The meeting happened at the Governor’s Mansion and only one bit of public policy was jointly addressed.
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Edwards said he wants the committee to focus identifying ways to eliminate the budget deficit, fund primary, secondary and higher education and improve access to health care in the state.
“What we can’t do is all go to our corner and start lobbing grenades at one another, because then we’re going to stay in the same rut that we’re in, nothing’s going to get fixed, and the state cannot afford that”, he said. I just asked before they made any decisions, they meet with the children, the parents, who are involved in that program to hear from them.
CABL director Barry Erwin said that disagreements with Edwards have always remained cordial, and he was glad that Edwards agreed to speak to the group. The newspaper said the mandate would not “necessarily” order government agencies that operate outside the governor’s control to comply.
While Edwards repeatedly said he is “a Louisianian first”, making the point that his loyalty to the state comes before loyalty to his party, he took on some of the more controversial issues that were raised during the campaign. “You may remember, my first term as governor we had a democratic majority in the house and the senate and we were able to get a lot of things done that were important to us”.
“It’s part of having a bi-partisan approach to governance in Louisiana”, says Edwards, “both in the Executive branch and in the Legislature”.
Governor-elect John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) said he will issue an executive order once sworn into office which will keep state employees and government contractors from being fired based on their sexual orientation.
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The Democrat who takes office January 11 told the annual luncheon of the nonpartisan Council For a Better Louisiana that he doesn’t intend to govern “on the far left”, saying he believed some in the luncheon room were fearful of that.
