Two New Orleans Democrat lawmakers, State Sen. J.P. Morrell and State Rep. Helena Moreno spoke to a local Democrat organization where they talked about their priorities for the upcoming year. They were joined by the Democrat candidate for governor State Rep. John Bel Edwards.

With a $1.6 billion budget shortfall facing the state, you would’ve thought the priorities would’ve focused on closing the shortfall. Nope, instead the Democrat lawmakers focused on “important” issues such as sex ed, equal pay laws, Medicaid expansion, and rape laws.

The Times-Picayune had a recap of the train wreck of a meeting.

State Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, state Rep. Helena Moreno, D-New Orleans, and gubernatorial candidate state Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, knew they had walked into a friendly crowd Wednesday evening (March 18).

Invited by the New Orleans Democratic women’s advocacy group, the Independent Women’s Organization, the three gave a preview of some of their top priorities for the 2015 legislative session set to begin next month.

There were no surprises: All three called for tougher laws against sexual assaults, policies to bring women’s pay more in line with men’s salaries and expanding the Medicaid program in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, the $1.6 billion elephant in the room was left largely unaddressed. The only exception was when Louisiana’s Democrats wanted to add to the red ink by endorsing Medicaid expansion. The move would cost Louisiana taxpayers $2 billion over 10 years.

Morrell called for creating a new pilot program to teach sex-ed in Orleans Parish schools. His plan is that if he can keep a sex-ed program just for New Orleans schools, he’ll be able to overcome opposition from social conservatives. Meanwhile, Moreno plans on killing funding for any statewide “abstinence only” sex-ed program.

Morrell, Moreno, and Edwards also pushed for an “equal pay” for women bill. Perhaps someone should tell these three that there is no gender wage gap.

There were no plans for making cuts to the state budget. Nor was any plan to generate the revenue needed to close the budget gap discussed in this meeting. This makes you wonder if these New Orleans Democrats are even serious about governing.

Nor were charter schools and school choice discussed. This would’ve been an interesting discussion because many Democrats in New Orleans support them and John Bel Edwards has prefiled a bill to attack them.

Instead what was on display in this meeting are three lawmakers whose values are more closely aligned with left-wing college campuses than Louisiana. The Louisiana Democrat Party believes that the way back to power is by promoting cultural Marxism and class warfare. This campaign strategy might be a winning one in uptown New Orleans, but it will fail in the rest of the state.

What Louisiana voters are looking for are people serious about governing. Right now, the Louisiana Democrat Party, as shown by these three lawmakers, fail that test.