If Tucker runs for Secty of State, does his SUNO stance help, hinder?

3rd June 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
The Louisiana Weekly Contributing Writer

The October contest for Secretary of State was jolted early last week when sources close to Jim Tucker revealed that the term-limited Speaker of the State House planned to run for the post.

Under normal circumstances, Tucker would automatically become the overall front frontrunner, eclipsing the interim Sec. State Tom Schedler, as well as fellow candidates Caroline Fayard and Rep. Walker Hines.

However, while the Speaker remains formidable thanks to a capacity to outspend his opponents and wide political support on the right, Tucker must also deal with the aftermath of the battle over ending SUNO — a bill he authored.

The irony is that prior to the SUNO-UNO merger battle, Jim Tucker was arguably the Black Caucus’ most favored Repub­lican. His election as Speaker came at a time when Democrats still held a majority of seats in the House.

Tucker’s close relationships with several Orleans-area Black Democrats constituted his margin of victory to the Speaker’s post. And, the new Speaker showed his appreciation by appointing several African-American legislators to key committee chairmanships — and putting his close friend and ally, Karen Carter Peterson in the Speaker Pro Tem Chair. (She later was elected to the State Senate.)

Tucker also enjoyed kudos from white Democrats as well in the wake of the redistricting special session, many in the opposition party openly saying the GOP Speaker had been an eminently fair broker, preserving some Caucasian Democratic seats, even when he could have opted to gerrymander Republican seats in Orleans Parish in their place.

Tucker had agreed to a plan that would keep the seats of Helena Moreno, Walt Leger III, and Neil Abramson intact (using voters drawn out of the districts eliminated after the retirements of Walker Hines and Juan LaFonta). However, some of the Speaker’s closest allies had a different idea.

In the waning days of the special session, the Jefferson House delegation launched an effort to expand three Jefferson GOP House seats into Orleans Parish.

Under Tucker’s original proposal, only one Representative would cross parish lines on the East Bank. Rep. Nick Lorusso would see his Lakeview seat drawn into Bucktown, to the home precinct of his fellow GOP Rep. John LaBruzzo. The remainder of LaBruzzo’s district in Old Metairie would be mostly given to Rep. Cameron Henry. Meanwhile, Henry would lose the four Orleans Riverbend precincts that he currently represents.

The plan also meant that two Republican districts would become one, ensuring an interparty fight in October. To stop that battle, led by Jefferson Rep. Tony Ligi, the Republican House delegation proposed drawing three GOP seats into Uptown.

Under Tucker’s plan, Uptown and Downtown remained relatively unbalkanized, Abramson, Leger, and Moreno representing cohesive neighborhoods-based seats running along the Mississippi River.

The Jefferson delegation disagreed. Ligi attempted to restore Henry’s precincts in Riverbend (drastically expanding their number). LaBruzzo’s seat would have stretched from Bucktown almost to Tulane University — through the Fontainebleau neighborhood. And, Lorusso’s district would have gone from Lakeview to the Zoo. Fontainebleau would have potentially been in the same seat as Old Metairie, connected through Hollygrove. Had Tucker strongly supported the measure, or even voted in favor, it would have passed. Abramson, Leger, and Moreno would have been either drawn together or into seats a Democrat could not win.

Instead, despite the plan having Governor Jindal’s support, it failed 47-49.

Tucker’s abstention was the deciding vote that killed it.

As such, the GOP Speaker entered the regular session as something of a hero to some Democrats. That all changed with the SUNO-UNO merger bill. It factionalized legislative politics in a way not seen in decades. The Black Caucus turned against the Speaker, and white Democrats, the deciding margin required for the constitutionally mandated 2/3 vote, were caught in the middle.

Tucker’s relationship with the Democratic members was good enough that by the beginning of the week of May 16, the Speaker believed he still had the votes in the State House to pass the measure. Yet, the opening of the Morganza Spillway, and need for two of his members to be present with their about-to-be-flooded constituents, made Tucker delay the vote by two days. A Wednesday rather than a Monday vote made all the difference.

In the interim, Jindal’s Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater called many of the Democratic members (and many Republicans) — who sought to defy the Governor on using one-time monies to plug the $25B state budget — “irresponsible.”

White Democrats, already nervous about the reaction of their African-American constituents in voting for the demise of a historically Black college, reportedly were incensed by the comment.

There are those that believe Rainwater is responsible for killing the SUNO-UNO merger—and in the end ensured that the Jindal administration likewise was defeated on many of the budgetary funding gimmicks (using one-time money) that the Fourth Floor had sought.

Thanks to the Commissioner, Jindal lost, but Tucker lost even greater.

Before the SUNO battle, a Tucker bid for Secretary of State would have enjoyed both GOP statewide support, and not an insignificant amount of backing from Democrats in New Orleans—voting for a native son. That likely will not happen now.

Of course, the Speaker still has a singular advantage over his probable opponents, namely money.

The current interim incumbent of Louisiana’s No. 3 job, former State Sen. Tom Schedler, is virtually unknown outside of his home in St. Tammany Parish. He succeeded to the post after Jay Dardenne was elected Lt. Governor. Schedler had served as Dardenne’s deputy. Having never run statewide, Schedler has limited fundraising networks.

According to sources, Schedler plans to fund his campaign with $100,000 versus the one million dollar sum that Tucker maintains he will have to spend by qualifying.

Of course, for Tucker to win, he must not only get past the interim Secretary, but Democrat-turned-Republican Walker Hines of Uptown New Orleans, and Livingston Parish Democrat-turned-Uptowner Caroline Fayard. (It seems that every contender for the office hails from the Nola metro.)

Fayard has extensive personal funds to draw upon, and has become something of a celebrity in Democratic circles following her Lt. Gov bid. However, her “I hate Republicans” comments have undermined her appeal in an increasingly “Red” state. Hines also has extensive family resources. (His father is politically connected lawyer Bill Hines, and his godfather is Banker Gary Solomon.) However, he runs from a Democratic-leaning seat in Uptown New Orleans, whose majority voted for Fayard in the Lt. Governor’s race.

Tucker’s fundamental advantage over his opponents comes from fundraising itself. The Algiers Republican’s name recognition is no better than Schedler or Hines, and likely far less than Fayard. However, as Speaker, no one short of the Governor is in a better position to garner campaign funds than the holder of what is known as the second most powerful position in State Government.

Few people have a reason to contribute money to the Secretary of State, whether in office or running for it. To put this in perspective, Jim Brown was elected Secretary of State almost three decades ago with a $500,000 debt on his campaign books.

“You know when I paid that $500,000 off?” Brown told the Weekly. “When I ran for Governor. I could barely raise a dime as Secretary of State.”

That is Schedler’s problem, and Fayard’s and Hines’ challenge, as they each plan their bids for the October 2011 election. Tucker has no such disadvantage. Plenty of people seek the ear of the Speaker.

Still, in the wake of the SUNO-UNO battle, plenty of people seek his head as well.

This story originally published in the May 30, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.