A remarkable alteration to the Bayou State’s political fabric commenced this past Saturday, Jeremy Alford says, when former state Rep. John Schroder of Covington was elected to succeed U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana’s last elected treasurer.
Schroder is literally and figuratively taking over where Kennedy left off, Alford writes in his latest column.
“Nothing had been acknowledged publicly as of Monday morning, but Schroder and his team had been meeting with department officials ahead of the anticipated transition,” he says. “(Schroder) is said to be considering very few organizational changes and would likely keep Kennedy-era staffing structures in place.”
That includes acting Treasurer Ron Henson, who could become the institutional backbone of the Schroder administration. Still, he writes the key alliance in this scenario will be between Kennedy and Schroder, who campaigned as a Kennedy-like successor.
“A political relationship is in place and ready to bloom. That must not be a very comforting notion to Gov. John Bel Edwards and his troops on the Capitol’s fourth floor,” Alford says. “There are already predictions being made there that Schroder will open fire regularly on the governor in the coming months, and that he’ll become an anti-governor surrogate for reporters.”
That’s a position Kennedy embraced when he worked in Baton Rouge, notes Alford, adding that the persistent rumors of Kennedy’s anticipated run for governor make the alliance even more fascinating.
If the rumors are true, Schroder’s gubernatorial watchdog role could become all the more important to the Kennedy camp, he writes. Still, the last thing treasurer-elect wants to look like is a clone of his predecessor—especially when there are notable differences.
“While Kennedy reshaped the position of treasurer into a kind of fiscal watchdog post, Schroder arrives to the office having already developed a similar brand of his own, as one of the founders of the House Fiscal Hawks,” Alford writes. “That’s why the halls of the Capitol are where Schroder will truly stand apart from his predecessor. In fact, this past weekend saw Schroder become the first former legislator elected as treasurer in more than two decades.”
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.
