Public undecided on budget solutions

“There’s no consensus.”
That’s the opinion of opinion-finder Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion Research. His firm polled 600 likely voters last month on the budget situation and participants are as mixed on finding a solution as our elected officials.
Over the next five fiscal years, beginning with the budget that has to be crafted in the spring session, shortfalls will range between $1.4 billion and $1.8 billion — maybe more. Midyear budget cuts are also being implemented in an attempt to right the current fiscal year before it ends June 30.
Lawmakers, to be certain, need answers, but even voters are divided on the issue. For starters, poll participants do not want further cuts to higher education. Nearly 80 percent are opposed. This is bad news for lawmakers. The administration said as much as $300 million in cuts could be in store next fiscal year.
Additionally, only 23 percent of poll participants favor paying additional personal taxes to avoid cuts to state government.
Voters are evenly split on across-the-board cuts to state services to balance the budget, but oppose increasing fees for state services by a 52-40 margin.
Poll participants just barely favored doing away with tax exemptions for specific types of businesses, 48-38, but it provides lawmakers with a bit of cover for considering a temporary suspension of some sales taxes.
Vance McAllister
for U.S. Senate?
Former Congressman Vance McAllister, of Swartz, is out of elected office but not out of politics. He told LaPolitics recently that he would consider running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, depending on the circumstances.
Right now, those circumstances center around fellow Republican Congressman John Fleming, of Minden, who is growing increasingly vocal about wanting the seat should incumbent Sen. David Vitter be elected governor.
“If (Fleming) is the only one running, I would consider it,” McAllister said. “I don’t have a problem being against another Republican if it’s the wrong kind of Republican running. We don’t need another Ted Cruz.”
The shot at the Texas senator is in reference to Fleming’s efforts to move the House further to the right, most recently evidenced by the congressman’s decision to leave the Republican Study Committee along with other conservatives to form a new group.
While McAllister may or may not have time to recover from his own scandal from last year, when he was caught on video kissing an aide, not to mention his primary defeat, his entrance would definitely carve up north Louisiana to some degree for Fleming.
That would, in theory, open up south Louisiana for another Republican like Congressman Charles Boustany, of Lafayette. His inner circle has been careful, on and off the record, about addressing the race, although it’s thought that Boustany is interested in the Senate. Admitting as much would do him little good as he’s presumably facing re-election again soon and working the angles on the Hill for possible leadership spots in the future.
New lawsuits have
oil fighting two fronts
In a move that builds off of the lawsuits filed by the parish councils in Jefferson and Plaquemines in 2013 against several oil companies, the Jones Swanson law firm quietly filed similar lawsuits in November that share practically the same objectives but have landowners as the plaintiffs. All of the suits claim the oil companies violated the terms of their leases and drilling permits, thus causing land loss and saltwater intrusion.
The latest lawsuits, likewise based in Jefferson and Plaquemines, could reignite interest by lawmakers to try and tackle the issue of suing oil companies over allegedly violating coastal zone regulations, after such an effort failed in last year’s regular session.
One source said, “Everyone I know is assuming we’ll face those same questions in the Legislature this year. We’d be surprised if not.” Another source added, “They may not take it up. Maybe we’ll see some legacy issues, but they’ll be busy enough with the budget and everything else.”
The Jones Swanson strategy also has lawsuit abuse advocates weaving a new “litigation racket” narrative for the coming months.
What legal observers really want to know, however, is whether the Jones Swanson lawsuits, being directed by founding partner Gladstone Jones with the landowners as plaintiffs, will compete with or complement the earlier suits using the parish governments as plaintiffs, as filed by Talbot, Carmouche and Marcello, led by partner Vic Marcello.
Jones’ lawsuits target about 20 different oil companies, plus a few more when subsidiaries are included, for damages related to contamination and land loss. They are in state court. Marcello’s suits have about 27 defendant oil companies. They’re on the federal level, although one case has been remanded to state court.
Observers are already questioning whether landowners can bring these suits, since the law states only four parties can trigger legal action: the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, the attorney general, the appropriate district attorney or local governments with coastal zone programs. But landowners are framing themselves as beneficiaries, and there are hopes that one strategy will aid the other.
If either approach is poised to spread, it may be the Marcello strategy. Sources say cases are still being built by the parish governments in Cameron and St. Bernard, and that defendant oil companies have already been identified. There have been some hiccups, though, and both parishes have had to put their filings on pause. But that could change in 2015.
Regardless, it’s another big step in this field of law for Jones, who is representing the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East in its suit against more than 80 oil and gas companies. District Judge Janice Clark has declared a law passed by the Legislature last year intended to stop the suit as unconstitutional. Jimmy Faircloth, representing Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state, has appealed to the Supreme Court.
They Said It
“I’m a little offended by that because my particular relationship with the governor has never allowed me to get a project for a vote.”
—State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, on the horse-trading system that is the capital outlay bill
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.