If John Bel Edwards and Eddie Rispone want to inject a bit of honest vision into what remains of the governor’s race, they should be prepared to discuss the scopes, characters and policy issues that would drive their respective transition teams.
While it’s sometimes considered poor practice to put the cart before the horse in politics, this election should serve as a good reason to do just that, especially since the race has left us few other choices to get to know the candidates, writes Jeremy Alford in his new column.
After being elected, each new governor in recent memory has created a transition team to see them through the inauguration.
When Gov. Edwards claimed his term in the fall of 2015, his transition team members were largely named and already accepting applications for his new administration in late November. By early December, a few of those top hires, like Jay Dardenne as commissioner of administration, were revealed.
Aside from the policy issues that the candidates have either avoided or offered vague visions on, there’s not much more to be learned when it comes to Edwards and Rispone. Moreover, with the runoff slated for Nov. 16, it’s doubtful the campaigns for either man are going to be releasing any last-minute, carefully-plotted policy platforms.
If voters want to know what the state government will look like during the next four years, the coming transition process will show all.
A Rispone transition team, should he win, would be charged with overhauling departments and agencies that Republicans have criticized during Edwards’ term. Many people will be let go, several new faces would appear and the upper reaches of the state government’s management structure reshuffled, all of which will give clues to the next four years or Louisiana government.
Read Alford’s full column about the transition process.
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
