edwards, john b gov

----<div>alec 5 nola, sellout? wtf? alec alum, campus free speech 180</div><div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>trump stump 6x? for gop risponse</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>stay@ home gov jb edwards<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-louisiana-gops-crash-and-burn-push-to-strip-governor-john-bel-edwards-powers">https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-louisiana-gops-crash-and-burn-push-to-strip-governor-john-bel-edwards-powers</a>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/louisiana-republicans-fail-to-win-supermajority-to-override-democrats-vetoes-heading-into-redistricting/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/louisiana-republicans-fail-to-win-supermajority-to-override-democrats-vetoes-heading-into-redistricting/</a>n olnx
Louisiana Republicans fail to win supermajority to override Democrats’ vetoes heading into redistricting
Written by Jeff Singer / Daily Kos November 18, 2019Louisiana Republicans unsuccessfully tried to win a two-thirds state House supermajority in Saturday’s runoffs that would allow them to override Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ vetoes. Instead, Team Red ended the night with 68 seats, which is two short of the 70 they needed.Democrat Mack Cormier unseated GOP incumbent Chris Leopold in a seat in the New Orleans area, which gives Democrats a total of 35 seats in the new legislature. The other two seats are held by independents Joe Marino and Roy Daryl Adams. Republicans won a supermajority last month in the state Senate, but Democrats will still be able to maintain Edwards’ vetoes as long as they can maintain party unity and win the support of at least one of the chamber’s two independents.There’s reasons to be optimistic that Marino and Adams will vote with Team Blue more than they’ll support the GOP majority: Marino says he voted for Edwards in 2015 and supported his criminal justice reforms, while Adams has an F-rating from the NRA because he supports banning bump stocks. Adams also was a Democrat until he filed to run for office this year, and he says he switched because he wanted to show voters he wouldn’t be beholden to any party. However, Marino does identify as a fiscal conservative while Adams says he opposes abortion, so they may still back the GOP on some issues.Members of both chambers of the Louisiana legislature serve four-year terms, so the legislature won’t be up again until after new congressional and legislative maps are due following the 2020 Census. However, both parties have very little room for error going into the redistricting cycle, and they’ll want to be ready for any special elections that might arise over the next few years.<div>
</div></div><div>=</div><div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/leaked-audio-shows-oil-lobbyist-bragging-about-success-in-criminalizing-pipeline-protests/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/leaked-audio-shows-oil-lobbyist-bragging-about-success-in-criminalizing-pipeline-protests/</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div>Leaked audio shows oil lobbyist bragging about success in criminalizing pipeline protests</div><div>
</div><div>Written by Jake Johnson / Common Dreams August 20, 2019</div><div>
</div><div>As a growing number of states move to pass laws that would criminalize pipeline protests and hit demonstrators with years in prison, an audio recording obtained by The Intercept showed a representative of a powerful oil and gas lobbying group bragging about the industry’s success in crafting anti-protest legislation behind closed doors.</div><div>
</div><div>Speaking during a conference in Washington, D.C. in June, Derrick Morgan, senior vice president for federal and regulatory affairs at the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), touted “model legislation” that states across the nation have passed in recent months.</div><div> </div><div>AFPM represents a number of major fossil fuel giants, including Chevron, Koch Industries, and ExxonMobil.</div><div>
</div><div>“We’ve seen a lot of success at the state level, particularly starting with Oklahoma in 2017,” said Morgan, citing Dakota Access Pipeline protests as the motivation behind the aggressive lobbying effort. “We’re up to nine states that have passed laws that are substantially close to the model policy that you have in your packet.”</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Friends of the Earth</div><div>
</div><div> Big Oil is now using its political power to try and criminalize protests of oil & gas infrastructure.</div><div>
</div><div>"This legislation has potential to punish public participation and mischaracterize advocacy protected by the First Amendment."https://theintercept.com/2019/08/19/oil-lobby-pipeline-protests/ …</div><div>
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</div><div>Oil Lobbyist Touts Success in Effort to Criminalize Pipeline Protests, Leaked Recording Shows</div><div>In leaked audio obtained by The Intercept, AFPM conceded its behind-the-scenes role in crafting state laws to criminalize oil and gas pipeline protests.</div><div>
</div><div>theintercept.com</div><div>
</div><div>The audio recording comes just months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that would punish anti-pipeline demonstrators with up to 10 years in prison, a move environmentalists condemned as a flagrant attack on free expression.</div><div>
</div><div>“Big Oil is hijacking our legislative system,” Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network said after the Texas Senate passed the bill in May.</div><div>
</div><div>As The Intercept‘s Lee Fang reported Monday, the model legislation Morgan cited in his remarks “has been introduced in various forms in 22 states and passed in… Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota.”</div><div>
</div><div>“The AFPM lobbyist also boasted that the template legislation has enjoyed bipartisan support,” according to Fang. “In Louisiana, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the version of the bill there, which is being challenged by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Even in Illinois, Morgan noted, ‘We almost got that across the finish line in a very Democratic-dominated legislature.’ The bill did not pass as it got pushed aside over time constraints at the end of the legislative session.”