Could Louisiana National Guardsmen go to Texas to help that state secure its border with Mexico? They will if Governor Jeff Landry gets his way.
On Sunday, Landry joined 13 other Republican governors at the Texas/Mexico border in a show of solidarity with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is engaging in a standoff with federal officials over closing the border. In a video posted to Twitter, Landry said he will ask lawmakers to find the funding to send the state's guardsmen to the southern border.
One political analyst says this is nothing more than Landry's latest attempt to gain points with conservatives.
"It's really about politics. It's not about securing the border," Gambit columnist Clancy Dubos said. "It's going to redound more to Jeff Landry's benefit than to Louisiana's benefit. This is just political grandstanding."
According to Dubos, Landry could find himself in a tricky political situation if the legislature were to approve his call to send guardsmen Texas and disaster were to strike while those guardsmen are working the border.
"He doesn't say how many. He doesn't say how long," Dubos said. "There's an amount of risk associated with this because, God forbid, if there is some sort of emergency here in Louisiana, and our guard members are over in Texas for some political statement that Jeff Landry wants to make, that exposes him to not just criticism but severe criticism for wasting that resource because it is a waste. If they're not going to be there permanently doing something, then what's the point? It's really just about politics. It's not about securing the border.
"There is no state of emergency within the state right now, but it's February," Dubos continued. "There could be any kind of winter storm or crisis, God forbid. If there is, and we've got a significant number of troops on the Texas border, that not only poses a political risk and a waste on Jeff Landry's watch, and he'll have to own that, but it exposes the people of Louisiana to danger because they don't have the full complement of protection that's needed in the state in the event of an emergency."
Dubos says if Landry pursues sending guardsmen to the border, he risks falling into the same trap as another former Louisiana governor.
"He should, perhaps, take a lesson from Bobby Jindal's experience," Dubos said. "Bobby Jindal tried to make himself a national figure at the expense of Louisiana, and he wound up being the worst governor in memory if not in Louisiana history and one of the two least-popular governors in the country by the end of his tenure."
Dubos says if Landry wants his to get national attention, he should focus on improving the state he was elected to govern.
"If Jeff Landry wants to improve his national standings, he should show how much he improves the quality of life in Louisiana," Dubos said. "If the governor makes a significant contribution towards making New Orleans safer and making people feel safer in New Orleans, that would be a much bigger accomplishment for him, and I think that would elevate his national stature more than sending the National Guard to the Texas border."
