JIM BROWN-TIME TO RETIRE!

Monday, May 5^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

JIM BROWN-TIME TO RETIRE!

What’s the saying? All good things must come to an end?  We experience a number of “lasts.” In the secular world, I recall The Last Picture Show, the Last of the Mohicans, The Last Samurai.  In the religious world, Christianity says there are four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.  We give the dying faithful last rites, and we recall the Last Supper. Taverns have a last call  – which Leonard Cohen used metaphorically in his wonderful song “Closing Time.” I  hope my  weekly columns qualify as a special stop each week for those who read this weekly publication. But this will be my last time I’ll write.

I have been writing a weekly column for newspapers across Louisiana since 2004. That’s almost 1100 columns of my personal opinions, commenting on state and national issues. Besides these weekly ramblings, I’ve been able to tuck seven books into my portfolio. I haven’t gained a lot in personal renumeration, but I hope I have been able to continue receiving my readers’ respect.

I always wanted to be a writer, but the world of politics got in the way.  Eight years in the Louisiana state senate, a delegate to the 1973 constitutional convention, eight years as secretary of state, a failed bid for governor, and a final twelve years as commissioner of insurance.  When I ran for governor in 1987 challenging incumbent  Edwin Edwards, I decided to put my writing skills to a test. My vision of Louisiana’s future was set out in a 188 Page document called the Brown Papers.  I was convinced the public would be blown away by a number of changes that I felt needed to be made in running the state. Besides me, I imagine the only other person that read this document was my mother.

Following politics, I poured forward on writing about the highs and lows of Louisiana life. I found that voters have small expectations of what to presume from their elected officials. They just don’t feel whoever gets elected is going to make any real difference.  Oh, there are certainly Louisianians to admire out there. But they primarily come from the private sector; the musicians, the writers, a wealth of marvelous chefs, artists, and athletes. You can urge your children to be accomplished in so many fields that emanate from the Bayou state. But as Willie Nelson would have phrased it: “Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be politicians.”

Walker Percy, who before his death was from Covington, has always been one of my favorite writers. We had a number of conversations, and he lamented to me that Louisiana should be much more than what he decried as “a slightly sleazy playground for tourists and conventioneers.”  And even though the state ranks at the bottom of the better quality of life lists, I personally still have hope.  My birthday is this week. I’m turning 85. And I’m starting to wear down. It’s time for me to stop and smell the roses.

I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who made common sense when he spoke and never shied away from telling it like it is. Thanks for being a regular reader of my column. Perhaps I’ll see you in the future along the way.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

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.jimbrownla.com. 

 

 

FLOOD CONTROL HINDERED BY LEVEE BOARDS?

Monday, April 28, 2025.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

FLOOD CONTROL HINDERED BY LEVEE BOARDS?

 

Legislation is working its way through the Louisiana legislature that would strip levee districts of their autonomy. A  Board members of several large levee boards are crying foul, and charge that flood protection will suffer and emergency responses will slow down.  Louisiana has twenty-three levee boards that cover the state’s waterways from the Arkansas border to the Gulf of Mexico. But here’s the question.  Why have any levee boards at all?

 

For well over the first 200 years of Louisiana’s existence, all flood control efforts were constructed and initially paid for by the riverfront landowner, then by parishes adjoining the river, and then by funds raised by local levee boards. Federal involvement came about in 1917 with the passage of the Ransdell-Humphreys Flood Control Act, a flood control program designed to give protection up and down the Mississippi Valley. There was no requirement in this, and federal legislation that followed, that states seeking flood protection from levee boards.

Few other states have levee boards or levee districts. Mississippi has two. A number of states bordering the Mississippi River have none.

Louisiana spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on various other construction projects without the oversight of any appointed board. In this fiscal year, there is some $124 million in public building construction projects taking place in Louisiana. The state budget for highway construction this year will top $794 million. No Governor appointed board is in place to oversee any of this construction.

The simple fact is that having non-professionals appointed to boards that are given direct authority and control over basic protection to our public safety makes no sense in the 21st century. Professionals within the Louisiana State Department of Public Works and the U.S. Corps of Engineers would seem much better qualified to design the necessary flood protection plan, and oversee both the construction and maintenance of such important projects.

If the Corps of Engineers, as was alleged following Hurricane Katrina, made some serious errors in design and construction of our levy protection system, then certainly they should be held accountable. But do we continue to allow untrained, average citizens with no professional background to make decisions that, as we have tragically seen, can lead to serious of consequences including the loss of human life?

Merely scaling down the present 23 levee boards to a handful doesn’t really address the problem. Levee boards are outdated. They are a thing of the past.

