Jim Beam

Richard Nelson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue. is the point man for Republican Gov. Jeff Landry's tax reform plan.(Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Illuminator). Louisiana voters are getting bits and pieces of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s tax reform plan that they may be asked to approve next March. The governor is expected to call a November special session to get legislators to enact his plan.

“Louisiana no longer a swing state,” which was a Sunday headline in The Advocate, caught my attention. I didn’t know Louisiana had ever been a swing state, but perhaps it was when the Democratic Party was in total control of state politics. The newspaper, in reporting about Republican growth in the state, focused on Catherine […]

The fact that seven swing states are hogging all of the attention during the current presidential campaign has many voters in the other 43 states again calling for an end to the Electoral College system. Members of that system — called electors — are the individuals who actually vote for president. Most of them are […]

A Port Allen, Louisiana, woman has expressed the sentiments of many Americans, including mine, about the sad state of political affairs in this country. “I’m not sure how we developed such divisive, condescending and insulting behaviors as a society, but it is truly destroying the very fabric of our nation,” Catherine Altazan said in her […]

Although former President Donald Trump says he knows “nothing” about Project 2025, it is expected to be a blueprint for his administration if he is elected on Nov. 5. Republicans who control the Louisiana Legislature had their own Project 2024 when they passed some legislation earlier this year like the changes that are recommended in […]

Gov. Jeff Landry has issued a 23-item call for a special legislative session to begin Nov. 6 and end no later than Nov. 25. No. 1 on that list is to propose amendments to the state constitution dealing with a long list of taxes and related items.

Although I wasn’t polled, I am among the 7 in 10 Americans whom The Associated Press reported Thursday are anxious or frustrated about the 2024 election. As a student and former teacher of American history, I can remember some “wild and crazy” elections. However, I can’t remember any campaign that has been as demeaning and […]

Veterans Day 2024 has revived interest in what was at one time Gerstner Field, one of the largest of the 28 Aviation Signal Corps training fields constructed here in 2017 during World War I. The Daughters of the American Revolution, in collaboration with the City of Lake Charles, will be unveiling a Gerstner Field memorial marker […]

Some years ago, I read a book written by economists who said the nation’s economy has been the major factor in most presidential elections, and it was definitely true Tuesday. Political columnists and analysts say Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory proves he has appealed to this nation’s working class, which has always been the […]

Louisiana legislators have tried during a number of recent annual sessions to eliminate without success much of the over $7 billion in revenue that the state loses every year in tax breaks, exemptions and credits. They are planning to try again during Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s current special session on tax reform. Among the 33 House […]