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New Orleans was a political foil for Gov. Jeff Landry before he took office as Louisiana’s chief executive, so it’s no surprise that his renewed focus on the city since being inaugurated has raised alarm bells.
But rhetoric aside, residents and non-residents alike wonder where the Executive Branch will strike next, especially with the possibility of a constitutional convention on the horizon.
Some of the city’s strongest political names have formed the New Orleans Citizen Committee to hold public meetings and negotiate with the Landry Administration.
A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to emails seeking comments for this story, but some Landry boosters and convention organizers wonder if the Isle of Orleans deserves to be singled out for special treatment as much as the current Louisiana Constitution allows.
Others counter that New Orleans is vital to the state’s economy and its image, noting the city is arguably more famous than Louisiana as a whole.
Boysie Bollinger, who led the administration’s transition advisory council that was focused on New Orleans, says Landry’s goal is simple: Help New Orleans in any way he can as governor, without interfering with the rights of the council or the mayor.
“Everybody’s trying to find some devious motivation behind what he’s doing,” Bollinger says. “Where he can help, he’s trying to help.”
That includes boosting State Police presence to aid local law enforcement and negotiating with District Attorney Jason Williams to allow Attorney General Liz Murrill to prosecute cases involving Troop NOLA, Bollinger says, referencing the permanent troop the governor wants in New Orleans.
“He didn’t want State Police making arrests and letting people run out on the streets, accomplishing nothing,” Bollinger says.
Landry’s challenge to the New Orleans transition council was to develop proposals that could be initiated in the first few months of the current calendar year, Bollinger says.
Along with the public safety piece, other recommendations included supporting the controversial Louisiana International Terminal project, which is being sold as an economic development boost to New Orleans East.
“He’ll get the political blame, I’m sure, if it doesn’t improve,” Bollinger says. “But if New Orleans improves, so will the state of Louisiana, and that’s his focus.”
To be certain, the Crescent City isn’t exactly at fighting weight.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell, plagued by one personal or ethical scandal after another, is undoubtedly at her weakest as a young Orleans Parish legislative delegation slowly gains experience—and stroke—in Baton Rouge.
The Orleans delegation has been meeting with the governor as a whole and in small groups, according to Sen. Gary Carter, who says Landry has spoken freely about what he wants to do in the city but doesn’t seem open to many collaborations yet.
For example, after supporting legislation to ensure 17-year-olds are charged as adults, Carter says delegation members urged the governor to create educational and vocational opportunities for those teens. But so far there hasn’t been much of a reaction from the administration.
Delegation members are likewise waiting on more details about Troop NOLA, which could be a source of tension down the road.
Rep. Mandie Landry says the governor told delegation members that he had received a plan for Troop NOLA, but didn’t like it and sent it back.
Who sent the plan, what was in it and why Gov. Landry didn’t like it remains a mystery to Rep. Landry. The governor has only broadly revealed his thoughts, explaining after his 2023 election that he wanted “New Orleans to operate like the city of Charleston and the city of Nashville, or some of the other great Southern cities around the country.”
Rep. Landry says, “We know we need some help, but what are you really going to be doing? We still don’t have an answer.”
The creation of the New Orleans Citizen Committee, partly orchestrated by former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, is a signal that civic and business leaders are worried about who will serve as a figurehead for the city when the Landry Administration finally unrolls its various plans.
Cantrell has been noticeably quiet, offering mild rebuttals to Landry administration’s actions to pull back funding for summer food assistance and usher in permit-less carrying of firearms. The mayor and governor have even posed for pictures together at social events.
Gov. Landry also developed a relationship with District Attorney Williams early on, convincing the liberal politician to pass certain New Orleans cases to prosecutors in Landry’s extended conservative administration. It was quite the turnaround for Landry, who as attorney general criticized Williams when the DA said he wouldn’t investigate abortion cases following the demise of Roe v. Wade.
Cantrell and Landry, however, seem to have “quite a cozy relationship,” says Councilmember-At-Large JP Morrell, especially in contrast to the antagonism between the mayor and the council. That clouds the picture locally, Morrell adds, because Landry is dealing with Cantrell and the council separately.
Lawmakers from other areas sometimes have bristled at all the attention New Orleans gets—like the state covering certain local cost shares for flood protection, when other parishes tax themselves for such luxuries.
“All the other systems—Terrebonne, Lafourche and others—it’s the locals who had to sign the agreement to be responsible for that non-federal cost share,” says Rep. Zee Zeringue, who made these perceived inequalities into debatable issues in past sessions.
Yet there is also acknowledgement that the city is the linchpin of the state’s tourism brand and has an outsized impact on the state’s fiscal picture.
“I think we’re obligated to make certain investments in New Orleans,” says Appropriations Chair Jack McFarland.
One area where Landry and New Orleans officials have found common ground is on reforms to the Sewerage and Water Board. The House, for example, has unanimously passed two bills that address management and billing disputes.
“Other than the Sewerage and Water Board, we haven’t had a tremendous amount of interaction,” Morrell says of the Landry Administration.
As such, New Orleans officials hope that whatever the governor is up to, he’ll be doing it with them, rather than to them.
