Political Horizons for June 29, 2008

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Perhaps my favorite Broadway scene is from the musical “Evita.” It’s the one where an indistinguishable group of Argentine generals plays musical chairs, singing:
“One always picks the easy fights. One praises fools. One smothers light. One shifts from left to right. Politics … the art of the possible.”

Each one of them takes turns being in charge until the last interchangeable general emerges the ultimate winner and we learn that his name is Juan Perón.

Though slogans of change — “reform and transparency” still rattle around — it was this tune that kept replaying in my head during the final days of the 2008 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature.

The music started last Sunday when Baton Rouge Rep. Hunter Greene, the Republican who chairs the House’s tax-writing Ways and Means committee, told a television audience that it was the media’s fault that folks were angry about part-time legislators voting without debate to increase their pay from $16,800 a year to $37,500 a year — which, by the way, is more than most full-time Louisiana workers make.

The next day, after the Legislature adjourned, House Speaker Jim Tucker, who helped orchestrate the passage of the pay raise without holding a public debate, told his colleagues that folks would come to understand the need for the raise once he could get home and explain the facts to his constituents.

Then Tuesday, Gov. Bobby Jindal returned from his weeklong anywhere-but-Baton Rouge rainbow tour and admitted his mistake in not killing the pay raise. But he added he could not veto it because he was powerless to act against the Legislature.

Despite all protestations of gubernatorial weakness, Jindal was able to put back into the state’s operating budget all the money the House so proudly cut last month. He proved his bona fides for national Republicans by assuring passage of a school voucher program by winning the support of legislators who never before had considered such a vote.

Jindal also protected the governor’s prominence in the way this state government chooses which construction projects to fund despite hard-put efforts by legislators to change those procedures. And the chief executive can still keep secret most of the records of his staff — down to secretaries and clerks.

It was Wednesday when the recall petitions started being filed.

Four recall petitions have been filed that seek the recall of House Speaker Jim Tucker, and freshmen Reps. Franklin Foil of Baton Rouge, who represents Jindal’s parents,  Steve Pugh of Ponchatoula and Joe Lopinto of Metairie.

Other lawmakers have pooh-poohed the recall attempts.

Under the rules, the recall petitions require signatures of one-third of the registered voters from the specific district. Many voters are unsure who their state senator and representative are and even legislators get confused on the edges, because one house is in their district but a neighboring house is not. The only way to acquire the requisite 10,000-plus signatures is to walk door-to-door.

It’s a tall order but legislators would do well to remember California Gov. Gray Davis, who went from presidential contender to obscurity because of angry voters and a recall petition.