The news out of Louisiana is that it's good that Bobby Jindal didn't do so well in the Republican primaries in his bid for the United States Presidency. There's so much to clean up after he left the governor's office that the current governor has resorted to creating executive orders to get the job done. There is still a good amount of backwards thinking in New Orleans, but John Bel Edwards is trying to fix that.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards, working to undo years of anti-LGBTQ state bigotry instituted by previous Republican governors like Bobby Jindal, signed an executive order in April guaranteeing tolerance to all LGBTQ people when interacting with state government. One part of that state government, is refusing to follow the order. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, an elected official like Edwards who once said about trans people that “the good lord doesn’t build us in that particular way,” has rejected some 30 state contracts for various governmental agencies because they include language protecting LGBTQ citizens of Louisiana.
“He basically told me that if I wanted him to approve those contracts that I would have to sue him,” Edwards said on Friday according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “So I’m obliging him on that.”
Landry has claimed that he rejected the contracts because the state legislature had previously failed to pass measures similar to Edwards’ executive order. He’s previously argued that he doesn’t have to follow Edwards’ executive order, saying, “There is no constitutional or statutory provision in Louisiana banning discrimination on the basis of ‘gender identity'” and that Edwards has overstepped his constitutional authority “by attempting to create new legislation in violation of the separation of powers,” according to Gambit Weekly, New Orleans’ alt-weekly.
A court date has been set for October 16th. – fusion.net
Ask and you shall receive. If you want to be sued for not doing your job Jeff, here you go.
Is this just a Gov. against an AG? No, there are more people that are chiming in.
In an interview Friday, Louisiana Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, sided with the governor. The Senate President has personally voted against such LGBT protections as a member of the Legislature, but still believes the governor has the legal authority to insist on that type nondiscrimination language in state contracts.
"I think he is stepping out of bounds," Alario said of Landry.
Landry's office would not say how many contracts had been rejected over this language so far. The governor's office and statewide elected officials estimate it's around 40, including those for agencies run by Republican officials elected independently of Edwards.
Landry said he was opposed to the LGBT language, because it could create additional liabilities for the state and could potentially cost Louisiana money.
"My job is to protect the taxpayers," Landry said, adding: "It's hard to defend something that the Legislature as a whole does not want to protect."
The Louisiana State Bar Association said earlier this week the attorney general is only supposed to review state legal contracts with private attorneys to make sure the lawyers are qualified to do the work. The law doesn't give his office oversight over language such as the LGBT nondiscrimination clause. – nola.com
Should Governor Edwards have written an executive order?
Or should he have led his fellow politicians to pass a bill?
Or does the governor have the right to do so since it is "guaranteeing tolerance to all LGBTQ people when interacting with state government" and not public or private businesses.
h/t: fusion.net, nola.com