It’s not exactly a Sharks vs. Jets rumble, but the reapportionment argument between the camps of Rep. Charles Boustany and Rep. Jeff Landry adds a hard political edge to the Washington Mardi Gras celebration this weekend. The dean of the House delegation, Rep. Rodney Alexander, says a majority of members have agreed on “guiding principles” that would maintain two north Louisiana districts and two on the coast. But Landry says no formal vote of the delegation has been taken, and the freshman congressman strongly opposes any plan that continues to divide the coast into two districts. Boustany sees a political motive by Landry. “He’s trying to gerrymander a district that would give him a potential seat,” Boustany told Politico. “It’s part of the game he is trying to play.”
—Rep. Mert Smiley, a St. Amant Republican, is not term-limited, but he is considering passing on re-election to run for assessor of Ascension Parish. “I had a group of business people come ask me about it, and I am looking at the possibility,” he says. Smiley says he will make a final decision after the legislative session ends in June. Should he run, he would challenge incumbent Assessor Renee Mire Michel, a Gonzales Democrat, first elected in 2003. “I am absolutely running,” she says. “I want to stay another term.
They said it: “Big Brother will be watching you.” —Alcohol and Beverage Control Director Troy Hebert on the crackdown on underage drinking during Mardi Gras, in The Times-Picayune
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
