Just a month ago, when the nine candidates for the secretary of state’s race were getting their names on the Nov. 6 ballot, their narratives were all pap bromides that sound good but have little to do with the job.

On the “Talk Louisiana” radio show last week, Republican Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser was unapologetic about his willingness to work with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Attorney General Jeff Landry last week proposed a political red meat trifecta — bring back hanging, firing squads and electrocutions — to break the logjam of executions and bring peace to victims’ families.

With the fiscal cliff under control for at least a few years, legislators and the governor took off on vacation leaving the State Capitol quiet, at least as far as governing issues go.

It’s been said Louisiana always lags a little bit behind. And a century-old poem by Irish nationalist W.B. Yeats proves a good example.

Baton Rouge Democratic Rep. Ted James was cut off Thursday when he tried to make the point that the Republican House majority had sent a total of one bill to the Senate that addressed the fiscal cliff facing the state’s budget at the end of this month.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,” in the words of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, as the Louisiana Legislature charges into its sixth special session to cover the gap between promised services and the money available.

Five years ago, in a room deep in the bowels of the State Capitol, David L. Callecod, president of Lafayette General, signed a contract with the state to administer the public Lafayette University hospital open to all regardless of their ability to pay.

From the speaker of the House to the mayor of Turkey Creek, literally dozens of politicos are floating their names as the next Secretary of State.

“Take a breath, guys,” state Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, said last week, stepping between a Republican and a Democrat squaring off over Medicaid fraud.

They looked like handicappers at an off-track betting parlor, albeit better dressed.

Almost at the very beginning of a recent speech, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards reminded his Southern University audience that they were used as a backdrop “to scare people” in an ad attacking him during the 2015 gubernatorial campaign.

Over the Easter holiday, one of the legends of the Louisiana Legislature died.

With a finger checking the rhetorical wind and a tongue planted firmly in cheek, the City of New Orleans’ chief lobbyist introduced himself to a state Senate committee last week as Don Quixote.

Tension remains the hallmark of this regular session of the Louisiana Legislature.

A crowd of mostly Louisiana businessmen and businesswomen audibly “ohh”-ed at a recent demonstration of the “Ohio Checkbook” — a user-friendly website that tracks checks written by government agencies, detailing where the money came from and where…

At the beginning of the 2017 regular session, House Speaker Taylor Barras and the Republican leadership talked about bold, brave, new ideas that would percolate up to fix a financial structure that routinely can’t raise enough money to pay the sta…

As momentum on Sunday night turned against approving a key GOP demand that could save the special session, the governor’s executive counsel, Matthew Block, pulled so many Democrats to the chamber rail — forbidden by House rules — that a sergeant a…

While Louisiana legislators milled around the State Capitol last week doing nothing more than accusing members of the other party of sidetracking the latest stab at fixing the state’s ongoing fiscal crisis, U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise p…

Republican state Rep. Stephen Dwight stormed out of the Louisiana House Ways & Means Committee Tuesday, just moments after his bill was set aside because a Democrat’s maneuver would have required GOP members to vote on camera for his modest ta…

Looking at the depth of the proposed budget cuts, prosecutors are approaching the upcoming special session with a sense of dread about the success of the criminal justice package that they signed onto and already has led to thousands of convicted …

Though not real excited about what he expects to be a 10 percent cut in the operating budget of the state’s parks and historical sites, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser does see a chance to fulfill a long-held dream to privatize.

Gov. John Bel Edwards drew a Jan. 19 line in the sand for Louisiana House Republicans to put up or shut up.

Tears welled in the eyes of Senior U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon as he remembered his old friend, Senior U.S. District Judge James Brady.

With all the recent disclosures of bad behavior by powerful men, it was only a matter of time before sexual harassment allegations came to Louisiana government.

Though few voters and reporters paid heed, the recent state treasurer’s race gave us a preview of how things might play out in the 2019 gubernatorial election.

It’s easy to dismiss Jane Ellison.

Later this week, voting machines will be moved from their secured warehouses to 3,904 precincts around the state.

Secretary of State Tom Schedler seems downright depressed about the Nov. 18 runoff, when only one of 10 voters are expected to participate in deciding who handles the state’s money. Not a taciturn fellow, Schedler laments democracy’s future and sh…