The Dutch do not turn over the protection of their entire nation, a country that rests primarily below sea level, to a board of non-professionals. Neither do the Italians in their efforts to defend their city on the sea, Venice. We live in the richest, most powerful and technologically advanced nation on earth. Surely the Governor, the Legislature, and the federal government can get together and work out a better administrative system than what we now have in place. There’s too much at stake.

Is electing levee boards the answer, as has been suggested by former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu? That makes about as much sense as electing firemen and policemen.

The 23 levy boards that are scattered throughout Louisiana are, for the most part, made up of decent, hardworking people who hold a variety of jobs, and they all have one thing in common: they know nothing about building and maintaining levees.

In the levee district debate presently before the legislature, there is an opportunity to end the parochialism that pits one parish or district against another. Statewide oversight would allow decisions to be made that are for the good of the state as a whole instead of drawing lines that shouldn’t exist.

Simply put, these times call for changes in the age-old system of political fiefdoms in the Bayou State. Take the politics out of levee engineering. That’s the way it works all over the world.  Why should Louisiana be any different?

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.jimbrownla.com.  

 

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND LA JUDGES!

Monday, April 14^th, 2025

 Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND LA JUDGES!

 

Is Louisiana a judicial hellhole where decisions by state judges are influenced by campaign contributions?  Apparently, the Louisiana legislature and business lobbying groups think so. In recent legislative sessions, laws were passed taking away the authority of state judges to make decisions involving small claims above $10,000.  Evidently elected judges often do not make fair decisions.  Or at least that what insurance companies and other business groups want you to believe.

 

Under recent changes in the law, Louisiana’s threshold for jury trials will drop from $50,000 to $10,000. What this means is that insurance companies can demand a jury trial for even smaller collision cases where no injuries are involved.  Jury trials for reduced claims means the cost of bringing a lawsuit will significantly increase.

 

Insurance lobbyists argue that “auto claim disputes in the state presently heard before elected judges, providing opportunity to shop for favorable venues for frivolous cases.”  The implication is that elected judges receive campaign contributions, and are influenced in their decisions by plaintiff lawyers who contribute.  If this is the case, then why hasn’t the legislature address such judicial favoritism?

 

Can campaign contributions accepted by those seeking to step up to the bench and wear black robes influence a judge’s decisions?  To many observers, such contributions pose a great problem for those who want impartiality.

Even if a judge swears not to be swayed by campaign contributions, there is a real perception problem here. Let’s face it — lawyers who practice before elected judges are often the prime source of campaign contributions. And too often, vested interests that have a case pending before an elected judge are significant sources for the same campaign contributions.  So how do you deal with the conflicts, or the perception of such, when it comes to campaign funds?

 

The majority of voters in Louisiana want more accountability, and would like to have judicial candidates pass by them for approval on a regular basis. But how do you deal with the conflicts, or the perception of such, when it comes to campaign funds?

 

There’s an easy way to accomplish this goal. In most jurisdictions, it doesn’t even require an act of the legislature. Louisiana, and most other states could, by their own court rules, require that a judge recuse him or herself from ruling on any case where either the attorney, the attorney’s law firm, or a party to the case has made a campaign contribution to this judge. Prohibit the campaign dollars, and the public gets a much better chance of seeing both impartial decisions rendered, and having a system in place where there is a clear perception that both sides are getting a fair shake.

 

Some will argue that appointing rather than electing judges the way to go in Louisiana. But this raises the question — who will do the picking? To paraphrase Huey Long, “I’m all for appointin’ judges as long as I get to do the appointin’.” After all, most appointed judges receive their job through the good ole’ boy network. It’s not what you know, but who you know, and few get these plumb appointments for life without being well plugged in to the political system. So those who sanctimoniously talk about the politics involved in electing judges are turning a blind eye to the heavy-handed politics of an appointed system.

If legislators on the state level want to see an immediate improvement in the perception of the state judicial system, changing the rules of raising campaign funds will be an important first step. Oh, there will be some hollering from those who sit on the bench. But on balance, it is a solution that merits some review. And it is a lot better system than lifetime appointments where the guys and gals in black robes show a disdain for both scrutiny and accountability.

 

The 2025 session of the Louisiana legislature begins with just a few days. Yes, lower insurance rate are necessary and critical for Louisiana drivers. Yet the legislature does not need to take away basic rights of drivers just to get those lower rates. by putting judges under more scrutiny,  

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOUISIANA AND THE TURMOIL IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!

Thursday, April 7th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

LOUISIANA AND THE TURMOIL IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!

