I didn’t think I was voting for the status quo when I voted for Gov. John Bel Edwards. Turns out, I was wrong.
When Edwards pledged to “put Louisiana first,” I thought he was saying he’d return to a government that cared about the people. I didn’t think it would just be an empty campaign slogan.
Instead, Edwards kept the status quo and “good ole’ boys’ club” in power.
Edwards kept Col. Mike Edmonson as Louisiana State Police Superintendent, who sought big retirement benefits for himself in what became known as the “Edmonson Amendment” in the 2014 legislative session.
According to KTBS 3 Shreveport, State Treasurer John Kennedy criticized the special deal designed to benefit two state troopers.
“The benefits boosting provision was added on the last day of the session, on an unrelated bill, an amendment,” Kennedy said. “It was added by a six person conference committee that did not meet publicly.”
When legislators attempt to pass a flurry of bills before the legislative clock runs out, outside groups easily slip in last minute perks.
The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association endorsed Edwards in 2015, so he was unlikely to ruffle their feathers from the beginning. However, doing nothing leaves the “good ole’ boys club” unchecked.
Edwards also appointed Marketa Garner Walters as secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, according to The Monroe News-Star.
She would have been a fine choice, except she couldn’t properly explain why a 17-year-old mentally handicapped boy raped a 12-year-old boy in a group home while under the department’s watch, according to Louisiana blogger Tom Aswell.
Aswell operates the LouisianaVoice blog and has served as Capitol News Service head.
“Retarded people have sex. It’s what they do,” Walters said when testifying before the Juvenile Justice Implementation Commission in 2008, according to Aswell’s recollection.
When you allow the abuse of children on your watch, just change your name and the governor will promote you to secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services!
Although Edwards signed an executive order to expand Medicaid, Louisiana state government is still denying healthcare to low-income women.
Edwards often waffled on his relationship with Planned Parenthood, but I didn’t think he would bar Medicaid fundsfrom low-income women using Planned Parenthood in Louisiana. However, Edwards allowed firebrand conservative Attorney General Jeff Landry to continue the state’s unnecessary lawsuit to deny healthcare to low-income women.
According to Jeremy Alford of LaPolitics.com, those involved said Landry’s effort to assume control of the cases was “very friendly” and “not contentious.” Louisiana ranked second in chlamydia diagnoses from 2013 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Gov. Edwards is perfectly fine ripping away low-income women’s healthcare services.
“I was not a business-as-usual candidate, and I will not be a business-as-usual governor,” Edwards said in his inauguration speech.
It sure seems like it’s business-as-usual, governor. If this is the Edwards I voted for, I want my vote back.
Michael Beyer is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @michbeyer.