Predictably, John Bel Edwards issued the final and most controversial of his twenty-five vetoes as the Sun began to set last Friday on the eve of a long July 4th weekend. This was of course no accident, because politicians know that bad news is best dispensed to a distracted public and press. He knew his vetoes would be unpopular, because at heart we are a conservative state, and because so many of his vetoes were vicious and vindictive.

I say vicious and vindictive because conservative legislators, and particularly those who were most constant in their opposition to John Bel’s administration, were the ones hurt most severely by the Governor’s actions, even though Republicans constituted a majority of the legislature. By way of example, what sort of person would veto a project to fix a broken water system in a small Louisiana town, which happens to be in a conservative legislator’s district, while buying new uniforms for a college band located in a left-wing legislator’s district? But there is more, far more. To view all twenty-five vetoed bills and the line item vetos of legislators’ projects, click here

The fact is that John Bel’s entire administration has been marked by the most callous and partisan infighting that this state has seen in nearly a century, without any regard for the wishes of the majority of our people who duly elected a majority of our legislators. Let me remind you that all this happened during the administration of a man who was elected under the pretense that he was a moderate Democrat!

What’s more, the Governor’s vetoes were also ill considered from a purely political standpoint. Many of the vetoed bills passed both chambers of the legislature with strong majorities (phasing out the unpopular franchise tax, denial of parole for dangerous offenders, annual canvassing of registered voters, just to name a few). Others were so obviously commonsensical (such as HB648, which prohibited irreversible surgery and hormone blocker treatments on vulnerable children claiming to suffer with gender dysphoria), that only a ruthless progressive ideologue or a dishonest, amoral political rake would have dared to veto them.

And so we have arrived at the final act of the final regular session under John Bel Edward’s administration. He has chosen how he will be remembered- as a ruthless left-wing partisan who gained the governor’s mansion by the ruse of sailing under the false colors of a reform-minded moderate Democrat. Once ensconced inside the governor’s mansion, he promptly showed his true colors and has ever since run amok, not only with the help of his Democrat accomplices but also with the help of some Republicans, by raising the cost of governing Louisiana from $24B in the last year of the Jindal administration to $44B (over $50B if you include construction projects, which is the real number) in the current fiscal year.

So in eight long years we got none of the reforms promised by this governor, who instead made a practice of blocking reforms, but we sure got bigger and bigger tax bills. Perhaps the most incredible fact about the John Bel era is that, in spite of all the increased spending and largesse handed out to loyal legislators (which is more or less the old Keynesian formula for boosting a flagging economy), many of our businesses closed or left the state as our citizens departed in droves, our infrastructure continued to deteriorate, and Louisiana sank even lower on every quality of life metric that social scientists could devise.

Now think about that for a moment- it really is hard to believe that all these catastrophes occurred even as the amount of money spent on governing Louisiana doubled. To make matters worse, consider that a golden opportunity to save a billion or so dollars for the lean years that are just around the corner was allowed to slip away in this final session. I don’t know about you, but this is not how I would wish to be remembered by posterity.

But what remains to be done before the final curtain falls on the 2023 regular session? Only a small group of people are in any position to mitigate the damage inflicted by John Bel’s post-session veto barrage. I am speaking of course of our Republican legislative delegation. There will be an override session unless a majority of legislators signify their objection to holding one on or before July 13th. Republicans hold a super-majority of seats in both chambers of the legislature, so one would think that holding a veto override session would be a relatively simple matter. And indeed it will be if our Republican delegation will hold together and act firmly to override John Bel’s vetoes. That is what must be done!

After eight lost years, Louisiana is about to take a political turn to the right, as the majority of Louisiana’s citizens will be happy to see off the waste, wokeness, and moral decay of the John Bel era. The question for each of our legislators is whether you wish to be remembered as part of the rear guard of this failed Democrat administration, or the harbinger of a new, business friendly and culturally sane era of Republican conservative government? You have until July 13th to choose.

LOUIS GURVICH, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana