If there is a bigger political prostitute than John Kennedy, Clay Higgins or Steve Scalise, it would have to be Attorney General Jeff Landry.
Landry has always been a political opportunist who blatantly leans with the political winds. But his July 15 legal opinion, coming as it did just as it was learned that he had tested positive for coronavirus, smacks of the most shameless fealty to the Trump misguided strategy of minimizing the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 140,000 Americans since Feb. 29.
The opinion attacks the executive order of Gov. John Bel Edwards on three fronts: mandating masks, the 50-person indoor/outdoor gathering limit, and bar closures.
And it went out to seven state representatives and one senator—all of the Republican stripe. What are the odds? The recipients included Reps. Larry Bagley, Stonewall (how appropriate); Rick Edmonds, Baton Rouge; Alan Seabaugh, Shreveport; Charles “Chuck” Owen, Rosepine; Dodie Horton, Haughton; Blaze Miguez, Erath, and Beau Beaullieu, IV, New Iberia, and Sen. Robert Mills, Minden.
Seabaugh and Landry, you may recall from last Thursday’s post, among the 27 Louisiana officials who signed off on Republican operative Grover Norquist’s “No-Tax” pledge. That’s the same Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform who felt every bucket should sit on its own bottom and who helped bleed the Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe of some $20 million back in 1999 in a fight against an Alabama lottery referendum and who helped torpedo Alabama Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman on trumped-up charges that eventually landed Siegelman in Oakdale’s federal prison.
It’s also the same Grover Norquist who recently received up to $350,000 in federal stimulus money. So much for every bucket sitting on its own bottom and so much for Republican hypocrisy.
From washed-up game show hosts to TV psychologists, the Trump administration has packaged a propaganda campaign built on lies and false hopes. Promises that the virus will simply “mysteriously disappear” or that an effective vaccine will be discovered, mass-produced and administered to everyone in a matter of a few months are no more than a topping of false hopes on campaign rhetoric.
And Jeff Landry has bought a barrel of the Trump Kool-Aid, even as he tested positive for the virus this week. (And by the way, he implied that he “voluntarily” tested in anticipation of this week’s visit by Vice President Mike Pence. Who does he think he’s fooling? That test wasn’t voluntary; everyone who comes in contact with Trump or Pence is required to test for the virus before coming within shouting distance of either one.)
But back to that opinion (which is just that: an opinion. Another attorney might well have a different opinion with the actual law to be decided in court).
The opinion, which you can read HERE, says that Gov. Edwards’s recent mandates issued in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, are unenforceable.
(It’s interesting to note that Landry took the unique action if personally writing the nine-page opinion. Normally, assistant AGs perform the mundane chore of researching and writing opinions for those requesting same. But this was Landry’s opportunity to contradict Edwards, something he absolutely loves to do for no other reason than to espouse the Republican position in opposition to anything suggested by a Democrat governor.)
To understand Landry’s penchant for battling Edwards, one need look no further than Lamar White’s revealing piece in BAYOU BRIEF that examines his motives for (a) bucking Edwards in the governor’s attempt to hold oil and gas companies liable for the destruction of Louisiana’s coastal marshland and (b) Landry’s determined fight to keep from complying from a perfectly legal public records request for copies of communication between Landry’s office and advocates for the oil and gas industry.
Landry is so beholden to the oil and gas industry that he violated all protocol while in Congress by holding up a SIGN during President Obama’s State of the Union address back in 2011 to protest Obama’s moratorium on drilling in the Gulf in the wake of the BP oil spill.
Landry’s DEFENSE? He claimed the woman seeking the records, who resides in Indiana, is not entitled to the records because she is not a citizen of Louisiana. For someone who claims to be all-in on anyone’s right to public records, that’s pretty thin.
But casting aside all considerations for the general welfare of Louisiana’s citizens, Landry manages to rationalize his opposition to any restrictions mandated by Edwards because that’s the Trump way and if nothing else, he knows how to spout the party line.
“…[S]uspending or threatening the business or alcohol permit of any business would likely amount to violation of due process as these permits are recognized property interests protected under the due process clause. It could also result in a “constructive taking” via government regulation,” he wrote.
“In summary, the three provisions of the executive order – the mask mandate, the 50-person indoor/outdoor gathering limit, and the bar closure – are likely unconstitutional and unenforceable,” he wrote. “Although the mask mandate and the 50-person limit may be good recommendations for personal safety, they may not be enforced with financial or criminal penalties. Both businesses acting under color of law as mask police and actual police acting as mask police could face liability if individual civil rights are violated due to the proclamation.”
He may be correct to say the mandates are unenforceable because of the Idiot Factor, which seems to proliferate, coincidentally, in areas of high infection rates.
Edwards issued his response to Landry’s opinion on Wednesday:
“If ever there were a time to put politics aside to govern, it is now when we are in the middle of a public health crisis that affects all Louisianans regardless of their beliefs or political affiliation. I wish Jeff Landry would listen to his own words from March 18 when he stood with me and said extraordinary measures were necessary to protect the people of our state during this COVID-19 crisis, encouraged Louisianans to follow my directives and said he was united with me in protecting the health and safety of the people of our state. I’m not sure what has changed since then, aside from the loss of 3,300 additional lives and more than 80,000 additional Louisianans becoming infected.”
“Louisiana continues to follow guidance from the White House and, just yesterday, I hosted Vice President Mike Pence and members of the federal White House Coronavirus Task Force in Louisiana, which is considered by the federal government to be in the ‘red zone’ for new cases. Vice President Pence said he agreed with the steps I have taken in Louisiana and encouraged our people to wear masks and abide by my reasonable regulations. In fact, on Monday’s White House call with governors, Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the federal coronavirus response, singled out my actions, including the mask mandate, as a ‘best practice’ for states with rising cases.”
“Last week, Louisiana had 243 new cases per 100,000 people, whereas across the country, the average was only 119 new cases per 100,000 people. We clearly have a COVID-19 problem in Louisiana and I will not let our state go back to a time when we risked being able to provide health care for our people, which also would put our economy in peril, despite what the Attorney General may want.”
I’m all for personal liberties and rights – especially my right not to be exposed to a deadly virus by your ignorance, stubbornness, and arrogance.
Somehow, I have problems following the logic of someone who takes advantage of our laws for his own BENEFIT. Where I come from, that’s called hypocrisy. It’s bad enough that Landry is a fool but even worse, he’s a hypocrite.
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