Letters to the Editor:

Dear Editor:

I can’t call it anything other than what it was, a failed legislative session. While it seems that everyone within the confines of the State Capitol and beyond was assigning blame, I attempted to put things in perspective, at least in my mind.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s agenda has been both praised and condemned by every special interest group across the spectrum. Some say that the agenda was all about re-election. I believe that it had to be part of her motivating process. No matter what the governor does or doesn’t do, she gets criticized. She had to be thinking about helping those who had supported her. But I think her more prevalent thought was to make a positive difference in people’s lives. This session was about fulfilling some unmet needs that had been neglected in tougher times. However, a 10-day session was not nearly enough time for such an aggressive agenda.

Whether Kathleen Blanco chooses to seek re-election or not, she wants to be remembered as a champion of the people, being fair and equitable in all that she does. She has never wavered in her quest for quality jobs for Louisiana, promoting Louisiana businesses to improve our economy. In that quest she included tax credits and economic development incentives in the December session. Those tax credits and business incentives amounted to over a billion dollars. But even those efforts drew criticism. Her critics claimed that the Governor’s tax credits for business weren’t enough. They wanted more and they got more.

Those same people blocked the Governor’s efforts to finally raise pay for teachers to the southern regional average. Pay raises for firefighters, law enforcement, state workers and college faculty were also blocked by the naysayers as being too expensive.

The bottom line is that no one person or group of people is exclusively to blame for the failed session.

It should never be ignored that the legislature is the deliberative branch of government.

That body must have the time to consider, debate and decide on a spending package of the magnitude proposed. I feel confident that the proper compromise can be brokered in the regular legislative session of 2007.

My goal is to do what is best for all the citizens of Louisiana, the very people we work for.

I believe that goal is shared by a majority of those with which I serve.

Respectfully,

Sen. Butch Gautreaux

District 21

Morgan City