of this tragedy is deep and hurts! Please pray.

Of all the elections for public office that are held in this state, the ones that consistently leave me the most disgusted and frustrated are the ones for judges—at any level.

Take, for instance, the one for the Louisiana Supreme Court’s 1^st District race next month between William “Billy” Burris and Blair Downing-Edwards, both Republicans.

And the last word of the preceding paragraph is part of the disturbing problem I have with judges’ elections.

Last week, I received a mailout attacking Burris. I don’t know Burris. In fact, I never heard of him until I received the mailer that screamed out, “Billy Burris protects powerful predators instead of kids. We can’t trust him to keep us safe.”

Well, that certainly grabs one’s attention, doesn’t it?

On one side of the mailout said, “A local school official and political insider was found guilty of second-degree child cruelty. Judge Billy Burris refused to hear the case and called the child abuser ‘“’a good man.’”

Flip it over, and the mailer repeats the charge, explaining that the “political insider was found guilty on 4 counts of child cruelty” for:

• “Putting his hand over the mouth and nose of a 4-year-old until the child went limp.
• Wrapping packing tape around the heads of three 13-year-old boys.

It cited as its source for the information The Times-Picayune of Nov. 22, 2022.

And while those disciplinary acts surely appear to have been over the top, they certainly did not rise to the level of the far more serious crimes of sexual abuse which the ad’s breathless headline implies at first glance to anyone who reads no further.

In short, it’s gutter politics that’s beneath the dignity of what a judge’s election should be and does nothing to further the case for either candidate, both of whom should be running on the strict basis of interpretation of law–and certainly not partisan politics–as it applies to future cases that might come before the State Supreme Court.

Which brings us to 22^nd JDC Judge Burris and his opponent, First Circuit Court of Appeal Blair Downing-Edwards and the qualifications they claim make them the choice for the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Burris touts himself as “a conservative, rule-of-law-oriented judge. As proof if his “conservative” creds, he points to the fact that he is a member of the Federalist Society and a “lifetime” member of the National Rifle Association” and has received endorsements from Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (MCPAC) and SouthPAC, “reflecting support from the state’s business and conservative communities,” according to his web page which sports a photo of him all serious and carrying a shotgun over his shoulder like some serious American hunter.

As for Downing-Edwards, her television ad promotes her as a “rock-solid Republican” even as a video image of President Ineptstein appears with him arriving at some event. It’s a not so thinly-veiled effort to link her campaign to his coattails. Likewise, her web page tells us in somewhat contradictory terms that she “has built her career on a conservative judicial philosophy” but with “respect for the rule of law, and an unwavering belief that judges must apply the law as written—not legislate from the bench.”

If that is so, then I must respectfully ask why in hell she saw the need to remind us that she is a “longtime Republican” and of her “conservative judicial philosophy” and that Louisiana “deserves justices who are independent, rooted in conservative principles…”?

It has long been my contention that candidates for judgeships should lay partisan politics and personal philosophies aside and restrict their qualifications to the singular premise of interpreting the law as it is written and not how one feels it should apply to their personal tenets.

Adhering to that one principle is the only way a judge can be fair and impartial. Any other consideration in handing down a ruling is nothing more than grandstanding in the tradition of Clarence Thomas.

One last thought: at the bottom of that mailout attacking Burris was the disclaimer: “Paid for by Defend and Protect Louisiana: not authorized by any candidate of candidate’s committee.”

But with only Burris and Downing-Edwards in the race, it may as well have had her name all over it.

We’re halfway through our Spring fundraiser and we’re short of our goal, so you’re being respectfully asked to help us if you’re in a financial position to do so.

If you like stories like the two below, help us keep them coming. Associated Press let us know about that lame quote by Ralph Reed as he defended President Inepstein’s posting of him as Jesus trying to revive a deceased (or at least a very ill) person.

But other than being a person “who sits on Trump’s faith advisory board and who once served as leader of the Christian Coalition,” as the AP explained to us, just who is Ralph Reed?

Well, we at LouisianaVoice knew and we duly reported that he was head of the Christian Coalition and was used by lobbyists Jack Abramson and Michael Scanlan and Repugnantcan political operative Grover Norquist to funnel about $7 million from the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe’s gambling interests into Reed’s Christian Coalition, ostensibly to fight the expansion of gambling by the Coushatta Tribe in Alabama next door–only they failed to tell the Christian Coalition that it was funneling money from one gambling interest to fight another because the Christian Coalition was opposed to gambling of any kind, anywhere. Reed also received $25,000 per month as a retainer for the operation, known as “Gimmee Five.” Norquist was used as a conduit for the money-laundering scheme for which Abramoff and Scanlan each went to prison while Norquist and Reed skated to bigger and better things.

