How Long Did It Take John Bel Edwards To Break His First Campaign Promise?

The answer is less than 24 hours after he was elected.

John Bel Edwards tried to run an issue free campaign for governor. Instead, he made the election about David Vitter’s character. While he was busy destroying a good man, Edwards didn’t really go into his vision for Louisiana.

Despite his best efforts though, he made some promises to the state. One of them was to hold two special sessions this coming year to deal with structural budget crisis the state is in.

Here’s John Bel Edwards making the case via some questions posed on social media.

Plans or priorities for addressing Louisiana’s current and projected deficit
Edwards: He will call two special sessions in February. All tax exemptions will be up for review. Savings will be reallocated to health care and higher education.

Here’s the Lake Charles American Press writeup of John Bel Edwards’s financial plans:

JOHN BEL EDWARDS

—Calling two special sessions, one to focus on immediate budget gaps and another to work on the state’s tax structure.

Here’s John Bel himself talking about the promise on “Acadiana’s Morning News” radio program:

The West Point graduate says one this is for sure, if he is elected Governor of Louisiana, he will call two special legislative sessions, one to deal with this fiscal year’s $400 million dollar budget shortfall, and a second one to tackle next fiscal year’s projected budget shortfall of about $1 billion dollars.

Fast forward to Sunday when he was rolling out his hacktastic transitition team. After he got done rolling out his team, he addressed the issue of special sessions. Here’s what Mr. West Point Honor Code told his adoring fans in the Louisiana press:

As he did during the campaign, Edwards said he would call the Legislature into special session in February; he also ruled out calling a second special session to deal with the mid-year budget shortfalls because of the action the joint budget committee took to close the state’s nearly $500 million shortfall on Friday.

So it seems John Bel Edwards is going to allow the Jindal Administration to play its card tricks to close the $500 million shortfall. Not only does this make him a liar, but it makes him an accomplice to the Jindal budget.

If it takes Edwards less than 24 hours to break his first promise on how he would deal with the state budget, what makes anyone believe they can trust him to keep his other promises such as that he won’t raise taxes?

 

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