[StBernard] Guest columnist: Sweeping changes needed to bring reform to Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

Guest columnist: Sweeping changes needed to bring reform to Louisiana
Nick Bouterie 
news at theadvertiser.com 

With the primaries for the Louisiana 2007 election season less than three
weeks away and some polls still showing Bobby Jindal possibly winning the
governor's race without a runoff, the attacks from Democrats are expected to
increase.
However, the state Democratic Party appears to be less in attack mode and
more in operations of rebuilding its message to Louisiana voters. This is
largely due to the lame and classless attempt to paint Bobby Jindal as
anti-Protestant, hoping to create religion warfare in the state to add to
the current message of class warfare that seems to be prominent throughout
the Democrat Party.


The result was egg on the face of party Chairman Chris Whittington and the
Louisiana Democratic Party. That desperate attempt to divide the state's
voters along religious lines could be the best plan they have to avoid a
Jindal victory, along with the obvious ploy of making sure every David Duke
sympathizer knows "Bobby" Jindal's real name is Piyush, meaning too dark to
elect governor. 

After that embarrassment, much of the local Democratic strategy appears to
be holding up national Republicans as an example of why Republicans can't be
trusted in Louisiana.
Of course, they don't want to concentrate on the fact that Democrats have
controlled Louisiana for decades now, including the Legislature for more
than 100 years.

Who is the main power broker for the state Democrats? Bob Odom, whom
indictments have painted as possibly the most corrupt politician in Baton
Rouge. Meanwhile, good ol' boy politics is led in the state Legislature by
the likes of Don Hines, John Alario and Francis "Poverty Point" Thompson.

There are certainly corrupt Republicans in Baton Rouge as well, which is why
the voters need to discount party membership and vote for a sweeping change
away from the good ol' boy politicians. However, this makes the leaders of
the Louisiana Democratic Party nervous, as they would be the ones with the
most to lose by such change, because for partisan hacks, party power is more
important than ridding the state of corrupt politics.

The upcoming election could be the most important one for Louisiana, as it
is the first opportunity to bring a good overhaul to the state Legislature.
But remember, if all the term-limited members are allowed to simply recycle
into another chamber, and the likes of Bob Odom, Don Hines and Billy
Montgomery are re-elected, then sweeping change will never become a reality
for our beloved state.

Nick Bouterie is a landman for OGM Land Co. and author of the Conservative
Cajun blog.