Races for House speaker, Senate president in full swing

Now that primary elections are out of the way, Gov. Bobby Jindal has turned his attention to legislative leadership races. Today, in particular, should prove busy for Jindal. He has meetings scheduled throughout the day with candidates for speaker of the House. “We’re all meeting with him individually today and discussing our different visions for the House,” says Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, one of the contenders who recently sent a video sharing his “views on legislative leadership” to members of the House. The race is pitting two Baton Rouge Republicans, Reps. Hunter Greene and Erich Ponti, against each other. Reps. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, and Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, are in the running, too. On the Senate side, the contest for president appears to be settling down. Lawmakers are being told that Jindal has already endorsed Sen. John Alario, R-Westwego. In fact, Jindal has a press conference scheduled for 11 a.m. today at which he’s expected to make the announcement. If that endorsement does occur, it will put on the outs four Republican senators who were also gunning for the job, including Sens. Dan Claitor of Baton Rouge, Danny Martiny of Kenner, Blade Morrish of Jennings, and Mike Walsworth of West Monroe. One longtime lawmaker says the deal was cut Saturday night after the chosen candidates of U.S. Sen. David Vitter fell by the wayside. The Republican U.S. senator from Metairie is opposed to Alario becoming president and unsuccessfully backed new choices for the Senate this fall. “Honestly, with Vitter out of the way, Alario already had the votes he needed in the Senate, with or without Jindal,” the lawmaker says. Today’s announcement should be interesting for various reasons. From who Jindal brings out on the podium with him to how committed—verbally and otherwise—he may be in backing a former Democrat for president, the announcement should be telling. —Jeremy Alford