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Jim Brown Stood Up And Spoke Out (1)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PERCEPTION AND REALITY IN
In 2008, Louisiana rode the bubble. A new Governor and a cadre of other new public officials were ready to put the Katrina mentality behind, and begin the process of bringing Louisiana fully into the 21st century. There was a perception, stirred by continuing editorials in the state’s daily newspapers, that major changes were on the way. The word “change” was a bellwether in the Bayou state well in advance of the new president making this his mantra in his quest for the White House. But in Louisiana, the perception of reality is often not reality itself, but our own version of it.
Few governors have come into office with the momentum of Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal. He followed a lackluster Governor damaged by her handling of Hurricane Katrina. Jindal effused with energy and new ideas on the state level that corresponded to the same image gushed by our new President on the national front. He was the young, ethic alternative in the GOP that was made up of older white guys with few new ideas. Bobby Jindal’s timing was just right. But that was then.
“Our Oil Drunk, Our Hangover (Jindal’s Folly)” Morning Advocate-Dec. 28th.
“Greed Came Home to Roost forLa. Public Officials” The American Press- Dec, 29th
“Higher Ed. Ranking predict Dismal Future in La.” Shreveport Times-Dec. 28th
“Tax breaks Worsen budget Shortfalls in La.” The Associated Press-Dec. 29th
The financial problems are compounded by just released census figures showing Louisiana to be in last place nationally in population gain. Not only is the state in last place among all states including the
So the bubble has burst, the rosy view of perception is in the tank, and reality has set in. Reasonable projections show a $1.2 billon drop in revenue in the coming year, with well over $2 billion dollars needed just to keep the current ship of state a float. This is the best case scenario and does not take into consideration further drops in oil prices (this has been predicted) and possibly more plant closings and further layoffs (some 20,000 jobs lost in the past year.)
Ethics reform has been the selling point ballyhooed by conservative columnists nationwide in pitching accolades at the Governor. But the consensus by knowledgeable observers her at home is that, at best, any changes were cosmetic and amounted to “ethics lite.” Legislators continue to be wined and dined at top restaurants. The only ethics opinion of note to come out in the past six months is to prohibit an assistant librarian in St. Tammany Parish from receiving Christmas cookies form a student who uses the library.
The Governor and the legislature are at a crossroads. There are a host of real, not perceived problems out there that have festered for years. Revamping the healthcare system, making tough decisions to consolidate the huge overlap in higher education, rebuilding a crumbling highway infrastructure. And realistic job training in areas that have potential. Spending $600, 000 to study building an auto manufacturing plant in the state, a contract that was just awarded by the Dept. of Economic Development, makes little sense when similar plants are closing down in other parts of the country.
Jindal will travel to Raleigh,
If the Governor wants to consider a presidential bid in the future, the best thing he can do is show tangible results at home. Not perceptions, but a concrete game plan with specific, definable and obtainable goals. He can take all the credit, and if his national stature continues to rise then the national ambitions will come. But he and the legislature have a big, no an overwhelming job, to do right here inLouisiana.
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“Some people see the cup as half empty. Some people see the cup as half full. I see the cup as too large.” George Carlin
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s weekly column appears in a number of newspapers and websites throughout the State ofLouisiana. You can read Jim’s Blog, and take his weekly poll, plus read his columns going back to the fall of 2002 by going to his own website at http://www.jimbrownla.com.
