Louisiana, you guys appear to be in a world of hurt over there. Even if the entire elected legislative body was as clean as a whistle, and there’d never been Whiff One of corruption or cronyism, the parochial yahoos running the state would appall.
Let’s see…. So far, in this second emergency legislative session, the obviously unenlightened leaders of Louisiana and New Orleans have managed to derail or kill the government consolidations and the assessor reductions.
He called the duplication of courts, sheriffs, clerks and other offices “arcane and ancient” on the “Isle of Orleans” at a time when post-Hurricane Katrina dollars are short in the city. He said other large parishes in the state survive well with one sheriff, one district court, and one clerk of court who also who performs the duties of the conveyance register, notaries archivist and recorder of mortgages.
“It has nothing to do with the individuals,” he said. “It has everything to do with the system. . . . Less means more savings to the taxpayers.”
Rep. Joseph Toomy, R-Gretna, a friend of the sheriffs and judges and sponsor of several pay raises for them over the years, said now is the time to change the system in New Orleans. “Consolidation will be best for the city of New Orleans,” he said.
“Why are we picking on Orleans?” asked Rep. Arthur Morrell, D-New Orleans, a major opponent of the bill. “Is it because a lot of citizens are not there? And why are we doing it in a special (legislative) session. . . . ?
Hunh? Picking on New Orleans? Can somebody help the esteemed Representative with a reality check?
Now, these short-sighted non-cooperatives are derailing the proposed consolidation of the levee boards / districts. Do these officials think New Orleans’ future is completely unlinked from Jefferson Parish, the southeastern Louisiana parishes, and/or the rest of the state? They seem to believe that the success or failure of the largest city in Louisiana has no bearing on their little kingdoms.
It’s kinda hard to understand how Louisiana can get upset with the federal government when things look this bad at the state level.
From here, this all looks like Grade-A bullshit…. and Polimom’s totally baffled.
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