Not too long ago, at least in reporter years, LaPolitics’ Jeremy Alford was using his weekly column to write about the loss of influence and clout in Louisiana’s congressional delegation.
“In doing so, I was probably repeating rather than reporting from Baton Rouge’s echo chamber,” Alford writes in his latest column. “Cooler heads knew there was an uncomplicated explanation, supported by recent history, that I had largely ignored—and that was the cyclical nature of political trends.”
Alford says it occurred to him that the storyline was a staple for political opinion writers in the Bayou State from 2003 to 2014.
Former U.S. Sen. John Breaux exited elected life first, followed by Congressman Billy Tauzin, which prompted worry about the lack of locals in key leadership and committee positions, he notes. The defeat of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu years later, in concert with turnover in the House, provoked similar outcries.
“Looking further back, similar predictions peppered the late 1990s, when longtime U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston retired,” Alford writes. “Then there was Congressman Bob Livingston, the speaker-to-be who resigned after encountering the kind of sex scandal that future politicians would eventually learn to manage and live through.”
The answers to who could replace Johnston, Livingston, Breaux and Tauzin are as uncomplicated as they were years ago, Alford says.
“Your current congressional delegation, the one up for re-election this fall in Louisiana, has filled those voids while exceeding expectations,” he writes. “Most notably, Congressman Steve Scalise of Jefferson Parish, as majority whip, holds the third highest gig in the House.”
Congressman Cedric Richmond of Orleans Parish is also chairman of the Black Caucus, Alford notes. Those distinctions alone are enough to warrant placements in history books and thanks from Louisiana citizens who care about political stroke, he says, but there are more Louisianians wielding influence in D.C., including Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, and
Congressman Mike Johnson of Bossier Parish.
“So has Louisiana suffered a loss of clout?” Alford wonders. “Did we ever recover from the exits of Johnston, Livingston, Breaux, Tauzin, Landrieu and all of the other bayou-to-Beltway names of yesteryear?”
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.
