On Jan. 16, a report by the Louisiana Illuminator came out about Gov. Landry. The report disclosed that he used $5.5 million of state police funds to purchase a private jet.
This isn’t the only time Landry has done something that can be seen as unethical. Earlier this week, his Ethics Board questioned Landry on redactions of addresses in an official report from the Louisiana Illuminator. In accordance with a statute founded in 2008 by the Louisiana State Legislature, if you hold certain positions, both your full name and address become public.
There are numerous ethical concerns, many of which will be mentioned later, that have impacted Landry’s term. Because of this, Gov. Landry needs to be impeached. Landry’s ethics have been so callous that I would consider him more unethical than Edwin Edwards, a former Louisiana governor.
In fact, Landry’s own ethics board is unethical. Landry signed a law to include five more people on the board, all appointed by himself. These people that Landry appointed were vetted so that Landry could find some “yes men” and allow all of his unethical behavior to go without challenges.
Nevertheless, as a state, we are in debt. According to KATC 3, our sales tax is the highest in the country (thanks to Governor Landry), and we have had to make massive cuts to education. Not only that, but according to a report by Louisiana Illuminator, he also vetoed bills that would benefit the general population, such as increased funding for homeless shelters.
Governor Landry doesn’t care about impoverished people, which can also be seen in the detention centers he is forcing them into during the Super Bowl in New Orleans. These inhumane conditions, especially in the cold, could kill somebody. I bet Landry wouldn’t even subject his dog to those kinds of conditions, so why should we force humans to?
Instead of addressing the state’s homelessness crisis, Landry would rather go dove hunting in Argentina with one of his biggest donors, showing truly how out of touch he is.
The plane that Landry bought? It came from the Louisiana State Police (LSP)’s budget. That money comes from many sources, but the income most important to this story is inspection stickers. Those money-grabbing inspection stickers.
According to KLFY News, in 2024, a bill was proposed to the Louisiana Legislature to get rid of inspection stickers; however, this bill was killed when the LSP, the same organization Landry used funds from to purchase his jet, mentioned how getting rid of inspection stickers would detriment them financially.
This is just further evidence that Landry, and in turn, the Louisiana Republican Party, does not give a damn about the working class. Landry doesn’t care about his own constituents. The Republican Party of Louisiana would rather spend millions on a plane than a bill that would benefit the common people.
For all of these things mentioned in this article, I feel like it is time to impeach Landry. He has has done so much damage to our state. We are already at the bottom of most rankings, and Landry’s blatant disregard for us “common folk” only sinks us further.
Andrew Sarhan is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, La.
