Timing is everything in politics, and the timing of the race to fill state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson’s former seat in House District 93 has been set for May 1 — which falls on the second weekend of Jazz Fest. The runoff, if needed, will be May 29, which falls on Memorial Day weekend. Qualifying will be March 30-April 1, which is just days before Easter Sunday.

The election and qualifying dates were set by House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, who the state constitution authorizes to call special elections to fill House vacancies. Tucker says he called the election for May 1 partly because that date is the next scheduled special election date (i.e., it’s already paid for by the state) and partly because he wants to make sure the district is represented during the upcoming legislative session, which begins March 29. The May 1 date also was recommended by Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, the state’s chief elections officer.

The timing of the special election was largely out of Tucker’s control. Peterson did not officially resign until last Monday, March 1, when she took her oath of office as a senator. Tucker could not legally call the election until she officially tendered her resignation.

Tucker may soon be calling another special election in the House for May 1 — depending on the outcome of the City Council runoff in District E. If state Rep. Austin Badon wins that seat — and if he resigns or announces his resignation prospectively soon enough — Tucker says he will schedule the election to fill his unexpired term in House District 100 for May 1 as well. “It’s important for those two districts to be represented in this session,” Tucker says. “Even if each race goes to a runoff, many of the biggest decisions come in the final weeks.” The session must end by June 21.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) introduced H.R. 1079 onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives — a bill congratulating the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory. Sure, it ain’t health care, but it’s the kind of collegial feel-good resolution that allows Congresscritters to give each other the warm fuzzies. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by a vote of … 375-1.

Yes, someone voted against congratulating the Saints for winning the Super Bowl. Who? This dude:

What a jackanapes you are, Rep. Tim V. Johnson of Illinois.

Here’s the footage of Cao introducing the resolution on the House floor. Nice.

Jay Batt and Susan Guidry, the remaining candidates for the City Council District A race, met tonight for a final forum at St. Dominic in Lakeview. About 100 residents turned out to hear Guidry and Batt, who have run a particularly contentious race since the Feb. 6 primary, a race marked by racially inflammatory flyers, a fair amount of behind-the-scenes whispering, and names from Vincent Marcello to Bruno’s to Scotto’s Café. Neither candidate bothered with pleasantries like saying hello or shaking hands when they took the stage, and neither candidate barely looked at the other during the whole 90-minute debate.

BATT AND GUIDRY: NOT THRILLED WITH EACH OTHER.

And while neither Batt nor Guidry deviated from their well-worn positions on the campaign trail, one topic was much discussed by both candidates: ACORN, the advocacy organization for low-income families that’s been so much in the news lately. Given the voting habits in Lakeview and the makeup of the crowd (solidly Caucasian), it was safe to assume both Batt and Guidry wanted an ACORN endorsement about as much as they wanted one from Ray Nagin. And yet both candidates claimed the other had ACORN’s seal of approval.

During one of her trips to the podium, Guidry waved a flyer not produced by her camp, which claimed she had the endorsement of both ACORN and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which would like to unionize New Orleans restaurant workers. Guidry said that, as the Democrat in the race, she was the de facto choice for unions (and, indeed, SEIU Local 21 has endorsed her), but she denied ever getting or seeking support from ACORN. Instead, she said, it was Batt who had been endorsed by ACORN during the 2006 District A council race, a charge which Batt denied:

“I’ve never had the endorsement of ACORN. I’ve never paid them; I’ve never been part of them. It’s not even in my vernacular. So … it’s untrue.”

There’s no record of Guidry being endorsed by ACORN, but not so for Batt. In the 2006 race, he was endorsed by the New Orleans chapter of ACORN. An April 7, 2006 edition of New Orleans CityBusiness mentioned it:

City Councilmember Jay Batt today was endorsed by the Police Association of New Orleans and Athe Association of Community Organizations for Action Now. The organizations cited Batt’s dedication and leadership.”Your commitments to the needs of law enforcement have proven that you are dedicated to improving the New Orleans Police Department. Your years serving the city will only enhance what is already in place,” said David Benelli, president of the Police Association of New Orleans. “ACORN members in the Carrollton-Hollygrove communities have been working with Councilmember Batt on establishing a police substation for the area and a variety of other neighborhood concerns,” said Joe Sherman, Carrollton-Hollygrove ACORN chairperson.

