From how state lawmakers will deal with Louisiana’s looming “fiscal cliff” to the debate over whether to relocate BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo, 2018 is sure to be an interesting year, says Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column. Here are just a few of the big issues to keep an eye on in the new year, as well as McCollister’s take on them:
- The “fiscal cliff.” “Will there be a special session in February? Will state legislators follow Gov. John Bel Edwards and take away new money in your wallet from tax cuts in Washington, D.C., by raising state taxes—or shrink government? Tough decisions. Welfare state or a state that works?”
- The first year of the new Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul. “Can he win the support of community—and officers? Will our crime decrease? Will he push the new tax for police pay? Will he be able to recruit? Will he reform the department and deal with some ‘bad apples?’ And, how will he handle the final decision by the attorney general on Alton Sterling?”
- The Louisiana Inspector General’s investigation of the head of the Council on Aging, Tasha Clark-Amar, as well as her lawsuit against the family of Helen Plummer. “And let’s see how the COA spends $8 million of our tax dollars approved by the Metro Council.”
- The national search for the new head of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. “Councilman Trae Welch reneged on his promise a year ago for a search and tried to have the interim made permanent. Now Welch is on the search committee.”
- BREC and its search for a new site for the zoo. “And while Carolyn McKnight and the commission are showing the courage to change things, close the bad nine-hole course at City Park that loses money and create a better use of this central park.”
Also in his new column, McCollister laments the results of Gallup’s annual “most admired” survey, which showed Barack Obama is the most admired man and Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman in the U.S. “Why do people admire politicians or think of them as ‘heroes?’ Do they believe they can solve their problems, improve their lives or will look after them and sacrifice for the greater good? Those who top the poll earned hundreds of thousands in office, got special perks and make millions after they leave office, putting them in that ‘1%’ they often criticize. Is that real sacrifice? What did they risk or invest? Do they sound like any ‘servant’ you know?” McCollister writes. “Sad to say, but a quarter of Americans polled could not name a man or a woman they admire most.”
McCollister says he was glad to see that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick—who sparked the wave of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem—was not included on the most admired list. However, McCollister says it “disgusts me that he is being honored for his antics” by the ACLU of Southern California, and magazines such as Sports Illustrated, GQ and Time.
“You may disagree, but Kaepernick is no hero or role model by my definition, and this recognition is sad—despite his cause, which most have forgotten,” McCollister writes.
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