The 'silent majority' has lived up to its name, and remained
silent. Forty-three percent (43%) of the 1,150 legislative offices slated for
election this year are going to be filled without opposition. No one
chose to run against the incumbents.
This figure includes two of our
state senators heavily responsible for the budget bankruptcy our state faces
today, John Alario, Senate President, from Westwego, and John Donohue, chairman
of the Senate Finance committee, from Covington. These individuals were
the major players in ramming Jindal’s ‘voodoo’ budgets through the
legislature. Both supported his raiding of various dedicated trust
funds coupled with draconian cuts to services for the disabled and disadvantage, and record funding cuts for health care and education.
Senator John Alario has run unopposed since 2007 and has
served for over 43 years in the legislature. Voters must love him even
though a year ago, local media reported that Alario spent $705,000 between 2009
and 2012 in campaign money to rent a suite at Tiger Stadium for LSU football
games, to lease and repair cars, to buy tickets for Saints and Hornets games
and to pay for meals at expensive restaurants. Additionally in1992,
while serving in the House, as House Speaker, he won passage of the hotly
contested land casino for New Orleans by secretly telling the House clerk
beforehand to shut down the electronic voting procedure several seconds early,
before some members had cast their final votes. The bill passed with no votes
to spare. Opponents howled in protest.
Sadly these two individuals are just the tip of the
apathetic iceberg. The indifference shown this year by Louisiana
residents even caught the Secretary of State, Tom Schedler by surprise.
He can’t believe how many Louisiana officials have been elected
automatically. Even vacancies created by term limits drew no competition;
with just a single person choosing to qualify to run and therefore
automatically winning the position.
I guess Bobby Jindal’s national campaign message is correct
after all when he touts Louisiana as an example of a well-run, fiscally solvent,
success story. So let’s stop the complaining because obviously most of us
don’t wish to change the way things are.
