Bennetti Notes Different Visions From Gubernatorial Candidates

ClickJefferson.com political blogger Walt Bennetti joined 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today and discussed:

• The Governor's race heating up - Jay Dardenne complaining about tourism dollars; John Kennedy proposing a way to fund I-49
• Elbert Guillory officially in Lt. Gov race
• The budget compromise and the split in the Louisiana Congressional delegation.
• Louisiana citizens enrolled in ObamaCare's total up to 2,200

Among the first two likely candidates running for Governor next year there are different visions for Louisiana.  According to Bennetti,

State Treasurer John Kennedy, who is rumored to be entering the race but hasn't entered the race officially came out with a plan to actually finish I-49, which has been going on for the 18 years that I've been living in Louisiana.  The state actually has money from the Federal government to finish I-49 North from Shreveport to the Arkansas state line...The hangup has been I-49 South from Lafayette through New Orleans.  They're looking for money for that.  Kennedy has proposed taking about $100 million from the state surplus, the state's going to have a surplus this year of $140 million to $180 million, and taking some of that and making I-49 a priority.

As for the other announced candidate for Governor of Louisiana, Jay Dardenne, Bennetti said,

Conversely, Jay Dardenne, who has said he's going to run for governor spoke to newspaper editors the other day and he was complaining about something that I brought up back in June and we talked about.  The fact that a big chunk of the tourism budget goes to bowls and fairs and festivals.  Almost a million dollars to Essence Fest, money to the Bayou Country Super Fest.  He thinks that money while valid in helping the state's economy should come from the State's general fund and that tourism dollars should be used specifically for marketing the state and not given away to all these different projects.

Last Thursday on 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' State Senator Elbert Guillory announced his intention to run for Lt. Governor next year. Bennetti thinks Guillory will have at least one major candidate to face.

Billy Nungesser who ran against Jay Dardenne a few years ago has already announced that he's going to run again and Nungesser is certainly a formidable candidate.  Senator Guillory has a lot of positive energy about him especially since his conversion or re-conversion to the Republican Party and has been a great ambassador.  This is actually a great job for him... the problem is going to be raising money.  Billy Nungesser has a lot of money in his war chest, has the ability to raise more money and can self-fund his candidacy.

Bennetti had a lot more to say about these topics plus comments about Louisiana's Obamacare 'sign-ups' and the recent budget vote in Washington with the vote from the Louisiana delegation.  You can hear all of his comments by clicking below to listen to the entire interview

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Be sure to visit ClickJefferson.com to read more from Walt Bennetti.