“We have to do things differently. And I need your help,” Governor-elect John Bel Edwards told the Council for a Better Louisiana annual meeting Wednesday, giving every indication he’s fully focused on the job of governing, and the challenges he faces.
“Some of you in the room are fearful that I’m going to try to govern from the far left,” Edwards said, confronting the concerns of conservative CABL members. “Well, let me tell you something: I believe that the real solutions to our problems happen to be in the center of the political spectrum. And I also know the constraints I’m going to have with the Legislature that I’m going to be working with. But we are going to do the things that I said we were going to do.”
Edwards reiterated his campaign platform of Medicaid expansion, raising the minimum wage, and pushing for gender pay equality. He also says he’s going to change the way higher education is funded.
“Don’t be surprised if one of the things that I push next year early on is the repeal of the SAVE Act.”
Edwards, who argued on the Louisiana House floor against passage of the tax credit scheme the final day of the 2015 session, also promised he would not be seeking Grover Norquist’s approval for Louisiana tax reforms.
He urged the assembled businesspeople not to just stand aside and criticize; rather, to get involved.
“If I propose something you don’t like, don’t simply tell me you don’t like it. Come with another approach,” he urged.
After the speech, Edwards met with the media, and said one of his first executive orders will be to prohibit state discrimination against the LGBT community.
“My expectation is to issue an executive order that’s very similar to the one Edwin Edwards and Kathleen Blanco had in place while they were governors. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
He also said he’ll begin naming cabinet members next week.
“It is my expectation to start with the most critical announcements.”
Within minutes of the CABL event, the Edwards’ team sent out a press release announcing Richard Carbo, an Alexandria native, as the new Communications Director. Also announced were members of the transition committee working on fiscal matters. The team includes Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, former state Inspector General Sharon Robinson, state Senator Edwin Murray, LSU economics professor Dr. Jim Richardson, and Louisiana Budget Project director Jan Moller.