Batt may not remember ACORN’s endorsement now, but he knew about it at the time, according to an entry on his 2006 campaign blog, which is still online:

So … what to make of a four-year-old endorsement in a race that’s four days away? Probably not much — the fact that it was even brought up is a sign that most minds seem made up one way or another in District A — but it’s another cudgel that will no doubt be wielded in a contest that’s been marked by a good deal of nastiness so far.

The runoff is March 6.

Drew Pierson of the Shreveport Times brings us this story, which is… which is… Well, maybe we should just let Pierson go ahead and explain it:

The Bossier Parish sheriff’s office is launching a program called “Operation Exodus,” a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.

* blink * blink *

“The buck stops with Larry Deen,” said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. “The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it.”

Curious, I went to the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Web site to learn more about Larry Deen, and was fortunate enough to find an actual video of a training session for Operation Exodus. The video of the training exercise can be found here, but here are a couple of screencaps:

So what are these fellows doing, exactly? It sounds fairly … well, militia-y. But it’s not. Back to Pierson’s story:

These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff’s office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in “support roles,” Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity. One of their first official training sessions was Feb. 20 when they learned basic hand-to-hand combat techniques.

Deen said he was not creating a militia.

Sheriff’s office deputies stressed the program would not cost much. Because weapons, such as a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on something the sheriff’s office calls “the war wagon,” already have been purchased, the cost associated with the program would only be training and uniforms volunteers must wear, costing about $4,500 total.

Okay. Now you know — if you’re up in Shreveport and you see a bunch of citizen volunteers in paramilitary uniforms and riot gear, along with a .50 caliber machine gun, you’ll know it’s not a militia. It’s just … this paramilitary, hand-to-hand combat, machine-gun equipped non-militia thing.

We knew it was coming.

As part of the New Orleans 2010 budget, the city is extending the days for parking meter use as well as increasing the hourly rate for meters. According to a press release from the Mayor’s Office, signs outlining the changes will be posted beginning on March 6, parking enforcement will start issuing warning citations on March 18 and the additional hours and rates will go into effect on March 27.

In case you can’t wait, or you don’t plan on running out to read a sign on March 6, here are the new rules:

*Parking meters will be enforced on Mondays - Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (up from the previous Monday-Friday requirement)

*For the two-hour-maximum meters, the rate is $1.50/hour (up from $1.25/hour)

*For long-term meters, the rate is $1.00/hour (up from $0.75/hour)

Maybe this belongs in Questionland, but will these extended hours and increased rates deter you from traveling in the city on the weekends? Metering minds want to know.

Photo credit below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65172294@N00/3402406458/

The New Orleans criminal justice system has cut down from 64 days to 10.5 days the time it takes to process simple drug possession cases in the Orleans criminal court through an initiative by the Criminal Justice Leadership Alliance (CJLA).

“This is a result of much better cooperation particularly between the police department and the district attorney’s office to get these things moving through the system,” says New Orleans Councilman James Carter, who started CJLA in the fall of 2007 along with Luceia LeDoux, a public safety and program director for Baptist Community Ministries.

By expediting the process, Carter says it allows the New Orleans Police Department and the DA to concentrate its resources on building strong cases against repeat felony suspects, and, at the same time, release those indigent defendants that spend time in Orleans Parish Prison waiting for a determination on misdemeanor charges.

Often referred to as “victimless” crimes, simple drug possession can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the amount, the type of drug and whether there was an intent to distribute. Possession charges account for roughly one-third of the state arrests in Orleans Parish.

The “Expedited Screening and Disposition” initiative was started in March of 2009, and combines efforts by CJLA members, which include representatives from the NOPD, the district attorney’s office and other parts of the criminal justice system. By the terms of the initiative, NOPD agreed to email police reports and field test reports to the DA’s office within 48 hours of an arrest (except on weekends). In turn, the DA’s office assented to make a screening decision within 24 hours of receiving the reports, the defendant’s criminal record and after interviewing the arresting officers.

