GET THE POLITICIANS OUT OF REAPPORTIONMENT!

Thursday, November 30th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

GET THE POLITICIANS OUT OF REAPPORTIONMENT!

It’s getting close to redistricting time for legislators, both in Louisiana and throughout the country. By federal law, all election districts must be reapportioned every 10 years to reflect the latest census figures. But should legislators, who have a vested interest in how the redistricting lines are drawn, actually be the ones to do the drawing, anyway?

The problem is one of gerrymandering, where district lines are not drawn to reflect geographical or political balance, but to favor the incumbent or some other partisan choice.  When legislators do the redistricting, the norm seems to be that the state ends up with meandering footprints meticulously designed, it would seem, to ensure that no incumbent will face serious opposition, regardless of how the political winds are blowing.  As one local political observer said, “Think about it this way.  In elections, people choose their legislators.  In reapportionment, legislators choose their people.”

Gerrymandering, by the way, means to manipulate the electoral boundaries for political gain so as to give undue influence to an incumbent or other favored candidate. The name comes from Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who in 1812 created winding districts that looked like salamanders to favor incumbents. Thus the convoluted word – “gerrymandering.”

What most voters want to avoid is the self-dealing by legislators where voting districts slash across communities of interest and geography.  A blatant example of winding, disjointed gerrymandering is the Louisiana third congressional district.  It winds from the Mississippi border south of New Orleans though the southern part of Jefferson Parish and all the way through south Louisiana up to Lafayette, some 300 miles in length.

So the question for Louisiana voters is this:  Are they that concerned that the legislature is, for all practical purposes, creating their own voters?  Is this healthy in the Bayou State — or in any other state?  Many think it’s not.

So what are the alternatives?  What are other progressive states doing to transfer the power of redistricting to a system less driven by self-interest?  Fourteen states have assigned the task to officials or panels outside the state legislature. And independent redistricting wears the cloak of good-government reform, as long as a consensus can be built on just who will serve on such panels.  How do you pick the members?  How can such a system be put in place that assures voters the final result will be fair, non-partisan, and keep local interests balanced?

Louisiana has a number of bright people with solid business and educational backgrounds that are capable of taking on this controversial task.  There are several respected demographers in the Bayou state, and a number of well-qualified professors at Louisiana universities.  Retired judges fit the category as well as representatives of some of the state’s good government groups.

When I was first elected to the Louisiana legislature back in 1971, legislative redistricting had taken place just months before.  But the reapportionment plan did not pass federal court muster and was thrown out just weeks before the primary election date.  Ed Steimel was head of the Public Affairs Research Council at the time and was appointed by federal judge Frank Polozola to serve as a “special master” to redraw the district lines.  Based on Steimel’s rework, the old plan was thrown out and the new court-ordered plan was put in place.  There was general agreement that the Steimel Plan was fair and kept the district more cohesive and less spread out. (It must have been good as I won my senate seat easily in the first primary.)

One idea would be to create a Louisiana Fair Reapportionment Practices Commission.  Let nominations for serving on the Commission come from the legislature, the Supreme Court, the good government groups like PAR and CABL, the various college boards, and perhaps a key business group or two.  Then put all the submissions in a hat and draw out eleven names to serve as members to begin their work right after the new census data is made available.

The goal for such a commission is simple – put the important issue of redistricting into the hands of those with non-partisan interests, instead of those who in the past have been allowed to define the terms of their own cartel. Simply put, it’s just wrong for legislators to draw these districts and then run in them.  There needs to be a better way.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

 

 

WHAT TO DO ABOUT STOPPING MASS SHOOTINGS?

Thursday, November 23rd, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WHAT TO DO ABOUT STOPPING MASS SHOOTINGS?

Mass shootings continue across the nation where no part of the country is insolated from a “wild west” mentality.  The recent loss of life has been staggering. Those slaughtered range from one-year old kids to 77-year-old adults. 

A country music festival in Las Vegas was the scene of 58 people killed.  In the small town of Sutherland Springs, Texas, 26 people were murdered in the middle of a Sunday church service.  A deranged gunman in northern California killed five people just last week.  And those of us living in Louisiana can look back on a series of mass killings including those executed at a Lafayette movie theatre and officers shot down on a Baton Rouge highway.

Gun rights supporters say we should arm more people, and gun control advocates call for more restrictions on gun ownership.  I remember reading a book back in the 70s called “Bible in Pocket, Gun in Hand: The Story of Frontier Religion.” The problem today is that the entire country is now the frontier, and there is no place that is a safety zone.