</div></div><div>=</div></div><div><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(241, 242, 243);"><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.33;"><a data-ga-action="Home Headlines: Headline" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/31/headlines/louisiana_governor_signs_anti_choice_bill_as_missouris_last_abortion_clinic_is_set_to_close" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px;">Louisiana Governor Signs Anti-Choice Bill as Missouri’s Last Abortion Clinic Is Set to Close</a></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; color: rgb(25, 31, 36); font-family: Roboto, " helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Louisiana on Thursday became the fifth state in the nation to enact a six-week abortion ban, when Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill that offers no exceptions for rape or incest. Meanwhile, Missouri is poised today to become the first state in the nation without a single clinic providing abortions, as a judge in St. Louis weighs a last-minute legal challenge to plans by state officials to revoke a medical license for Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis clinic. On Thursday, St. Louis police arrested 17 activists at a state office building as they held a sit-in protest demanding a license renewal. Hundreds more protested outside, chanting “My body, my choice!” This is Kawanna Shannon, director of surgical services at Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis clinic.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); vertical-align: top; color: rgb(25, 31, 36); font-family: Roboto, " helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Kawanna Shannon: “State of Missouri, please keep your fingers out of our vaginas. Planned Parenthood also does vasectomies. Those men are able to come in with no hassle, no problems, no concerns, and they get their vasectomy free of choice, with no hurdles to jump over. And then a woman comes in, raped by a whole motorcycle gang, and you make her wait 72 hours to think about it.”</blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; color: rgb(25, 31, 36); font-family: Roboto, " helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Five other states have only a single clinic offering abortions: Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia. Later in the broadcast, we’ll speak with Laura Kaplan, author of “The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.”</div><div></div><div>signed on activist suppress when conspiracy taken out?</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>alec 5 nola 2018 campus watch</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/08/08/common-cause-exposes-alec-influence-louisiana">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/08/08/common-cause-exposes-alec-influence-louisiana</a></div><div>
</div><div>ALEC is registered as a tax-exempt charitable organization and claims not to spend any money on lobbying. But according to a new report from Common Cause, a national nonpartisan government reform group, a number of ALEC-backed and -drafted bills have been introduced and enacted by ALEC-affiliated legislators in Baton Rouge in recent years.“<a href="https://www.commoncause.org/press-release/before-annual-alec-conference-new-report-exposes-secretive-groups-political-influence-in-louisiana/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s;">ALEC in Louisiana</a>” uncovers the power that “the secretive special interest lobbying group” has already utilized in the southern state. According to the report, nearly 50 members of the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives have ties to ALEC.[ now gov john bel edwards ?] Common Cause found that legislative language in Louisiana is commonly copied and pasted from the ALEC “model bills,” making the group’s influence “extremely prominent.”“Shining a light on ALEC’s undemocratic and secretive operations helps voters know who is really calling the shots in their state legislature,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. “ALEC’s history of rigging the rules against everyday Louisianans on behalf of their corporate funders is not how democracy is supposed to work.”ALEC is a powerful corporate-funded pay-to-play organization that brings lawmakers, lobbyists, and other groups in the Koch’s influence machine together to vote side-by-side on bills that legislators then take back and introduce in their home states, usually without any public disclosure of their source. The Center for Media and Democracy teamed up with Common Cause in 2012 to file an IRS <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/resource/alec-whistleblower-complaint/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">whistleblower complaint</a> against ALEC, charging the group with tax fraud and massively underreporting its lobbying activity.This week’s ALEC annual meeting is <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/08/07/alec-drafts-model-resolution-pat-itself-back/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">chock full</a> of union-busting, gerrymandering, fossil fuel promoting, and school privatizing legislation that benefits the economic interests of ALEC’s patrons.While the exact issues the Louisiana bills address are varied, the bills fulfill ALEC’s admitted purpose, “to strengthen relationships between ‘business leaders’ and legislators” and “satisfy corporate needs,” according to Common Cause.For instance, HB 727, was introduced by <a href="http://ethics.la.gov/CampaignFinanceSearch/ShowEForm.aspx?ReportID=22148" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">dues-paying</a> ALEC member, Sen. Joseph H. Major Thibaut, Jr. Thibaut’s bill shares text with an ALEC model bill, “<a href="https://legiscan.com/LA/bill/HB727/2018" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act</a>.” It was signed into law in May of this year amidst <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/06/bayou-bridge-protesters-arrested-louisiana-advances-bill-toughening-penalties-pipeline-protests" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">growing local opposition</a> to the construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which will bring fracked oil from North Dakota to Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.Senate Bill 364, intended to deal with recent conflicts over controversial speakers on college campuses, is based on ALEC’s “<a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/forming-open-and-robust-university-minds-forum-act/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Forming Open And Robust University Minds (Forum) Act</a>.” In June, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed the act into law, after vetoing a similar bill last year.With ALEC’s assistance, similar bills have been pushed and enacted around the country at the behest of the right-wing <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldwater_Institute" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Goldwater Institute</a> and <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/State_Policy_Network" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">State Policy Network</a>.The American Association of University Professors has <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/campus-free-speech-legislation-history-progress-and-problems" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">criticized the legislation’s approach</a> as “a political agenda masquerading behind ‘free speech'” and objects to its “preference for punishment as a means for ending protests and disruptions that obstruct free speech.”Meg Logue, a 350 New Orleans activist, told Common Cause that, through ALEC, “our legislators jeopardize our democracy by bending toward the priorities of corporations while undermining the peoples’ right to self-determination and justice.”</div><div>
</div><div></div></div><div></div><div>wiki</div><div>
