Weeks after a divided Louisiana House elected a new Republican speaker whose leadership style was little known, Clay Schexnayder’s financial and appointment decisions are offering a few hints about how he’ll oversee the fractious,105-member chamber.
Republicans who worried Schexnayder, an Ascension Parish car repair shop owner in his third term, would give away too much to the Democrats who got him elected say they see encouraging signs of a conservative bent in his first sizable financial decision, involving Louisiana’s income forecast. Democrats sidelined in the decision-making of last term’s GOP House speaker say they are heartened by Schexnayder’s bipartisan committee assignments.
In a chamber where it often seems that no one’s ever happy, Schexnayder appears to be giving everyone a little something to like—so far. Navigating the partisan political minefield in the months ahead, however, could prove difficult to keep it that way, with a contingent of Republicans trying to pull the chamber further to the right and Democrats trying to keep that from happening.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards urged Democratic lawmakers to vote for Schexnayder, and that set off conservative Republicans on the losing end of the speaker’s vote, who insisted Schexnayder would be tightly tied to Edwards.
Schexnayder started to chip away at claims of a tight alliance with the governor at his first meeting of Louisiana’s income forecasting panel, the Revenue Estimating Conference.
The Edwards administration sought to follow the advice of two nonpartisan economists and boost state income projections. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne backed a proposal to give Louisiana another $170 million to spend this budget year and another $103 million next year.
Schexnayder balked—and instead recommended raising this year’s forecast by $94 million and next year’s projections by only $400,000.
Republican Senate President Page Cortez backed Schexnayder. Dardenne objected. With the three leaders unable to reach an agreement, no changes were adopted.
House GOP delegation leader Blake Miguez, who opposed Schexnayder for speaker, also applauded his forecasting decision. But Miguez’s praise came tempered with suggestions that Schexnayder had a ways to go to win the trust of the 45 House Republicans who voted for Mack.
“Fiscal conservative Republicans are very pleased with the attention that (Schexnayder) has given to this very important budget issue,” Miguez said in a statement. “He has taken the first step in a longer journey of building back their confidence. Our Republican delegation looks forward to the opportunity in helping him take the next steps.”
Edwards, meanwhile, downplayed the dispute: “I really believe that we’re going to be able to work through this.”
While conservative Republicans saw promising signs in Schexnayder’s financial decisions, Democrats pointed to Schexnayder’s committee assignments for signs they could fare well under the new speaker. Read the full Associated Press analysis.
