READY, SET, VOTE!

I can't believe you lazy, lazy people! The polls are open and you're sitting there reading this blog! Well, perhaps it's for the best as there are a few constitutional amendments for the State of Louisiana that you might need to know about before pulling those levers. So let's go!

CA1 (Act 935-SB232) Term limits for members of state boards and commissions
A vote FOR imposes turn limits.
A vote AGAINST continues to allow elected or appointed members of certain state boards and commissions to hold an unlimited number of terms.

The Nation recommends FOR

You know, most of these are college boards and who really gives a damn, but one of the offices is that of the state Public Service Commissioner. If any office needed term limits, I'd think this would be the one.

CA2 (Act 937-SB296), Sets a time limit for calling special sessions
A vote FOR requires that legislators issue a call for a special session at least seven days prior to the start of the session.
A vote AGAINST continues the requirement that legislators issue a call for a special session at least five days prior to the start of the session.

The Nation recommends AGAINST

While this amendment would clarify certain aspects of calling special sessions, it still leaves the issue of signature versus public notification very vague. For instance, language in the Constitution specifically says that the governor or presiding officers “shall issue” the call “five days prior to convening.” But if the proclamation is signed one day and publicized the next a governor could circumvent the advance notice requirement by keeping a signed proclamation secret until publication becomes convenient. Not really a major issue, but why fix a vague law with a slightly less vague law. Vote no and make them get it right next time.

CA3 (Act 931-HB183), Temporary successors for legislators ordered to active military duty
A vote FOR allows the Legislature to appoint a temporary successor for any legislator called away for active military duty if the duty prevents him/her from performing the requirements of the office.
A vote AGAINST continues to allow districts to be without representation if the legislator away called for active service refuses to resign.

The Nation recommends FOR

OK, this is a strange one because it affects only one person. It's authored by District 94's Nick Lorusso who is actually going to be called to active duty near the end of 2008. This amendment will basically ensure representation for D94 while Lorusso serves his country and it also ensures that when his service is up he can return to his seat in the House. I see no harm here and it's actually a good plan to have in place if this situation ever comes up in the future.

CA4 (Act 932-HB420), Louisiana severance taxes to parishes
A vote FOR dedicates additional state severance taxes to the parishes of origin. Use of taxes is restricted. Also dedicates a portion of severance taxes collected on state property to Atchafalaya Basin Conservation Fund.
A vote AGAINST would maintain the maximum amount of $850,000 in severance tax revenues that the state pays to parishes.

The Nation recommends FOR

Severance taxes are monies paid to Parishes to replace natural resources taken (severed) from the Parish. They are intended to pay for things like road and bridge upkeep from wear and tear of the vehicles used to remove the resources. Currently the State is required to return 20% of all severance taxes to the Parish of origin on all removed resources other than sulfur, ignite and timber, but there is a cap set at $850,000 adjusted annually for inflation. The 2009 cap is currently at $875,000. This bill would increase the cap to $1.85 million for 2009 and $2.85 million for 2010 then adjust for inflation each successive year. If the full 20% were paid out last year, Parishes would have recieved $178 million, but due to the caps the payout was only $32 million. That's a lot of money that could be put to good use in some of those Parishes. If passed, this will allocate an estimated additional $26 million to 30 Parishes in 2009 and $46 million in 2010. The remaining Parishes do not generate enough severance taxes to reach even the current cap.

CA5 (Act 933-HB461), transfer of special property tax assessment level
A vote FOR allows homeowners to transfer speical property tax assessment levels to new homes if the local, state or federal government sells or expropriates their property.
A vote AGAINST prohibits homeowners from transferring special property tax assessments to new properties.

The Nation recommends AGAINST

This amendment is intended to give tax breaks mainly to elderly and disabled property owners by transferring low assessments of property taken for government use and transferring it to replacement property which may be in higher tax brackets. Well meant, but then we are left with incredibly inaccurate property tax rolls. Proponents of this amendment say it will affect a minimum of citizens but if this is true, wouldn't a special tax freeze for those individuals be a better solution instead of skewing the rolls?

