If elected Senator to represent District 22 how do you feel about …

Reducing taxes?

I am looking very hard at killing all sales taxes on groceries, which would save many families about $1,000 per year in their pockets. Also with gasoline prices continuing to go up, I am looking very hard at shaving off at least some gasoline excise taxes off the pump prices in Louisiana.

Supporting offshore drilling and the offshore drilling moratorium’s impact on the state?

Coming from the aviation industry and before that, groomed in many industrial and heavy equipment industries, I am very attuned to the bottom line impact of high fuel and oil costs. I would intend to support more domestic drilling, both on and offshore, to lesson our current dependence on oil from Canada and Mexico and to a lessor extent from the Middle East. Although the moratorium has been lifted, the new twists and turns attached to new drilling will take us a long time to catch up to where we were before the BP incident.

Economic development in the district?

I laugh at some of my opponents about their going on about boosting economic development, when in fact they don’t have a clue how they will do it. It takes money to kick-off economic development. You have to get big money from private industry or big grants from the various government agencies. I have a prov-en “nose” for hustling public grants for our community, despite the fact that I am not yet a Senator. For example, I am finishing up the acquisition of $2.1 million in economic development grants for our airport in the South End of our Parish. Strange thing is, private investments come much easier when the decision makers see they can piggyback in behind public infrastructure grants, which essentially multiplies both private investments and government grants and then everybody wins.

The Acadiana Regional Airport has been recognized recently by the Louisiana State Department of Economic Development as  one of the major economic engines of the region. What will you do as senator to ensure that this local resource reaches its potential?

This one is especially easy for me, because I am a current standing Commissioner on the Iberia Parish Airport Authority and moreover because I remain passionate for Aviation Commerce. Three things hurt the airport as is; it continues to operate without FAA prescribed airport zoning ordinances in place, making it easy for the ends of the airport to be corrupted by unscrupulous politicians and or land developers with no regard for aircraft operations safety, secondly Iberia Parish “shoplifts” all of the aircraft property taxes off of the airport each year which amounts to over $1,000,000 dollars a year in revenues robbed from the airport of which it desperately needs for itself to re-invest to prosper and sustain itself, and last, the Airport Board needs to be restructured under its own state charter instead of the present Parish charter, to free itself from contamination of jurisdiction and dilution of jurisdiction in which the  District Attorney’s office and the Parish Administration office just cannot bring themselves to let us operate in an independent fashion, keeping in mind that nobody in the DA’s office and nobody in the Parish Administration office hold any aircraft credentials whatsoever.

I would offer corrective assistance with these airport issues, hustle the grant money to make it happen and at the worst, take it to the voters. I have no intent to merge the Port and the Airport Authority, I think this merge idea is absolutely looney-tunes. I do say that the DA’s office has some fine criminal programs and that they are well manged, but I think they need to get loose of the airport business. Remember, the Port gets along just fine without the DA’s office. Under Louisiana Statutes, a Board or Authority has to have a State charter to get loose of the DA’s office.

What development do you envision seeing in the recently created TIF districts in Iberia Parish? What in your opinion needs to be done to capture the greatest potential there?

I have real problems with anybody piling on more and more sales taxes, no matter what the intent. The real problem in both Louisiana and Iberia Parish economic development is that business recruiting commitment is marginal at best and needs to be improved. The typical recruiting notion around here is just to put up a website or hang a sign on a fence and then everybody just sits around and waits for the phone to ring. That’s just not enough effort in these tough times. We need to put some people on the road or in an airplane and put them on a base salary with a commission for home runs.

How will you ensure that the interests of both St. Martin and Iberia parishes are represented at the state level?

I would create a Cabinet, so to speak, of respected individuals from each Ward or Precinct in each Parish and we would have regular scheduled meetings, to synthesize the flow of information and to prioritize issues.  

What is an issue or issues that have been, in your opinion, misrepresented about you so far in this campaign? Please explain.

I suppose that some folks who do not know me, might tend to sell me short as just an aircraft guy when in fact, I am an analyst by nature and training and that I hold a productive cross-mix of industrial skills and intellectual outlooks. I enjoy feeling useful, and I especially enjoy helping folks that are clearly out to make the world a better place to live in, no matter what their financial condition.