Tarver has different view of recent Legislative session

23rd July 2012   ·   0 Comments

By J. Kojo Livingston
Contributing Writer

Shreveport, LA – Gregory Tarver is the only Black Senator representing Northern Louisiana. Recently re-elected, he is not new to the game of the politics of this place and era. Some representatives have had a chance to give their views about the session in the pages of this paper. Sen. Tarver shares many of their concerns and frustrations but also has some differing views about what did happen and what should have happened.

“A lot of things got accomplished and a lot of things did not get accomplished,” Tarver said. “One of the biggest problems we have is a lack of money for the state of Louisiana to provide services for everyone. But the positives of the session I managed to get money for LSU Med School to maintain the 6,000 employees. If the budget would have gone like it came out of the House, they would have wound up closing LSU med school.”

Tarver saw some other bright spots in this session. “At the same time we managed to get $4 million for Southern University. In Baton Rouge they had a very, very serious financial problem and that will also help SUSLA. There is now money in the capital budget for two classroom buildings at the SUSLA campus that will available once we issue the bonds from the state of Louisiana. There is money for the northern part of the parish, $1.2 million that will help one or two industrial parks that in the near future. They will be bringing people in to create jobs.”

There is also now money in the capital budget to extend the water line in oil city to areas where they do not have water right now. That project comes to $4,680,000. Taver also believes that recent appointments to the Caddo Parish Levee Board are something to crow about, “We were fortunate to appoint 3 Blacks to the Caddo Parish Levee Board. We now have 3 out of seven, the same number we had when I left. After I left it went down to 1 out of seven.”

The most important thing to Tarver is to find ways and means of raising money in this state. “We cannot afford to keep on cutting universities. If we cut anymore they will wind up closing universities in Louisiana,” he warns.

Asked if tax cuts for rich people were the problem, Tarver quickly responded, “That’s not true. We did not do any tax cuts at all. We did tax incentives that have not been issued out yet. The tax incentives bring jobs to Louisiana. Now we are having a study committee to study all tax incentives that we have given in this state. We have given approximately $3 billion but a lot of them are not active at this time. And folks want to eliminate tax incentives. But tax incentives are good when they bring jobs into Louisiana.”

But is there any evidence that the tax incentives have been working in the past five years?

“They did not give us an accounting of that, which is why we are going to have a study committee on this situation, to make sure that the laws that we passed the people fulfill their responsibilities. If we give an incentive to a company for half a million dollars to produce so many jobs. If they do not produce so many jobs we’re going to take that tax incentive from them. But some incentives work, for example if you look at the incentives for the motion picture industry. That is working. All tax incentives are not bad. They are only bad when people do not keep their commitments. We’re going to pull a lot of tax incentives.”

Asked about the private school voucher program that passed and the veto of a bill that would have given incentives for gifts to public schools, Tarver responded, “That bill came to my committee by Katrina Jackson, the chairman voted not to let it come out of the committee. We voted it out of committee over the objection of the chairman. They had no business vetoing that, but that’s the governor’s prerogative. He vetoed a lot of programs that would help Shreveport, help the rural areas. He vetoed a lot of programs.”

The voucher bill is currently in the courts to determine if they are constitutional. “My concern is that I just want the best education possible for little people. If you look at the Black males in Caddo Parish, look at their scores and the failing schools, something has to be done to change this situation.”

One school in Ruston was approved for 315 students without having classroom space, teachers or books to serve that many children. Asked if this would likely produce results, the Senator responded, “That is just one instance. And they were caught in time. Nobody received any vouchers. There is a need for more oversight. I know they need better oversight all over this state in different areas.”

However, the big concern for the Senator from Shreveport is revenues. “We need more than anything else is money where we can run these universities, keep these med schools open and money where we can bring more jobs here for the people in Louisiana.”

Asked about his ideas for bringing in such revenues, he replied, “Get rid of Bobby Jindal. You have to work with people whether you like them or you don’t like them.”

Tarver spoke about the struggle within the legislature and the Senate’s role in it, “As the budget bill came out of the House of Representatives, if we had not put that money back, in the Senate. Medicaid would have been cut about 25 percent. We saved a lot of programs for the elderly and the needy by putting that money back. We disagreed with the House Of Representatives. We put 261 million back in. But we still need so much more.”

This article originally published in the July 23, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.