BusinessReport.com

Editorial uproar

To the editor:

JR Ball does a huge disservice to your readers and the integrity of your publication with his partisan shilling for Bobby Jindal (Business Report, April 24). First, Ball makes the most idiotic statement known to man. He says the election is over even though filing hasn’t opened.

Mr. Ball, while you may find your statements to bring joy to recent meeting of the ignorant, tight-ass club in politics and professional journalism, one realizes even in editorials, facts matter way more than a writer’s fanciful fiction.

Your swipe at Breaux ducking elections is as ignorant as it gets. Why don’t you ask Gary Tyler, D.H. de la Houssaye, Basile Miller, Eddie Ackal and William S. Boyd if Breaux ducked a hard fight in 1972, when they combined to take 54% away from Breaux’s first bid for the U.S. House? Or Mike Thompson in 1978, who took 40% from Breaux?

Why not ask Henson Moore—who started his Senate bid like Bobby Jindal is starting this governor’s race as the favorite—along with Sammy Nunez, J.E. Jumonville Jr., Sherman Bernard and nine other candidates who took 63% against Breaux in the 1986 Senate race? And though Breaux was behind Moore 44% to 37% going into the runoff, and Moore had Ronald Reagan campaigning for him, Breaux won with 52%. Or ask Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon if Breaux ducked a fight with him for the Senate in 1998 and beat Donelon with 63%?

Mr. Ball, your insolence and ignorance is only matched by your baseless partisanship which shows you lack in the areas of editorial ability or even a basic cognisence (sic) of politics. Any number of candidates could file or rise to prominence. Since you recalled Buddy Roemer and Edwin Edwards and Jim Brown’s gubernatorial bid, let me remind you of 1995 and a little-known man named Mike Foster. He was nowhere really on the radar screen till it counted—ELECTION DAY!

During the governor’s race in 2003, Jindal had the self-congratulating coronation of the Louisiana Republican Party and hierarchy and the advantage of an incumbent governor of his party touting him; yet Jindal lost.

I would think a Republican would remember the mistakes of Tom Dewey and 1948. So let’s revisit this statement in November 2007 and see if your coronation of Jindal held up. My guess is not.

Drew Pritt

Little Rock, Ark.

To the editor:

I agree with you Rolfe that we do not have a lot of movement from the area. Not only should we embrace doing things differently by welcoming newcomers, but also appreciating those who do come back. The African proverb that a people without vision shall perish is very much on my mind today. It is going to take a giant leap to move out of the comfort zones that have helped create the barriers to synergy.

One way we can begin to move in a different direction is to truly appreciate what we have here in the state. It is uniquely Louisiana, and there is no place on earth like it. From New Orleans with its rich international flavor to the Atchafalaya Basin, closest thing to a rain forest in America, to Toledo Bend, we are a state full of natural resources. Our people are resilient. If we could tone the rhetoric down and seek common ground, Louisiana could be No. 1 in the world.

Monique M. Edwards

Baton Rouge