Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne has ended two weeks of speculation about his running for the U.S. Senate race in 2014. “I’m not going to run for the U.S. Senate,” he tells LaPolitics. “This fell in my lap. I didn’t go out looking for it. So I’m not going to prolong the question any longer. I love what I’m doing and I will continue to do that for the balance of my term.”
—A major but elusive piece of the governor’s proposed tax plan has been striking an agreement with local governments to set up a unified tax collection system. Gov. Bobby Jindal has told reporters that local governments would write their own bill to set up a sales tax commission to act as collector, auditor, interpreter and rule maker. Local governments would appoint five members, and the governor would pick four. “It seems like we are very close,” says Louisiana Municipal Association President Tom Ed McHugh of ongoing negotiations involving municipalities, police juries, school boards and sheriffs.
They said it: “The only person who was not surprised was my brother. He’s always thought I was a smart aleck.” —Gov. Jindal, speaking about his recent joke-filled speech at the Gridiron dinner.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
