With only about a week to go until qualifying and roughly 50 days remaining before the primary ballot, says Jeremy Alford, Louisiana’s runaway train of a budget has divided the Bayou State’s political class into two distinct camps.
“One lot doesn’t want to talk about it, fearing the reality of the situation could derail campaigns and bring recent budget decisions into question,” Alford writes in his latest column. “Then there’s the other faction, or those who want to make the budget a recurring talking point this election cycle.”
Alford says the latter group mostly consists of politicians who didn’t have to make tough votes on the budget and upstart candidates challenging the legislative incumbents who did.
“To be sure, no one wants to be connected with the decision this past session to pass $767 million worth of tax and fee bills,” Alford writes. “Lawmakers argue they were necessary to save higher education and health care from deep cuts, but some voters have a different take on the topic.”
Alford points to a recent poll conducted in a Louisiana legislative district between July 30 and Aug. 4 by Baton Rouge-based Southern Media and Opinion Research, which found that 64% of voters there were less likely to support their incumbent state representative knowing they had backed the tax increases. Additionally, only 19% agreed with the argument that the additional tax revenue was needed to maintain funding levels for universities and health care.
“It’s not as important to know where this poll was taken as it is to realize that this may be a theme to watch for statewide,” Alford writes. “U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a candidate for governor, may be in possession of similar polling. His latest campaign commercial, entitled ‘Right Team,’ blames lawmakers for higher taxes and depicts them sitting around a table with cigars and clinking glasses of hooch—and as cartoon characters snatching money from unsuspecting taxpayers.”
It has been the talk of recent legislative events, Alford says, with lawmakers wondering how they’ll be treated in a Vitter administration and taking swipes at the candidate for lashing out at them. Vitter seems to have a built-in response at the end of the commercial.
“They say I’m annoying the politicians,” Vitter says with a laugh. “Must be doing something right.”
Alford says there is no quick fix for the budget mess and a single special session—as promised by the leading candidates for governor—will not be enough. And he says the candidates who are talking about the budget this election cycle should be more specific.
“It’s looking more likely, with each passing day, that the next governor and Legislature will have to first deal with the current fiscal year budget before they can tackle the next one for 2016-17, or even delve into more general topics, like constitutional amendments,” he writes. “It’s time we accept that. Midyear budget cuts appear inevitable, but they won’t be handed down before lawmakers are re-elected and they won’t materialize while Jindal is in office (and running for president). That’s politics. But we do already know a few of the problem areas.”
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.
