Jim Beam column:Constitution plan resurrected

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, some public officials and legislators and one major GOP campaign contributor refuse to accept the message that Louisiana voters aren’t interested in anyone writing a quickie state constitution.

Legislators gave Landry too many strong powers during their three sessions earlier this year and one ended up making it possible for him to name the next president of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.

The state House voted 75-27 for a limited constitutional convention, but the bill died in the Senate. Everyone knew that might not be the last effort to hold a convention but they definitely didn’t believe it would be spearheaded by Lane Grigsby.

The Advocate describes Grigsby as “a Republican mega-donor and perhaps the strongest proponent of such a convention.” Grigsby sent documents to legislators with proposed changes to the constitution with some of them in different colors.

Clancy DuBos, political editor of Gambit, in a column in The Advocate didn’t mince words about what Landry and Grigsby are up to. He said Landry and Grigsby “have not abandoned their goal of ramming a major constitutional rewrite down the throats of Louisiana lawmakers and citizens between now and Nov. 5.”

The newspaper said Grigsby played a major role in electing Landry and a right-wing Legislature last year. He also chaired Landry’s transition committee on a constitutional convention and is the principal (if not sole) architect of the proposed changes.

We got the first sign that voters aren’t interested in rewriting the constitution when Richard Nelson, current secretary of the state Department of Revenue, was a candidate for governor last year.

Nelson wanted to change the homestead exemption, which has become a sacred property tax benefit. He also wanted to make some other constitutional changes, but his campaign never managed to catch fire. So he dropped out of the race and endorsed Landry.

Once he became revenue secretary, Nelson had other ideas. He talked about eliminating tax exemptions, taxing digital goods that consumers buy online, expanding the list of services that get taxed in Louisiana and reducing state and corporate income taxes.

To do that, Nelson called for a special  legislative session in August to rewrite Article VII, which deals with fiscal policy.

Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, who has sponsored many constitutional convention bills in recent years, said he thought Nelson may have changed some minds.

Well, he didn’t change Grigsby’s mind. Grigsby wants to make many broader changes in the current state constitution, including judicial and education changes. Grigsby, like Landry, is a major supporter of school choice and they are looking for some public money to give parents who choose where to send their children to school.

During debate on the constitutional convention bill that died in the Senate, the homestead exemption surfaced again, along with supplemental pay for the state’s first responders.

Landry and others said those issues wouldn’t be changed, but it soon became apparent to everyone that when you hold a constitutional convention anything can be considered.

Landry and Grigsby’s rush job to write a new constitution is also scary to many people. As DuBos said, “It deliberately gives voters virtually no input and precious little time to study the proposed changes.”

“The whole scheme is a ruse — and an insult to lawmakers and citizens,” DuBos said.

Delegates to the convention that wrote the current constitution studied the plan for almost two years and the new document wasn’t that popular with voters. It was defeated in Southwest Louisiana parishes.

The late-Gov. Edwin W. Edwards held a constitutional convention in 1992 that failed miserably. It, too, was devoted to just Article VII of the constitution.

Edwards didn’t support legislators serving as delegates, which Landry wants to do, but legislators overruled him. So Edwards said he wasn’t surprised when 62% of the voters rejected the constitutional changes.

The defeat, Edwards said, “suggests that the people agree with me — they thought the convention was a meaningless effort.”

The odds are that voters will also reject any changes that Landry, Grigsby and others might come up with. Voters are a suspicious lot.

Jim Beam , the retired editor of the American Press , has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.