Most Republicans seem to want nothing more than to act like the trainwreck of a Senate race between Congresswoman Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming never happened.  Unfortunately, it seems that the victors want to take the opportunity to rewrite the history as it suits them rather than as it really occurred.  Specifically, there is this column by State Representative Jessica Domangue.

Domangue’s column started off as an analysis of what she perceives to be the sorry state of the Louisiana GOP after the first round of closed primary elections.  This is a common refrain from the more moderate Republicans in LA.  Closed primaries typically favor more conservative candidates, which is why our state legislators excluded themselves from the closed primary process.  Many of them know good and well that they would likely not survive a Republican primary, and they are deathly afraid of the Republican base demanding that closed primaries be expanded to include the state legislature.  One can safely assume that any Republican who complains about closed primaries is a moderate (or a RINO?) who is afraid of being “primaried”.

However, Domangue’s column quickly devolves into a one-sided defense of Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS), which seems to be one of her favorite topics.  Before the halfway point of the column, it becomes clear that the true purpose Domangue’s in writing it was to vilify anyone and everyone who dares to oppose CCS.  Domangue is, of course, a huge champion of all things CCS.  She is a firm believer that the oil and gas industry should have the right to seize the private property of John Q. Public if he has the temerity to refuse to sell it to them, so that they can put a CCS facility or pipeline across what was once his property.  We know this to be true because Domangue’s voting record tells us so.  She has refused to stand up for the private property rights of everyday citizens in Louisiana.  Supporting CCS is one thing, but EVERY Republican should be able to agree that private industry should not be able to seize private citizens’ property for any reason, much less for a Green New Deal, taxpayer funded boondoggle.

But the true revisionist history demonstrated in Domangue’s column is in the way she excoriates John Fleming for his campaign tactics, and never mentions the dirty tactics employed against him.  Domangue would have us believe that the Letlow campaign and their surrogates were lily-white in all of this, and that is far from the truth.

The Fleming campaign was negative, dirty and not worthy of a campaign for the United States Senate.  That much is true.  What is also true is that the Letlow campaign was every bit as dirty, negative and unworthy.  The argument can even be made that while Fleming’s attacks on Letlow were dirty and inappropriate, they were at least, for the most part true.  The attacks against Fleming were almost totally and completely fabricated.  And while Letlow’s campaign took no credit for the attacks and let third party PAC’s take the blame, this prior column on The Hayride by contributor Nathan Koenig suggests that those PAC’s were funded in large part by the Letlow campaign.  Who is the real bad guy here?  At least Fleming claimed his negative attacks.

Most objective people would say that there was plenty of blame (or a much smellier substance) to smear around both campaigns.

The Letlow and Fleming campaigns were arguably two of the worst political campaigns in recent memory in this state.  There was a complete lack of decorum on both sides, and the tactics employed would be more suitable for a backwoods police jury race between the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Congresswoman Letlow was fortunate that she was running against Dr. Fleming, because it is unlikely that anyone else’s campaign could have underwhelmed as much as hers did.  It seemed to be a race to the bottom by both campaigns.  The entire race left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths and was an embarrassment to our state, and neither candidate gave anyone much of a reason to vote FOR them.

But it is simply inaccurate for Rep. Domangue to act like John Fleming was the only villain here.  Of course, it is crystal clear that in Domangue’s eyes, Fleming’s real crime was making opposition to CCS a central part of his campaign.

She seems to have a need to link everyone who opposes CCS into a vast right-wing conspiracy.  Or is it a left-wing conspiracy?  It is hard to follow the logic.

Here is the simple truth.  By and large, the people of Louisiana do not want CCS.  But the CCS industry has a lot of money, and as a result, people like Domangue carry their water for them at the capital.  That leaves everyday people to look to groups like Save My Louisiana, because they have been abandoned by their elected officials in favor of an industry that has more money than the voters do.

There is no vast anti-CCS conspiracy.  There are just a bunch of regular people who have been abandoned by those who were elected to represent them looking for help wherever they can find it.  And that is the real sad state of affairs in the Louisiana GOP.