La. GOP Sheriff Blasts Jindal, GOP Over State's Fiscal Crisis

So we were pleased to read what Jefferson Parish's GOP Sheriff Newell Normand said the other day about Louisiana's current fiscal crisis. After years of mismanagement by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal and his GOP legislature, the Citizens of Louisiana elected pro-gun Democrat John Bel Edwards last fall but, unfortunately, many of the Republicans in the state legislature still insist on burying their heads in the sand, ignoring their responsibility, and trying to claim that the state can cut its way out of the $2 billion revenue shortfall the state is facing.

But not Sheriff Normand. He recognizes the actual facts of the situation, takes responsibility for being a part of the problem, and sounds like he is willing to be an adult and work with the Governor to come up with a bi-partisan solution to the problem.

(Newell Normand - image from CenLamar)

What follows are excerpts from an article in the New Orleans Advocate which quotes Normand and which, for the most part, we feel are right on the mark:

"Bobby Jindal was a better cult leader than Jim Jones," Normand said during his speech Tuesday at the Metropolitan Crime Commission's annual awards banquet. "We drank the elixir for eight years."

"Come on, folks; we have to wake up. Let us be honest about what we're doing," he said. "We did this to ourselves, myself included, because I endorsed that idiot (Jindal)."

Jindal is waging a dishonest campaign to rewrite history while state leaders try to plug the $2 billion budget hole he left behind, Normand said. Claims that the state's problems can be solved by cutting spending aren't helping, he said.

(Bobby Jindal - image from politico.com)

"We cannot cut our way to a balanced budget because some of the programs that are on the chopping block are the ones that are going to affect everyone of us up here," he said. "And we do not have the assets or the resources necessary to make up for it."

According to a transcript of the speech, which was posted by political blogger Lamar White, Normand urged Louisiana Republicans to take responsibility for the "mess" that remains and work as "intellectual individuals, void of a party, void of an overarching philosophy, working together."

Normand said Republicans should resist the notion that partisan politics will lead the state back to fiscal health and stated that he is incredulous that the Republican leadership is trying to blame Governor Edwards for the fiscal mess! He ridiculed the idea of trying to please national groups such as Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (ATR): "We're facing enough challenges today. We do not need to face the stupidity of our leadership as it relates to how we're going to balance this budget and talking about these silly issues because we're worried about what Grover Norquist thinks. To hell with Grover Norquist! I don't care about Grover Norquist! We're worrying about the ATR report card? Give me a break."

Normand echoed concerns raised by Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro about cuts to mental health funding, which he said will have a major effect on criminal justice.

"We're talking about shutting down five state prisons that house 8,000 inmates. I think it's just under a third that come from our region," Normand said. "You think they're going home to Bunkie?"

Normand said expanding Medicaid in the state, backed by Edwards but reviled by conservatives because of its connection to President Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act, would help law enforcement by covering inmates who need health care.

"We are the folks that are seeing the degradating situations out on the streets of this state, each and every day," he said. "Seven officers shot and killed last year. Officers getting hurt every day. And the few and little resources we have and the services that try to deal with the illnesses of drug addiction and others, they are going to be cut, (and that) is absolutely incredulous to me.

"And I have to sit there and listen to my Republican counterparts talk about gobbledygook - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah - and I'm so sick and tired of hearing, 'Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama.' You know how much intellect it takes to blame something on somebody else? This much," he said, making a "zero" with his fingers, according to the transcript.

"Propose a solution. Let's work together and collaboratively toward an outcome that's going to make sense for us as a society. That is what we need to do, and that needs to be the call of action in this state."

One of our friends in Louisiana tells us that Normand is a charismatic individual who probably is interested in statewide political office. We wonder, though, if these recent comments have either burned his bridges with too many in the Louisiana GOP or went further than he meant to and, consequently, he will try to start walking some of them back.

Regarding Normand's political future in the state, we're of two minds, though. We believe it is important for voices like Normand's to challenge the far right from within the Republican Party. On the other hand, we wouldn't object if the Sheriff was interested in switching parties and joining us as we work to address the damage being done by the extreme conservatives in today's GOP.