In case you didn’t know, and a lot of people don’t, there is an election coming up Saturday in St. Charles Parish. It will help determine the party candidates in the general election in November to choose our Congressman and one of our Senators in Washington.
Obviously, they will have important positions to fulfill, like whether we go the socialist route to health care, how far we go in controlling terrorism and whether we are willing to help other countries preserve their freedom.
Trouble is, this year’s election is confusing. It is the last of the party primaries for federal officials in Louisiana which has already decided party primaries will no longer be used in the future for elections..
This means that if you are a Republican, you can only vote for a candidate in the Republican part of the primary Saturday. That is because the Republicans have decided only Republicans can vote in their primary. If you are a Democrat or of any other consistency, however, you can swap around and vote for an independent or member or another party, not Republican, since Democrats have opened it up that way..
Then . . . if a Republican does not get a majority of the Republican vote or any other candidate does not get a majority of their party primary vote, there will be a runoff primary on October 2 to pick the candidates for the general election in a third election on November 2.
Confused enough? Don’t worry about the details. Poll officials will take care of that.
Just start your mission by studying the candidates and go vote for who you can and want Saturday, You’ll have time to worry about what to do in the next two elections later.
Ochsner session gives area great hope
An interesting Ochsner Business Leaders’ Luncheon Tuesday asked and answered many questions about how New Orleans and the Southeast Louisiana area came out after the Katrina catastrophe five years ago. And most of them were encouraging.
It was definitely a positive meeting featuring talks and discussions by eight business leaders and the mayor of New Orleans. Among the points made were that the outlook for the area really improved when changes in the political setup were made such as reducing the number of levee boards, assessors and some other public officials. Many people in the private sector have not only full-time paying jobs but also full-time volunteer jobs in which they help serve the needs of the community that otherwise would not be served.
Ochsner itself provided a turning point in health care when it acquired other hospitals in the area that were damaged during the hurricane and put to use.
New Orleans has become a laboratory for education reform in the country by converting its decrepit education system into one that works well.
The New Orleans Saints have up to 50 guys who provide great service for the area by promoting Louisiana in public.
All of the walls that separated people of the city came down when the water rose after Katrina and made it a unified city.
When the ball went through the uprights in the Superdome at the end of the NFC championship game this year, it symbolized our rebirth.
There were many other points made about how this area survived the tragedy and now is becoming a showcase for other areas to follow. It was inspirational, to say the least.
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