The Republican Party of Louisiana seems to be having some major issues.
In recent weeks I have been talking with my Republican Friends, many of which are leaders in the Republican Party and all of them have been throwing up their hands in disbelief at the seeming lack of direction and lack of credibility the state party has been displaying.
About a year ago is when this started happening.Take for example the attack launched by Party Boss Roger Villere against then Speaker Pro-Tem Representative Karen Carter Peterson.Villere launched a huge attack with a blanket FOIA request for all public documents from Carter-Peterson.This attack which was little more than a stunt but which cost the tax-payers of this state in the form of payroll likely thousands of dollars all to try to score political points.This stunt lead to the open rebuke and requests for his resignation by many Republican Representatives.Villere refused to resign and nothing was discovered from this stunt.It should be noted that this stunt was fueled by Peterson daring to criticize Governor Jindal’s administrations attempts at killing legislation that would make the records of his office open to public inspection.Yes, the very same topic that he and other Republicans were constantly attacking Governor Blanco over – seems now that Bobby is in the Governor’s Mansion transparency is irrelevant.
Now fast forward to last month.Villere qualifies to run for Lt. Governor against several Republicans including that of the second highest elected Republican in the state – Sec. of State Jay Dardenne.This leads many to question exactly how this is ethical.Here you have the head Republican Party Boss openly fighting against his own party loyal and he again – REFUSES to resign his post as Party Chair.This has many local Republicans fuming and questioning the leadership of their own party.Contrast this with what we are seeing on the Democratic side – in the Race for Lt. Governor one Democrat withdrew from the race and the part seems to be unifying behind State Senator Butch Gautreaux.
And then today our email boxes receive an outlandish email from the Republican State Party (conveniently with no mention of Villere) making allegations that border on the insane.First they alleged that Charlie Melancon has no chance of winning – all the while every poll in recent weeks shows a statistical dead heat between Melancon and Vitter.)They make veiled allegations of scandals against Melancon which by ANY measure is a stretch – all the while ignoring the very REAL scandals that have plagued Senator Vitter since before he was sent to the US Senate.(Interesting that in this email no-where is there any mention of Vitter, their incumbent; one would guess they are hedging their bets since Vitter’s poll numbers are dropping significantly.)I find it especially interested that they claim that “Melancon seems to have mastered the art of evasion recently…”This is laughable in that just this week I was on a media conference call with the Congressman where all questions were open and everyone that had questions was free to ask them.He responded to each and every one of us.Compare that with Senator Vitter who has YET to answer any questions about any of the scandals that he has been running from for almost 6 years.
Minutes later – Senator Vitter sends out his own paranoid email seeming to fall back on the tried and true Rovian Style Campaigning of “Scare folks.”His allegations are even MORE outlandish.In his email he talks of clandestine meetings between what he would have you believe is the “ultra Liberal” Charlie Melancon team members and those backing his Republican Challenger, former Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice, Chet Taylor.(I have heard a lot said about Justice Taylor and LIBERAL never was one of them).But Vitter, never being one to let FACTS get in his way, draws a picture worthy of the endorsement from any Hollywood Studio in this email.Most people in Louisiana know, Charlie Melancon is far from being Liberal.In fact his voting record is right down the middle.This is why Charlie continues to have problems in uniting the Liberal Base of the Party.This email, I believe, will cut against Vitter.Vitter is basically saying that if you don’t support me then you MUST be a liberal plant.It also seems by this email that Vitter is sincerely scared by the former Justices Challenge to him – why else would he be trying to inoculate folks against “mudslinging” that is coming “as early as Tuesday.”
All this said, Democrats and specifically the Democratic Party of Louisiana have their own problems.But when they seem to be getting better by leaps and bounds in the past few months – Republicans are getting worse.Perhaps this is cyclical, or perhaps “power corrupts” as they say.Either way Republicans have a huge credibility gap that is only widening.The question now is can the Democrats regain their “mojo”?
