The fallout from the dramatic conclusion of last week’s regular session—and from the bumpy start to this term’s fourth special session—is only just beginning, says Jeremy Alford in his latest column.
“There are already well-publicized accusations that the Capitol’s top leaders are at best dysfunctional and at worst guilty of political malpractice,” he writes. “It’s a narrative that’s being driven full throttle into the minds of voters, fueled largely by engagement on social media and developing news coverage.”
Alford is betting the storyline will continue well past the adjournment of the special session on Monday. Everyone, he says, will be in search of just one answer: Who’s to blame? The targets will undoubtedly be Gov. John Bel Edwards, the House and Senate.
Edwards, he notes, was ready to blame “a handful of House members” before the session even ended. Last Wednesday, Edwards shot a digital ad in Baton Rouge—bankrolled by Rebuild Louisiana—in which he said he’s prepared to “keep the Legislature in Baton Rouge as long as it takes.” The ad was shot before anyone knew the state budget would die and that a special session would be needed, Alford writes.
“What is bothering conservatives isn’t the fact that Edwards took alternative takes during the shoot, as to be prepared for any outcome. It was that he spent Wednesday, before and after the shoot, refusing to budge on negotiations with the House over how much forecasted revenue to apply to the budget,” Alford writes. “While the governor was eventually moving with the Senate and House toward a middle ground by last Thursday, Republicans are now arguing that a budget could have been passed had the governor decided to start bending earlier in the 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.
