Baker will retire Feb. 2; election date set

U.S. Rep. Richard Baker has submitted a letter of resignation, saying that he will leave Congress effective Feb. 2 to take over as head of the Managed Funds Association. Baker, R-Baton Rouge, formally notified Gov. Bobby Jindal and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of his retirement. "I count it a high privilege to have served the people of the Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives and to have worked with my colleagues in the Louisiana Congressional delegation to advance the interests of the great State of Louisiana," Baker said in his letter to Jindal. "I want to wish you well as you begin your first term as governor and offer my support as your administration continues the work of building a better Louisiana for future generations." Jindal signed an order this morning setting the schedule for choosing Baker's replacement. Qualifying will start at 8 a.m. on Jan. 29 and end at 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. The party primaries will be held March 8, with a runoff election set for April 5. The general election will be held May 3. This is the same schedule as the special election for the 1st District seat, which became open after Jindal became governor.

New office building set for Jefferson

Construction is scheduled to start next month on Cardinal Hill, a $7 million, 45,000-square-foot office building on Jefferson Highway between Interstate 12 and Bluebonnet Boulevard. Cardinal Hill will be a three-story building; Evans-Graves Engineers plans to occupy one floor. Grace & Hebert Architects is designing Cardinal Hill, while Arkel International is the contractor. Plans are to open the building by the end of the year.

Editor: LSU football a big deal, but a great university should be as important

LSU might be the nation's best college football team, but it's a mediocre flagship university, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball. Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature need to get serious about funding LSU, so we can have an academic institution our football team can be proud of. "A strong LSU football team is great for state morale and our self-image, but a powerhouse flagship institution is critical to the economy and the future of our state," Ball says. Read his column here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.

LSU to honor national champion football team Saturday

LSU will honor its BCS national champion football team during a celebration Saturday at Tiger Stadium. The celebration begins at 2:30 p.m., and gates will open at 1 p.m. Admission is free, and fans are encouraged to wear purple and gold. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, the 2007 BCS coordinator, will present the conference and national championship trophies to the Tigers. There also will be video highlights of the season, performances by the Tiger Marching Band and comments from dignitaries, Head Coach Les Miles and players. The event will conclude with the raising of a new national championship flag. The band After 8 will begin playing at noon in front of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as part of Celebration Central at Tiger One Village. Food and drink will be available for purchase, and official national championship merchandise will be on sale. In its news release, LSU states that the event is not intended to be an autograph session, but encourages fans to bring still and video cameras to record the event for their remembrance of the occasion.

La. Politics by John Maginnis: 6th District to be partisan battleground

Congressman Richard Baker's early retirement sets up a special election sprint and fuels Democrats' hopes of turning the seat held by Republicans for over 32 years. The first primaries in the Baton Rouge-based race could occur as early as March 8, with qualifying opening Jan. 29, which is what Secretary of State Jay Dardenne is leaning toward recommending to the governor. First to declare was Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, even before Baker announced his resignation to become a lobbyist for the hedge fund trade association. Rep. Michael Jackson, D-Baton Rouge, says he will announce next week and will file his statement of candidacy before then in order to begin raising money. Andy Kopplin, who recently resigned as director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, is "very seriously considering" the race. The combination of a short campaign and a closed Republican primary (independents cannot vote in it) gives the early advantage to former Rep. Woody Jenkins. He could get the toughest competition from Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, who sounds like a candidate but hasn't made a final public commitment. Baton Rouge Metro Councilman David Boneno says he is seriously interested the race, as does former Baker aide Paul Sawyer.

—With the public ordeal over the forced resignation of LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe behind it, the LSU team has to regroup for the major challenge of meshing its public-hospital role into the new governor's unrevealed plans for changing health care. LSU has been negotiating for land near Interstate 10 in southeast Baton Rouge to build a new teaching hospital. But now LSU sources are concerned about whether Jindal will back the project. Some area nonpublic hospital officials say LSU can serve its mission with two new primary care clinics and its recent purchase of an orthopedic surgery hospital.

—Despite $2.4 billion in surpluses and extra funds for the Legislature to spend, Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis wants cabinet secretaries to begin preparing now for leaner times. The budget office has sent a memo to departments asking for "a list of your lowest-performing activities that utilize state resources and justification of why the activities should continue." Those lists, according to the memo, "should cumulatively account for at least 25% of your funding." "We are trying to challenge cabinet and staff to look at budget development a little differently," Davis explained, "to see if lower performing programs can be phased out or scaled back … or whether they are meeting the needs of the people."

John Maginnis publishes the Louisiana Political Fax Weekly and Lapolitics.com.

Plains property sells for $4.9 million

A 414.16-acre tract on the East Baton Rouge-East Feliciana parish line has been sold for nearly $4.9 million. W Resources, a company headed by Michael Worley of Hammond, bought the Bumble Bee Ranch property in a deal that was filed Thursday. The property is fairly evenly split between both parishes and is bordered on the east by Old Scenic Highway. This is Worley’s second major purchase in the area in recent months. In October, he purchased the 580-acre Eastwood Plantation in Zachary for $8.1 million.

Poll: Readers say Supervisors, Lombardi responsible for O'Keefe resignation

Daily Report readers say LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe was forced to resign by members of the LSU Board of Supervisors and System President John Lombardi. Seventy percent of the people who responded to an online survey say O'Keefe was pushed out by a combination of the parties. Sixteen percent say they don't know why O'Keefe quit, while 12% say he left because of alleged poor job performance and 2% say the chancellor turned in his notice because he lacked the support of the business community. Nearly 1,250 people participated in the survey.

Today's question: Should the state take over the four failing East Baton Rouge Parish schools?

News roundup: Top high school QB to visit LSU; Entergy announces grants; Magazine replaces editor over noose cover; What's the most popular dog?

The rich get richer: Terrelle Pryor, a quarterback from Jeannette, Pa., considered to be the nation’s top high school football player, will visit LSU next weekend on a recruiting trip, Louisiana Gannett News reports. Pryor told reporters that he has the Tigers ranked in the same category as the other schools he's considering—Michigan, Ohio State, Florida and Oregon. Money from the power company: Entergy is offering grant money for local beautification projects and nonprofit groups. The beautification grants, part of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, provide between $250 and $5,000 for community projects aimed at cleaning up neighborhoods, reducing litter and promoting recycling. The deadline to apply is Feb. 8. E-mail jmarign@entergy.com for more information. The Community Partnership Grants offer up to $1,000 for local nonprofits. Online applications are available here. Shakeup at Golfweek: Golfweek magazine replaced the editor responsible for illustrating the current cover with a noose and apologized this morning for its depiction of a Golf Channel anchor's use of "lynch" in a comment about Tiger Woods. The company said Dave Seanor, the vice president and editor of Golfweek, has been replaced immediately by Jeff Babineaum, and a copy of the Jan. 19 cover also was removed from the magazine's Web site this morning. Seanor said in an interview Thursday night that he took responsibility for the cover, which showed a noose against a purple sky and the title, "Caught in a Noose." Top dogs: The Labrador retriever is once again the most popular purebred dog in the nation, according to the American Kennel Club. The dog has topped the kennel club list since 1991. The Yorkshire terrier was ranked second on the popularity list, while the German shepherd was third. The bulldog came in 10th, returning to the rankings after a 75-year-absence.