Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards doesn’t have the ability to grease the skids at the Capitol like his predecessors, nor will he be able to throw around cash during the legislative session to help lawmakers with pet projects, says Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“And he won’t be able to remove disagreeable representatives from influential committees due to Republican rule in the House,” Alford writes. “But Edwards, like every governor before him, does have the capacity to craft powerful policy narratives. After all, having the Louisiana press corps listen when you speak is practically an inalienable right of being the state’s top elected official.”
That’s why the governor got a jumpstart over his opponents on setting the tone for the session that convenes on April 10, Alford says.
“His message to reporters was clear: Louisiana’s most successful companies are not paying their ‘fair share’ in taxes and about 90% of individual taxpayers—mom and dad and Aunt Susan—are paying too much,” he writes.
As a legislator and as a gubernatorial candidate, Edwards was described as a populist on a number of occasions. But Alford says it wasn’t until last week—when he revealed his session plan and “fair share” message—that the label reemerged with a force and was applied to him as a sitting governor.
Alford notes The Advocate has twice called the governor a “populist” over the past week, while his harshest critics at the Capitol prefer to compare his plan to political class warfare.
“Both descriptions probably push the matter a little too far, but it’s the narrative that the Edwards Administration launched and that the Louisiana media has clung to so far in its coverage,” Alford writes. “Surprisingly enough, the two previous administrations that have the most to show us about where Edwards might be heading revolved around former governors who will be remembered by history for being anything but populists.”
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.
