Dardenne talks about bringing La. together at campaign stop

By: ELIZABETH WEST
Associate Editor

When it comes to “picking his passion,” Jay Dardenne picks bringing Louisiana together.
With the Louisiana Governor’s election rapidly approaching, candidate and current Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne arrived in Turkey Creek, Monday night, to give the people a chance to hear what he plans to do if elected governor of the state.
Dardenne opened his speech with a quote from former Representative Emile Coreil. “Let me tell you the first and most important rule of politics, never ever let the cold clammy hand of consistency rest upon your shoulder.”
Dardenne then explained, “There are a lot of people that have adopted this philosophy and they are very inconsistent but I have tried to be consistent for the time that I have been in public life.”
The Lt. Governor began his career in politics working on the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council. It was during his time serving on the council that taught Dardenne which government bodies are most important.
“I learned that the most important form of government is the government that governs closest to the people like mayors, council members, and the police jury.”
His time on the council also taught him the importance of listening to what the people have to say. “God gave us two ears and one mouth and most of us do a much better job at using the one mouth instead of the two ears,” Dardenne said.
As a governor, Dardenne plans to listen to the needs of the people. “I like to use the two ears and bring people together with different views and sit down and see where you may agree and understand where you may disagree,” said Dardenne.
When Dardenne was elected as Lt. Governor in 2010 he said he came into the job promising to accomplish three things.
“The three things I promised to do if elected Lt. Governor were create a brand for Louisiana, prove that in government you can do more with less, and bring north and south Louisiana together.”
When it came to branding Louisiana, the Lt. Governor created the brand “Louisiana: Pick Your Passion.”
For his second promise, Dardenne said, “I have proved that we can do more with less. I have had a huge cut in my budget year after year but even with less money and less employees we have still managed to have three record breaking years of tourism in a row.”
To accomplish the task of bring north and south Louisiana together Dardenne’s began this process by taking the time to explain to people in north Louisiana that “New Orleans is not your enemy, its the magnet that brings people to Louisiana.”
Dardenne then added, “I tell the people in New Orleans that there is life north of I-10 and you need to understand everything above I-10 is a vital part of what Louisiana is all about as well.”
At the rally Dardenne addressed the budget issues facing Louisiana. According to Dardenne at the end of this fiscal year “we need to have a very candid honest discussion with the people of Louisiana to figure out what we want our state to look like and how to get there.”
Dardenne continued, “Right off the bat we need to reduce corporate income taxes and eliminate a lot of the exclusions and exemptions that give some people a disproportionate tax break.”
After Dardenne spoke, he gave the audience a chance to ask questions. Roxane West, who has worked in the public school system for 30 years, asked, “What are your views on education reform?” Dardenne said, “I support the charter school efforts that have been underway in Louisiana and I think it is very important that we commit ourselves to high standards for our students in Louisiana. They have to compete in a world wide market place right now and we have got to make sure that they are competitive.”
Dardenne supports the common core effort to raise standards for our students but also acknowledges that the implementation of the new standards into schools was not properly handled. “The problem with common core came from the fact that our current governor rushed it into our schools instead of slowly transitioning our educators and students into it,” said Dardenne.
Turkey Creek Mayor Heather Cloud then said, “I have spoken about the roads here at DOTD meetings, I have spoken personally with our representatives and Senator Vitter and even the Governor but we are just pushed aside. What could you do as governor to fix these roads?”
Dardenne responded, “We need to use more dollars from the Capital Outlay Program for those kinds of projects instead of putting all of this money towards building new buildings.”
To close out the night, Dardenne said, “One of the things I will do if elected governor is keep office hours in all of the major cities around the state. I will actually go to those communities a couple of days a year and set up an office in an existing government building already there and visit the people. I will come to you instead of you having to come to me.”