Over the years, I have taken Troy Hebert to task over his tenure as head of the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC). I even had to give a deposition in a lawsuit filed against Hebert by one of the agents he fired.
But I would be remiss if I did not now point out that we are in complete agreement on at least three issue: the failure of both political parties to represent Americans, lobbyists, and campaign finance.
On August 27, Hebert appeared along with Melissa Flournoy on the Jim Engster Show on Louisiana Public Radio. Both served in the Louisiana Legislature and Engster had them on together to present their viewpoints from the left (Flournoy) and the right (Hebert).
Flournoy correctly pointed out that gubernatorial candidates Eddie Rispone and U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham are placing far too much emphasis on their being in lockstep with Donald Trump, who has proven that anyone can indeed become president—even the mentally deranged.
“I’m a little surprised (they) have embraced the President so much. I’m ready for them to talk about their vision for Louisiana and the kind of leadership they can provide,” she said. “I don’t think liking the President is good enough reason to be governor. I’m ready for the governor’s race to pivot to the real issues in Louisiana—education, health care, infrastructure and making Louisiana better.
“People don’t want to talk about solutions. We stand on different sides of the street and shriek at each other when we really ought to be focusing on solutions where we can work together.”
Hebert, a staunch Trump supporter. As a former legislator and member of the Jindal administration, nailed it when he said, “Neither party is getting done what needs to be done in this country.”
Hebert would seem qualified to speak to that issue, having been a member of each party but who now calls himself a “conservative independent. I served on both (parties) and just couldn’t take either one of them.”
He then fired a broadside at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). “As somebody who was in the legislature for 16 years as both a senator and a representative, I think big business owns the legislature and owns many officials.
“The little man is either dead or on life support in the legislature,” he said. “Why don’t you just pull up the campaign finance reports and find out who gives to these candidates.” LABI, he said, is “so blatant that they hinge their support on … a report card they give every year. And you have to score a certain percentage in order to receive funding from LABI when you run for re-election.
“I can’t tell you how many times I approached legislators with a bill I thought was a good idea to help the little guy and they said, “… This is a really good bill but the problem is LABI is against it and if I vote for it, they’re going ding me on their report card and I’m not gonna get money.”
Flournoy agreed, saying that LABI and the Chemical Association control and big corporations “… control and influence every decision made in Louisiana. They’re looking out for their interest and not for the people of Louisiana.”
Hebert, while agreeing with Flournoy, took his argument a step further by attacking the emphasis on money politics and how it even affects the media.
“The media judges a candidate’s ability by how much month they have in the bank. If you look at every report when the news comes on, when they talk about this governor’s race, they don’t talk about their ideas or what their policies are. They talk about how much money they’ve raised.
“When I ran for the U.S. Senate (in 2016), they had a debate put on by LPB (Louisiana Public Broadcasting) and you had to have a million dollars in order to be on the debate stage. So, the media also is responsible and is guilty for bringing money into play.
“The regular working guy who would want to run for office, the media won’t even let them in.”
Turning to the 2020 presidential campaign, Hebert said Joe Biden is probably the only Democrat in a crowded field who could give Trump a decent run but because he’s more moderate. “But watch the Democrats cannibalize Joe Biden. He’s going to be eaten by his own. The people in charge of the Democratic Party will not allow Joe Biden to be the nominee.”
Flournoy, while agreeing that the Democratic Party is moving too far to the left, said she does not believe we have seen the candidate who will end up running against Trump. “There’re going to be some late entries,” she said.
If I were a TV news analyst, I would sum up that appearance by pointing out that Melissa Flournoy and Troy Hebert are in agreement on more issues than those on which they disagree and that the common culprit is the influence of LABI and its big business membership on the Louisiana Legislature to the detriment of the citizens of Louisiana.
But the really unique aspect of Hebert’s diatribe against the influence of big money and big business on politics is that as he spoke, I found myself nodding in full agreement with someone about whom I had written many negative stories.
I am not holding my breath for any of the candidates for governor to start talking about what they propose to do with any specificity. Even if there are televised debates and hard questions are asked, I expect to hear pap, but at least we will be able to see how each of the 3 major candidates (unless one drops out) handle being confronted, i.e., we should be able to see how defensive they are.
The fact Hebert and Flournoy were able to find common ground is encouraging. Nowadays conservatives and liberals can’t often communicate, much less agree on anything and our state and country are poorer for it.
The problem is much greater than the specifics mentioned. We need to look at the basis that allows this occurrence of LABI and the big dogs wither they be big constructions company owners, smaller oil and service co owners (well heeled stockholders of them) or out of state companies (chemical/oil). It goes back to the after (maybe before and during) the civil war and the aristocrats that own the legislature. Before the turn of the century they outlawed poor people (included blacks) from voting. In our life time if one was poor, one rented, which meant one paid the full property tax, unlike homeowners, yet could not vote on property taxes. Only Huey Long over-rode these legislators, once they tried to eliminate him but failed. What we have today is the continuous reassurance of these well heeled in every election. We have a politician MD start his public comments on how he helped a bankrupt business man receive medical care, yet no comment of how other Louisiana citizens would deserve equal treatment. In fact despite a massive increase of health coverage nearly no LA politician can be supportive of this occurrence. In La unlike other states the small % to the total population of these well heeled send their children to private/religious school. When LA was originated and so many were uneducated this led to LA being one of the highest educated state in the nation, but since effective public education in the rest of the states it moves to last with the exception of this general group. In one European nation they effectively outlawed private education and the result was the highest education level in the world due to the inclusiveness of all parties. The well heeled aristocrats, the small, political influences are the most likely current and probable future of this 49th and 50th place state in this nation. First recognize this, then one may be able fix it. (Don’t look at Texas Property taxes or sales taxes for roads, or income or growth or corporate headquarters or now oil {Exxon headqtr} resides with wind electrical generation {#1 in nation} nope don’t dare look at even this most conservative state, no like our children, you won’t come back.)
I would have bet dollars to doughnuts that Tom would agree with Troy Hebert about anything at all when hell freezes over, but with the reality of climate change, all bets are off.
Sometimes you just have to give the devil his due and in this case, Troy was saying the very things I’ve been writing for years. Hey, even Melissa Flournoy agreed with a lot of what he said.
Seems like that could be a step toward solutions.