CA6 (Act 936-SB295), Removes certain restrictions on blighted property
A vote FOR would mean that public authorities would not have to first offer expropriated property back its prior owner before selling the property a third party if the property was taken or removed to eliminate public health or safety threats and was held for less than 30 years. It also eliminates a requirement that the property must be sold by public bid.
A vote AGAINST would maintain re-sale requirements for property taken to remove a threat to public health and safety.

The Nation recommends AGAINST

Now this one scares me. I'm all for the first part which eliminates the requirement to offer the property first to the original scumbags who let it fall into such bad repair that the State had to take it away from them, but the second part, elimination of public bids, scares the living crap out of me. This is a bad, bad idea folks. Without the public bid process, politicians and sharp developers can carve out whole neighborhoods for any purpose they please. And you'll never know about it until it's too late. Can you say gentrification? Can you say corruption?

CA7 (Act 934-HB584), Contributions to post-employment benefit funds
A vote FOR allows public funds for non-pension, post-employment benefits to be invested in stocks.
A vote AGAINST would prohibit public funds for non-pension, post-employment benefits from being investged in stocks.

The Nation recommends AGAINST

I think this is the absolute worst time to propose this. The last thing we need is for our money to go into a state employee benefit fund that relies on the stock market. You may as well just take the whole fund down to Harrah's and bet it on black.

If you're still here and you want some help with the other choices in front of you today, (and you live in my district,) here you go…

President: Screw the big two, Ron Paul is on the Louisiana ballot for the Louisiana Taxpayers Party. Show the Dem-Reps that you're sick of being porked by the two-party system and vote for Ron! His Veep is Barry Goldwater, Junior!

Senate: Landrieu? Kennedy? No. Not to speak ill of either candidate, but Landrieu is sort of a mouth-breathing dullard and Kennedy is a borderline nutjob, (IMHO,) so let's get Libby with it and pull the handle for Libertarian Richard Fontanesi.

First Congressional District Rep: Jim Harlan, Democrat. No real reason other than Steve Scalise is wasting your tax money on junkets to Alaska to hook-up with Sarah Palin and calling it an "energy summit." Bullcrap. He just wants to attach himself to a nice fat Republican teat. Considering the current climate, a vote for Scalise might just be a huge step backward.

Associate Justice, First Supreme Court District: Jimmy Kuhn, Republican. Let's face it, aside from the Landrieu/Kennedy catfight, this is possibly the ugliest race the state has seen in a long time. Unfortunately there are only two choices here and between Greg Guidry and Jim Kuhn, Kuhn looks to be the better judge.

Public Service Commissioner: Heavy Sigh… John Schwegmann, No Party. I'm sorry, I'm not happy about this, but Eric Skrmetta is too closely associated with outgoing PSC Jay Blossman, Jr. It's widely suspected that Blossman has been in the pockets of his charges and his support of Skrmetta just scares me away. Schwegmann has had the job before, and he knows the territory and that's about all I can say about that.

Lastly, there's the Jefferson Parish 1% sales tax switcheroo. It's been on the books since 1984 and they're trying to say this money will be used for construction and maintenance on sewage, road and drainage projects. Yeah, sure it will. 24 years and it hasn't helped yet. I'm against it oput of sheer spite, but it will probably pass anyway.

So there you have it kids, get out there and make your voice heard! You don't have to agree with me, but if you don't vote, you can't bitch. And bitching is really what elections are all about, isn't it?

McCain: Phase II

Photo © M Styborski, All Rights Reserved.

Senator John McCain kicked off Phase II of his presidential candidacy here in beautiful Kenner, LA last night. It was a depressingly small rally for such a major step, but I believe this is due to the complete apathy of Americans today regarding politics. What kind of mindless drone passes up a chance to see a presidential candidate speak? Or are you all simply comfortable hearing the two daily sound bites the media give you? It's your country's future bubba! Stop sitting on your ass!

That being said, the rally was delayed slightly as traffic was heavy coming from McCain's fifty grand per plate dinner which featured a host of New Orleans' movers and shakers: Torres, Bollinger, Taylor, Jindal, you get the idea. That's a lot of money for a bowl of red beans. Hell, I got to speak to him for free.

