Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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April 14
The Town Talk says a hand up is better than a handout:
Tell the truth, which means more to you - something you earned through hard work and effort or something you were given for little or no effort?
We believe the majority of readers would say the first option, something earned. We can think of examples at many levels. For instance, for many people the first car they got to drive was their parent’s car. It wasn’t earned, it was simply provided. While we were grateful to have it, we didn’t consider it a prized possession.
Oh but when we got our first vehicle that we bought with our own money - paid for with the proceeds of years of cutting grass, doing odd jobs and then finally a real paycheck - the sense of pride was enormous. We washed and waxed the car regularly, parked far away from other cars in parking lots, and did everything we could to prevent getting that first dent or scratch. We would even ban passengers from bringing in food trying to prolong the new car smell.
Another example would be sports awards. It’s not uncommon for “participation” trophies to get lost in the shuffle of time. Broken, misplaced, thrown in a box in an attic somewhere or even discarded, they are rarely easy to find after just a couple of years. But a real championship trophy, earned through years of hard work and sweat and the product of the athlete giving his or her best to have that special season, those don’t get lost or misplaced. They may not be visible for everyone to see, but those who earned them know exactly where they are and what they mean to them.
It’s that understanding of human nature that leads us to support efforts to encourage able-bodied adults receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, more commonly referred to as food stamps, to work or participate in some job or community service related activity to qualify.
The idea of requiring those who can work to do so has been promoted for a while, predominantly by Republican lawmakers. Currently, there is language requiring the work requirement in the 2018 Farm Bill being discussed in Washington and supported by La. Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-Alto).
At the state level, a House committee recently killed House Bill 128 by Rep. Jay Morris, R-Monroe, that would have required work, education or community service requirements for food stamp recipients between the ages of 18 and 49.
“SNAP provides an important safety net for many Americans, but I want it to be an on-ramp to success, not a lifestyle for work-capable adults,” Abraham said explaining his support of the effort. “These changes will help people break out of the cycle of poverty and climb the economic ladder.”
We agree. Benefit programs such as SNAP are important and should be in place to benefit those in need. As technology advancements and other factors have led to many businesses reducing the number of people they need to fill jobs, many hard-working Americans have - through no fault of their own - found themselves without a job and in need of benefits until they can find new work. They need and deserve the support SNAP provides.
But the key is that SNAP should be there as a stop-gap support while they are actively seeking new work to support themselves. It shouldn’t become a long-term solution. That may not feel like the most popular choice for politicians seeking votes, but it is what we believe is in the best interest of the people served. And that, bottom line, is what our leaders should be focused on doing.
Online: https://www.thetowntalk.com
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April 17
The Advocate says Louisiana’s state and local officials are in a delicate dance:
For decades, Louisiana has been an outlier among the states in many ways, but none more so in the obscure realm of local government finance.
That’s why some elected officials are quarreling, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, during the current legislative session.
But it’s a fight where local officials have to be as delicate as possible with their adversaries. The reason: State government pays so much to local government in terms of financial aid, and many things that officials at the city level want to do require legislative approval.
In Baton Rouge, where a proposal to move the city zoo from Greenwood Park ignited controversy, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and other officials ultimately opposed the plan. It died, but not until after legislators got into the act by introducing bills to either change the membership of the parks commission or otherwise enter the fray.
Recently, the Metro Council balked at a resolution of support for state legislation, even members favoring the Greenwood Park location. The council majority clearly felt that this local decision should be local and not moved eight or 10 blocks down Third Street to the State Capitol. But they said “no” as respectfully as they could.
Earlier, New Orleans’ Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell had to make the same kind of statements on several bills moving through the session only a month before she is sworn into office.
A local controversy over booting cars led to a bill by state Sen. JP Morrell, D-New Orleans, a key member of the delegation. Cantrell told Morrell that the new administration and City Council would try to address his concerns, and he agreed to shelve the bill.
At the same time, though, Cantrell does not have as much influence with Jefferson Parish Republicans.
Senate Bill 94 by state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, would impose some tougher new requirements on payments of contractors.
