Endorsements for the Nov. 5, 2024 Elections
21st October 2024 · 0 Comments
President & Vice President of the United States: Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz
The United States stands on the cusp of electing its second African-American president and the first woman ever to sit in the Oval Office.
While Louisiana may not rank amongst the swing states in 2024 (a position, interestingly, Pelican State held just a quarter-century ago and could again if local Black voters turned out at rates seen elsewhere), nonetheless, there is a statement to be made by voting for Vice President Harris. Donald Trump represents an existential danger to the ongoing survival of this Republic. Our Editors do not make this profound statement lightly, but as a reaction to Trump’s willingness to encourage armed mobs to attack, and perhaps kill, members of Congress seeking to certify the election of his opponent on January 6, 2021.
Only the unexpected courage of Republicans like his own Vice President Mike Pence thwarted what could have been the American equivalent of the Reichstag fire of 1933. They were willing to certify the election of his Democratic opponent at the risk of their own lives, and the tragic truth is that Donald Trump has purged patriots like these from his MAGA GOP.
Hence, it is no hyperbole that the re-election of Donald Trump could tip American democracy into fascism. True patriots, regardless of party or in-state polling, must stand up and declare Donald Trump unfit for another term in the White House at the ballot box.
Incumbent upon Pelican State voters in general, and African-Americans in particular, is to make a clear statement in the voting booths on November 5, 2024 that our constitutional republic will not abide the birth of a potential dictator, but instead our electorate will opt for an incredibly qualified former Attorney General and US Senator who holds an abiding love for American democracy.
The current Vice President of the United States has demonstrated a singular commitment to the American people throughout her four years within the Biden Administration. She has earned our trust to lead the Republic for the next four years. Her experience alone should indicate the reasonableness of Kamala Harris’ election.
Early voting ends October 29, with Election Day on November 5.
U.S. Representative 2nd Congressional District: Troy A. Carter Sr.
The former LA State Senator and Councilman from Algiers has raise national attention to the critical condition of skyrocketing flood insurance rates, which threatened to depopulate Louisiana’s coastal communities—as well as the unfinished and underfunded reconstruction from Hurricane Katrina nearly two decades ago. A thoughtful progressive, Carter uniquely understands how to both work across the aisle and remain influential amongst his fellow Democrats. He deserves another term.
CA No. 1 (Act No. 408, 2024 – HB 300) – Provides relative to federal proceeds from alternative energy production (Select 1): Vote YES
This amendment would require that federal revenues received by the state generated from Outer Continental Shelf alternative or renewable energy production be deposited into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund. In other words, when the BP Settlement runs out in less than a decade, monies must be put aside to bolster our disappearing coastline. Creating a dedicated fund also assures federal appropriators that Louisiana remains serious about paying our portion for coastal restoration, and therefore can be trusted with the billions of federal dollars necessary to rebuild vanishing wetlands.
ORLEANS PARISH
Member of School Board District 2: Eric “Doc” Jones &
Member of School Board District 4: Donaldo R. Batiste
There is one fundamental question at stake in the two competitive school board races on the ballot; will the option of directly-run neighborhood schools be allowed in Orleans Parish as they are elsewhere in Louisiana and across the nation?
Charter school advocates have decried the decision by the Orleans Parish School Board to directly administer Leah Chase School, yet the original clarion call of charter advocates rested in the notion of educational choice. Parents should have the option of choosing the best school for their children, which makes the opposition to returning to a neighborhood school alternative so perplexing to our editors.
Charter schools that failed to educate should have the option to return to the neighborhood school model directly administered by elected officials. Many parents want the possibility of sending their children to the school literally “down the street” from their homes. That should be an option in the Crescent City, which right now doesn’t really exist.
Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Batiste are proponents of the option.
Parishwide HRC Amendment No. 1 of 2 – Amends Art. VI, Sec. 6-201(2) – CC (Select 1): Vote YES
The U.S. Census Bureau data show that more than half of renters and 30 percent of homeowners in New Orleans struggle to cover their housing costs. Voters will decide whether to amend the City charter to require an annual budget appropriation for the City’s Housing Trust Fund equal to at least two percent of the City’s General Fund budget. The trust fund would be used to preserve and expand affordable housing for low- to moderate-income New Orleans residents. If approved, the charter amendment would take effect January 1, 2025. The first required appropriation – an estimated $17 million- would occur in the City’s 2026 budget.
While some good government groups contend that putting an amendment in the city charter to achieve what could occur by statute constitutes an unnecessary change, it is growingly too expensive for working class people to live in New Orleans. This would create a practical method to incentivize the creation of affordable housing, and lock the money in place, so that ongoing projects will not find themselves underfunded. That kind of surety is essential to drawing in associated development dollars to build new affordable housing in the city.
Parishwide HRC Amendment No. 2 of 2 – Amends Art. II, Sec. 2-202 – CC (Select 1): Vote NO
The proposed charter amendment would add new sections to the New Orleans municipal bill of rights, establishing the right to a fair living wage, comprehensive health care coverage and paid time off, as well as the right to a safe workplace and the right to organize unions. Councilmember Helena Moreno, who sponsored the measure, said then that the proposal would broadcast the city’s pro-worker values at a time when conservative state lawmakers were considering bills aimed at labor unions.
From a practical perspective, this measure would change absolutely nothing. All the powers it seeks to enshrine in the city charter are held exclusively on the state or federal level. Orleans Parish lacks the power to enact any of this wish list of workers rights, even if the amendment passed with 100 percent support.
In a city clambering for investment and new jobs, attempting to create a special labor and payment regime for just one parish would arrest the efforts to draw new corporate investment into New Orleans. Why should this city cost itself the potential of good paying jobs in order to pass a law that will have no practical enforcement power? Why drive jobs elsewhere unless the lives of local workers can be improved in a legally practical way?
What is the point, though, of passing a law that achieves nothing – and possibly hurts potential investment in the very unemployed whom it purports to help?
Lakeshore Crime Prevention District – $420 Parcel Fee – CC – 4 Yrs.
Mid-City Security District – Parcel Fee – CC – 8 Yrs.: Vote YES
JEFFERSON PARISH
PW Home Rule Charter Amendment – Amends Sec. 4.03(A)(8) – PC: Vote YES
There’s an unusual quirk in Jefferson Parish law. Elected officials can hire their own personal staff, but they cannot fire them. Under the current Parish Home Rule Charter, some classified employees are considered “special non-competitive limited term” (or SNCLT) employees. They work in parish councilmembers’ offices or the parish president’s office. They are hired at-will, but protected from dismissal until the end of the elected official’s term.
If an employee only serves as long as the elected official who hired them, that elected should also have the right to fire them.
Stonebridge Subdivision Special District – $499.09 Parcel Fee – PC – 10 Yrs.: Vote YES.
This article originally published in the October 21, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
