Gov. Jeff Landry used his to cut over $12 million in state funding for local governments and community organizations in blue-leaning areas of the state, with roughly half the cuts affecting New Orleans.
The cuts, which also impact Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe, Lake Charles and Opelousas, touch everything from programs for at-risk youth and economic development initiatives to local law enforcement and educational initiatives.
The governor also pared back the state’s capital outlay budget by millions more, though that money, allocated through House Bill 2, usually comes through state bonds and is often not guaranteed. New Orleans was also hard hit by those vetoes.
Landry’s decisions, which were publicly released on Wednesday, have drawn the ire of city officials and legislators from the area, some of whom have accused Landry of acting out of political retribution.
The vetoes, which mostly target Democratic districts, mark a shift from how Landry last year, when he primarily killed spending on projects sought by Republican legislators who voted against a bill he championed that gave the insurance commissioner more power to reject rate changes.
Landry defended this year’s vetoes, saying most of the money was slated for non-governmental organizations. Landry and other state officials have long questioned whether it is wise to give taxpayer dollars to NGOs.
“For 2 years I told members of the Legislature we were going to take a harder look at NGO funding in our budget bills,” he said. “That’s exactly what we did this year.”
But in a year where the governor successfully pushed legislation to reduce the number of Orleans Parish judges, eliminate an Orleans clerk of court position and redistribute some funding for the district attorney’s office to other parishes, the cuts have been tough to swallow, local leaders said.
“At a time when New Orleans is building real momentum and confidence in our future, it’s deeply disappointing to see so many investments in our city singled out for elimination,” New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said in a statement.
State Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat from New Orleans and frequent voice of dissent in the Legislature, called the cuts “continued political retribution.”
“These were not political projects. They were investments in children, healthcare, housing stability, workforce development, and public well being,” he said.
The line-item vetoes adjusting the budget apply to House Bill 1, which dictates the operating budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, and to House Bill 312, which adjusts spending in the current year’s budget.
School funding vote comes up
Some legislators also speculated that the vetoes punished those who did not vote in favor of the governor’s plan to pay for teacher stipends by taking about $168 million from the state’s main education fund, meaning some school districts will have to cut other areas.
Landry disputed that notion, saying his office finished the vetoes before the teacher pay vote was finalized and submitted them the same morning the vote was released.
Landry signed the budget bills with his vetoes on June 18, according to the Legislature’s website. But the vetoes were not announced until Wednesday, the day the result of the teacher pay vote was publicized.
State Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, said she did not learn of the vetoes until after that vote. She felt projects in her district were vetoed because she disagreed with Landry’s allocation funding plan.
Boyd represents Algiers, which had over $1.5 million worth of allocations vetoed.
“I am completely horrified,” said Boyd, who represents Algiers, a neighborhood that was especially hard hit by the vetoes. “We are serving under a governor that if you don’t agree with him you will be penalized.”
Boyd did not cast a ballot in the teacher pay plan vote. She said she did not think she should vote because that plan is held up by a court order — but if she had, she would have voted no, she added.
Landry also vetoed House Bill 950, a consumer protection bill for seniors that Boyd sponsored. In his veto message, Landry said the bill set up a new program without funding it.
Meanwhile, JS Clark Leadership Academy, a charter school in the district of Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, lost a $500,000 allocation. Miller voted against Landry’s teacher pay plan because, he said, St. Landry Parish schools could not afford to make cuts.
Miller said he did not request the $500,000 allocation but was in discussions about it. Still, he was matter-of-fact about the veto, and he said he was unsure whether it was meant to target him.
“That’s just politics,” Miller said. “It is what it is.”
State Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and sponsored key budget bills, said he did not know how the governor chose what to veto — but he noted his own funding requests were vetoed multiple times my former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat.
“I know how they feel. I felt the red ink of John Bel’s pen, and usually it was over political differences,” said McFarland. “Historically, that’s what governors do.”
Where the cuts were
Some of the largest allocations cut by the governor in New Orleans include $1 million for Behrman Stadium in Algiers, $2 million for the Ellis Marsalis Center, $1 million for the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office and nearly half a million dollars for the Algiers Economic Development District.
About $2.5 million worth of Baton Rouge projects also got axed, as did allocations to initiatives in nearby municipalities such as Baker and Port Allen.
For example, the h Leadership Institute, a nonprofit which aims to build leadership skills in Baton Rouge area students and was slated to get $600,000, will not see that money.
The organization was founded by U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, who previously served as a state senator.
Landry also cut $500,000 for Keep h Clean, an organization that focuses on cleaning up dumped tires and is different from the better-known Keep h Beautiful, which also is aimed at cleaning up litter.