‘Desperate, last-ditch attempt’: GOP mega donor makes final pitch for La. constitutional rewrite

Lane Grigsby speaks to the Baton Rouge Press Club (Piper Hutchinson/Louisiana Illuminator)

One week after he circulated a draft rewrite of Louisiana’s constitution to legislators, retired construction mogul Lane Grigsby pitched his vision of a slimmer version with fewer budgetary protections to the public.

At the Baton Rouge Press Club Monday, Grigsby offered a vision of constitutional reform very different from the one legislative leaders spoke of when they were debating whether to call a constitutional convention. Grigsby advocated for removing the homestead exemption, civil service protections and retirement systems from the state’s foundational document, arguing that having them in statute, where those items are more vulnerable to change, won’t put them in danger.

“Who in the world is going to pass a law to take somebody’s retirement away?” Grigsby asked.

Trimming public retirement spending is a common conservative talking point and policy.

“They’re asking the voters ‘trust us,’” Jan Moller, executive director of Invest in Louisiana, an organization that advocates for policies to help lower and middle-class households, said in an interview about Grigsby’s proposal. “The constitution is supposed to protect the people from the government.”

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Grigsby’s efforts are an attempt to get lawmakers to convene a special session on constitutional reform in August in order to put amendments on the November ballot for voter approval. He argued it would be better for it to go on the ballot this fall, when a presidential election would drive voter turnout.

Constitutional reform has been a long-term passion project for Grigsby, an influential Republican donor who has given to political candidates and causes for many years. Though many agree Louisiana’s constitution, which has been amended over 200 times since it was first adopted 50 years ago, should be revised, Grigsby’s vision is considered by even many conservative lawmakers to go too far.

The draft constitution Grigsby sent to lawmakers was described as the work product of Gov. Jeff Landry’s transition committee on constitutional reform, which Grigsby chaired, though other members of the committee told the Illuminator the committee never voted on or approved the documents.

Grigsby’s documents propose a handful of changes legislators rejected weeks ago should still be discussed. Landry has not said whether he supports Grigsby’s vision, and Grigsby declined to say whether he has the governor’s full support on his proposal.

When the Legislature mulled holding a constitutional convention that Grigsby has long sought, lawmakers made promises not to touch the politically popular homestead exemption property tax break, K-12 education and public retirement systems — items Grigsby is now asking them to look into removing from the constitution.

Wearing a seersucker suit jacket and slide-on dress sneakers, the 82-year-old Grigsby read from written remarks before taking — and dodging — questions from the media.

When asked about a poll from The Advocate | The Times Picayune that showed few voters wanted a constitutional rewrite , Grigsby said his plan to remove large portions of the constitution and move them into statute wasn’t a rewrite at all.

When asked why he believed his plan wasn’t a rewrite, Grigsby said “Well, I guess amending it is a rewrite as well.”

Grigsby’s answers were met with nods and noises of approval from a small number of supporters in attendance but with skepticism from many others.

“It was a desperate, last-ditch attempt,” Moller said of Grigsby’s performance. “The public doesn’t want this.”

Grigsby’s last-minute pleas for the Legislature to convene a constitutional convention in the coming weeks seems unlikely to amount to anything.

After two special sessions and a long, controversial regular session, legislative leaders have said a constitutional convention or special session on amendments next month is unlikely.

Landry doesn’t need the legislators permission to call them into a special session, but it would be difficult to get the necessary two-thirds vote to pass any constitutional changes without the legislative leadership’s support.

Grigsby’s proposed fortnight-long constitutional convention is also a tight turnaround, even with his draft constitution.

The last constitutional convention met for the better part of a year, often spending weeks at a time on individual articles. The delegates deliberated and debated many hours, for days ​​at a time, often meeting on weekends.

Grigsby’s documents still left several controversial proposals up for discussion, with even the handful of people on the transition committee unable to come to a consensus in the months since it convened. Though the committee technically concluded its business as Landry was sworn in, Grigsby and other committee members continued to push for constitutional reform.

If the Legislature did convene, it would have to conclude its business by Aug. 23, the cutoff date for approving new constitutional measures to appear on the Nov. 5 election ballot.

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