The House voted to amend the bill so that it doubles the salary of legislators. Now it goes back to the senate. That is still too much. I strongly recommend everyone e-mail your senator.
My comments about the republicans were about the spineless republican governor putting his political agenda over his best judgement and the good of the state! The greedy legislative effort is a bipartisan one, not "essentially a Democratic sponsored bill ". Democrats led the votes for it and they also led the votes against it.
Give it up people. Getting Red to criticize a Democrat would be like getting Bill Mahrer to host a Bush fundraiser.
Red, listen clearly: You introduced partisan politics in this. The rest of us want to put all that aside and criticize the actual politicians and not the political party. How many times does everyone else in this thread have to repeat this.
Breakdown of the voting in the Senate: Democrats: 14 for the pay raise, 9 against Republicans, 6 for, 7 against If you have a big enough majority, you will "lead" every vote. But that's not the same as leadership. The Senate Dems were for the pay raise. GOP was as close to evenly split as possible, with a one-vote lean against.
You haven't been paying attention. I criticise Democrats when they deserve it, like our last governor, who I voted for, came to regret it, and who I criticised. I also criticise Republicans when they deserve it, like our new governor, who I also voted for and am I'm also beginning to regret it. Mobius, read my lips. This is a forum for political debate. Don't profess shock when someone brings up politics here. You don't speak for "the rest of us" or "everyone else", you speak for yourself here. I speak for myself, too and I speak my mind regardless of what others have to say. The herd mentality doesn't fly with me. Try to understand, I've stated it very clearly already, but I'll do it again and use small words. 1. The pay raise was bi-partisan and both parties are due blame and I have blamed them thouroughly. 2. The Republican governor's lack of political courage in order to get his Republican agenda passed is what my partisan complaints are about. He's putting his party agenda above what he knows, and publicly stated, to be in the best interests of Louisiana. He should have vetoed it and he knows it. You know it, too. Some of you just refuse to believe a republican can foul up. Why do you think Jindal should get a pass on this?
I have not gotten the impression that people think that here. But you have to admit, the sequence of events in this thread do not follow your explanation. You started by saying the "republicans were going to rob us", and left it at that, no further details. A fairly definitive statement to say the least. That doesn't sound much like you blame the democrat that sponsored it, or the majority of the house(dems) that voted for it. I understand Jindal is the executive and holds the power to veto but you seemed to(initially)lay the entire thing at his feet. After being prodded you admit that there is bi-partisan failure but it's obvious your hesitation to really blame the catalyst for this, which is the democrats. I think most of the conservatives here acknowledge it as an embarrassment of the government as a whole and did so from the start. Some of the more liberal people here did not, and instead merely pointed fingers at republicans. It's not accurate and just shows partisanship. Like it or not, you first few statements did not lean that way, even if you genuinely believe it. Reading the thread from the start shows it pretty clearly.
Here we go again. The intital post was about whether Jindal would veto it or not. My post was in response to that, so I was CLEARLY talking about the GOVERNOR and his republican agenda. Nothing the legislature does surprises me, but I was expecting more from this governor with his emphasis on ethics and a change from "Louisiana politics as usual". Wrong. I didn't address the legislature until someone threw out the statement that the democrats voted 3-to-1 for the bill and I questioned those numbers which proved to be bogus. I then ponted out that democrats and republicans were on both sides of the bill and it was not a party-line split. You need to read it again, without your conservative glasses. 1. I criticised the governor in response to a post about him. (posts 2, 13) 2. I pointed out that the numbers being tossed around by conservatives blaming democrats were wrong and that democrats led the votes both for and against the bill. (Posts 19, 24) 3. I vociferously blasted the legislature in a bi-partisan manner in my first comments about the pay-raise, rather than the governor's timidity. (post 40) 3. All other posts were clarifying my statements to people who apparently were listening but not hearing. (posts 26, 30, 33, 49, 52, 58) Show me a post where I held republican legislators responsible for the pay-raise bill, Dude. All my numbers showed was that it was a bi-partisan bill, in response to new-guy falsely painting it as a 3-to-1 democratic landslide.
