Louisiana state lawmakers are more aggressively asserting their independence from the state’s governor, particularly in their leadership decisions, finally leaning into the constitutional separation of powers that had always existed on paper if not in actual practice.
Still, while legislators promote their bucking of a tradition that once had a governor handpicking the House speaker and Senate president, they haven’t freed themselves from other outside meddling. Campaign donors, elected officials, lobbying groups and others are making their thoughts about leadership decisions known as lawmakers jockey for positions behind closed doors.
“Just because you’re independent of the governor doesn’t mean you’re independent of third-party groups that stand outside the rails and really weigh in on what everybody’s doing and how they’re operating,” Sen. Rick Ward, a Port Allen Republican told a GOP luncheon crowd.
The House and Senate elect their new leaders when the latest term starts Jan. 13. The House speaker and Senate president choose committee chairmen, make committee assignments and set the calendar. Those decisions can determine whether bills pass or fail.
In a political quirk unique to Louisiana, governors historically had a heavy hand in choosing who led the House and Senate, often announcing who would be in charge before a legislative vote was even taken.
However, the majority-GOP House proclaimed its independence from Edwards last term, when it refused in 2016 to back the governor’s pick of Democratic Rep. Walt Leger of New Orleans to be speaker. Instead, a last-minute GOP deal led to the election of New Iberia Republican Taylor Barras as speaker. That rebuke to Edwards sparked a four-year battle between the governor and the House Republican leadership over taxes and spending.
Ahead of Edwards’ second term, the Senate has joined the House in sidelining Edwards from the leadership decision-making. Republican Sen. Page Cortez, a business owner from Lafayette, appears to have locked up the votes needed to be Senate president without Edwards’ involvement.
The House again is keeping Edwards at arms length, but no contender for House speaker so far appears to have reached the majority support to win the position. Read the full analysis from the Associated Press.
