Beware of Landry bearing gifts

Governor-elect Landry has formed a transition committee dedicated solely to the City of New Orleans. He has spoken of devoting extra resources as well as increasing state commitments to the Crescent City. Promises which have seemed very hopeful, at least until Landry refused to meet with the very city council members elected to represent constituents of the very metropolis he wishes to overhaul. This reluctance should give the average citizen pause as to the new governor’s true intentions.

Only Councilman Oliver Thomas confirmed that Landry has spoken with him in reference to the transition committee. (Thomas is known to have a friendly relationship with the governor-elect.) Landy was less receptive to advice from the remainder of the council – at least at the present time.

Landry was asked at a recent press conference whether he would speak to New Orleans’ elected officials. “Absolutely,” Landry exclaimed, but added, “I want to let their commission, that committee, do its business. And then we will be visiting with those leaders. I think that it’s probably a bit premature for us to visit them yet…I don’t know anyone – including them – that believes that the City of New Orleans is being run like an absolute professional football team, OK?”

To his Orleans-focused transition committee, Landry has appointed several business people who were vocally and financially supportive of the recall effort against Mayor LaToya Cantrell, leading her to express a deep skepticism about whether the transition effort will wield positive results for the city. It’s a curious first step for Landry, unless internecine war is what he seeks.

In the back of most local elected officials minds stands the example of Jackson, Mississippi. Governor Tate Reeves moved to take over the capital city, effectively using the Legislature to remove most of the powers of the local elected officials. In the end, Reeves paid no political price for his audacity, winning re-election by a surprisingly comfortable margin two weeks ago.

Beating up on New Orleans has proven a successful strategy for many Louisiana governors, so do not expect this newfound attention by the newly elected Republican governor to necessarily focus upon the stated desires of the majority of the citizenry of the Crescent City. Like Reeves, the fruits of Landry’s efforts may be more focused on winning the approval of suburban Caucasian Republicans in Jefferson, St. Bernard, and St. Tammany, rather than the denizens of the largely African-American Democratic city.

Of course, we could be wrong, so we hope at least. Councilwoman Helena Moreno has put forward a wonderful list of recommendations for the committee – most of which the governor-elect has chosen to ignore so far. Moreno’s suggestions, as she outlined to Fox 8, include “20 different items that, on Day 1, the governor-elect could immediately start focusing on from crime prevention to improving health outcomes to helping with illegal dumping and preventing that in our city [to] All different types of budgetary issues that could potentially help our city.”

These recommendations could provide a forum for potential bipartisan cooperation. Should Landry continue to remain silent on the suggestions, though, no one should hold their breaths that Landry possesses the slightest intention to include any of the local elected officials in his quest to “lift up” the City of New Orleans.

Nevertheless, no one would be pleased more than us to be totally wrong. Still, we know that many gifts come with strings; therefore, in the meantime, we will hold to the advice of one of Landry’s oft-quoted heroes, Ronald Reagan, “Trust, but verify!”

This article originally published in the November 20, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.