elections

Gov. John Bel Edwards kicks off re-election campaign with Lower Garden District rally (full video)

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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards kicked off his re-election campaign Monday morning with a rally in the Lower Garden District, drawing a crowd of New Orleans supporters with his message of progress on health care and the economy and promises of more funding for public education. Edwards, an Army veteran and attorney from Amite who served as a Democrat in the state House of Representatives, was elected governor in 2015 over Republican former U.S. Sen. David Vitter, filling the vacancy left by his term-limited predecessor, Bobby Jindal. On Monday morning, Edwards met with a packed room of supporters on Thalia Street to launch his re-election campaign in New Orleans. Edwards based the case for re-election on two of his early priorities — expanding health care coverage to thousands of Louisianans under the Affordable Care Act, and filling the budget deficits he said he inherited from the Jindal administration. “Bobby Jindal is so far in the rearview mirror today we can just about forget about him,” Edwards said.

opinion

Danae Columbus: What to the immigrant is the Fourth of July?

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On July 5, 1852 former slave, abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass delivered an impassioned speech — known today as “What to the Slave is the 4th of July” — to President Millard Fillmore, congressional leaders and members of the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society at Rochester New York’s Corinthian Hall. Douglass’s stirring words struck at the heart of racial and social injustice as he chastised his predominately white audience for their hypocrisy. In that era, our country’s leading elected leaders enslaved Africans while espousing freedom, justice and equality. Not too much has changed in 150 years. While many – but not all – descendants of enslaved Africans have made great strides, America’s new hypocrisy also includes the way our government treats current migrants fleeing from war, gang violence or economic hardship in Central America and the Middle East.

city government

Hazardous waste containers removed in Gert Town, city and state report

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As the city and state released statements on the removal of hazardous waste from beneath the surface of a Gert Town street, WVUE Fox 8 News revealed documents indicating the Mayor’s Office and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality knew the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had detected 100 times the normal level of radium at the street surface. Residents of the area surrounding the site filed a class-action lawsuit in June claiming the city knew about the radioactive materials as far back as 2013 and did nothing. In a 2010 report, the EPA estimated that there are about 15 brownfields — former industrial sites with potential contamination — in Gert Town and 40 in Central City. Mayor’s Office statement on the hazardous waste removal:
The City announced Wednesday that the final four of six total containers with underground material from the work site in the Lowerline and Coolidge area have been removed for transport to Anders, Texas. In May 2018, the Cantrell administration learned about the presence of underground material producing radiation below the road surface at the intersection of Lowerline Street and Coolidge Court.

crime

Danae Columbus: Conservative think tank predicts more criminal-justice reform in Louisiana

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A substantive prisoner re-entry program that includes rehabilitation and job training is “really critical” to reducing recidivism, said Pelican Institute for Public Policy CEO Daniel Erspamer at an YLC Leadership Luncheon last week. Pelican, a nonprofit libertarian-leaning think tank that develops data-driven policy solutions, works to bring jobs and opportunities back to Louisiana by eliminating barriers to success. It also coordinates Louisiana’s Smart on Crime business-led coalition that successfully lobbied for criminal justice reform. Since 2017, the coalition has been monitoring the implementation of the new laws and planning future steps. Ninety-five percent of the men and women who go into jail come out.

Advertiser specials

A Message from House Candidate Carling Dinkler

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Dear Neighbors:

If you’re like me, then you love this city, but you’re frustrated with the chronic challenges holding us back. My wife, Ayame, and I are determined to help make New Orleans a place where our daughter, and all children, can have promising futures. To achieve this, we need big solutions and an experienced and progressive voice representing us in Baton Rouge. Driven by my strong desire to serve, I’ve worked in public policy my whole career: in state and federal government, and now, in the private sector. I am running to bring my experience to the state legislature as our representative for District 91, a diverse district that includes Hollygrove, Gert Town, Irish Channel, Fontainebleau, Marlyville, Broadmoor, River Garden, Uptown, and the Lower Garden District.

elections

Danae Columbus: How will President Trump’s politics play in Louisiana governor’s race?

