FLEMING: Choices

Under President Obama, it’s no secret that Louisiana has been under assault with over-reaching regulations, executive edicts that circumvent Congress, and liberal policies aimed at expanding government.

Indeed, the Obama Administration has leveled numerous mandates upon all the states, burdening their budgets and trampling the liberties and the consciences of their citizens.

Let’s examine a few right now and ask ourselves:  which candidate for governor is most willing and able to address these matters?

Earlier this year, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) regulation, which changes the definition of “navigable waters” from what you and I think it means to cover just about every wetland and intermittent stream. Now, any use of your land in Louisiana will likely require a federal permit and extensive environmental review. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority voted unanimously to oppose the “Waters of the U.S.” rule.

Additionally, the EPA has recently introduced a new regulation on methane emissions from wells, which will place a new limitation on drilling in Louisiana.

Who is going to stand up to the EPA on these two battlefronts? Who will fight Obama and his overzealous EPA? It won’t be John Bel Edwards. Just this past summer Edwards was one of only 17 who voted against House CR 29, a bill that declared EPA’s regulations go too far.  Rather, Edwards toed the liberal Obama line on the EPA.

The next governor will also have an outsized impact on our safety. Sanctuary cities have been letting criminals roam free, leading to brutal acts of violence. In 2013, Obama released 36,000 convicted criminal aliens who were awaiting deportation. They committed 193 homicides, 426 sexual assaults, 303 kidnappings and over 16,000 DUI’s.

And Edwards, mimicking Obama, proposes to follow this very same model saying his plan will, “require us to take 5500 inmates out of our prisons.”  Sanctuary cities in Louisiana will flourish under a John Bel Edwards administration.

Two weeks ago, Kentucky elected a Republican governor, one of only two in the past four decades. Commenting on Obama’s destructive coal policy and its effect on Kentucky, governor-elect Bevin said, “Why it is that we in Kentucky — that sit on two extraordinary basins, the Illinois basin and the Central basin, an abundance of this — how are we not participating in something that the world wants more of than they ever have? And so, from my way of thinking, we will tell the EPA and other unelected officials who have no legal authority over us as a state, to pound sand.”

There is only one candidate in this race who would say something similar to Obama’s runaway EPA when it comes to our resources and our ability to be free of unwarranted federal intrusion and that is David Vitter.

Since President Obama took office he has seen an unprecedented 12 governors’ mansions switch from Democrat to Republican. They did so because those states wanted to push back against the rising tide of government coercion. It would be a tragedy if Louisiana reversed this trend and instead submitted our state to an out-of-control President and his accomplice, John Bel Edwards.

But I know Louisiana, and I know that this state values liberty and its right to determine its destiny. As Governor, David Vitter will fight the EPA, he will say ‘no’ to Obama’s intrusive policies and he will ensure for voters a genuine conservative state government, not the counterfeit one that Edwards offers. I hope you will agree with me on Nov 21st.

Rep. John C, Fleming, M.D. is a Republican congressman from Minden. This op-ed is special to the Hayride.

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