Previously, the New Orleans Police Department and the Orleans District Attorney’s Office would wait until near the end of the time provided — 45 days for a misdemeanor and 60 days for a felony — to complete the police paperwork and to decide whether or not to prosecute a case.

For January, the initiative reports a decrease from 61 days to seven days the time required to arrest a suspect and to decide whether or not they will be charged with a crime. What has changed little is the time it takes from the filing of the DA’s screening decision to a defendant’s arraignment in court, which stands at 4.5 days.

Carter has made criminal justice reform one of his main concerns during his time with the council.

“I’m leaving the Council soon, and, hopefully, this work can continue on into the next administration,” says Carter, whose term ends this May.

The Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit concerned with improving justice systems, advises CJLA. Jon Wool, the institute’s New Orleans director, will present the imitative’s report today at the general meeting of the New Orleans City Council.

Sen. Scott Brown, meet Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao. You two have a lot in common.

Brown became a hero of conservative Republicans last month when he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate seat held for decades by the late Democratic stalwart Ted Kennedy — but he saw how quickly the political winds can turn this week when, in his first vote since being sworn in Feb. 4, he broke ranks with the GOP and voted for Sen. Harry Reid’s jobs bill. Brown, who had raised more than $14 million in the 19 days before the election, found himself under attack by the very conservative media which had buoyed him (Glenn Beck, once a supporter, took to the airwaves to denounce Brown as a “liar”) and besieged by angry donors nationwide asking for their money back.

It all might sound familiar to Cao, the Louisiana Republican who was hailed as a hero when he took the traditionally Democratic 2nd District seat in January 2009. At the time, House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner issued a statement titled “The Future is Cao” — but the honeymoon was definitely over in November, when Cao was the only Republican to vote for a version of President Barack Obama’s health care bill, and suffered the financial consequences from his own party. According to an Associated Press report this week, Cao’s campaign contributions dropped 40 percent in the three months since that vote. The AP also reported Cao had raised $874,602 since beginning his reelection campaign last year — but had spent $640,000 of it on more fundraising. (Cao will need all the money he can get, as Democratic state Rep. Cedric Richmond has already announced he’s running for the seat later this year.)

It may be too early to tell whether Brown will feel the slap of checkbooks closing, but his supporters went into paroxysms of fury on his Facebook page, many of them swearing never to give the junior senator another cent. Perhaps the unkindest cut of all came from the blog The Rude News, which headlined its condemnation “Heckuva Job, Brownie.” Ouch.

A run-down facility, leaked radioactive materials and untrustworthy executives persuaded the Vermont senate to vote to close the Vermont Yankee power plant, run by New Orleans-based Entergy Corporation.

What does this mean for Louisiana? Well, Entergy fed Vermont misinformation about known faults in the plant’s piping — or, as the Alliance for Affordable Energy states, Entergy showed “at least, profound ignorance of the design of this plant.” What does that say about Entergy Louisiana’s Waterford 3 nuclear facility in St. Charles Parish, or the Entergy Gulf States River Bend facility in St. Francisville? The Louisiana Public Service Commission’s latest renewable portfolio standard strawman proposal suggests nuclear power as a “renewable” source that utilities companies include in Louisiana’s future.

The Alliance issued a statement earlier this week before the Vermont ruling:

Entergy Corporation has shown that it cannot be trusted to safely operate these facilities or to provide honest, accurate information about the risks involved.

This disaster clearly demonstrates the risks associated with nuclear generation.  Nuclear power is not clean, not safe, and not renewable, and it has no place in policies designed to encourage renewable energy generation.  Furthermore, nuclear power is expensive.  The potential for disasters such as the one at Vermont Yankee are both a risk for communities and add to the financial burdens that nuclear projects carry, including large sums for decontaminating the sites that house these facilities.  Importantly, ratepayers are those who foot the bill for these projects, which endanger their very lives.

Subsidies and other incentives for energy generation should be reserved for clean, safe, renewable energy sources that can create jobs for Louisiana residents.  We hope that the Louisiana Public Service Commission sees the risks inherent in these plants and adopts a policy that does not include nuclear power.

If unchallenged, this will be the first time in more than 20 years the public or law closed a reactor. (The last was the 1989 closure of a Sacramento plant with faulty electronics.)

