Despite ongoing tension between them, Gov. Bobby Jindal and House Speaker Jim Tucker are aligned on the most controversial higher education issues to be taken up in the legislative session. Both support a single governing board bill, as well as the merger of the University of New Orleans and Southern University New Orleans; the governor, however, has only called for a study at this point. But Jindal and Tucker still have differences. Earlier this week, the governor unveiled his higher ed agenda that includes more flexibility for colleges to raise tuition and fees, while granting them some more autonomy from state rules on spending and contracting. College leaders felt reassured when Jindal said that limiting cuts in state support to colleges to 10% would not be dependant on the Legislature passing the tuition and fee increases.
— Former Secretary of State Al Ater only had to say “never say never” for The Advocate to publish an item in its political column about his being approached by Democrats to run for governor. Sources say Ater recently met with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and state party chairman Buddy Leach in New Orleans to talk about fielding a candidate against Jindal. But Ater quickly made it clear it won’t be him. As much as he would like to run, he is concentrating on turning over the family agricultural business to his son.
— Despite legislators’ claims that they are restricted from cutting statutorily dedicated funds, they have swept hundreds of millions of dollars from those funds in order to balance the past two budgets. A closely watched court ruling this week ensures they will be able to continue doing so. Judge Hillary Crain ruled against the Public Service Commission’s lawsuit that challenged the Legislature’s taking of $8.5 million over two years from two dedicated funds that support the regulatory body’s operations. Though the PSC is a constitutionally created body, the judge ruled that funds dedicated to it by statute can be appropriated elsewhere by an act of the Legislature.
They said it “I’m getting ready to make my case to the American people.”—Former Gov. Buddy Roemer on running for president, in The (Monroe) News Star.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
