This is the time of the year for pronouncing who or what from the past year were among the best or worst. Therefore, we raise the question, who should get the title of Louisiana’s Politician of the Year?
Actually, it is an easy question. When it comes to getting off to a fast start, the year clearly belonged to new governor Jeff Landry.
Now, we know that there are people in the state who do not like Landry or who are worried about what damage an outspoken ultra conservative can do.
One group that apparently has distain for him is aged British rock singers, who have no more prominent voice than Mick Jagger.
When Jagger’s Stones rolled into the Jazz Fest in May, one of the band’s selections was “You Can’t Always Get What you Want.” That prompted Jagger to, after the song, ad lib about diversity as he said about Landry, who was in the audience, “We want to include him too, even if he wants to take us back to the Stone Age.”
Landry slammed back at the 80-year-old Jagger on social media, by writing, “The only person who might remember the Stone Age is Mick Jagger. Love you buddy, you’re always welcome in Louisiana.” He signed the post accordingly: “#LoveMyCountryMusic.”
Another group that clearly does like Landry is the most important of all – voters. In 2023, he was elected governor from among a field of 10 candidates by getting more than half the votes in the primary. So far there has been nothing to suggest any erosion of his support except perhaps among those who did not feel a need to have a live tiger at an LSU football game, as Landry promised, though the sentiment was overshadowed by the team’s loss to Alabama that evening.
There are two issue areas that are far more important to the constituency than either Jagger of felines – and on both Landry has come on strong; crime and the economy. During the 2023 campaign he was asked by then Fox News host Tucker Carlson about how he could realistically fight crime particularly in New Orleans. His answer was straightforward: he will “bend the city to his will.” As governor Landry has established a state police crime fighting unit in the city. (Previously, the state’s police have been used mostly as highway cops.) He also called a special session of the legislature dealing with crime issues. Another special session was built around tax reform including abolishing the graduated income tax in favor of a flat tax and re-working corporate tax breaks.
We do not know yet how his initiatives will fare. But if, by the time of the next election cycle, it can be said that under his administration crime went down and personal wealth went up that could be a stable steppingstone for someone who entered office with a landslide majority vote.
Having Republican majorities in both legislative houses could continue to make his job easier. Mick Jagger’s warnings to the contrary, maybe Landry CAN get some things that he wanted, and may the state be better off because of it. And may the Stones always feel welcomed in Louisiana.
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BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS: Errol’s Laborde’s new book, “When Rex Met Zulu: And Other Chronicles of the New Orleans Experience,” (Pelican Publishing Company, 2024) is now available at local bookstores and websites.
Laborde’s other recent publications: “New Orleans: The First 300 Years” and “Mardi Gras: Chronicles of the New Orleans Carnival” (Pelican Publishing Company, 2017 and 2013), are available at the same locations.
WATCH INFORMED SOURCES, FRIDAYS AT 7 P.M., REPEATED AT 9:30 A.M. Sundays. WYES-TV, CH. 12.
