Somebody should do this in Louisiana. Then neither Vitter nor Edwards could get elected. Election judge accused of taking off with voting equipment http://news.yahoo.com/election-judge-accused-taking-off-voting-equipment-125402040.html
You're right. I forget Stelly is what brought about the exemption for take home food. Ok so you want the legislature to only cut healthcare? Our budget is 33% bugger than it was 10 years ago. The state does not have an income problem. We have a bloated government. Workforce Commission has 5 times the number of employees it did in 2004, with fewer services offered, and worse service levels. DHH and DFCS have all doubled the pre-katrina headcounts. There are a lot of under worked civil servants that can be streamlined.
I'm curious to see how Vitter would navigate the budget if he won. It looks like we may never find out.
Terribly. Very few people understand how awful the budget is to navigate. Our tax code is awful, our constitution is awful, and we have the dumbest legislature in the US. The deck is stacked against a governor here. Bel Edwards is cut from that legislative cloth. His solutions to the budget deficit are not tenable, and if he paid attention during this last session at all he knows that, but Vitter may be more out of touch. Shitty choices we have.
I think Red is right when he says Edwards cant run on a raise taxes platform but that is what he'll invariably do. I also think at some point Vitter would raise taxes although he would find a way to call it something else.
Dedicate all of it or dedicate none of it. I don't care. But singling out education and hospitals was bad and remains bad. There is about to be a 150 million mid year budget cut and guess where it is going to fall? Start naming them. Tell me what agencies are bloated and why. I don't think you can. Highways? State Police? We have been closing state parks and shutting down hospitals. Some smaller universities are going to go next. All the fat has been cut in state agencies and the state has been trimming meat and bone for five years. 30,000 LSU employees were fired. The asshole Jindal has slashed everything that is slashable. Then he turned down millions in federal aid for health care. We had a $1.6 billion shortfall last year. Why? Because the legislature is incompetent to raise sufficient income to support the services the citizens want. Meanwhile they give hundreds of $million in tax handouts to the movie industry and big business. They cut taxes when oil revenue is dropping. Incompetence and ideological rigidity, pure and simple. This incompetence has been noticed and is part of the reason why Vitter can lose this race. He is Jindal on steroids and everybody knows it.
