We are now 21 days away from the proposed constitutional convention as laid out in House Bill 800 that would start the process of changing the constitution of the state of Louisiana.
And WWL's Newell Normand says it's so shrouded in mystery that he likens it to a game of 'hide the ball.'
"Any of the folks that represent me that vote for HB 800 (which approves the constitutional convention), I will not be voting for them," Normand said. "And that's how strongly I feel about this because we have not done our due diligence. And here we are, 21 days out. And guess what is missing? An agenda. Which is basically an expression of where the administration wants to be on this issue. So we continue to play hide the ball with everyone, including legislators."
The bill to approve the convention went before the House Appropriations Committee yesterday, and there were two from Jefferson Parish on that committee. One voted yes to move HB 800 forward. That was Timothy Kerner. Rodney Lyons voted no.
But Newell found the vote itself curious because, as he sees it no one knows what the heck they're voting on.
"They don't even know what committee this whole process is going to go to next" Newell said. "Some were surprised that it went to appropriation (committee). So I mean, you just cannot make this stuff up. It's obvious that we have not done the due diligence. We kind of fly by the seat of our pants. We are just taking it a day at a time trying to figure out where we are. They're probably still trying to pull votes together."
Still, with so much up in air it looks like everyone on the Republican side of the aisle, for the most part, is just going to "walk into this blindly and not really ask the probative, difficult questions as to how this is ultimately going to play out," Newell said.
"As a taxpaying citizen .. I'd love to do the due diligence. I'd love to do the research. I'd love to to gain a better understanding of what that means, what it looks like, whether or not that would be a super statute, one requiring two thirds vote of the members of both House in order to change it once it would be voted by the public."
For some reason Gov. Jeff Landry's Administration is impatient and wants to get a lot done right now, Newell said. But they should be taking the time to do their due diligence.
"The irony is, every one of these folks have worked in some kind of business somewhere, somehow, either their own or for somebody else," Normand said. "They wouldn't spend their own money in this fashion. They wouldn't approach this situation in this fashion if it was their own money that they were putting at risk. Why? Because it's just too damn risky. That's why. Plain and simple. They know it. And if they tell you something, otherwise, they're lying. They know it's risky. They don't have their hands around this issue as to what the fiscal impacts are going to be."
