On the day after Gov. Bobby Jindal threw his support to Sen. John Alario for Senate president, aides were on the phone informing representatives that Rep. Chuck Kleckley was his choice for speaker of the House. The Lake Charles Republican was thought to be in close competition with Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, but much hinged on the governor’s choice. Without mentioning Jindal’s nod, Robideaux sent out an email calling on colleagues to oppose the governor’s kingmaker role as a violation of House rules and the state constitution.
—The upshot of legislative races was the failure of PACs backed by Jindal and Sen. David Vitter to unseat one Democratic incumbent. Democrats kept their three contested Senate districts, while five House Democrats turned back challengers in the primary. “My biggest takeaway from that is the power of incumbency,” said Vitter. “That made our targets this time more challenging than four years ago.” Yet the senator sees his Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority as having met its goal of more than 60 GOP-held seats in the House, up from the current 57.
They said it: “There was a lot of venom. There was a lot of Vitter. And we ended up with the victory.” —Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, in The Advocate
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
