"I said I would be guided by the Attorney General’s opinion and therefore will not be a candidate for Governor. For me to run now means that we would face a campaign based on an eligibility to run, with the prospects of being in a courtroom only weeks before the election. That is not in the best interest of our state or what this election should be about."
Who will run?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This guy has class and no matter how many people call him names he can hold his head high. Breaux would have made a fine governor and still may someday.
Foti made the expedient decision for his own political future. Obviously Breaux has been out & about lining his pockets as a lobyist on a national scale for the last couple of years. To call himself a Louisiana "citizen" to the definition of the rest of us would have been a stretch. But thank God he'll stay in his $3 million mansion back in Maryland.
You can thank Breaux for increased costs in Medicare. He was a major player in writing the welfare & health insurance reform bill where the drug industry got everything they wanted. Goldman Sachs estimated a revenue boost of $13 billion for the drug industry with Breaux helping them beat back efforts to use Medicare to hold down drug prices & fought off a bid to allow drug imports from Canada. Breaux was the King of Congressional Travel receiving an average of around $35k annually in his last years from special interest groups for trips to mostly Florida, staying in expensive spa resorts.
The drug industry was his most frequent travel underwriter. Pfizer flew him to New York 4 times while working the drug reform bills. Four months after the drug industry got their legislation, PhRMA, the drug industry trade group (Wash D.C.), offered him the chair of its board of directors.
But let's not overlook the oil industry. Breaux was successful in urging the Bush Administration to loosen EPA standards in 2001 mainly to help Orion Oil who later gave Breaux, Jr. (his son) a job. He helped legislate the 2005 Energy Bill effectively increasing numerable benefits for the oil, gas & mineral industries.
And while Senator, he gets his son (Breaux, Jr.) set up as a lobbyist where he picks up hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Illegal? NO. Ethical? The Senate Ethics Committee snoozes while scores of Congressman's family members & spouses work as lobbyists. Jack Abramoff (not just a Republican thing), gave Breaux's various political committees nearly $13k between 2002 & 2004.
Breaux used his years in Congress to become affluent & powerful. Look back over the last 30 years. What did Louisiana get out of it? We're ranked last or nearly last in every important economic category. So tell me what did Breaux do for Louisiana? A centrist? No, try a Republican in Democrat drag.
If Breaux really cares about Louisiana, why the move to Maryland? Is Foti going to run?
And you can't name on one hand the number of good he did for this state in his 30 years in office. Wetlands protection money? HA!
Post a Comment