So where does responsible action begin?  How about this refreshing idea?  Let’s start by enforcing the present laws on the books.  No new radical initiatives for the time being.  The judicial system, on both the federal and state levels, has the tools to get many potential mass killers off the streets.  But a number of laws are not being enforced.

Take killer Devin Kelley, the mass murderer at the small church in Texas. While in the Air Force, he talked openly about killing his superiors, illegally snuck a gun on his military base, was charged with assault and escaping from a psychiatric hospital, attacked his wife with a gun, hitting and choking her, fractured the skull of his baby stepson, and became a convicted felon.  Kelley had no business owning a gun, yet the Air Force ignored the law and failed to enter his name in the federal database that would have prevented him from buying more guns.

Here in the Bayou State, a killer named John Houser had traveled to Louisiana from the small Georgia town of LaGrange.  He had a long history of violence and mental illness.  He had been ordered to a psychiatric hospital by a Georgia judge in 2008, which should have prevented him from even buying a gun. But then he went to an Alabama pawnshop and bought a 40-caliber, semiautomatic handgun. Georgia and Alabama are both saying the other state should have done more to stop Houser from purchasing the gun considering his checkered mental condition. 

And if you think this is bad, how about the fact that over 48,000 convicted felons and fugitives lied about their backgrounds, a federal offense, so as to pass the background checks and purchase guns illegally.  How many of these 48,000 were prosecuted for making false statements?  A total of 44.  The Justice Department’s response was that it was “prioritizing prosecutions to focus on more serious crimes.”  So killers like Devin Kelley and John Houser have free reign to gather as many weapons as the want.

 

If there are no specific requirements that mentally deranged individuals like Houser are reported by every state to a national database, then we can look for more mass shootings. It’s way too easy for a potential killer to obtain a gun in one state, and then travel across the country to pick and choose his victims. Congress should make reporting mandatory with penalties for those states that fail to do so.  And Congress should investigate why the Justice Department lets these same killers continue to ignore the law and continue to kill.

 

Simply put, start by enforcing current law before clouding this issue with new restrictions.  It would seem to be common sense.

 

Peace and Justice

 

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

 

 

EDWARDS AND DUKE - THE RACE FROM HELL!

Thursday, November 16th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

EDWARDS AND DUKE - THE RACE FROM HELL!

Twenty-six years ago this week, perhaps the most consequential and controversial election in the nation’s history took place here in the Bayou State.  Edwin Edwards and David Duke squared off in a run-off election for Governor.  Not only were voters across the nation fascinated by what was taking place down in the deepest of the deep Southern states.  There was worldwide interest in a showdown between a controversial former Governor and the former head of the Ku Klux Klan.

Incumbent Governor Buddy Roemer was squeezed out of the runoff, as Edwards outflanked him to the left and Duke overwhelmed Roemer among conservative voters.  Louisiana is the only state in America that has a convoluted election system where all candidates run against each other the same time, irrespective of political affiliation. It’s been called the  “jungle primary,” and was the downfall of Roemer.

He tried to run as centralist, and you just can’t do that under Louisiana’s current system. I know this from personal experience as a candidate for governor, as I was cut out in the same convoluted system four years earlier.  Roemer was left on the sidelines as the showdown pitted conservative white Louisianans against populist southern democratic voters, with moderates stuck in the middle trying to figure out just what was the least offensive vote to cast.

I had an up-close view of the race as I was running myself statewide for Insurance Commissioner.  My path would cross with both candidates several times a week as we each crisscrossed Louisiana in our efforts to garner votes.  It was retail politics at its best as all the statewide candidates “pressed the flesh” at fairs, parades, festivals and campaign rallies all over the state.  Today, candidates try to influence votes by raising money and going on TV.  It’s a sad commentary on the current political atmosphere that those who hope to get elected generally ignore the chance to get out and visit with voters.

A surreal moment took place for me a week before the election.  My wife and I took a break from our own campaigning, and drove over to a large crawfish restaurant in Breaux Bridge with some friends.  I felt comfortable that I would win handily in my own race for insurance commissioner, and we just wanted to get away from all the campaigning. Some of the locals recognized me, but our group mostly stayed to ourselves in one of the corners and focused on enjoying the crawfish.

Just as we got settled, Edwin Edwards walked in the door. He made a beeline for our table, took a seat, ordered a tray of crawfish, and, in typical Edwards fashion, began entertaining our group and surrounding tables with his Cajun humor. Not 10 minutes later, in comes David Duke. Spotting our group, he too joined us as the whole restaurant focused on our table.  The banter and joking went on for a good while between the two candidates.  Then they each went to their own separate tables.  In the next hour, patrons of the restaurant lined up at the tables of their chosen candidate, either Edwards or Duke, often leaving a cash donation.  Just another night on the campaign trail.

