Political hits

At the beginning of the legislative session we were told that the only reason Mitch Landrieu's tax increase proposals stalled last year was because of political disgruntlement within the New Orleans delegation. J.P. Morrell, in fact, called it a "political murder victim."

Last year, the mayor’s legislative package included the property tax hike as well as a bid to reduce the number of juvenile judges in New Orleans. Landrieu — like others — thought the judicial downsizing bill would pass. Plans moved forward on a new courthouse that would accommodate only four courtrooms, not enough room for the existing six-judge setup.

The judge bill failed, however, and the property tax hike met a similar fate, dying in the Senate.

State Sen. J.P. Morrell, who supports the tax increase, blames the failure on political spite. “There was a hit out on Mitch Landrieu bills, and unfortunately, that bill got caught in the crossfire,” Morrell, D-New Orleans, said Monday.

But, we were also told that the mayor's sweeping reelection victory had put all of this to bed and so there should be no problem with any of this stuff this time around.  So the question is, what's the excuse this time? Two of Landrieu's proposed tax increases have failed and a third (admittedly the big property tax millage) is still in play but barely.

Maybe these New Orleans lawmakers don't have the stroke to call out political "hits" on people the way they thought they did.