 

We all know that there is a crisis in the Catholic Church right now. Allegations of sexually abusive clergy are pouring in worldwide.  Unfortunately, the roots of this terrible tragedy engulfing the Catholic Church have strong ties to the Bayou Sate.  Here's how National Public Radio in Minnesota titled their investigative story on sexual abuse by priests: “It All Began in Lafayette, Louisiana.” And it did, back in 1984.” 

 

Lafayette criminal defense attorney Ray Mouton was contacted back then by the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette.  Diocese officials badly need a criminal defense attorney who was a Catholic and who would have the church's interest at heart.  Ray felt an obligation to help his church, but quickly learned that criminal charges had been filed against a local cleric, Father Gilbert Gauthe, who was the first Catholic priest in U.S. history to be criminally charged with molesting numerous children throughout South Louisiana. 

 

Ray had been a longtime friend and political supporter of mine, and he would tell me how this case had taken over his life.  He was quoted in USA Today recently in saying that “he waded into his defense of Gauthe with a certain naiveté. As a criminal defense lawyer, he thought he had seen the worst of humanity, but this was his mother church. Gauthe must be an aberration, he reasoned.  "I honestly believed the church was a repository of goodness," Mouton said. "As it turns out, it wasn't.”

 

Ray was appalled at the growing number of priests involved in the same molestation accusations. He ended up fighting with church officials who opposed any effort to make his evidence public.  "The church fought me at every turn," Ray said. "They wanted me to plead him out and make it go away." 

 

The case cost Ray dearly.  His marriage ended, his law practice was in ruins and he became an alcoholic.  “I worked, battling the diocese, the American church and the Vatican until I literally burned myself up spiritually, mentally, and physically."   My friend now lives peacefully in southern France.  Ray has written a novel related to his experience called “In God’s House. “He is no longer a Catholic but he does slip into a local church from time to time. "I only go into churches to light candles for all the innocent children whose names I will never know," Ray said, "all those children who have been abused."

A second good Louisiana friend, Jason Berry from New Orleans, has written compellingly about similar problems in the church in his book, “Lead Us Not into Temptation,” published back in 1992.  In his forward for Jason’s book, Father Andrew Greely concludes that sexual abuse may be the greatest scandal in the history of religion in America.  Now this was written some 26 years ago. Yet the disgraces within the Catholic Church would seem to be at an all-time high today.

 

Jason, who is a devoted Catholic, has been one of the most compelling voices in church reform for a number of years. His writings have received numerous awards, both within and out of Catholic circles including the Investigative Reporters and Editors Best Book Award for his book “Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church. “Simply put, Jason’s view is that the church hierarchy needs purifying, not the faith itself.

 

Now I’m not Catholic.  But I’m close.  I was married in the Catholic Church, my three daughters were baptized as Catholics, and I have been attending mass for years.  Just two weeks ago, I was the only layman joining 20 Benedictine monks on my personal weeklong retreat at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington, Louisiana. My home state is 28% Catholic, and like most Louisianans, I am deeply concerned about this ongoing church crisis.

 

I want to give accolades to the Ray Moutons, the Jason Berry’s and a host of other lay Catholics who have the courage to openly confront the abuse that has been allowed to simmer in Louisiana and throughout the nation. And maybe that’s part of the answer.  More believers who stand by their faith yet are stirred to actively protest.  Hopefully, such committed Catholics are out there in growing numbers.

 

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.  

 

LIVING AND DYING IN LOUISIANA!

Monday, March 24th, 2025

 Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LIVING AND DYING IN LOUISIANA!

 It’s been a number of years since the death penalty was carried out in Louisiana. A vicious rapist and killer, a fellow named Jesse Hoffman, was put to death at Angola State prison just two weeks ago. I can look back 21 years ago, as I witnessed the highs and lows of life and death here in the Bayou State.

It was a cool Tuesday evening, and I was leaving a reception for former congressman Billy Tauzin at the Old State capital in downtown Baton Rouge. Billy and I had fought many battles together when we both served in the Louisiana legislature back in the 1970s. He had fought and won a separate confrontation with cancer, and a number of Billy’s friends turned out to celebrate a full life he had led.

I headed to my parked car about a block away across the street from the East Baton Rouge Courthouse.  It was 8 o’clock in the evening, and as I approach my car, I could see numerous television lights and a large crowd on the front steps of the courthouse.

“What’s going on?” I ask one of the reporters I knew. “The jury’s still deliberating whether Derrick Todd Lee lives or dies,” he told me. “Will they come up with the verdict tonight?” I asked. “It’s getting late.” He nodded and said: “That’s what we hear. They’re supposed to push on till they make a decision. They’ll want to go home,” he answered.

