You’ve heard the phrase, “If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get fleas.” Some might say this means if you associate with bad people, you will acquire their faults. It’s kind of like, “What did you expect?”

Wouldn’t the same happen in government, to our city council or state legislature, depending on who our officials associate with?

Candidates with integrity and a “can-do” spirit would necessarily produce a government that is transparent and effective. But if you look at the candidates we’ve been electing into public office, is there really any surprise that government isn’t the solution to our problems, but is our problem, in the first place?

Take for example, the Orleans Parish Democrat Party’s endorsement of a state House candidate who pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge a decade ago. So, the Orleans Parish Democrat Executive Committee members voted this month to endorse Steven Kennedy, one of six candidates vying to represent state House of Representatives District 93 in a February 18 special election to replace Royce Duplessis.

While the party has yet to publicize an endorsement in the race, Kennedy’s campaign manager and multiple other committee members confirmed the endorsement. But, as one member of the Orleans Parish Democratic Committee put it, “We send a very distressing message to women that we’re willing to overlook violence against women when we allow someone like this to be endorsed.”

Yet Democrats in Orleans simply overlooked Kennedy’s six convictions in Orleans Parish Criminal District and Magistrate Court, including his plea of guilty as charged for domestic abuse involving strangulation in April 2013. Kennedy declined an interview request. But in a brief phone conversation, he said, “My past is my past. My past don’t have nothing to do with my future.”

Still, the idea of supporting a candidate with a conviction for domestic violence “would cross the Rubicon for a lot of people,” said Ed Chervenak, a political scientist at the University of New Orleans.

One committee member agreed, saying “This endorsement must be rescinded with a strong statement that OPDEC understands its duty, as a political organization, to endorse the most reputable and qualified candidates for the offices they are seeking,” said Kim Sport, the past chair of the state Commission to Prevent Domestic Violence.

So, there you go. Yet the New Orleans Parish Democrat party is bending over backwards attempting to persuade you that they really “believe all women” and “#MeToo” legacy that they’ve embraced while simultaneously seeking to carve out an exception for their six-time convicted who was convicted of domestic abuse involving strangulation in April 2013. To stress: this isn’t judging someone based upon an accusation as the “#MeToo” crowd did to so many men in the last decade. This is about a man who had his days in court and came back convicted (time and time again) of domestic violence.

This is what happens when pushing politics is more important than protecting the people. And if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.  Voting the same types of people into office who caused so many failures in our cities and states in the first place is merely a vote for more failure.

And – for more fleas.

Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman, attorney, and author of Bright Spots, Big Country, What Makes America Great. He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and Trump elector. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by e-mail at louisavallone@mac.com, and listen to American Ground Radio weeknights from 6 – 7 PM on 101.7FM/710AM on KEEL (in Shreveport), from 9 -10 p.m. on 96.5 FM on KPEL (in Lafayette) and from 8 – 9 PM on 105.7FM/540AM on KMLB (in Monroe), streaming live on keelnews.com, or visit americangroundradio.com.