When Congress and the president fail to meet minds on a budget bill, and they’re basically stuck, a continuing resolution is often passed to allow the treasury to continue paying expenses at the most recent levels for a certain period of time.
A public body and an elected executive at loggerheads over the budget. Sound familiar?
Asked by LaPolitics whether the Louisiana Legislature would have a similar option if sine die arrives before a budget solution, Treasurer John Kennedy crossed his arms and contemplated.
“It’s something we ought to explore,” he said, adding that his department could handle such a directive. “I’d rather have no budget than something that is just slapped together and only gets us through a few months. That would be dangerous and irresponsible. A budget needs to be based on logic, not tremendous fear.”
— Speculation has quieted down, but retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré said he has made no final decision about running for governor.
“I’m still thinking about it,” he told LaPolitics. “I have time. I won’t need a group of old dudes to bless it and $7 million in the bank to run my campaign.”
Honoré said he still has no party registration and would likely stay independent for a run. There were rumors that supporters were trying to convince him to run as a Democrat, based on polling conducted earlier this year.
Yet even as an independent candidate, Honoré could have the effect of a Democratic player, siphoning votes away from state Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, and helping to boost one of the other Republican candidates to a runoff against U.S. Sen. David Vitter.
They said it: “By this point these boll weevils must be a secret mutant strain of bug that will never die.” —Sen. J.P. Morrell, on the never-ending funding requests for the destructive beetle
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
