Political Horizons with Mark Ballard

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 25, 2009 - Page: 7B

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Merging the state’s museums under a single umbrella seems to be a no-brainer.

So, why are the State Museum on Fourth Street in downtown Baton Rouge and the Cabildo in New Orleans run by the lieutenant governor, while the Old State Capitol Center for Political and Governmental History is run by the secretary of state?

This year’s state budget allots $4.1 million to the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism to run 12 museums and another $4 million to the Department of State to administer 17 facilities.

Wouldn’t taxpayers reap benefits by merging the systems?

The latest dogma being peddled by good government scholars, at least the conservative ones, would say “yes.”

Generally, the theory guiding Louisiana officials looking to make state government more efficient is: Find similar services that have grown up under the various fiefdoms, then combine those fragments in one department. Consolidation allows for a more-cohesive management and a greater opportunity to privatize some functions.

Both Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and Secretary of State Jay Dardenne say the two separate systems they run today are the results of infighting from years ago. “It was somewhat born out of politics, like most things are,” Dardenne said.

In the 1990s, the organizers of the Old State Capital museum viewed the state museums as New Orleans-obsessed. Dardenne’s office takes care of the historical papers created by state governments and is located on Essen Lane, so the State Department seemed a logical choice to manage a museum opened in Baton Rouge.

The “not New Orleans” designation gave legislators license to transfer to the state budget — “willy-nilly,” using Dardenne’s words — a number of smaller museums that had begun life as private facilities. Dardenne said he has been expanding educational programs and highlighting broader themes, such as the impact of cotton, to help evolve local-interest museums into more regional attractions.

Landrieu said, “The real decision is not whether they should be merged, but whether the state should be responsible for funding all those local-interest museums. That’s a much-harder political decision for the legislators, because they have a very hard time telling local areas: ‘That’s not the state’s responsibility.’ That’s how consolidation can become a false discussion.”

Merging the two systems could endanger the American Association of Museums accreditation for the museums he oversees.

For an economy in which tourism is a key element, the value of accreditation for consumers is that it defines a museum as serious, and not some tourist trap. Museums often figure into a tourist’s decision about where to go on vacation. Few visit Washington, D.C., for instance, without carving out some time for one or more of the Smithsonian Institution museums.

Pushing together the two Louisiana systems would achieve little, both Landrieu and Dardenne said. Landrieu estimates about $100,000 in savings. Dardenne said maybe two jobs would be cut.