About that Alliance endorsement

Looks like Vitter kind of griped himself out of that one. 

After his easy re-election to the United States Senate in 2010, it might have been reasonable to think that David Vitter had put his seriously sinful past behind him, from a political point of view.

But questions about his dalliance with prostitution prominently and somewhat surprisingly re-emerged in the governor’s race in September — long before videos starring his alleged former paramour — at a forum held by the Orleans chapter of the Alliance for Good Government. The moderator that night asked a seemingly innocuous question, whether the candidates had ever violated Louisiana criminal law, and Vitter refused to answer what he decried as a “gotcha” question.

This week, Vitter apparently hoped to avoid a repeat of that embarrassment, as both he and his staff refrained from attending the Alliance’s forums on the runoff Tuesday evening. Their endorsement went instead to John Bel Edwards, who was represented by state Rep. Walt Leger of New Orleans.

Sure, we know Vitter doesn't take well to being asked about his lawbreaking.  But the Alliance For Good Government isn't some punk kid reporter out to play gotcha. Instead it is a pretty solidly conservative professionals' advocacy club and, one imagines, still persuadable if Vitter could maintain his cool long enough to at least engage them.  Instead, he's impetuously taking out frustrations on a natural ally and further alienating himself in the process. 

On the other hand, Vitter's behavior is no less childish that the GOP Presidential candidates' whining at how they were treated by conservative pundits during a recent debate.  Maybe he's just following the national party's lead. This may, in fact, be the problem with Vitter's campaign right now. But let's save that for another post. For now let's just acknowledge he's making enemies he doesn't really have to make.  But that kind of is the Vitter brand.

At least he managed to pull an 85 year old Mike Foster out of his cabin in the woods somewhere long enough to sign this endorsement memo. That's got to count for something, right?

Circle of stupid

Here's a political ad that could have been ripped right out of today's headlines.  It's a candidate for Governor running on a "murders not monuments" platform. It's got an armed robbery at a New Orleans restaurant, and a lizard-brained appeal to the "good guy with a gun" myth. 

It's an ad for Mike Foster from 1995.



Because nothing ever changes and we are doomed to trudge around in the same stupid circle forever. 

The Governors

Check out the photo. If you didn't know who these people were and I told you they were a post-punk Blondie rip-off planning a reunion show you'd totally believe that, wouldn't you? Sadly, it's nothing so exciting... or is it?

Former Louisiana governors' Kathleen Blanco, Edwin Edwards, Murphy "Mike" Foster and Buddy Roemer are slated to be on a panel discussing the last four decades of government. The LSU Public Administration Institute and the Public Administration Institute Student Association will host PAISA Day in The Rotunda of the Business Education Complex.

The governors will tackle the following topic: "The Evolution of State and Local Government: A discussion about the last 40 years."

So far as I understand, this is a one-off show.  Unless Jimmy's ever gets its permits in order and then we'll see. 

Note: This is the first time in years I've posted anything having to do with Kathleen Blanco. I thought it was strange that there was no established "Kathleen Blanco" tag for this blog.  But then I remembered they're all filed under "Meemaw".

The Duck Hunter

From today's T-P

Neither Pierson nor federal prosecutors identified the landfill owner who paid off Mouton, and court records mention only "co-conspirator A." But other public documents suggest it is Fred Heebe or his stepfather, Jim Ward, owners of the River Birch landfill in Waggaman. Neither has been charged with a crime.

In court records, Mouton said he met co-conspirator A in 1996 during an overnight duck-hunting fundraiser "for a former Louisiana governor." That was the year Mike Foster, elected in 1995, succeeded Edwin Edwards as governor.

"Shortly thereafter, co-conspirator A contacted Mouton and offered to pay Mouton $2,000 a month and, in exchange, Mouton agreed to provide co-conspirator A with insider political information and access to the governor," the court records say.

Mouton didn't register as a lobbyist for his co-conspirator, however.

For what it's worth, most of us would need only the words highlighted in red to identify the former governor in question. There were times during the Foster administration when it was widely assumed that duck hunting was the governor's primary occupation. Buddy Diliberto, who was miffed at Foster's lack of attentiveness to the then very serious question of keeping the Saints in New Orleans, had taken to referring to him as "The Duck Hunter" derisively on the air.