Sunday, November 17, 2013

This act is wearing thin

Russell Honore has been talking up some great ideas in the series of appearances he's made over the past several months.
Nearing the end of the meeting, Honore gave a brief overview of ideas for possible legislation next session, which begins in March. Three preliminary ideas presented by the former Joint Task Force Katrina commander and retired army lieutenant general included:
  • Barring former industry officials from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ
  • Increasing transparency in the Legislature by forcing lawmakers to recuse themselves from votes when they've received industry campaign contributions.
  • Reducing subsidies to the oil, gas and pipeline industries.
There comes a point, though, where we have to wonder about this schtick. 
He said his "Green Army" -- the loosely affiliated environmental activist groups and concerned citizens with which he's been meeting -- will fight "through blood, sweat and tears. We're going to do this."
Really? I mean we all know about the negative effects of oil and gas on our state's politics and environment.  And, sure, we know Honore was an army guy type. (Ray Nagin famously called him a "John Wayne dude.") But do we really have to go around playing like we're in a "Green Army" bleeding and sweating over everything and whatnot?  Can't we just say we're supporting a reform agenda during the coming legislative session since that's actually what we're doing?

The hyperbolic self-aggrandizing pretend language is the sort of thing Jim Letten or Ed Blakely would lay on us.  It's condescending at best and, at worst, indicative of a person who is not sincere in his words. 

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