Alford: Con-con or not, reform talk is much-needed

The Pelican Institute recently held a constitutional convention forum in Baton Rouge. A few bigwigs showed up, ranging from mega-donors and politicians to out-of-state academics and lobbyists. The policy issue remains all the rage, writes Jeremy Alford in his latest column, even though we’re unlikely to see a gathering on the scale of Louisiana’s 1973-74 convention ever again. 

But that’s OK. More advocates are coming to that same conclusion and the number of those sounding the bell for a convention is shrinking. Hopefully, that will lead to fewer news stories about the groups that are “pushing for a constitutional convention.” 

What’s taking place instead is a much-needed dialogue about fundamental law, what it should entail and how Louisiana’s citizenry can go about making those changes. Those were a few of the recurring themes from the Pelican Institute’s forum last week.

From Alford’s vantage point, there were seven key takeaways from the forum, and you can read about them in his full column here.  

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at  JJA@LaPolitics.com.