I walked into the courthouse and took the elevator up to the sixth floor to the courtroom of the presiding judge, Richard Anderson. Sheriff’s deputies were everywhere and security was tight. I went through the metal detector and walked into a packed court room.

Col. Greg Phares was in charge of the numerous deputies surrounding the walls in the court room. Angola prison warden Burl Cain and I talked for a while. “Whatever happens, I’ve got a full night ahead of me. He will go to Angola tonight for the rest of his life, however long that is,” the warden mused.

About then, the bailiff quieted the court room and the jury filed in. The process was short. A signed verdict sent to the clerk, who read out the decision.  Derrick Todd Lee should be put to death. Then tears and sobs from the victims’ families, from Lee’s relatives, even the district attorney’s wife wiped away a few tears now that the ordeal was over.

So, should Derrick Todd Lee die? There was an overwhelming community feeling that, yes, he should. The guy is charged with killing seven women. And there may be more. If you were looking for the right poster face for the death penalty, you can’t do better than Lee.

Putting aside the arguments for opposing the taking of anyone’s life, what possible reason would there be not to execute him? One is money. It costs on average 4 to 5 times more to invoke capital punishment than it does to put him away for life. The costs of appeal, including attorney’s fees that are almost always paid for the state, often run several million dollars. It’s much cheaper to stick him in a cell and spend a few dollars a day to feed him.

And you can make a pretty good argument that if you want to put someone through hell, stick them in a maximum-security prison where he will either be brutalized by the prison population, or confined in solitary where he lives almost like an animal in total boredom. Some would argue this punishment is worse than the death penalty.

But we demand an eye for an eye. Oh, it may take a decade or more. But the odds are, one day Lee will die. John McKeithen, Edwin Edwards and Buddy Roemer each told me the toughest decision they ever faced as governor was whether to let a condemned man die. It was the first decision Roemer had to make the day he was sworn in. But they always let it happen.

Two different people that night at two different events. One a celebration of a full and continuing life. The other, just a block away, a decision to take away a life.

The challenge, of course, is to live a life of dignity. To see your own existence as a heightened example of universal experience a life that is fulfilling in a way that is somehow larger-than-life. On that night twenty-one years ago, I was a witness †o the obvious.  That one had succeeded and one failed.

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.jimbrownla.com. 

 

THE CASE FOR A NEW LOUISIANA CONSTITUTION!

Monday, March 17^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

THE CASE FOR A NEW LOUISIANA CONSTITUTION!

 

Here we go again. Voters will soon be asked to consider changing the state constitution. Every time Louisiana has an election, it seems like  there is an effort to change what is one of the longest constitutions of any state in the country.  

 

The Governor is hollering that the financial sky is falling and the state is in dire fiscal straights. Legislators protest that their hands are tied by too many constitutional dedications. And since there is little appetite for trimming the budget, the legislature now begins its regular gathering at the state capitol with a major shortfall. 

 

After years of allowing state dollars to be dedicated and ignoring constitutional limitations on spending, there are finally murmurs in the halls of the capitol that it just may be time for a constitutional convention to unlock so many dedicated funds.  Since the current constitution was adopted back in 1974, it has been amended 186 times, often to dedicate tax dollars for a specific purpose. This means fewer dollars for the legislature to appropriate for current and changing needs.

 

To put into perspective as to just how often the present document has been amended, the United States Constitution, which has been around for 231 years, has been altered only 27 times. One might argue that the legislature really isn’t all that necessary with so many constitutional amendments, approved by the voters, which require how the annual state budget is to be spent.

 

Currently, almost $2.5 billion has been constitutionally dedicated in 40 different funds. Programs that have such protected revenue include a Transportation Trust Fund that receives $1.2 billion of revenue for road construction, the TOPS scholarship program, and the minimum foundation program to fund public education.  All these programs are noble and necessary to improve Louisiana’s quality of life. The question is whether or not the legislature in Louisiana should be able to set spending priorities to adjust for changing needs. Right now, lawmakers are, for all practical purposes, impotent to adapt as other financial concerns arise.

 

This lack of any fiscal flexibility was not always the rule. The original 1974 constitution gave specific instructions as to how state funds were to be disbursed. Spending was set out in Article VII, stating: “except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, money shall be drawn from the state treasury only pursuant to an appropriation made in accordance with law.”

 

What this article meant was that all state funds would be put into the state treasury, and then appropriated by the legislature, who were entrusted with the duty of evaluating and setting priorities for state spending on an annual basis.  Initially few tax dollars were locked in to the constitution.