</div><div>John Bel Edwards (born September 16, 1966) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Louisiana" title="List of Governors of Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">56th</a> and current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Louisiana" title="List of Governors of Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Governor of Louisiana</a> since 2016. He was previously the Minority Leader of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_House_of_Representatives" title="Louisiana House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Louisiana House of Representatives</a> for two terms. [Alec?]</div><div> He left the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_Legislature" title="Louisiana State Legislature" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">state legislature</a> to run for governor in 2015. A member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Democratic Party</a>, he defeated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Republican</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">U.S. Senator</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter" title="David Vitter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">David Vitter</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-round_system" title="Two-round system" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">second round</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,2015" title="Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">2015 election</a>. He is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">United States Army</a> veteran, having served with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/82nd_Airborne_Division" title="82nd Airborne Division" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">82nd Airborne Division</a>.</div><div>
</div><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="direction: ltr; position: absolute; opacity: 0; display: none;" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Early_life_and_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Early life and career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Legislative_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Legislative career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Gubernatorial_campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Gubernatorial campaign</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Governor_of_Louisiana(2016%E2%80%93present)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4Governor of Louisiana (2016–present)</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Cabinet_and_administration" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Cabinet and administration</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Personal_life_and_family" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Personal life and family</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Electoral history</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#2007_Louisiana_House_of_Representatives_72nd_district_election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.12007 Louisiana House of Representatives 72nd district election</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#2011_election_for_Louisiana_House_of_Representatives_72nd_district" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.22011 election for Louisiana House of Representatives 72nd district</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,2015" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.3Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Early life and career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Bel_Edwards&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life and career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Edwards was born and raised in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amite_City,Louisiana" title="Amite City, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Amite</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana" title="Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Louisiana</a>, the son of Dora Jean (née Miller) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangipahoa_Parish" class="mw-redirect" title="Tangipahoa Parish" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tangipahoa Parish</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheriff" title="Sheriff" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sheriff</a> Frank M. Edwards, Jr., a member of the administration of Louisiana Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Edwards" title="Edwin Edwards" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Edwin Edwards</a> (no known family relation). Edwards graduated from Amite High School in 1984 as valedictorian. In 1988, Edwards received a bachelor's degree in engineering from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Academy" title="United States Military Academy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Military Academy</a>, where he was on the Dean's List and served as vice chairman of the panel that enforced the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadet_Honor_Code" title="Cadet Honor Code" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">West Point honor code</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-Sentell-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a>Edwards completed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Airborne_School" title="United States Army Airborne School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Airborne School</a> in 1986, while he was a student at West Point. After receiving his commission, he completed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Infantry_School" title="United States Army Infantry School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Infantry Officer Basic Course</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Benning" title="Fort Benning" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fort Benning</a> (1988), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_School" title="Ranger School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ranger School</a> (1989), and the Infantry Officer Advanced Course (1992). Edwards served in the Army for eight years, mostly in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25th_Infantry_Division(United_States)" title="25th Infantry Division (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">25th Infantry Division</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/82nd_Airborne_Division" title="82nd Airborne Division" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">82nd Airborne Division</a>, including commanding a company in the 82nd's 3rd Battalion, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/505th_Infantry_Regiment(United_States)" title="505th Infantry Regiment (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">505th Parachute Infantry Regiment</a>. He ended his military career to return to Louisiana because of family considerations. Edwards earned a law degree from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_University" title="Louisiana State University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Louisiana State University</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_M.Hebert_Law_Center" title="Paul M. Hebert Law Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Paul M. Hebert Law Center</a> in 1999, and he was a practicing attorney with the Edwards & Associates Law Firm in Amite. As an attorney, Edwards handled a variety of cases, though he did not practice criminal law because of his brother's status as the local sheriff.