Louisiana’s cash-strapped state budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year doesn’t include money to pay for next spring’s presidential primary. Secretary of State Tom Schedler told lawmakers in a House Appropriations committee meeting today the proposed budget for his office doesn’t include about $3.4 million needed to hold the March 2016 primary.
“It’s very serious, and if they don’t fund it the parties are going to have to come up with some alternative plan internally of how they’re going to handle it,” Schedler says. “Several states go through a caucus-type process, but that’s not something they can do in a short period of time.”
The Louisiana Democratic Party issued a statement in response to Schedler’s testimony, calling the situation an outrage.
“Reasonable people can have robust conversation about the role and size of government,” says Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson. “But surely we should all be able to agree that one role of government is to oversee fair and impartial elections. Eliminating Louisiana’s voice in the choice of our next president is unacceptable.”
While the situation appears potentially serious, as a practical matter Schedler can hold the election anyway and bill the state for it later.
“They can bring the elections budget down to zero if they want to balance the budget, but they’re just playing monopoly because I can just bring them the bill and say ‘pay me’ and that’s the process,” he says. “It gets paid one way or the other.”
Schedler also testified today that state museums under his office cannot sustain the 51% budget cut that has been proposed. However, he is realistic about the competition he faces for limited state dollars.
“At the end of the day you’ve got to make sure you’ve got health care and higher ed funded first,” he says. “Because if you don’t have those two, you don’t have anybody visiting your museums.”
Today was the first of two days of budget hearings about the agencies managed by Louisiana’s statewide elected officials. The officials are increasingly at odds with Gov. Bobby Jindal over finances as the state grapples with a $1.6 billion shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The Associated Press reports that Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain also told lawmakers today that Jindal’s budget would make it difficult for his department to carry out food inspections and offer assistance programs for farmers.
—Stephanie Riegel
