Louisiana’s Hidden Culture War: Ending a Century of Wasteful Spending

Louisiana is in the middle of a culture war, but it is not the culture war you are probably thinking of. We are not talking about Banana Jones and the Lost Crusade. With mounting court costs and outstanding judgments, that low-budget film is doomed to fail.

We are talking about another culture war—a battle against an ingrained Huey Long culture that has dominated Louisiana fiscal policies for over a century: the spend and tax more philosophy. This philosophy has marked our state with high taxes, high poverty, and a near-50 rating in every meaningful category. If we want a new Louisiana, we must end our old habits.

Fiscal Cliff?

Are we really on the verge of a fiscal cliff? If you listen and accept what the legacy media says, the answer is yes. However, we also know that the legacy media no longer sees its obligation to report the unbiased truth. It has been weaponized against the truth for some time. So don’t expect to hear them reporting about the $348 million State Representative Tony Bacala recently spoke about at the Appropriations Committee.

This looming fiscal cliff is just like another unfilled pothole on Highway 90. It sits there unaddressed despite plenty of asphalt sealant available for repair. Even though there are crews in the area, they await a bureaucrat’s processing of a work order before it can be acted on. Then, when public works members arrive, they huddle around and spend more time discussing the Saint’s victory this weekend than repairing the issue. We are a state that wastes time and money and then raises taxes to compensate for those shortcomings.

Supplemental Appropriations

We could look further if Bacala’s message wasn’t enough to get the point across. House Bill 782 of the 2024 Regular Session became Act 776. It provides supplemental state government appropriations in addition to the regular spending found in HB1 and HB2 annually, an additional 82 pages of appropriations.

Instead of addressing the entire bill, we will focus on one section – state aid to local government entities. Why do local entities need state aid in the first place? Well, as one representative has famously said, ‘We send all of our money to Baton Rouge and then hire a bunch of prostitutes to try and get some of it back.’ If the representatives don’t bring money back to their districts, they will face immense pressure from their constituents, who will be waiting with tar, feathers, and a candidate to replace them in the next election.

But it’s much deeper than that. It’s also a tool used to provide leverage. The person who wields that tool effectively can ensure that principled folks who refuse to go with the flow are punished, or at least their constituents are. That is the ingrained culture we are challenging—a culture of subversion and coercion that dominates our states’ policies and fiscal decisions.

Why do local governments need assistance, to begin with?

Why does your local government need state assistance if it is acting frugally and responsibly? Sometimes, it’s because of bad decisions they have made. Wasteful spending. Other times, it’s because they are impoverished communities that can’t keep up with the rising cost of goods, services, and labor. Whatever the reasons, our system allows the state, which has removed revenue from local communities through taxation on the state level, to act like the gentle master and give a little bit back.

This year’s supplemental appropriations bill provided $93 million to be paid to 443 separate bodies. Examples include:

• $1,500,000 was donated to the City of Jonesboro to install a new water metering system, water lines, and related acquisitions. (Rewind just a few months ago when a bill was introduced to bypass the State bond commission in certain situations. That all stemmed from when the City of Ville Platte entered what some would term a predatory agreement with a 3rd party for similar services. I bet Ville Platte would have loved to receive similar money from the state coffers)
• $1,000,000 to the Ascension Parish Sheriff for constructing a law enforcement substation.
• $1,000,000 to the Central Community School System for Greenwell Springs Park for an arena cover and improvements.
• $1,000,000 to the St. Helena Parish for improvements to the Industrial Park for emergency and recreation purposes.
• $1,000,000 to the Jefferson Parish for land acquisitions, repairs, and improvements to historic properties.
• $1,000,000 to the City of Carencro for the city-wide meter rehabilitation program.
• $750,000 to Avoyelles Parish for the Avoyelles Youth Community-Based Program for planning, construction, acquisition, and equipment.
• $600,000 to the City of Youngsville for water and road infrastructure.

These are just a few of hundreds of examples of monies allocated for everything from bus covers to beautification projects. Those receiving handouts range from villages, towns, cities, and parishes to sheriffs, district attorneys, and courts, many of whom are in a position financially to fund their own projects without outside assistance.

Charitable contributions

But it doesn’t stop there. As part of their “aid to local government,” lawmakers also appropriated another $29.8 million to non-governmental agencies. That’s right! Rather than lower taxes, they over-collected your tax dollars and gifted it to someone they thought deserved more than you. Someone who you may very well be competing against if you operate a business or a non-profit agency.

Charity is a funny thing! Is it really charity if the person giving something doesn’t do so of their own volition? That tends to breed resentment and is damaging to goodwill. Is it charity if the person giving expects something in return? Lastly, is it charity if it doesn’t benefit someone with a genuine need?

Louisiana legislators gave $29.8 million to 158 organizations, mostly “non-profit” organizations, but not all. $17.2 million went to 112 organizations with no specified purpose listed in the act. This is essentially a gift to do with as they please, a cost to the taxpayer, and a bonus to the organization.

Examples include:

• $2,496,000 to the Lake Shore Indians Booster Club for the Lakeshore Playground
• $1,500,000 to the Louisiana Leadership Institute (that Baton Rouge non-profit founded by Cleo Fields)
• $1,000,000 to the Cyberspace Innovation Center, Inc. For a replacement generator
• $500,000 to Math Nation, an organization that is not even based in Louisiana
• $500,000 to the Baton Rouge Art Gallery
• $250,000 to Teach for America, Inc., based out of New York
• $250,000 to Win Foundation of Louisiana for bayou clean-up at Cherokee Park
• $90,000 to the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association for a task force
• $75,000 to Mu Zeta Foundation, Inc. for community outreach programs

So, while we are all being led to believe we are being pushed over the edge of a high cliff, we should not cower in fear. Maybe we should just jump! Take a leap of faith. If we did, we would likely be excited to learn that the fiscal threat we perceived never existed.

More to come!

This is a continuation of the discussion we started in the article “Bacala finds $348 MILLION to cover the supposed fiscal cliff.” However, the issue of Huey Long’s failed (yet continuing) legacy in Louisiana deserves more attention. In an upcoming article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the NGOs and other recipients of your tax dollars.

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