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-Sentell-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Legislative career</h2>Edwards is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Democrat" title="Conservative Democrat" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">conservative Democrat</a> who is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-life_movement" class="mw-redirect" title="Pro-life movement" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">pro-life</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States" title="Gun politics in the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">pro-gun rights</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-2" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-2" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">2]</a> In 2008, Edwards ran for a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Edwards was forced into a general election <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-round_system" title="Two-round system" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">run-off</a> with fellow attorney George Tucker.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> Edwards was overwhelmingly elected, winning every parish in the district.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> Edwards was the only freshman lawmaker to chair a committee in the legislature. Edwards chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee in the House. Edwards was also selected as chairman of the Democratic house caucus, a rarity for a freshman legislator. Edwards became a critic of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Louisiana" class="mw-redirect" title="Governor of Louisiana" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Governor</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jindal" title="Bobby Jindal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Bobby Jindal</a> for the governor's frequent trips away from Louisiana to raise political funds for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Republicans</a> elsewhere while Louisiana has been reducing its funding for higher education.In 2011, Edwards was re-elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, having defeated opponent Johnny Duncan, 83 to 17 percent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> Edwards served as chairman of the Louisiana House Democratic Caucus, making him the Louisiana House Minority Leader.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a> Cities/towns that Edwards represented included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amite_City,Louisiana" title="Amite City, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Amite</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensburg,Louisiana" title="Greensburg, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greensburg</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentwood,Louisiana" title="Kentwood, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kentwood</a> as well as part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond,Louisiana" title="Hammond, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hammond</a>.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Gubernatorial campaign[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Bel_Edwards&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Gubernatorial campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,2015" title="Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015</a></div>On February 21, 2013, Edwards announced that he would run for governor in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,2015" title="Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2015</a>. He said that his state needs "a healthy dose of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sense" title="Common sense" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">common sense</a> and compassion for ordinary people".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a> The only major Democrat in the race, Edwards polled first in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 444,517 votes (39.9 percent), followed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter" title="David Vitter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Vitter</a>, who finished second with 256,300 votes (23 percent). In third place was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Public_Service_Commission" title="Louisiana Public Service Commission" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Louisiana Public Service Commissioner</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Angelle" title="Scott Angelle" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scott Angelle</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaux_Bridge,Louisiana" title="Breaux Bridge, Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Breaux Bridge</a>, who received 214,982 votes (19.3 percent).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-ereturns-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-08_Chef_Evening_Donna_Hutto_Edwards%26_John_Bel_Edwards_1_cr_en.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-08_Chef_Evening_Donna_Hutto_Edwards%26_John_Bel_Edwards_1_cr_en.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">John Bel Edwards and his wife, Donna Hutto Edwards, at a fundraising event in 2015.</a></div></div></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-08_Chef_Evening_Donna_Hutto_Edwards%26_John_Bel_Edwards_1_cr_en.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">On November 5, 2015, </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Dardenne" title="Jay Dardenne" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jay Dardenne</a> of Baton Rouge, the outgoing Republican <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Governor_of_Louisiana" title="Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">lieutenant governor</a>, who placed fourth in the gubernatorial primary election with 166,656 (15 percent),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-ereturns-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a> endorsed Democrat Edwards in the forthcoming race against Senator Vitter. Dardenne made his announcement at "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_University_traditions#Free_Speech_Alley" title="Louisiana State University traditions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Free Speech Alley</a>" in front of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_University" title="Louisiana State University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">LSU</a>Student Union building in Baton Rouge.