The rally kicked off with Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz saying a few words and introducing the Tim Laughlin Brass Band which marched in to the tune of Second Line, Part II, followed by the Bonnabel Bruin Cheerleaders. Hey! I went there! But I don't remember the cheerleaders in my day being so short. Must be something in the water around here these days.

The Bruin Cheerleaders worked the crowd up into an almost perceptible state of interest with a few catchy numbers like, "Go McCain, Go!" before yeilding the stage to former Governor Buddy Roemer. Roemer came out with energy and spoke almost as if he were running for office. Perhaps he's targeting the Veep seat?

Then it was Governor Bobby Jindal's turn at the mic. He kept his speech short and to the point, explaining that after spending a weekend at McCain's home in Arizona, he invited the Republican nominee here to Kenner to kick off the next phase of his candidacy. He touted the Arizona senator as a hero, the son and grandson of heroes, and as the only clear choice for president, based on his distinguished record of public service.

After the appetizers were done, the main course took the stage and immediately thanked the people of New Orleans. Oops. It was the first of three McCain fauxs pas regarding his surroundings. Other than that, things went pretty much as expected.

(OK, a small rant here: When the fuck did Kenner become a suburb of New Orleans? Almost every major news outlet continues to refer to "John McCain's speech in a suburb of New Orleans." Look at a map for Christ's sake! Kenner is a city! Chateau Estates is a suburb. Lakeview is a suburb. We have a city seal. Do you know what's written on it? City of Kenner! And these are the morons you trust to report current events? Sorry. We continue with our blog with no further interruptions.)

McCain's speech, intended to upstage and overshadow Obama's declaration of victory in the Democratic race given at the same time, was not at all what I expected. It was predictable, mostly dry and aimed primarily at those who are already on the McTrain. He began by sincerely recognizing the efforts of Hillary Clinton but then quickly aimed his comments toward Barack Obama, specifically targeting his lack of experience and his dependence on a plan for an America that has not existed for over fifty years.

"...many of these policies were designed for the problems and opportunities of the mid to late 20th Century, before the end of the Cold War; before the revolution in information technology and rise of the global economy."

You can't argue with that.

McCain went on to answer accusations from the Democrats that he is running for Bush's third term, explaining his differing positions on the war in Iraq, and his policies on climate change and energy. I have to disagree with the Democrats that McCain represents four more years of George Bush. While it's true that he has supported Bush on certain agendas, that's the price he pays to become the Republican Golden Boy. It's the old "You Scratch My Back..." game.

McCain also took the Bush Administration to task for it's colossal failure during Hurricane Katrina and promised that under his watch nothing like that would ever happen again. He didn't elaborate, but I certainly hope that this means restoring FEMA to a full cabinet position, increasing their funding and not using the agency as a parking lot for big money contributors and golf buddies.

McCain continued to note aspects of Obama's platform and give reasons why they were flawed, always ending with, "That's not change we can believe in," or similar words. It was a classic example of repeatedly driving home a point. It was also about as exciting as a lecture on the migratory patterns of head lice, and for this the blame falls on both McCain and speech writer Mark Salter.

While Salter writes safe, effective republican prose, (and the speech does have it's moments,) McCain is simply not the type of speaker who can handle it. In all honesty, this speech sounded a lot like Kathleen Blanco gave it. Soft speaking, even tempo, slow pace, interminable pauses, and a chore to listen to. Like a teacher explaining lunchroom behavior to the Special Ed class. After preaching to the converted, McCain returned to speak to the overflow crowd who were unable to see the speech itself. He was more informal, more engaging and mercifully, more brief.

Unless McCain can start making some sparks, he's going to fall farther behind Obama in the excitement category. Obama already leads the categories of campaign funds, popularity, and not being a republican. The only category Obama falls short on is experience, but then, who cares about that in a Presidential Election?

For you lazy dinks out there who couldn't make it, here is most the speech, before CNN switched over to cover BO: