RELEASE: Louisiana Democratic Party Passes Resolutions Condemning LAGOP Elected Officials

Louisiana Democratic Party Passes Resolutions Condemning LAGOP Elected Officials

Baton Rouge, LA – On Saturday, the Democratic State Central Committee adopted resolutions condemning several elected officials of the LAGOP for actions working against the best interests of the people of Louisiana. 

“This has been a banner year for hyperpartisanship and corruption from the LAGOP,” Stephen Handwerk, Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party said. “Between Jeff Landry trying to strip healthcare from hundreds of thousands of Louisianians around the state, Mike Strain using medicine as a political tool, our Senators knowing our elections are vulnerable to foreign interference and willingly letting it continue, and our congressional delegation endorsing a trade war that’s decimating Louisiana’s farms, ports, and industries, we’re not sure who the LAGOP is working for but it’s not the people of Louisiana. They’ve made their intentions clear and we can’t let them continue. It’s time for us to vote them out in 2019 and 2020.”

The Louisiana Democratic Party condemned Attorney General Jeff Landry for his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Through his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act, he’s attempting to strip healthcare protections from 850,000 Louisianians and cost Louisiana hundreds of millions of dollars in lost federal subsidies that the Louisiana taxpayers would have to make up. This is all while bragging about an ACA-replacement bill that John Kennedy noted would do nothing to address the hole his lawsuit would leave.

The Party chose to condemn Mike Strain for his handling of the implementation of the latest medical marijuana law which passed the Legislature in 2015 which was filled with obstruction and incompetence. Mike Strain failed to find a third party group to test medical marijuana strains, issued emergency orders against LSU AgCenter which was later ruled against by the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee, and placed extreme requirements on LSU AgCenter who argued were too hard to adhere to.

The Party condemned Louisiana federal Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy for refusing to protect U.S. elections. While the U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of bills aimed at protecting U.S. elections, Mitch McConnell refuses to bring them up to a vote and Sen. Kennedy and Cassidy remain complacent as he allows foreign interference into our government.

The Louisiana Democratic Party condemned the LAGOP Congressional Delegation for their continued support of the Trump Administration’s trade war. Due to the trade war, Louisiana soybean farmers are being directly and severely harmed with a 78% drop in soybean exports to China in 2018 alone, the trade war has a projected economic slowdown of a minimum of 7% over the next five years with one in six jobs in Louisiana being tied to international commerce, and the trade war has significant negative economic impact on Louisiana’s industries with a $5 billion reduction to agriculture exports, a 25% reduction in the amount of steel coming through the Port of New Orleans, and threatening business and port expansions around the state. The Louisiana Democratic Party specifically mentioned Ralph Abraham whose district produces the most soybeans in the state with 802,028 acres of land being used to grow the crop.