The Republican-controlled Louisiana Legislature over the last 15 months has given GOP Gov. Jeff Landry extensive power over state government. Thankfully, the voters of this state said “enough is enough” Saturday and they soundly rejected the governor’s rewrite of the financial section of the state constitution.

Although he refused to admit it, the rejection of Amendment 2 was definitely a major defeat for Landry. He had supported the amendment at every possible public event since it was approved by the Legislature.

Unfortunately, Landry demonstrated he doesn’t have much respect for the people of this state when he said of the defeat, “We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a state that is conditioned for failure.”

An apology is definitely in order, but don’t hold your breath waiting for one.

Typical of many Republican officials, Landry tried to deflect the blame for the defeat to liberal billionaire George Soros, who had no part in the defeat of all four amendments on Saturday’s ballot.

The Advocate quoted Pearson Cross, a professor of Louisiana and American politics at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, who had a more accurate response.

“It’s clear from the stunning repudiation of all four of those amendments that the governor and the Legislature, at least in this case, are out of step with the vast majority of people who voted,” Cross said,

The newspaper also gave an accurate report about why the amendments were defeated by over 60% of voters. It said the four ballot questions ended up generating two major opposition campaigns from unlikely bedfellows: religious organizations on the political right worried about losing valuable property tax exemptions and a coalition of community, social justice and advocacy organizations on the political left.

No to Them All, a coalition on the left, in a statement said, “No to Them all was an umbrella for the efforts of dozens of nonprofits and individuals who opposed these misleading and harmful constitutional amendments.”

Three organizations in that group are Invest in Louisiana, Together Louisiana and Step Up Louisiana. The Liberty & Dignity Coalition focused on Amendment 3 that would have sent more juveniles to adult prisons.

Kristen Rome, executive director of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, said the notion that the amendment failed because of one person or organization was wrong.

“People got out and voted,” she said. “No one can make people get up, get in their cars, drive to their polling places and press the button. People did that because they knew what was going on.”

The Rev. Tony Spell, a one-time ally of Landry’s, and Woody Jenkins, chair of the East Baton Rouge Republican Party, joined forces to fight Amendment 2.

“The credibility of the (Landry) administration and the Legislature with people right now is obviously very low,” Jenkins said. And he said Landry’s statement attributing the loss to Soros was “an insult to the people of this state” as well as “a face-saving device.”

Jenkins was correct when he said the voters were told at every turn how great Amendment 2 was, but they didn’t believe it. He also disagreed with Landry about the citizens of this state.

“The people do win — overwhelmingly,” Jenkins said.

Yes, they do, and they knew Amendment 2 was bad for a number of reasons. It was too complex and too ill-conceived.

State Senate. President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, helped defeat Landry’s effort to call a state constitutional convention. Landry didn’t accept that defeat and tried to cram all of his plans in the rewrite of one constitutional article.

The Pelican Institute, a right-leaning think tank that supported Amendment 2, said confusion won the day over “a hopeful future for Louisiana.”

The voters weren’t confused. They were just wary of what Landry and legislators were trying to do with Amendment 2 and shot it down by an extremely large margin.

Cross is correct when he says the defeat of the four amendments doesn’t say anything about the long-term success or failure of Landry’s policy agenda. He said there are just a lot of disgruntled voters out there at this time.

Yes, that’s true, but the voters have shown Landry that they are wise enough to recognize bad legislation when they see it. And they are going to be better observers in the future.

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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