BATON ROUGE (AP) — Out of the spotlight since his second failed bid for a U.S. Senate seat, Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy has seized an opportunity to regain center stage, and he's upstaging Gov. Bobby Jindal and lawmakers in the process.
Kennedy has used his appointment to the Commission on Streamlining Government — and his chairmanship of an advisory group to that commission — to seize a microphone and blast his ideas across the state. He's talked to editorial boards, spoken to group luncheons and shared his thoughts on talk radio stations around Louisiana.
Some of the ideas are new proposals for shrinking government spending, some are recycled ones and some are just plain strange. But they've gotten Kennedy front and center in a debate that usually belongs to the governor and the lawmakers who hold the purse strings.
Kennedy's "subcommittee just seems to have a meeting and whatever he decides to take a position on, whether it has anything to do with their jurisdiction or not, they've decided to take a position on it," said Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the streamlining commission.
Speculation abounds at the Capitol that Kennedy's eyeing a new elected post and using his spot on the streamlining commission to bolster his next bid for office, whatever office that may be. There are jokes calling the streamlining panel "the Kennedy Commission." Complaints are muttered behind the scenes of political grandstanding and opportunism.
Kennedy, a lawyer from Madisonville, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 as a Democrat but lost to Republican David Vitter. He switched to the Republican Party in 2007 and lost another Senate race to Democrat Mary Landrieu last year. He's been state treasurer since 2000, responsible for managing and investing state funds.
If he's again seeking to become something other than treasurer, Kennedy's keeping quiet.
Instead, Kennedy says he's simply taking his appointment to the streamlining commission seriously and trying to find ways to lower the costs of government long-term amid years of projected budget shortfalls.
"This budget's got to be downsized," he said.
About two dozen suggestions have been put forth by Kennedy and his advisory group, a panel of people largely chosen by Kennedy. The full streamlining commission will begin Tuesday to comb through Kennedy's recommendations and those offered by other advisory panels.
Kennedy's suggestions include cutting 15,000 state government jobs over three years, consolidating management of Louisiana's four-year universities and eliminating the tolls on the Crescent City Connection bridge in New Orleans.
He proposes reworking the state's capital construction program, putting new spending limits into Louisiana law and eliminating earmarks for nongovernment groups.
He also recommended ideas that seem outside the realm of state government or more costly than cost-cutting. Backed by his advisory group, Kennedy suggested that:
—All public school students who have been suspended from school for more than five days in a school year or who have more than ten unexcused absences be required to enroll in a boot camp program run by the Louisiana National Guard for at-risk students.
—Louisiana require state prisoners to have their high school diploma or its equivalent before they can be eligible for probation or parole.
—State lawmakers, statewide elected officials and members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education be required to substitute teach without pay at least twice a year.
Kennedy said members of the commission have asked him to pull back some of his ideas and he's refused, but commission members say they'll consider any recommendations that are offered.
The Commission on Streamlining Government has until Dec. 15 to pull together its cost-cutting suggestions in a report due to the governor and the Legislature. That gives Kennedy a couple more months to make recommendations — and to hang onto that microphone and podium.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Melinda Deslatte covers the state Capitol for The Associated Press.
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