Another legislative session has come and gone. Lawmakers passed a budget in the final hour of the session, with most lawmakers unable to read the final document before voting on it.
One political analyst says it's the latest example of Washington-style politics infecting Louisiana politics and an example of hypocrisy on the part of the state's Republicans.
"Republicans, don't tell me you're sick of Washington," pollster Bernie Pinsonat told WWL's Dave Cohen. "What you have here is very similar if not the same."
Pinsonat said the legislature nearly missed the deadline to pass a budget because legislative leaders were so busy finding people to agree to the budget. In the process, Pinsonat says, those leaders promised other lawmakers funds for pet projects.
"It's very reminiscent of Pelosi telling them when they voted on Obamacare--it was thousands of pages--she said, "Go ahead and pass it. You can find out what's in it later," Pinsonat says.
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Pinsonat say lawmakers' focus on culture war issues is yet another example of Washington-style finding their way into the state capitol. Pinsonate noted that although Louisiana ranks near the bottom in education, health care, affordable insurance, and other quality of life categories, the legislature instead focused on what he called "petty fights" over the budget and bills impacting transgender people--a group that makes up one half of one percent of the population.
"The spectacle that we saw at the Capitol is mindboggling," Pinsonat said. "We're losing population. We're getting older and poorer. Our kids are leaving at a greater rate. Texas is getting our highly education as are other states. But all of these things are never really discussed at the Capitol. It's like they don't exist.
"Money has not been our problem. We just don't fix things," Pinsonat added. "Ninety percent of the bills don't have anything to do with the overall problems that is going to cause Louisiana to lose another congressperson."
Pinsonat notes that the governor's power of the line-item budget veto could cause some Republicans to vote against overriding any vetoes of the bills impacting transgender people.
"It doesn't mean he'll be successful," Pinsonat said. "The question is: Can he take away a few votes from Republicans and win this battle?"
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