By the time this is over, there will be innuendos to nooses, tree limbs, and making justice great again. Mark my words. This is what will become of Louisiana’s governor’s race. The front runner, Louisiana’s current A.G., Jeff Landry, set the stage. And now Stephen Waguespack has raised the stakes.
Stephen who? Stephen Waguespack, of the famed Bobby Jindal era. No? Well back in the dark ages, Waguespack served two hard years as Jindal’s chief of staff. But you may know him as the president of the LABI (Louisiana Association of Business and Industry). Well, his term expired in March. So he quit, resigned. Now he’s running for governor. Waguespack jumped in the governor’s race after his buddy Rep. Garret Graves decided not to run.
Once he identified as a candidate, Waguespack wasted no time. He put together a website. And last week, he released his first official ad, well a PAC did on his behalf. The ad goes something like this: as AG, Jeff Landry has let Negroes (crime) run rampant. As governor, Stephen Waguespack won’t.
Boom! As Leonardo DiCaprio said in Django Unchained, Let’s break out the white cake.
The Louisiana’s Governor’s Race Is All About Black People
Imagine it. Somebody running to the right of Jeff Landry. How’s that even possible? It’s a wonder Waguespack’s ad didn’t pay homage to slave patrollers. Maybe his team thought that would be too gauche. Just wait until he starts sinking in the polls.
Black people should be so flattered, though. White people haven’t raised this much rabble about us since the days of the Civil War (yes, I’m here for the hyperbole).
Speaking of soft on crime, or maybe just right depending on your perspective, our D.A. Jason Williams dangled the idea of running for governor last week. Williams said he’s ready to take it to the streets with Landry. Landry called Williams out in an ad. This did not go over well. Especially with Governor John Bel Edwards.
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The last time the news provoked this much horror from John Bel was when his Ronald Greene texts were released. Channeling his inner John McEnroe, Edwards spoke for all sensible Democrats when he basically told Williams, “You Cannot Be Serious!”
Clearly, a Williams candidacy would tank a Shawn Wilson one, right when the polls have Wilson, the one Democrat in the race, in prime position to force a run-off.
Speaking of Shawn Wilson, he must flip the table – you know, change the narrative of this election if he wants to win. The Republicans are setting a tone, that tone is…yep you guessed it:
The Louisiana’s Governor’s Race Is All About Black People
Flip the script, Shawn Wilson, flip it. Somebody on his staff cue up a camera: zoom in on a patch of land, our coast. Focus on water washing over and engulfing it, the erosion. But then Shawn Wilson appears with a staff in hand. He pounds it into the soil. The water recedes. Wilson says: You’re worried about crime? So am I. But there’s a bigger threat to our way of life, one that affects us all equally. It’s called coastal erosion. If we don’t stop it, it’ll stop us. Elect me, Shawn Wilson, as governor, and I promise I’ll chew gum, fight crime and erosion, and walk at the same time. Pan out to a shot of Wilson walking on water towards a sunsetting horizon as crawfish bask in freshly laid mud (I told you I’m here for the hyperbole).
Between now and the October election, you need to let these candidates know what you are here for too.