Jim also has a new book out on his views ofLouisiana. You can read about it and order it by going to www.jimbrownla.com. . Jim’s radio show on WRNO (995 fm) fromNew Orleans can be heard each Sunday, from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm.
jimbrownla @ December 30, 2008
Jim Brown Silence Is Approval (0)
Thursday, December 18th, 2008
NOT EVEN LINCOLN
When the Governor of Illinois was arrested recently and charged with selling political favors to the highest bidder, the federal prosecutor in the case was incredulous. He stated that Abraham Lincoln” would rollover in his grave” if he were to know all the shenanigans going on Illinois. Not so say a number of historians who have written about Lincoln. Maybe the Civil War President would not have been as blatant as the current Illinois Governor. But selling political favors for campaign contributions or other personal benefits has been a way of life in
I’ve never fully understood the fascination withLincoln. More than 5000 books have been written about the 25th president, more surely than about any other figure in American history. Lincoln was the guy who micromanaged a war that all told took the lives of almost 1,000,000 Americans. On one day alone, September 17, 1862, more American soldiers were killed in the Battle of Antietam than in all other wars fought by theUnited States in the 19th century together. How did Lincoln, this supposedly great compromiser, allow such devastation to take place? Was ripping apart our country worth such a price?
When it came to patronage and personal gain, Lincoln was certainly no slouch. Pulitzer prize-winning
Thomas DiLorenzo, in his new book, “Lincoln Unmasked,” paints a portrait of
The current Illinois deal maker-in-chief is certainly up to his ears in big time problems. He is accused by Fitzgerald of carrying on “a political corruption crime spree” that includes an attempt to sell off the US Senate seat recently vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Fitzgerald has stirred the pot even more by releasing salacious tape recordings of the Governor talking about “what’s in it for him” to make anyone the new US Senator. But is merely profane talk, with no acceptance of any deal by a third party, actually a crime?
When someone says: “I’m so mad I might shoot that guy!” Is a crime being committed? When are words merely political batter as compared to crossing the line and committing a crime? The law says it takes two to tango, and although Blagojevich’s ramblings are crass and unacceptable to the vast majority of his constituents, do his words constitute an illegal act?
It looks like the prosecutor in this case might have jumped the gun. Fitzgerald apparently did not want any appointment to be made by the current governor, did not take the case to a grand jury, and brought the criminal charges himself. If the Governor was caught on tape making a deal with a deal taker who joined in a “tit for tat,” a much stronger case would have been made.
And were does the Governor get a fair trial? Certainly not in Illinois. The case has been front page and TV headline news daily. Fitzgerald has made a number of inflammatory statements about the Governor’s activities that will no doubt be the subject of legal challenges by the defense. His lawyers will even argue that he really can’t get a fair trial any where in this country.
Was the political grandstanding by Fitzgerald so inflammatory that he has tainted any chance that the Governor can get a fair trial? The charges against Blagojevich were brought in the US District Court inNorthern Illinois. They have a local court rule that states a “lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be disseminated by the public media and, if so disseminated, would pose a serious and imminent threat in the fairness of an adjudicative hearing.” The rules specifically prohibit comments on “the character or reputation of the accused, or any opinion as to the accused guilt or innocence, as to the merits of the case, or as to the evidence in the case.”
So when Fitzgerald holds a press conference to tell the world that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering” interspersed with phrases like “”taken us to a truly new low” and there’s a “for sale sign” in dealing with the Governor, he may have gone too far and given Blagojevich’s lawyers compelling issues to work with in his defense.
He was called by the largest newspaper in llinois “the craftiest and most dishonest politician that ever disgraced any American political office.” No, they were not referring to Gov. Blagojevich. It was Abe Lincoln who was the brunt of this burning commentary by the Illinois Register back in the 1850s. This whole current sordid mess has a long way to play out. But be assured that Lincoln is certainly not “rolling over in his grave.” Maybe chuckling a bit.
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“Make Lincoln roll over? This would make Nixon roll over.”
-Gotcha, a post on the NBCChicago.com forum
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s weekly column appears in a number of newspapers and websites throughout the State ofLouisiana. You can read Jim’s Blog, and take his weekly poll, plus read his columns going back to the fall of 2002 by going to his own website at http://www.jimbrownla.com.
Jim also has a new book out on his views ofLouisiana. You can read about it and order it by going to www.jimbrownla.com. . Jim’s radio show on WRNO (995 fm) fromNew Orleans can be heard each Sunday, from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm.
jimbrownla @ December 17, 2008
