INDReporter

Bob Mann’s Good, Bad & Ugly of 2015 Stephen Perry, Bobby Jindal, Buddy Caldwell, F. King Alexander all honored — for very different reasons, of course.

Stephen Perry, Bobby Jindal, Buddy Caldwell, F. King Alexander all honored — for very different reasons, of course.

In his regular Times-Picayune/nola.com column, political writer Bob Mann calls 2015 the “wildest and most unpredictable in my 30-plus years of observing Louisiana politics.”

Aside from the entertainment value, this year was a humbling 12 months, he writes, especially for political pundits like himself (and IND Publisher Steve May), who were certain that a Democrat could not be elected governor of Louisiana.

Mann asked for nominations in a variety of categories for his second annual Good, Bad and Ugly in Louisiana Politics Awards, including Most Courage, Most Cowardice, Shameless Ambition (you will never guess the winner), Shrewdest Move, among others.

Our personal favorite is the courage award, which went to Stephen Perry:

In May, under the guise of “religious freedom,” Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an appalling and legally questionable executive order purporting to give state and local officials license to discriminate against same-sex couples. While most convention, tourism and chamber executives initially dived for cover, one valiant leader stood tall and set the pace for the few souls who eventually spoke up. Perry, CEO of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (also one of Jindal’s appointees to the LSU Board), promptly issued a strongly worded condemnation of the order.

Without further ado, here are the rest of Mann's winners.