Anyone who can count knows the state retirement system is drowning in debt. And anyone who can count votes knows that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s original plan to address the problem was drowning in the steady drip, drip, drip of criticism that his proposals are unfair, unconstitutional and—worst of all—impolitic. While his attention publicly was focused on passing his landmark education bills, Jindal was hearing from legislators, his canaries in the coal mine, that constituent complaints about his retirement overhaul bills far surpassed the flak over teacher tenure and private-school vouchers. So on the day after the education legislation passed, before even basking in the bill signing, Team Jindal acknowledged the obvious: The plan to overhaul the retirement system needed an overhaul itself before its first legislative hearing. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