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As President Trump and Melania travel today to the G-20 Summit in Argentina and a one-on-one meeting with Putin, he will be plotting how to stay close to his imaginary friends like Saudi Arabia and Paul Manafort and continue to create havoc for his current perceived enemies including humiliated Detroit automakers, thousands of poor immigrants crowded at the Mexican border, and the Chinese who are blamed with repeatedly stealing American technology and intellectual property. In the meantime business leaders nationwide and in New Orleans have been calling for an end to the trade wars and stability of interest rates which had affected the markets. Closely watching all these developments is Louisiana’s freshman U.S. Senator John Kennedy who is primed to announce his candidacy for Governor against John Bel Edwards. Yesterday evening respected pollster Bernie Pinsonat refused to reveal the specifics of his new poll on the race, which will be released today. Reading between the lines, it’s easy to assume that Kennedy is extremely popular with urban and rural voters which will make him a tough competitor for the Deep South’s only Democratic governor.

politics

Activist group celebrates passage of constitutional amendment

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By Zach Brien, zbrien@nolamessenger.com

Election day in New Orleans saw a high turnout for a mid-term ballot, and voters kept U.S. House incumbents Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, in their seats. But the biggest local celebrations turned out for a down-ballot constitutional amendment. Supporters of Louisiana’s Amendment 2 gathered Nov. 6 at the New Orleans Jazz Market on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard to watch election results at a party put on by the Unanimous Jury Coalition. The amendment requires unanimous juries to convict people of any felony count.

court

Campaign to require unanimous jury verdicts comes to Uptown with voter-registration effort

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The statewide effort to create a constitutional amendment requiring a unanimous jury vote for a conviction came to Uptown New Orleans this week, registering voters and rallying supporters for the Nov. 6 ballot question. Constitutional Amendment 2 — placed on the ballot after the legislature’s passage of a bill by state Rep. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans — will ask voters the simple question of whether they “support an amendment to require a unanimous jury verdict in all noncapital felony cases.” The proposed change has drawn national praise, as 48 other states have long required unanimous verdicts, and bipartisan support from Republicans as an issue of constitutional rights and liberals as a civil-rights reform. On Tuesday, the Unanimous Jury Coalition found support from local chapters of the New Leaders Council, a political-development organization for young progressives, and When We All Vote, a project spearheaded by former First Lady Michelle Obama to increase voter turnout.

city government

Danae Columbus: Mayor Cantrell needs Gov. Edwards’ help to keep more tourism taxes in New Orleans

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When Mayor LaToya Cantrell addressed the Bureau of Governmental Research on Tuesday, she was quick to talk about her desire to add currently exempt property to the tax rolls while also re-distributing other tax dollars that are generated in New Orleans, especially those collected by the tourism industry. Even though the City Council recently proposed new millage to support senior citizens, Cantrell told the packed house that New Orleans could not tax our way into prosperity and has been clear that a budget shortfall of at least $24 million is anticipated for 2019. President’s Trump’s Council of Economic Advisors has declared the war on poverty largely over, according to the New York Times. Yet the nation’s recovery has bypassed an estimated 40 million Americans who live below the federal poverty level. As a progressive and former community organizer, Cantrell knows all too well that many New Orleanians – especially people of color – still lack decent jobs, affordable housing, and safe neighborhoods.

elections

Duplessis elected to state House of Representatives District 93

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Attorney Royce Duplessis overwhelmingly won Saturday’s special election to fill the District 93 seat in the state House of Representatives being vacated by Helena Moreno, according to official results. Duplessis won 72 percent of the vote in the four-way race, so no runoff will be needed. His closest competitor, Kenny Bordes, won 21 percent, and El Anderson and Danil Faust earned 5 and 3 percent respectively. “The real work begins now,” Duplessis wrote on Facebook, thanking his supporters after his election. “I am committed to honoring the pledges we made throughout this campaign.