Today, Governor John Bel Edwards was in Ruston touring the Monster Moto factory.

.@LouisianaGov Looks like the Monster Moto mini bike would be better fit for your son. @FirstLadyOfLA #lagov #lege pic.twitter.com/M83n54kSVx

— Greg Hilburn (@GregHilburn1) March 22, 2017

The Monster Moto deal happened under then Governor Bobby Jindal.

Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Monster Moto CEO Alexander Keechle announced the company will establish a headquarters and manufacturing facility in Ruston for the assembly of minibikes, go-carts and other youth-oriented vehicles. The project will include a minimum $4 million capital investment as part of a public-private development to build a 100,000-square-foot facility housing Monster Moto’s operations at the former site of Ruston’s municipal airport.

In moving its headquarters from the Dallas area and its manufacturing operations from overseas, Monster Moto will create 287 new direct jobs over the next decade, with an average salary of $46,800, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 292 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 570 new jobs in North Louisiana.

Gov. Jindal said, “Monster Moto’s selection of Ruston for its new manufacturing facility is a great win for North Louisiana and our entire state. The company will thrive in Louisiana’s excellent business climate and gain access to our highly skilled workforce and a great research university in Louisiana Tech. Additionally, the new jobs created by this project will provide quality careers for our people in this area for years to come. We welcome Monster Moto to Louisiana, and we wish them well on this exciting new chapter in their history.”

The Monster Moto deal was done with the help the state’s incentive program and additional aid from the city of Ruston. They stole them from Texas.

But John Bel Edwards was singing a different tune about projects like Monster Moto in the past. Here’s what he was saying last March.

“The previous administration,” Edwards said, “blew a hole in our state budget by writing checks for tax credits, rebates, or refunds to corporations with no consideration of whether Louisiana receives a good return on our investment.”

Again, here’s JBE in June talking about the need to rein in incentives for manufacturers.

“It’s time we rein it in,” Edwards told the state Board of Commerce and Industry. “We need to give locals some input, and we need to tie it to jobs.”

So John Bel Edwards is against incentives for business, except when he get a photo-op out of them. There’s a word for that, it’s called a hypocrite.