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Story Archives: Quiet on the campaign front
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Quiet on the campaign front
 The 4th of July in big election years in Louisiana – like 2011 – generally marks the beginning of the campaign season.
Under normal circumstances, candidates for governor, the Legislature and sheriff would be busy by now gearing up for the big push from July 4th to election day.
Granted, Gov. Bobby Jindal has been campaigning for re-election since Oct. 20, 2007, or the night he was elected governor the first time. That's not a slap at Jindal. It's simply the reality of serving as governor in this era of 24-hour news cycles and Internet bloggers. Incumbent governors must remain in campaign mode at all times, raising money at all times and silencing critics along the way.
In northeastern Louisiana, we haven't witnessed much activity on the campaign front except for in Ouachita Parish where redistricting assured that Rep. Sam Little of Bastrop will face at least two opponents from Monroe this fall. Little's district, District 14, was redrawn to include much of Rep. Kay Katz's district, District 15, in north Monroe and a small portion of Ouachita Parish in West Monroe and points north. Katz is term-limited and can't seek re-election.
Little, a Republican who the Jindal administration counts as an ally, will meet Michael Echols and Jay Morris in the October primary election. That's assuming Echols, an employee of Vantage Health Plan, and Morris, an attorney, as well as Little qualify for the race in September. Like Little, Echols and Morris are Republicans.
There's also a wide-open sheriff's election in Ouachita this fall because the incumbent, Royce Toney, opted not to seek re-election. Joe Brady, Cam Douglas, Larry LaBorde and Jay Russell will vie to succeed Toney.
Brady is a businessman from West Monroe. Douglas is a retired State Trooper. LaBorde is a former West Monroe police chief and Russell is chief deputy at the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office.
When Toney was elected with 78 percent of the vote in 2007, his opponent was Brady.
We're also expected to see a contested sheriff's race in Concordia Parish where Sheriff Randy Maxwell will seek his sixth full term in office. Ferriday Police Chief Kenneth Hedrick is expected to oppose Maxwell.
A State Trooper at the time, Maxwell was appointed sheriff in August 1990 when embattled Sheriff Hubert Lee McGothin resigned from office amid a criminal investigation. Maxwell was elected in a special election in March 1991 before being elected to his first full term in the fall of 1991.
Maxwell has survived two close elections – in 2003 and 2007 – to Glen Lipsey, a former State Trooper. Lipsey has not exhibited any activity of opposing Maxwell again.
In Franklin Parish, Sheriff Steve Pylant won't run for re-election. Pylant was first elected in 1995 when longtime Sheriff Gene Parker retired. Parker had served since 1972.
Pylant's decision to bow out created an opening for his chief deputy, Kevin Cobb. An impressive man, Cobb is considered the odds-on favorite to succeed Pylant. In other words, the race, if there is one, is his to lose.
Besides the Echols/Little/Morris campaign in House District 14, all has been quiet elsewhere in northeastern Louisiana as far as legislative races are concerned. That seems a bit odd in light of the fiscal affairs of the state. The treasury is strapped for cash, economic activity is lackluster at best, health care and higher education have undergone budget cuts of late and more cuts in state spending are on the way. To surmise, few new private sector jobs are being created and government services are being curtailed. That generally doesn't bode well in a region of the state that has a long track record of wanting anything and everything for nothing from government in general.
One could go out on a limb and suggest the attitude of the people in northeastern had changed, meaning the people are ready to embrace an era of smaller government since government doesn't have the money to finance everyone's needs and wants, though the line between what would be defined as a "need" and a "want" was blurred long ago.
If and when the legislative candidates surface in earnest, voters should be leery of the promises they'll hear. Voters should especially pay close attention to any candidate who claims he or she can restore state funding to levels of years past (factoring in inflation, of course) without the people being forced to pay higher taxes. Rest assured, those empty promises will be made.
That's the nature of the beast in politics.
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