It comes as no surprise that a north Louisiana state senator has said he is likely to try again to make it easier to fire state workers who are protected by civil service. A constitutional amendment he filed last year came within two votes of making it to a statewide ballot.

The late-Gov. Sam Jones of Lake Charles was responsible for getting civil service protection enacted during his 1940-44 term. Jones explained in simple terms what civil service protection means.

“We enacted civil service that, with one fell swoop, took away the governor’s control over state employees, and which took away the mayor’s control over the employees of the City of New Orleans,” Jones said in his “Report to the People.”

The civil service improvements made by Jones remained in effect until they were abolished by the late-Gov. Earl K. Long, Huey Long’s brother. The abuses returned but the late-Gov. Robert Kennon, the next governor, got civil service into the state constitution where it can only be changed by the state’s voters.

Make no mistake, what state Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, wants to do about civil service will give GOP Gov. Jeff Landry and future governors control over state employees once again. Morris has admitted that he would even prefer to do away with civil service.

The late-Gov. Huey P. Long enjoyed total control of state employees. And after he was assassinated in 1935, hundreds of government officials and businessmen were implicated in wrongdoing and millions in state funds were stolen. That era of state government is referred to as “The Louisiana Hayride.”

Current Louisiana legislators have given Landry control over many state commissions and higher education boards and the governor has filled positions of leadership with his friends and supporters. Those men and women have done the governor’s bidding.

The chairman that Landry picked for the University of Louisiana System helped the governor hand-pick a new president of Northwestern State University at Natchitoches.

Landry is also using that new authority to reshape the Louisiana Supreme Court. Nola.com reported on Feb. 17, that “the Louisiana Supreme Court is about to receive a second new member, following a series of moves orchestrated by Gov. Jeff Landry, who has reshaped the court more than any governor in decades.”

Civil service isn’t perfect. The major complaint of its critics is that it is too difficult to remove employees who aren’t doing satisfactory work. Legislators at their 2009 sessions suggested changes that were needed but said those changes should be made by the Civil Service Commission.

Jay Dardenne, who served as commissioner of administration under Gov. John Bel Edwards, said he worked with the commission and explained what it takes to get rid of ineffective employees.

Mechanisms are already in place for discipline or termination, he said, but “it requires managers to manage.”

The state civil service director agrees and said management that’s not handled properly, effectively and timely can be a contributor to government inefficiency.

The Louisiana Illuminator explained what Morris’ 2024 amendment would have done when it said, “The legislation would also allow the governor and state lawmakers to transform classified public positions into unclassified jobs, from which workers could be fired more easily.”

In the 13-member Southwest Louisiana legislative delegation, Rep. Wilford Carter, D-Lake Charles, cast the only vote against Morris’ bill last year.

Yes, the state’s voters would have had the last word, but they have begun to simply vote yes on most proposed state constitutional amendments.

The Advocate said civil service debate isn’t unique to Louisiana, but some argue that loosening protections for government employees is a particularly troubling idea in a state where politics operate in the ever-present shadow of Huey Long, who infamously drew funding for his political campaigns from state workers.

The newspaper in its story said, “After Gov. Jeff Landry earlier this month attempted to remove civil service protections for hundreds of engineers and attorneys across state government, a broader effort to give Louisiana elected officials greater control over more than 35,000 workers in the civil service system could be underway.”

That broader effort is the likelihood that Morris is going to again sponsor his amendment to make it easier to fire civil servants. He came awfully close last year.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.

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