Saturday, July 04, 2009
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Business Report is out with its annual list of the top Forty Under 40, the young men and women who are achieving success and influencing decisions in the Capital Region. This year's class represents a diverse array of leaders, from doctors to librarians and from chefs to developers. Click here for the honorees.
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East Baton Rouge Parish has a well-deserved reputation as a Republican Party stronghold. But while Louisiana shifted more into the GOP column during the last elections, the parish may be doing the opposite. Sid Gautreaux was elected sheriff, joining Mayor-President Kip Holden as the top Democrats in the parish. Albert Samuels, a political science professor at Southern University, says its hard to know for sure how much Hurricane Katrina changed the balance of political power in the parish, but it does merit watching. "The Democrats did a good job of getting their vote out," he says. At first glance, Samuels thought the runoff looked good for Republican Greg Phares, because there wouldn't be any statewide elections to build up Democratic turnout and there were a couple of big House races in GOP friendly parts of the parish. But Samuels said a nasty campaign, including ads that he said "all but called Phares a racist" might have stirred up voters. "It's discouraging that those tactics would be used, but it seemed like they worked," he says. Now, it remains to be seen what will happen next year, when Holden and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu are on the ballot. "There will be a lot more focus on East Baton Rouge Parish for the Democrats, now that the safety blanket of Orleans Parish is no longer there," Samuels says. "They're going to find every Democrat they can find." --Timothy Boone
The Metro Council is set to vote on two appointments on the BREC Commission at its Jan. 9 meeting. The terms of current commissioners Hal Butt and Darrell Glasper expire on Dec. 31. Butt is term-limited, but he can be reappointed if he gets the support of nine council members. Brian Mayers, Metro Council administrator/treasurer, says Butt and Glasper haven't put in requests for a reappointment. "It's still a little early," Mayers says. He expects there will be a bit of interest from people wanting to serve on the BREC Commission. "That's one of the prime boards in the parish," he says. Glasper has been at the center of several controversies on the BREC Commission; he campaigned against the renewal of a recreation tax earlier this year and got into a dispute with Commissioner Bill Benedetto over the hiring of a company to tape commission meetings. --Timothy Boone
Louisiana residents still have a chance to thank the American public and the federal government for their support of the state's hurricane recovery efforts. The Louisiana Gives Thanks campaign, sponsored by the Louisiana Recovery Authority, is collecting signatures for a thank-you letter that will be presented to the White House and on Capitol Hill. More than 5,300 people have signed the letter, including Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal and the state's Congressional delegation. Click here to sign the letter. The deadline to sign is Wednesday.
Being an elected official in Louisiana these days is a tough gig, especially if the number of subpoenas being doled out is any indication. The most embarrassing serve thus far goes to U.S. Sen. David Vitter of Metairie, who has been subpoenaed by the so-called "D.C. Madam." Deborah Jeane Palfrey, only eclipsed in her hooker stardom by perhaps Heidi Fleiss, wants the Republican to testify in open court on Nov. 28. Vitter has already admitted to using the service—sort of—but don’t expect him to spill the beans. His attorney, for now, isn’t speaking with reporters. But Vitter will likely either challenge the subpoena or take the Fifth. The Louisiana Board of Ethics, meanwhile, is trying to subpoena House Speaker Joe Salter of Florien, Senate President Don Hines of Bunkie and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Francis Heitmeier of New Orleans. All three are Democrats. The biteless board wants the heavy political hitters to testify about Johnny Rombach, the former legislative fiscal officer who allegedly gave himself a retroactive pay raise, car allowance and overtime salary perks. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon also says he has been subpoenaed by the state’s legislative auditor to hand over records related to Citizens Insurance. Like the others, he’s fighting the legal maneuver. Finally, in New Orleans’ now-decided Senate District 7, Republican Paul Richard has subpoenaed his opponent, Democrat David Heitmeier, for a civil deposition in a lawsuit he filed over campaign finances, although nothing is expected to come from the dog-and-pony show. --Jeremy Alford
Real Estate Weekly is out with news about a downtown townhome development, a mixed-use building in Prairieville, and the latest columns from Tom Cook and Brian Andrews. To read the newsletter, click here .
A new home: Chenevert Architects has moved into its new offices on Third Street. The company, which had been on Perkins Road near Pennington Biomedical Research Center, is now occupying the old Gordon Jewelers buildings after extensive renovations. Norman Chenevert, who started the firm, is a member of the Downtown Development District board. Upside down: The steady decrease in home prices in many markets is causing more households to owe more on their mortgage than their residence is currently worth. Nearly 16% of homeowners who have bought houses in the last year, and 17.5% of those who purchased two years ago, have negative equity, reports Zillow.com, an online real estate community. The worst areas for negative equity were Stockton, Calif., and Merced, Calif., where more than two-thirds of homes bought in the past year are worth less than their mortgage. Oh Nick, so glad to see you have perspective on things: Alabama football coach Nick Saban, his team mired in a three-game losing streak that includes a 21-14 loss Saturday to Louisiana-Monroe, compared the losses to Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks during his weekly news conference Monday. "Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event," Saban said. "It may be 9/11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to a catastrophic event. Pearl Harbor got us ready for World War II or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event. And I don't think anyone in this room would've bet that we would lose back-to-back games to Mississippi State or ULM, no disrespect to either one of those teams." Alabama (6-5) concludes the regular season Saturday at Auburn.
Will Les Miles leave LSU to become the new football coach at Michigan?
