Sunday, March 18, 2007
 From BayouBuzz.com:"In 1928, a North Louisiana populist and member of the Railroad Commission (the forerunner to the state’s Public Service Commission) capitalized on the greatest natural disaster that the state of Louisiana had ever experienced (the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927) to capture the gubernatorial election. This populist, of course, was Huey Long. His "tax the rich," Robin Hood style of politics left behind a legacy that defined the contours of Louisiana politics for most of the twentieth century. Now another North Louisiana populist is poised for a gubernatorial run that seeks to duplicate Huey Long’s feat after a natural disaster (Katrina) that dwarfs even the Great Mississippi River Flood as far as the state of Louisiana is concerned.
Foster Campbell, a Democrat from Bossier Parish and current member of the Public Service Commission, is running for governor. Prior to his election to the Public Service Commission, he spent twenty-seven years as a member of the Louisiana State Senate. While in the Senate, his signature issue was his push for an oil processing tax on foreign oil refined in the state of Louisiana. He tried and tried and tried to amend the state constitution to allow for this tax but failed to win the support of the Legislature.
Campbell attributes his lack of success to the power of the oil and gas industry and the "coziness" of state leaders to that industry’s representatives. Campbell has not given up on his idea – instead, he's making the processing tax the centerpiece issue of his campaign for governor. Therefore, expect Foster Campbell's candidacy to engender a great deal of controversy during this election cycle.
For his part, Campbell probably would have it no other way. Campbell will run a classic Huey Long style populist campaign. His hope is to make the processing tax the central issue in the campaign. The tax, according to Campbell, would generate $5 billion a year – money that he feels would enable Louisiana the revenues to invest in its roads, schools, infrastructure, coastal restoration, and in the rebuilding of New Orleans without having to wait for a handout from the federal government. For him, it also helps that two of his likely opponents – Governor Blanco and U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal - are strongly opposed to Campbell's proposal. Campbell will attempt to portray them – and anyone else who opposes his tax – as stooges in the pockets of the oil and gas industry. He will attempt to mount a classic "people vs. the special interests" campaign in the hopes of generating a populist wave that sweeps him into the Governor’s Mansion.
... His populist message may appeal beyond North Louisiana – indeed, it may strike a resonant chord particularly among black voters in South Louisiana (whom Blanco badly needs) who feel the governor has not done enough to help blacks who were disproportionately displaced by the horror of Katrina. Furthermore, those who feel the federal government has treated Louisiana like a stepchild might embrace a proposal that holds out the possibility of Louisiana taking responsibility for solving its own problems rather than waiting for the cavalry from Washington to swoop down to save us.
Campbell himself has believed that it would take a crisis for Louisiana to enact the oil processing tax and Katrina may well have provided it. The storm exacerbated many underlying problems that existed prior to Katrina – our poverty, the state's failure to invest in education, our ailing health care system, the worst roads in the nation, the erosion of our coasts which made the storm worse, and so on. Thus far, state government has not responded to the crisis the state is in as a result of Hurricane Katrina with policy prescriptions adequate to meet the gravity of the challenges left in the storm’s wake. This failure creates an opening for a candidate who proposes something radical to meet the crisis. Campbell hopes to fill that void. Voters impatient with the pace of the recovery and/or disillusioned with the current regime may find Campbell appealing. Whether he succeeds or not, one thing is for sure: it will be a very interesting ride.
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Campbell's plan would use the refinery tax money to eliminate all personal and corporate state income tax and still have billions left over for infrastructure improvements.
- Foster Campbell's FosterCampbell.com
Labels: Katrina, oil mafia
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