Is Governor Landry Preparing His Final Dish?

Governor overreach is at it again. Gov Landry wants a new constitution. His master plan to remake the state in his conservative image is entering its final stage. If HB 800, makes it off the House floor and passes the Senate, then we’ll be on the cusp of a full blown constitutional convention starting May 20th.

This convention would span 2 weeks. Yes, 2 whole weeks. That’s all Governor Landry feels he and the chosen delegates need to change the state constitution as we know it.

The goal of course is to shrink the state constitution down to size, Grover Norquist style. “I don’t want to abolish government,” Norquist once said. “I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

That’s pretty much what Landry wants to do with the state constitution. He’s made it clear that this convention would be all about a reduction, not a rewrite.

Norquist was the founder of Americans for Tax Reform. And his tax policies and attitude towards government have mostly defined Conservatism since the early 2000s.

Statewide, Norquist’s biggest proponent is Lance Grigsby. Grigsby, a businessman out of Baton Rouge, has been pushing for constitutional reform for years. In Landry, he finally has a governor to do it. At the behest of one of his biggest donors, Landry is all too eager. 

The goal here is to move the state closer to privatization. Constitutionally mandated stuff like public school funding, pensions, homestead exemptions were all initially on the table.

Republicans tied to eliminate state pensions since Hurrican Katrina. Landry tried to increase private school vouchers but apparently failed (due to overreach). Still, the sentiment is there, and will carry over into the constitutional convention if it happens.

Related: Gov Landry is Kinda Like Huey Long

So far, state legislators haven’t been as eager as Landry to see changes go through. Earlier this year, legislators shot down Landry’s proposal to totally change state primaries from open to closed. As mentioned, his version of voucher expansion was also halted. The same sentiment seems to be prevailing with overhauling the constitution.

Legislators already amended HB800 to protect public school funding if a convention occurs. But so much else is unknown.

Gov Landry Wants a New Constitution

The state constitution is a long document. It’s over 100 pages long. That’s a lot of reduction on the table. There’s most likely a lot of stuff that most of us take for granted without knowing it. If Landry had his way, those constitutional mandates could be reduced to statutes.

You can call that elimination in stages. Reducing a mandate to a statute makes it easier for legislators to vote that thing out of existence.

The 2-week span is clearly a move to avoid the scrutiny involved. Expect all kinds of sleights of hand. Bait will be thrown to the media to focus on while obscure fundamentals possibly get downgraded out of sight.

It’s fitting that this takes place as summer approaches. Summers here are known for bringing the heat. This year, Governor Landry is turning up the temperature. The only thing between him and his agenda is voters. Legislators are a phone call away. Let your voices be heard.