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Governors_Association" title="Republican Governors Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Republican Governors Association</a> entered the Louisiana campaign in support of Vitter with an advertisement highlighting Edwards' past support for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">President</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Barack Obama</a>, who twice lost Louisiana's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_vote" class="mw-redirect" title="Electoral vote" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">electoral votes</a>. Edwards was a delegate for Obama at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Democratic_National_Convention" title="2012 Democratic National Convention" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2012 Democratic National Convention</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a> Edwards supported <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton" title="Hillary Clinton" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hillary Clinton</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.presidential_election,2016" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. presidential election, 2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2016 presidential election</a>.A statewide poll prior to the primary showed Edwards with a nine-point lead over Vitter. The JMC Analytics survey placed Edwards at 28 percent, instead of the actual 40 percent, and Vitter with 19 percent, rather than his actual 23 percent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a> After the primary polls showed Edwards with a commanding lead. Market Research Insight pollster Verne Kennedy placed Edwards ahead, 54 to 38 percent or 51 to 40 percent, depending on the level of turnout among <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American" class="mw-redirect" title="African-American" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">African-American</a> voters, 25 or 20 percent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a>In the runoff on November 21, 2015, Edwards won the election with 56.1 percent of the vote.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Governor of Louisiana (2016–present)</h2><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gov_John_Bel_Edwards_with_Louisiana_National_Guard_Ponchatoula.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gov_John_Bel_Edwards_with_Louisiana_National_Guard_Ponchatoula.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">Gov. Edwards meets with Louisiana National Guardsmen in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, March 2016</a></div></div></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gov_John_Bel_Edwards_with_Louisiana_National_Guard_Ponchatoula.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" viewbox="%220" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" e="E" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">On his inauguration day, Edwards failed to persuade the majority-Republican Louisiana House to choose a Democrat, </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Leger_III" title="Walt Leger III" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Walt Leger III</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans" title="New Orleans" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">New Orleans</a>, as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_Louisiana_House_of_Representatives" class="mw-redirect" title="Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Speaker</a>. On the second ballot, after Republican <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Henry" title="Cameron Henry" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Cameron Henry</a>, an ally of Senator David Vitter, withdrew from consideration, a second Republican, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Barras" title="Taylor Barras" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Taylor Barras</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Iberia,Louisiana" title="New Iberia, Louisiana" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">New Iberia</a>, was named Speaker. Since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long" title="Huey Long" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Huey Long</a>, governors had traditionally handpicked the state house speakers. The Barras selection was considered a surprise because he had not even been mentioned as a candidate until the voting started.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a>On April 13, 2016, Edwards signed an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order" title="Executive order" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">executive order</a> to protect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and_transgender" class="mw-redirect" title="Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender</a> people from harassment or job dismissals. The order prohibits state agencies from discrimination based on either gender identity or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation" title="Sexual orientation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">sexual orientation</a>. The order allows an exception for religious organizations who claim that compliance would violate their religious beliefs. "We respect our fellow citizens for their beliefs, but we do not discriminate based on our disagreements. I believe in giving every Louisianan the opportunity to be successful and to thrive in our state," Edwards said.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a>The governor also rescinded another executive order issued in 2015 by his predecessor, Bobby Jindal, which protected businesses and nonprofit organizations who oppose <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage" title="Same-sex marriage" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">same-sex marriage</a> from being legally punished for holding those views. This order had prohibited state agencies from penalizing businesses and individuals who act from a "religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a>Edwards promised early in 2017 that he could work with the incoming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> administration. He expressed eagerness to work with the Trump <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_the_United_States" title="Cabinet of the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Cabinet</a>, particularly on the issues of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid" title="Medicaid" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Medicaid</a> expansion and federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure" title="Infrastructure" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">infrastructure</a> projects.