Blanco looks to 2007, campaign trail; priorities to stay the same

Looking ahead to a tough campaign for re-election, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said over the holiday she has a strong “report card” to show voters and will continue to press the same priorities in 2007: business attraction, education improvement and hurricane recovery.

“I am Louisiana’s hardest working governor. I have been met with the biggest challenges,” Blanco said in an interview with reporters at the Governor’s Mansion to talk about the highs and lows of 2006 and her plans for this year, when she will face an expected difficult re-election bid.

Opinion polls have shown Blanco’s support in a slump since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated much of south Louisiana last year and state officials were criticized for a slow and weak response.

The criticism continued into 2006. Blanco, her staff and her Louisiana Recovery Authority have been the target of complaints about red tape in recovery aid for local government repairs and the slow pace of assistance and dollars for homeowners and small businesses. The governor’s proposals to spend $2 billion in new state money in a quick pre-holiday special legislative session were lambasted around the state, and the session was called a failure.

“This session was a waste of taxpayer dollars, however abundant they may seem to be right now,” the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana said in its summation of Blanco’s legislative efforts.

But Blanco didn’t list the session as one of her biggest disappointments for the year. She defended her record, saying she spent 2006 laying strong foundations for gains in economic development, education, coastal protection and hurricane recovery.

“I didn’t get everything I wanted, I want to be clear about that, but I’ve laid the ground work for the future,” she said.

The scrutiny of Blanco’s successes and failures is expected to intensify in the new year, and with the start in earnest of gubernatorial campaigns for the fall elections.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, who lost his bid for governor to Blanco in 2003, appears to be gearing up for a renewed effort to get the job, and a slew of other candidates are eyeing it. Though Jindal, R-Kenner, said he wouldn’t make an announcement on whether he will run until sometime this month, he’s reactivated his state campaign account and is seeking to beef up his war chest.

Blanco said Louisiana brought in $6 billion in new business investment and 7,000 new permanent jobs since the hurricanes, with planned chemical plant expansions in the River Parishes, a new film production studio planned in New Orleans and other job announcements.

She said her economic development staff is working on more than 100 leads with companies, including attempts to bring a steel plant to St. James Parish that would bring in an estimated 3,000 new jobs.

She touted legislative pushes that consolidated the politicized, patronage-laden system of levee boards around south Louisiana into a state-led flood protection system packed with experts and that consolidated New Orleans’ system of government.

The Democratic governor acknowledged her disappointment in the speed of the housing aid program developed by her staff and tied to her name, the “Road Home” program. The Blanco administration hired the private contractor running the program, and Blanco said she continues to push the company, ICF International Inc., to speed up grant delivery.

ICF said it continues to improve its aid program and understands the urgency of need.

“I think that if we keep pushing that, that we’ll see more and more people reaping benefits,” Blanco said.

The governor said her proudest moments the year included helping persuade the White House and Congress to give Louisiana more than $4 billion in additional hurricane recovery aid and backing the funding that allowed the renovation and repair of the Superdome in New Orleans and the Saints to play their first home game of the season back in their home stadium.

Among the initiatives she said she would push in 2007 are:

-Pay raises to get public school teachers to the Southern regional average in annual pay, which carries a price tag of about $156 million to cover the costs of a $2,100 raise. Blanco tried and failed to get the raise through the special session in December but said she would revive the effort in the regular session that begins in April.

-More aid from Congress for alternative housing for the 75,000 Louisiana residents living in FEMA trailers. Mississippi will get the bulk of federal grant funding set aside for the “Katrina cottages,” and Blanco said she will ask for at least another $1 billion for Louisiana.

-A package of legislation to keep existing insurers in Louisiana and attract new ones after the hurricanes created problems finding affordable insurance in much of south Louisiana. Blanco said she and Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon will unveil their proposals in about two weeks.

-Universal health care coverage for all children in Louisiana. The governor said more than 90 percent of Louisiana’s children have health insurance, many through the state’s Medicaid program.

Talking of daily prayers and a never-ending workload, Blanco said she believes God is telling her, “Get up, Kathleen, and go to work because there’s a lot of work to be done.”

However, many of Blanco’s spending plans will run into the same problem they encountered in the special session: a needed two-thirds vote to raise a state spending cap designed to limit annual growth in government. Republican lawmakers in the House refused to raise the cap, stalling the legislation.

Any spending in the current budget year would require raising that cap, and Republican lawmakers have said they will continue to oppose boosting the spending limit.

Dan Juneau, president of the influential lobbying group the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, has urged state residents to object to raising the spending cap. He said the growth of government should be contained.

“As long as that cap stays in place, there is less of a reason for state officials to either raise our taxes or engage in excessive spending that could later increase the pressure to raise taxes,” Juneau said in a recent column.

Blanco said she intended to meet with lawmakers to explain that even one-time spending on items like highway improvements and repairs will require lifting the spending cap. She said she hoped she could persuade lawmakers to do so after the tension of the special session lifted and the holidays passed.

“Everybody needed a holiday break,” she said.