To the birther, truther, 9/11 Elvis Capricorn One Lee Harvey Oswald Conspiracy file, we can now add a new sinister theory: Peyton Manning intentionally threw the Super Bowl so the Saints would beat the Colts.

That’s the prospect raised by Terence Moore, columnist for the Web site NFL Fanhouse, in an entry titled “Peyton a Double Agent? Some Think So”:

I sought the views of the Colt Nation, and this was interesting: Spanning from Monument Circle to Conseco Fieldhouse to Circle Center Mall to the area near the little race track that features 500 miles each May, a slew of folks alluded to the “c” word, but not for choke. They viewed The Interception as their version of a second gunman on the grassy knoll — as in conspiracy.

Among the conspiracists, some said Manning threw The Interception on purpose to defensive back Tracy Porter who sprinted 74 yards for a touchdown to seal the Saints’ 31-17 victory. Most said he threw it subconsciously.

Whatever the case, both sides said Manning had the Saints’ welfare more than that of the Colts dancing around his mind at the moment.

Consider the evidence for the conspiracists: Manning was born and raised in New Orleans. And his father, Archie, is legendary around the Gulf Coast region. And the Mannings (which includes New York Giants quarterback Eli) knew as well as anybody before the game how much a world championship in New Orleans would brighten the souls of those still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. And [Reggie] Wayne, who possibly ran a shoddy route against Porter, also is from New Orleans.

So Reggie Wayne was in on it, too! This goes deeper than any of us could have imagined. But what does Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard think of this possible act of civic sabotage?

He couldn’t stop laughing from the conference room next to his office when told of the Manning conspiracists who won’t back down.

“So Peyton works his entire life to get this point, and he’s going to throw it all away,” said Ballard, laughing again. His press secretary, Robert Vane, added nearby, between chuckles, “And we also never landed on the moon.”

But, seriously. Was that intentional?

Said Ballard, easing into the non-nonsense voice that he used when he was a lieutenant colonel for the Marines, “That’s ludicrous. It’s just plain ludicrous for people to think that way (about the Super Bowl). There is no question that Peyton Manning wanted to win that game.”

Zounds! Everyone knows that if you deny a conspiracy, you must be one of the conspirators! Apparently Mayor Ballard is in on it too!

At least (dun dun dun dun DUNNNN) … some think so.

Second District Assessor Claude Mauberret has withdrawn from the March 6 runoff to become New Orleans’ first citywide assessor, saying “the numbers are just not there” and that he wanted to avoid a racially polarized runoff against Second District Assessor Erroll Williams. Mauberret’s withdrawal automatically results in Williams’ election. Williams, who is black, has served as the Third District assessor since the mid-1980s. Mauberret, who is white, has represented the Second District for almost 16 years.

Williams finished first in the Feb. 6 primary with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Mauberret with 25.5 percent of the vote. Mauberret narrowly beat out deputy Sixth District Assessor Janis Lemle, who carried the “reform” mantle in that race and garnered 24.5 percent of the vote.

“Since [the Feb. 6 primary], I have spent many hours reviewing precinct returns with my advisors and key supporters in an effort to chart a winning strategy,” Mauberret said in a statement. “After much deliberation, I have concluded that it would be in the best interests of my friends, my supporters, my family and my city not to contest the runoff. I do this with mixed feelings.

“Assessor Erroll Williams has been a friend and colleague throughout my public career, and I did not look forward to a bruising campaign against someone for whom I have a great deal of personal and professional regard. Although my supporters encouraged me to soldier on, the reality is that the numbers are just not there for me to justify asking my family, my friends and my supporters to put forth the kind of effort required to win. In addition, despite the friendship that Erroll and I share, I fear that others would cast this election in racial terms and try to divide our citizens, who came together in unprecedented fashion on Feb. 6 across racial, geographic, party and socio-economic lines. I love my city too much to let anything threaten this historic time of unity.”

Mauberret carried a plurality of the white vote in the primary, and Williams won a plurality of the African-American vote. Mauberret’s statement echoes sentiments reflected by state Sen. Ed Murray when he withdrew from the mayor’s race in early January. Murray cited potential racial divisions in a runoff against Mitch Landrieu for his decision to drop out of the mayor’s race.