Surprise victory by New Iberian leaves NOLA without a Speaker

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Mr. Madison would be proud, but the defeat of a candidate for Speaker from New Orleans in the Louisiana House of Representatives on January 11 (and the withdrawal of another) has tremendous implications for the city and the metro area.

Everyone expected that the fight between the two favorites, Democratic Uptown Rep. Walt Leger III and Old Jefferson Republican Rep. Cameron Henry, would be razor-thin. Leger, though, thought he had the votes to succeed. The reason centered around the fact that Henry was David Vitter’s candidate to be Speaker if the U.S. Senator had won the Governorship, whereas Leger was victorious Gov. John Bel Edwards’ pick. Historically, the two Houses of the Louisiana Legislature tend to elect to their leadership to whomever the sitting Governor gives the nod.

Moreover, quite a few GOP members, who had backed Scott Angelle or Jay Dardenne, still held some antipathy towards the U.S. Senator and those who supported his campaign for Governor. In the end, neither won, thanks to a last-minute political gambit by Cameron Henry.

The House members elected New Iberia Rep. Taylor Barras, as their Speaker with a majority of 56 of the 105 members. Barras, a Republican who was elected as a Democrat in 2011, and then changed parties, seemed a safe choice to the wavering Republicans. The difficulty for Leger had always been that the GOP held the majority in the chamber. The Uptown Democrat counted upon swing Republicans, particularly metro area GOP Reps. such as Covington’s John Schroder, to make up the gap.

As the voting began in the Speakers race there were four candidates—Barras, Henry, Leger, and fellow New Orleans Democrat Neil Abramson. In the first round of voting on Jan. 11, Leger was poised for victory with 49 votes. He needed 53. Henry had only 26 votes to Barras’ 24, narrowly winning a runoff slot. Then, Henry withdrew and endorsed sophomore Rep. Barras.

As late as Sunday evening, senior Republicans were trying to cut a deal to keep the Speakership in the GOP column. Reportedly, only at the last minute, did Henry agree. Even then, no one knew if Barras had the votes until early Monday.

The New Iberian’s margin of victory came in part thanks to two Orleans Parish Representatives, one of whom is a Democrat. GOP social conservatives including Louisiana Family Forum’s Gene Mills had targeted new elected Republican Rep. Stephanie Hilferty for weeks. Ultimately, the Lakeview and Bucktown Representative had been threatened by a recall petition from some of her GOP constituents over worries that she would back Leger—which she did in the first ballot. In the runoff, she threw her support to Barras.

As did the fourth contender for Speaker, New Orleans Democrat Neil Abramson. Reportedly, he did so at the last second as well, yet his decision to break party ranks makes a certain degree of sense. Abramson represents Uptown from Napoleon Ave. to the Jefferson Parish line. Recently, he moved into the Riverbend section of his seat that overlaps with State Senate District 9. Both its incumbent Conrad Appel and Abramson are term-limited.

By supporting a GOP Speaker, Abramson is in line for a committee Chairmanship, and could theoretically switch parties and then run in 2019 in Appel’s vacant mostly Jefferson Parish-based State Senate seat without any need to move his residence or “carpetbag” in any way. Regardless, Abramson’s vote alone would not have swung the election. He earned just two votes in the Speaker’s balloting, including his own. Barras would have won regardless.

The reason, as Cameron Henry himself noted, “The goal at the end of the day was to make sure we had a socially conservative Republican as speaker.” Leger had been one of the leaders of the fight against defunding Planned Parenthood, and had opposed Gov. Jindal’s Marriage and Conscience Act—a priority of Social Conservatives.

Leger was conciliatory, stating, “Mr. Speaker, to you I want to offer my hand of support to you in every way possible…I have always known you to be a very kind man and also very giving and caring. Those attributes will no doubt be on display even more now in your new leadership role.”

The House, in reply, elected Leger as Speaker Pro Tem unanimously, the position he held in the last legislature. Still, the amount of influence the city and the metro lost in not having a local as the head of the State House cannot be overstated. The Nola Metro was somewhat more successful in the State Senate. Westwego Sen. John Alario was elected unanimously for another term as Senate President. Of course, Alario is both a Republican and supported John Bel Edwards in the runoff, so he was the Governor’s pick in the first place.

This article originally published in the January 18, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.