In my business and political careers, I always lived by the principle that deals are made when both parties have something to gain, and perhaps both to give up. Not complicated, just give and take.

So it is with concern that I watch the legislative strategy of New Orleans’ political leaders. The main thing that New Orleans needs from the state is trust in its institutions resulting in long-term, predictable financial support. The city has virtual and literal structural problems that aren’t likely to be fixed very soon. It’s a city that is very old, with failing infrastructure. It’s a city that has lost large numbers of tax revenue generating citizens and businesses and it faces the reality of a growing density of low-income, even poverty ridden, citizens highly dependent upon government services and largesse. Clearly its number one goal, its foundational goal if you will, at the state level must be sustained sources of state funds.

To secure what it needs from the state, the city now faces a headwind that it has never faced before, a headwind that it must work around. There was a time when New Orleans was the economic heart of Louisiana, when the political power structure ran along I-10 from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. That was a time when moderate Democrats made up most of its voters and elected leaders of the state. New Orleans was able to exhibit strong political authority because of its perception as the economic powerhouse, even as the rest of the state was dependent upon it. Those days have changed. As they have changed the city’s political power and its elected officials increasingly derive largely from the Left spectrum of the Democratic Party, even while the rest of the state has moved much further to the right. Gone are the days when the legislature was made up of moderate Democrats and a few centrist Republicans; today the legislature and governor are solidly conservative Republican and, for as far as anyone can see, that trend is here to stay.

Unlike decades ago, the political power continuum in the state today probably runs along I-12 from Slidell, through Baton Rouge and Lafayette and to Lake Charles. Now, with the advent of AI Data Centers and other economic wins, that might also extend to ever stronger pockets in upstate areas. New Orleans must face up to the reality that, with the fleeting exception of perhaps the conservative Senate President, its political world is isolated in a sea of conservative red.

So, what does that have to do with deals? Well, the current legislative dispute over courts and judges is a great example of where a different approach could be of benefit to all. The city has taken the posture that the courts, that many in the legislature and the governor want to reform, are somehow protected, and reform efforts are just a vengeful attack on the city, even a racial attack.

The problem with this argument is that these are state courts, there are no city courts, so reform is very much under the authority of the legislature. Gone to is the time when liberal media could expect public support as it proclaims outrage for anyone daring to demand more effective and efficient government in New Orleans.

So, in the current and likely future political climate what is New Orleans to do?

To solve the foundational problem for the city, that is access to state financial support, it must change the way its political business is done. With the legislature and governor lined up behind reform, anyone’s reading of the tea leaves makes clear that this judicial reform is a done deal. So instead of fighting to the bitter end, making enemies all along the way over what is clearly a status quo policy that doesn’t play well in a red state, city leaders should have jumped on board with the reform legislators, but working with them to massage the bills to make the deal more palatable. If somehow the city does manage to fend off these reforms, that too will end up being a big loss because either way, it has burned its bridges with strong political elements of state government who will now never be available for the city when it really needs help to solve its foundational goals.

Dying on a hill with one’s flags flying for an undefendable cause is never a good idea!

Working within the headwinds of a hostile political structure, instead of fruitlessly tilting at windmills, offers the only way the city can achieve its financial goals. The political structure of the state is not going to change, and unless the city finds a way to work within the system, not against it, then its political future will be dim.

I am not naïve. What I am suggesting probably is too much to swallow for local politicians who have literally based their entire career on playing up the us versus their concept. But honest statesmanship demands that leaders focus on the main goals and do whatever is necessary to achieve them. In increasing sums, the city needs more financial support from the state, that must be its goal.

State leaders don’t trust the city nor the political philosophy of its leaders, and that won’t change. So, the solution for the city is to get over the notion that the state somehow must support the city (current events prove that it doesn’t accept that) and instead do a give and take with state leaders, building a relationship built on compromise toward common goals. Then all will win.