Edwards went on to soundly defeat Duke receiving 61% of the vote, served out his fourth term as governor, went to jail, ran for Congress, had a new son at the age of 86, and today, at 90 years of age, seems as lively and engaging as ever. His recent birthday party was a sell out at the ballroom of a local hotel, and a recent poll pegged him as the most popular living governor in Louisiana.

Duke also went to jail, ran for U.S. Senator in 2016, and continues to rant about white supremacy.  He was a factor in the most recent presidential election after Duke endorsed Donald Trump, and Trump refused to disassociate himself from the former Klan leader.

Gubernatorial elections in Louisiana are never bland and boring.  Remember current Governor John Bel Edwards’ verbal attack on opponent Senator David Vitter in the 2015 governor’s race debate?  “You are a liar, a cheater and a stealer, and I don’t tolerate that.” 

But it will be hard to top the Edwards-Duke knock-down-drag-out election of 1991 that will go down in history as “the race from hell.”

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

IS ANYONE INTERESTED IN VOTING IN LOUISIANA?

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

IS ANYONE INTERESTED IN VOTING IN LOUISIANA?

Remember the 1970 song by Chicago: “Does anybody know what time it is, does anybody really care?” Well it’s close to Election Day in Louisiana, and it would seem by early voting and general lack of interest that Louisianans are not holding their breath to cast their ballot. Why the lack of attention to an event that affects the future of the state? There are a number of reasons.

Louisiana has become a strong red state with major advantages for the Republican candidate. A number of Democratic leaning voters feel going to the polls is just not worth the effort. “Why bother if my vote really won’t make any difference,” is the feeling of many more moderate inclined voters.

It’s much harder for candidates to get to voters today. It used to be that a voter had the choice of three TV stations, a few radio stations and one local newspaper. The Internet has changed all this. From cable to web newspapers to information streaming, voters have so many new choices. And political media campaigns often get lost in the scuffle. It is simply much harder to get to the average voter without raising and spending more campaign dollars.

“Retail politicking,” particularly in statewide races, has become a thing of the past. Up until just a few years ago, candidates would never miss the chance to shake hands at numerous well-attended festivals and fairs across the state. When I was out looking for votes during my seven statewide elections, I would send over a convertible at the crack of dawn on parade day to get in the front of the line, often jousting with a number of other candidates. Today, few statewide candidates show up for such events.

Now candidates raise campaign dollars and hand it over to consultants, who then decide how the money is to be spent. And the majority of the spending is for 30-second attack ads in the final days of the campaign. Both sides attack each other, and voters are relegated to the choices of bad or worse. As one candidate put it: “I want voters to hold their nose and vote for me.”

The press does not cover political campaigns like they once did. This is a reflection of the financial cutbacks by newspapers, radio and TV stations across the state. Louisiana’s largest newspaper, The Times Picayune, now only prints three times a week. A reader has to go on line to read their news in a city where 40% of the voters do not have an Internet connection.

Radio stations are doing much less local programing. Thousand’s of voters used to listen to interviews about local and state politicians during morning and afternoon drive time. But much of the programing is now syndicated, with stations using talk show hosts who have little interest in local politics. TV stations in the state, with a few exceptions, no longer have the resources to do any in-depth comparisons of candidates. The result is that voters are less informed, and thus less interested.

And finally, I wonder if many voters in the state know how to vote anymore? I have run for office in ten different elections beginning in the early 70s. I cannot remember being pigeonholed by voters who made their choice of candidates based on a single issue. Today, more and more voters toe the party line, and look for either the R or D after a candidate’s name. Too often, we don’t consider which candidate has a broad vision for what is in the best interest of Louisiana.

Have we relegated ourselves into “kneejerk” voting based on single issues? Consultants talk about the Catholic vote, the abortion vote, and the Cajun vote, often all based on self-interest, and not founded on a range of issues that are critical to getting Louisiana out of its economic doldrums. If these “self-interest” issues are not on the line, doesn’t this dampen the interest in going to the polls?

Elections officials are predicting a 10% turnout, one of the lowest for statewide elections in the past 100 years. There are number of ways to reinvigorate the electorate and make voting easier and more interesting. That’s fodder for a post election column. In the meantime, every Louisiana voter will hopefully take the required few minutes to cast an important vote on Saturday, November 18th. Geaux vote Louisiana.

*******

“If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.”  ~Jay Leno

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.