Gary Landrieu jumps into the governor’s race

The fall ballot will feature at least four names in the gubernatorial jungle primary. Independent Gary Landrieu is a cousin of former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu but holds starkly conservative views.

He says one of his first moves as governor would be cracking down on undocumented immigrants through an executive order.

“First thing we are going to do is to declare that all illegal immigrants have to get out of our state and go home, and I’ll sign an executive order declaring that. They’ll have six months to go home and after that, we are going to start rounding them up and sending them home and turning them over to ICE.”

The Independent accused candidate and Congressman Ralph Abraham of being a “Republican in Name Only”, called the Governor “Dumbbell”, and Eddie Rispone “The God Father”.

Landrieu says his legislative agenda would focus on repealing the .45 percent sales tax passed in last year’s session, building a new Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge, TORT reform, eliminating traffic light cameras, and…

“We’re going to pass legislation to allow for Las Vegas-style gaming in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The Legislature is going to go along with it and they are not going to have a choice.”

The candidate ran for Congress against Cedric Richmond as a Democrat in 2012, losing with 25 percent of the vote.

He admits his politics deviate significantly from the rest of his family’s, and as an independent, he is an underdog candidate. But Landrieu says despite his family’s association with the Democratic Party, he can use the name recognition to his advantage…

“I’ve got 50 million dollars’ worth of name recognition, now you might say it’s not mine, but it is. I’m going to make up the difference with my name recognition, my hard work, my campaign, and my personality.”

Landrieu was booked with aggravated battery in 2012 after allegedly grabbing a woman by the hair and dragging her several feet alongside his car as he drove away after an argument.