Influential business interests and a mostly conservative Legislature may be at odds with City Hall. In those cases, the mayor-elect is in a difficult position, as she is still a month from taking office while the Legislature - where she, unlike several predecessors, never served - has its general session well underway.
Whatever the outcome on all of these measures, that these discussions occur so often is a sign of conflicting impulses. One is politics, and it’s perhaps not surprising that legislators are politicians and feel that they need to jump in with legislation on hot local topics.
But in Louisiana’s State Capitol, there is not enough deference to local authorities. Our structure of government allows the political impulses of legislators full rein. That makes it difficult for local officials, probably more so than in most states.
Online: http://www.theadvocate.com
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April 18
NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune says the state’s drug laws are overly harsh and ineffective:
Bernard Noble spent seven years in prison for carrying roughly two cigarettes worth of marijuana while biking in New Orleans. He was released from Bossier Parish Medium Security Prison April 12 after changes to state law reduced the penalties for marijuana possession and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office agreed to reduce his 13-year sentence.
Mr. Noble had become a national emblem of overly harsh and ineffective drug laws and the excessive sentences allowed under Louisiana’s habitual offender statute. His 13-year sentence stemmed from earlier convictions for possession of small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, according to the Marshall Project.
But even with Mr. Noble as a fresh example of the excessively punitive nature of Louisiana’s habitual offender law, the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee rejected a bill April 17 to remove nonviolent offenses from the calculation for enhanced sentences.
Rep. Chad Brown, a Democrat from Plaquemine, said his House Bill 355 is meant to reduce disproportionate sentences for people with low-level, nonviolent offenses.
Sarah Omojola, policy counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center, pointed out that offenders like Mr. Noble could benefit more from substance abuse programs and other counseling. “HB 355 would exclude nonviolent offenses from habitual offender sentencing enhancements. The money saved from these unnecessarily harsh sentences could then be reinvested into rehabilitative alternatives - such as substance abuse counseling and mental health treatment - that would address some of the root causes of crime and create a safer Louisiana,” she said in a written statement after the committee vote.
To its credit, the state Legislature made sweeping changes to sentencing laws last spring at the urging of Gov. John Bel Edwards, the Justice Reinvestment Task Force and business and civic leaders. That criminal justice legislation lessened the harshness of the habitual offender statute, although the changes weren’t retroactive.
Since Nov. 1, new convictions for drug and nonviolent offenses will not trigger a life sentence for a defendant with prior convictions. Mandatory minimum sentences will be shorter for habitual offenders. And the length of time that a prior felony conviction could be used to enhance penalties on a new offense has been shortened from 10 years to five.
The task force also recommended the removal of nonviolent offenses from the habitual offender sentencing calculation, but that didn’t pass. HB 355 would have remedied that omission.
There were strong arguments presented to the committee April 17. According to tweets by Louisianans for Prison Alternatives, New Orleans public defender Sarah O’Brien said there are “hundreds more like Corey Ladd and Bernard Noble who are sitting in Louisiana prisons for years for low-level offenses.”
Mr. Ladd testified that same day. “Corey Ladd addressing the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. He was sent to prison for 20 years for possession of marijuana under the habitual offender law,” the group tweeted. He told lawmakers that his prior offenses were for drug possession. Why should that result in a 20-year sentence?
“The measure isn’t how many people we put in jail,” Ronal Serpas, former New Orleans police superintendent and the founder of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime, said in an October Washington Post article. “The measure is whether the right people are put in jail. And that’s the people we’re afraid of, not the people we’re mad at.”
He was referring to indications that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted to return to a more punitive approach for low level offenses. But Mr. Serpas’ message is pertinent in Louisiana as well.
“I cried a lot of times in prison silently because you can’t do it out loud in a treacherous place like that. But I always said, ’one day it’s gonna get better,’ ” Mr. Noble told the Marshall Project.
The situation at last has gotten better for him. But Louisiana is still looking to lock up others in the same situation. That is the wrong approach.
Online: http://www.nola.com
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