His answer: sic the Bond Commission on ’em. The AG’s office put out a press release earlier today noting that there can be consequences to rogue politicians like Susan Hutson, the deranged leftist sheriff of Orleans Parish who publicly crowed that she would refuse to jail anyone who breaks the state’s new laws banning abortion.

Which makes New Orleans officially the most anti-child place in America, we guess.

But those NOLA politicians who want to play to the national Left often rely on a whole lot of state funding, and that’s a pressure point for somebody with the sand to use it. And Jeff Landry doesn’t mind a bit. Here was the press release…

New Orleans Officials Pledge Defiance of State Abortion Laws, Attorney General Urges Bond Commission to Act
AG Jeff Landry does not want State taxpayers footing bill of projects until City officials confirm they will enforce laws

BATON ROUGE, LA – Amid news of the New Orleans City Council, Mayor, Police Chief, District Attorney, and Sheriff pledging not to enforce Louisiana’s abortion laws – Attorney General Jeff Landry called on the Treasurer and his fellow Bond Commission Members to delay any applications and funding for the City until its officials have affirmed they will enforce State laws.

“As Attorney General and member of the Bond Commission, it is my belief that a parish or municipality should not benefit from the hard-working taxpayers of this State while ignoring laws validly enacted by the people through their representatives,” said Attorney General Landry. “In light of the City’s open defiance of the will of the people of Louisiana, I urge the Bond Commission to defer any applications for the City of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, and any local governmental entity or political subdivision under its purview. In addition, any other funding that will directly benefit the City of New Orleans should also be paused until such time as the Council, Mayor, Chief of Police, Sheriff, and District Attorney have met with and affirmed that they will comply with and enforce the laws of this State and cooperate with any State officials who may be called upon to enforce them.”

“The officials in New Orleans took an oath of office to support and enforce the laws of our State, yet they appear to have decided that some laws are not worthy of enforcement,” added Attorney General Landry. “Nothing in the statutes, the City Charter, or the State Constitution permits these officials to blatantly ignore State law, conspire not to enforce it, and violate their oaths of office in this manner.  In fact, our State Constitution prohibits this very conduct.”

In a letter to the Treasurer, Attorney General Landry noted that many Members of the Bond Commission, including the Governor, have gone on the record casting votes in support of the very laws that these elected officials are blatantly and publicly refusing to uphold. “I ask that you and my fellow Bond Commission members join me in ensuring that the parishes and municipalities of this State comply with all laws of our State, especially those protecting the lives of the unborn,” wrote Attorney General Landry.

#

A copy of the Attorney General’s letter to the Bond Commission may be found at https://www.agjefflandry.com/Article/13053.

This signifies a number of things, the most interesting of which to us is it’s a preview of what a Landry governorship might look like. And while Treasurer John Schroder, who’s ardently pro-life as well, might very well go along with it and help to build a consensus on the Bond Commission to freeze New Orleans out of any bond applications until the sound of “Uncle!” is heard, we take from this an affirmation that Landry would be one gubernatorial candidate willing to use raw political power to enforce an agenda.

That’s actually a good thing, so you’ll know. While we’re certainly small government advocates here at the Hayride, we’ve long since become irritated at the misinterpretation of that instinct to mean that conservatives refuse to act at all in support of the agenda.

There is no value in inaction when your goals and methods are clear. And in the instant case, to use the Bond Commission as a political level to get elected politicians to follow the law isn’t a big-government tactic at all – this is about power within the public sector, not the expansion of the public sector.

In my new book The Revivalist Manifesto, I talk a bit about the willingness to use political power to drive a desired outcome being a key difference between revivalists and what ordinary conservatives have become. You’ve got to be willing to go on offense and match the Left’s fervor where appropriate, without becoming drunk on power.

And tactics like this fit within what the book advocates. If New Orleans is starved of state dollars, New Orleans politicians, who have crushed the city’s private sector and their own tax base and now depend on funding from state and federal governments, will have no choice but to be brought to heel.