Political blogger Dayne Sherman has some advice for Gov. John Bel Edwards: Pull out the veto pen, inflict some payback and let voters across the state know just who was responsible for the Legislature’s abject failure to enact real budget reform to protect higher education and TOPs.
The prolific writer, novelist and professor of library science at an unnamed Louisiana university has clearly had enough of the ideological carpet bombing happening mainly in the state House of Representatives. But he acknowledges in a recent post on his blog, “Talk About the South,” that “diagnosing a problem only does so much toward repairing the damage.”
Instead, Sherman encourages Edwards to put away the scalpel and pull out the sledge hammer:
First, veto the front-loading of TOPS. In other words, spread the current funding between semesters, which is the most responsible thing to do. There’s no reason to give students a false hope with full funding in the fall and 40 % funding in the spring term...
Second, take the veto pen to all of the pet projects in the districts of the most delusional and spiteful representatives... (Click the link below to see his list of the "saboteurs.") If these mossbacks really want small government, as they claim, then certainly they’ll be happy to lose taxpayer-funded capital outlay pork slated for their backyards.
Third, go to House districts and explain to citizens exactly how boneheaded legislators backed the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s agenda instead of the needs of the people living in the region...
Last, visit every college and university campus in the state and explain to the remaining students, parents, staff, and faculty how the obstructionists fought plans to save TOPS and protect higher education...
Read the full blog here.