LouisianaVoice also explained in the story immediately below this one how money greases the wheels of legislation, but not necessarily in a way that is best for the special interests but not necessarily good for the rest of us.

That’s why we exist. So, if you can chip in a few bucks, it would be greatly appreciated. Just go to: https://louisianavoice.com/ and scroll down to click on the yellow rectangular “KEEP US INDEPENDENT” button. From there, just follow the directions to make a ONE-TIME contribution. Those making contributions of $50 or more will received a signed copy of my latest book, The Dinosaur Club. It’s about a group of retired reporters in their 70s and 80s who accidentally stumble upon a child sex trafficking ring. They hitch up their Depends, drink their Metamucil and Ensure, adjust their hearing aids, grab their walkers and canes and set about attempting a takedown of this scourge on society.

Want to know who controls Congress? Your legislature? Perhaps even your local governmental agencies?

All you have to do is go here, type in dates, say from 01/01/2003 to 01/01/2026, and arbitrarily put in an amount of from $500 to $5000 and for “Contributor’s Name, you’ll have to repeat the process, depending on how many contributors you’re looking for. But for the same of argument, type in “oil” one time, then go back later and type in “petroleum,” and later, something like “refinery.”

If you want to expand your search, you may want to take a look at “nursing home,” “pharmaceutical,” “insurance,” “chemical,” or any special-interest group that comes to mind.

But for the time being, let’s limit our search to oil, petroleum and chemical interests and you might better understand why the Louisiana Legislature is incrementally removing the safeguards that were established to protect us from the systemic poisoning of our water and air.

It wasn’t enough that two years ago, Gov. Jeff Landry signed off on SENATE BILL 503 by Sen. Eddie Lambert (R-Gonzales), creating Act 181 which set up criminal penalties for citizens who monitor air quality in their neighborhoods with the use of an affordable monitor that had been approved by the EPA.

LouisianaVoice REPORTED LAST JUNE on the first anniversary of SB 503, which established unrealistic fines of $32,500 per day, up to $1 million for intentional violations, a pretty arbitrary term in and of itself. The new law prompted a LAWSUIT that claimed vulnerable communities (like the 100-mile stretch along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, for example) without warnings of poor air quality. And just today (April 16), a Senate committee, bending to opposition from the petro-chemical industry, failed to approve improved air monitoring at Louisiana industrial plants.

But apparently even all that wasn’t good enough to satisfy the petro-chemical industry. Now comes House Bill 804 which shields oil companies from climate lawsuits, according New Orleans news service THE LENS.

The bill was authored by Rep. Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles).

Okay, he’s a Repugnantcan and he’s from Lake Charles, another area of the state dependent largely on the petro-chemical industry.

Geymann served in the Louisiana House from 2004 to 2016, after which he was term-limited. But in 2021, he returned after the resignation of Stephen Dwight. Interesting how some of these guys seem to make a career out of public “service.”

Going back to 2003, the year he first ran for the House, we find that the petro-chemical industry, affiliated companies, law firms, political action committees (PACs), lobbyists and individuals contributed a whopping $155,875 to his campaigns. And that includes only those contributions of $500 and up.

Granted, he may well have had beaucoup smaller contributions of $10, $25, $50 and even $100 from individuals not connected to those industries.

Lambert on the other hand, racked up $133,650 from the petro-chemical industry and affiliated organizations since 2009.

So, let’s be realistic. With dozens of oil and gas interests, lobbyists, etc. kicking in a minimum of $500 each and you, with your single $25 contribution, are seeking damages for your chronic respiratory condition aggravated by the repeated release of toxic chemicals, just who do you think is going to capture a legislator’s attention? That’s pretty much a no-brainer.

I’m not saying Louisiana legislators are for sale but it surely looks as though some, at least, might be for rent.

Of course, that applies just as accurately to judges, Public Service Commission members, Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General (check the contract awarded by that office to contributing attorneys, insurance companies and utility and transportation companies). And don’t thing for a nanosecond that pay-to-play doesn’t influence (read: dictate) congressional legislation.