[StBernard] St. Bernard Council message to state Legislature: no river diversions allowed

[Westley Annis]

So exactly "what" kind of meeting do you suggest having with state officials
that would accomplish any more than the meeting that was already held a few
months back?  Oh, you must be talking about the kind of meeting where we can
hold a gun against some state official's head?  So the Council passed some
sort of resolution with I suppose had some strong language in it?  Big deal
- that's really going to convince CPRA officials.  Look, it's time to face
reality here.  Unless our local state legislators can get Jindal to sit down
with them and be convinced to go in a different direction from what the CPRA
plan says, these efforts amount to nothing more than folly.  You have a lame
duck governor who probably will listen to "his" people on CPRA - a nice way
of saying he could care less what we in St. Bernard have to say.  So the
only realistic chance we have is to court those individuals "now" who are
being rumored or already announced to be running for governor in 2015.
Convince each would-be gubernatorial candidate and have each commit "now" to
not going forth with the diversion in St. Bernard and maybe - only maybe -
we might have a chance to stop them.

Why do I say "only maybe?"  Because changing the state's CPRA plan requires
an act of the state legislature.  If a bill can't get out of the legislature
to the governor's desk, then the new governor can't do anything to change it
- but he could try to use his influence being the new governor.  I'm telling
you here and now "that" is the only chance we have.

As of today, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardene has announced he's running for governor.
To win support early in St. Bernard, he might very well be willing to go
along with us.  Vitter is running.  I don't care what you've heard otherwise
- he's running.  So somebody in parish government needs to get to Vitter now
- just in case.  Also they're rumoring Mitch Landrieu.  So we gotta get to
Mitch and sell him on our position now.  Former La. DNR Secretary Scott
Angelle is rumored to be a likely candidate for governor.  Does anyone in
St. Bernard know him well?  But, Angelle is very close to many of the people
who sit on the CPRA board and its staff.  So I'm not sure how easy he'll be
to convince.  But remember this:  all these people are going to be looking
for base support as early as possible, so we might be able to get them on
board.  But the other issue that remains is will they stick to their promise
to St. Bernard after they are elected.

-----Original Message-----
Meetings are a good start.  I cant tell you how many meetings residents have
attended with state officials on other issues, voicing concerns, only to
have the state continue the status quo.
 
sometimes you need to take decisive action and be uncompromising.  
 
SJK