NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Louisiana’s Attorney General says he was successful in deferring an infrastructure project for New Orleans because of his push to stop money from going to a city that won’t enforce the state’s abortion law.
Others are pushing back on his statement and the State Treasurer calls all of it a “political stunt”.
During their meeting, Thursday, the Bond Commissioners already approved over $32 million of funding for the construction of the Sewerage and Water Board power plant, along with millions more for other New Orleans projects.
Attorney General Jeff Landry’s staff was pushing to defer a last priority line of credit.
“Priority five, that’s non-cash lines of credit. That’s future expenditures,” Fox 8 Political Analyst Mike Sherman explained. “Still plenty of time for this to be corrected before the city of New Orleans and the Sewerage and Water Board lose money.
A majority of the board, including Treasurer John Schroder, voted to defer the decision to next month’s meeting.
“If anybody for one second believes today was nothing more than a huge political stunt, that’s all it was and I don’t like using the Bond Commission for it,” Schroder said.
Schroder says nothing happened today besides a political debate taking place in the wrong venue, while Landry released this statement:
“Today, our Bond Commission forced elected officials in New Orleans to decide if they will enforce State law. The same folks who have turned the Crescent City into America’s murder capital by refusing to prosecute violent crime must now choose whether they prioritize playing partisan politics over granting basic amenities for their constituents. I hope they come before the Bond Commission to explain why New Orleans should continue to receive millions of taxpayer dollars while refusing to comply with the laws enacted by our Legislature as required by our State Constitution.”
“This wasn’t about abortion, this was making a statement. I get it, you want to pick a fight with New Orleans, go pick a fight. Go to the legislature and do what you got to do you have the laws in your hands,” Schroder said. “There were no laws broken. We were trying to punish a particular city for something they said and the council said? Are we’re going to do that every time a city or municipality in the state of Louisiana disagrees with something?”
Ultimately, the project will continue and has funding, while Schroder and Landry both pursue the Republican nomination for governor in 2023.
“State Treasurer John Schroeder staking out a fiscally conservative, an a-political posture, maybe even winning a few votes in Orleans. Attorney General Jeff Landry moving as far right as possible on the pro-life issue,” Sherman said.
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