December 2023

it included the Louisiana Municipal Association
as well. The relationships that
I had as a legislator, and new ones that
were created when I was running for
governor, really helped in that regard.
So, my view from the 4 th floor over the
last eight years of the Louisiana Municipal
Association and municipal government
in general has been very positive.
I know the LMA is a very large organization,
and that members come from all
across the state geographically, so they
have different political
views and that
sort of stuff, but on
those things that are
important to municipal
governments,
there isn’t a lot of division
among members.
I think you all
(LMA) do a good
job, especially under
John Gallagher’s
leadership, of bringing
people together
and speaking with
one voice. I’ve seen
that time and time
again over the last
eight years. And quite frankly, I’ve always
viewed municipal governments as partners
who help achieve stability and economic
growth with record investments;
especially in things like infrastructure,
for example, and increases in supplemental
pay for law enforcement officers
and firefighters, and changes made to
the Industrial Tax Exemption Program
(ITEP) for local government. There are
so many things that show a partnership,
like helping you all (LMA) to have the
technical expertise and funding to apply
for grants under the infrastructure bill,
and then having the funding necessary
to meet the match. That would not have
happened but for the work of the LMA
and the staff led by John.
Take a look at LITACorp. We created that
with the LMA and the Police Jury Association.
Both organizations have very similar
concerns and needs, so working together
to create that entity dedicated to securing
funding is important. The money that
went into LITACorp came from the state.
That’s a really good example of what I
was talking about – the really good results
achieved by the LMA and its members
when they speak with one voice and
make their needs and issues known to the
legislature, to me, and to my cabinet officials
across state government.
Single voices are, of course, important,
and they hold a tremendous
amount of weight, but why
is a unified municipal voice also
important?
Money is never without limits, right? At
the end of the day, there’s always going
to be resource allocation decisions
made where there are more possible
ways to spend the money than you can
actually do. If it’s investments that you
need, if it’s a change in law in terms of
how governments operate, if it’s funding
for infrastructure, if it’s the amount
of a federal grant that we might hold
onto at the state level and send the rest
down to locals, the truth is there’s no
end on the issues to which this might
apply. So, it’s really important that the
LMA speak with one voice. That’s easier
to accomplish with the staff, the current
executive director there, and the officers.
It’s a little harder when you’re trying
to get all of your villages, towns, and
cities to have their mayors and so forth
involved and keeping them on script.
But, when there’s a resource allocation
decision to be made, some legislators
and other leaders, if they detect that
there’s not full agreement among all of
local government, then they say, ‘Okay,
that’s not really important to them, and
over here we have this other group or
this other need, and there’s no difference
of opinion as to what we should
do. So, maybe we shouldn’t give anything
to municipal government. Maybe
we should just give more to some competing
interest out there, instead.’
I would actually go beyond a unified
municipal voice and tell you that any
time you all (LMA) can work with other
groups, for example
maybe the
Police Jury Association,
maybe the
Sheriffs’ Association,
the School Boards
Association, whatever
it might be, if
you can get them to
agree with you and
to lend their voice to
the effort, it makes a
tremendous difference.
So, it’s not just
within the LMA, but
it’s all the other local
governments, higher
education institutions,
or hospitals, there’s no limit on
who your partners can be because this
is a numbers game in Baton Rouge. The
more people you have engaged, and
from the broadest possible spectrum of
the state, the more likely you’re going
to be successful.
That unified voice is really important
because if a difference of opinion
among leaders is detected on a particular
issue, then it becomes much harder
for the LMA to be successful no matter
how hard John Gallagher and his staff,
and the officers of the LMA, are working
here in Baton Rouge. It just becomes really
hard for them.
Louisiana is seeing a number of
new mayors, many of whom don’t
have a background steeped in
the political landscape. What tips
do you have for municipal leaders
looking to form relationships
with local and state-wide elected
officials?
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LMR | DECEMBER 2023