 

I have first-hand knowledge about the spending protections built into article VII of the 1974 Constitution. I was an  elected delegate, and during that time, I served as co-chairman of the revenue committee along with future Gov. Buddy Roemer. We often went to a local Pizza hangout, and debated for hours the pros and cons of giving the legislature the authority to set spending priorities.

 

We concluded that a constitution should be flexible enough to allow for changing times. A responsible legislature should have the tools to deal with current emergencies, catastrophes, new innovative programs that needed state funding, and have the ability to curtail or eliminate programs that had outlived their usefulness. What was important in 1974 maybe irrelevant in 2018.

 

Others will argue that they just cannot trust legislators to be directly responsible.  Maybe that’s a good reason not to re-elect them.  You might agree with a motto some will adhere to next year of  “in the fall, fire em’ all.”  But any private business would be on the verge of bankruptcy if it functioned as the Bayou State is being run now. A good start, by any measure, would be a new constitution.

 

Louisiana was recently named the worst state in the nation (again) by U.S. News and World Report when it comes to healthcare, education, infrastructure and other aspects of day-to-day life. Going back to square one with a new constitution could be a new demarcation line. After all, it can’t get any worse.

 

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.  

 

MUST WE ALL SPEAK ENGLISH IN AMERICA?

Monday, March 10^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

MUST WE ALL SPEAK ENGLISH IN AMERICA?

Should America have one official language-English? The President says yes, and asserts that a single shared language “is the core of a unified, cohesive society that serves to streamline communication and empowers new citizens to achieve the American dream.” Who could argue with  those goals? 

There are many, particularly in Washington, who would contend that America is one big melting pot. “We came to America to be Americans.” They would argue. Nothing wrong here. It all comes down to how they would define “American.” Remember that when our forefathers came to America, they did not assimilate or adopt the native Indian language. Actually, there was a good bit of “ethnic cleansing” going on back in those early days.

Louisiana is a state that is about as culturally diverse as you can get. Bayou country has a long history as a domestic mix of rednecks, Cajuns, Creoles, Latinos, African Americans, Italians, and Irishmen, just to name the larger ethnic groups. They don’t party at all hours of the night down in New Orleans in the “American Quarter.”

Now I know it’s the political rage throughout the country to demand that English should be the official language.  And quite frankly, I agree.  That is, from the public perspective.  I occasionally get a bit irritated when I’m told to “press one for English, two for Spanish”  If a U.S. governmental body insists on printing forms, giving tests, and processing governmental applications just in English, then that is how the process works.  It would be an unjust burden to expect the federal government to print documents in every language requested.

But here’s where states’ rights come in. If any state feels the need to offer services in another language, that should be its prerogative. In some areas of my home state of Louisiana, French is the only language spoken by older Cajuns. Grocery stores in some small south Louisiana communities post daily specials in French, and the southern part of the state has a number of radio stations that carry French Cajun music.

Recently, The New York Times profiled Mamou radio station KVPI that broadcasts to a large listening audience in French. The popular morning show begins early and is called “La Tasse de Cafe. “Certainly the President would not want to interfere with this morning ritual that so many of his constituents enjoy.

In the southeast corner of the state, a number of publications appear in Vietnamese to service the growing Asian community of immigrating fisherman. When I served as the state’s chief elections officer back in  the 1980s, Louisiana election ballot information was printed not only in English, but also in Spanish and Vietnamese. It still is today.

The recent census found that over 380,000 Louisianans speak another language besides English. This number, just to name a few, includes French (194,314), Spanish (108,189), Vietnamese (23,326), German (8,047), Chinese (5,732), Arabic (5,489), Italian (3,730), Tagalog (Philipino-3,335), Korean (2,402), and African Languages (2,2278).

But what about “Speak English or Get Out” as some of our politicians in Washington are advocating?  Look, I’ll stay out of your face and you stay out of mine.  Don’t tell me what language I can or cannot speak. I don’t need some government official telling me what to do.  If I want to go around speaking any foreign language, that’s my right as an American. I will not voluntarily stand by and let some politician or Big Brother set the parameters as to how I can or cannot communicate.  When you tell me what language to speak, then you start down the path of telling me where I can speak, what I can speak, or whether I can even speak at all.

So to all my friends, redneck like me or otherwise, pick and choose your fights wisely. The real problem is the overspending, money wasting, high taxing, and freedom-limiting bureaucrats in Washington and in our state capitols that lack the courage to set this country in the right direction with a little common sense.  You up there! Take care of the economic chaos you have created.  And for goodness sake, leave Boudreaux, Jinjing, Abdul, Jamarcus, Bubba, poor Pedro, and me alone.

And don’t forget what my old friend Homer Simpson says: “English?  Who needs that?  I’m never going to England!”

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.