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[17]</a>In February 2017, Edwards and other state officials went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy" title="Italy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Italy</a>, where he met with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis" title="Pope Francis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Pope Francis</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[18]</a>Edwards campaigned on a policy to reduce the prison population in Louisiana.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-:0-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a> One of his first actions as Governor was to commute 22 sentences out of 56 that the state’s Board of Pardons had identified for him.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-:0-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a> Since the end of 2016 and to July 2018, Edwards did not sign a single commutation despite at least 70 cases that the state’s Board of Pardons identified for him during the period.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel_Edwards#cite_note-:0-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a> In 2018, Edwards signed legislation that shortened the sentences for nonviolent, non-sex-crime offenders who showed good behavior while in prison....<div>
<div>update</div><div>
</div><div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/13/critics_of_bayou_bridge_pipeline_in">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/13/critics_of_bayou_bridge_pipeline_in</a></div><div>
</div><div>in Louisiana, newly disclosed documents reveal a state intelligence agency regularly spied on activists opposing construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which would carry nearly a half-million barrels of oil per day across Louisiana’s wetlands. The documents show the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness regularly drafted intelligence memos on anti-pipeline activists, including a gathering of indigenous-led water protectors who’ve set up a protest encampment along the pipeline’s route. Other newly revealed documents show close coordination between Louisiana regulators and the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners. This comes just one week after a U.S. district judge in Baton Rouge ordered a temporary injunction against construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline in order to “prevent further irreparable harm” to the region’s delicate ecosystems, while court challenges proceed. For more, we speak with Pastor Harry Joseph of the Mount Triumph Baptist Church. We also speak with Pamela Spees of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Anne Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigad</div><div></div><div><div>----no link many
Bayou Bridge Pipeline Opponents Say Louisiana Governor's Office Is Surveilling ThemBy Julie Dermansky • Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - 16:43
Louisiana Bucket Brigade founder Anne Rolfes at a press conference protesting Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards' treatment of anti-pipeline activists.Opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline accused Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards of meeting with representative of the oil and gas industry while refusing to meet with activists and communities affected by the pipeline’s construction. They further allege that the administration has instead placed them under surveillance, pointing to similar treatment of Dakota Access pipeline opponents in North Dakota in 2016. Their claims are based in part on emails and other public records released by the state.
The activists brought their grievances to the Democratic governor’s home and office on March 1, holding a press conference in front of the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge and then occupying the foyer to his office in the State Capitol for over an hour.
“The Bayou Bridge pipeline should be called the John Bel pipeline,” Louisiana Bucket Brigade founder and director Anne Rolfes declared at the press conference. In her view, “any accidents that will happen” related to the pipeline lead back to the Governor. He had the power to stop it, she said, but chose not to. 
At the press conference, representatives from the HELP Association, 350 New Orleans, L'eau est La Vie (Water Is Life) camp, and the Center for Constitutional Rights also expressed disappointment in what they described as the state government’s cozy relationship with industry.
Louisiana Bucket Brigade read aloud emails about the Bayou Bridge pipeline from the Edwards administration and industry that were obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a New York-based legal and educational nonprofit.
Pastor Harry Joseph of Mt. Triumph Baptist Church in St. James, LouisianaPastor Harry Joseph of the Mount Triumph Baptist Church in St. James, where the pipeline will terminate, speaking at the press conference in Baton Rouge.
Security staff at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade press conference March 1Security next to the press conference in Baton Rouge.
The governor, who voiced his support for the pipeline early on, has not commented on a federal judge’s recent ruling halting construction of the project through the Atchafalaya Basin, an environmentally sensitive National Heritage Area.The pipeline is a joint venture between majority stakeholder Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, and Phillips 66 Partners, LP. Pipeline construction along its route from Lake Charles, near the Texas border, to St. James, about 60 miles west of New Orleans, began in January. CCR attorney Pamela Spees grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, one of the communities affected by the pipeline. She said in a press release that the emails show how “the deck is stacked against people in Louisiana who stand in opposition to the ongoing destruction and harm caused by the Oil and Gas industry. The indications of monitoring and surveillance of local advocates and small organizations by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness are particularly concerning. It is astounding that the resources of so many law enforcement agencies are trained on watching these organizations and communities trying to exercise their rights to be heard.”
In addition, Spees found it “deeply troubling that not one email released by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality contained any discussion of or expressions of concern by people in the agency about the alarming accident history of the companies involved in the Bayou Bridge project.”
CCR is still fighting to get other public records related to the Bayou Bridge pipeline, and has appealed two cases it lost. One is against Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, in which the nonprofit sought records concerning the company’s use of eminent domain. And the other is against Louisiana’s St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Greg Champagne for failing to release public records related to trips he and some of his deputies took to North Dakota to observe how law enforcement was responding to the Dakota Access pipeline protests.
“We saw a dangerous blurring of the lines between law enforcement and private corporations at Standing Rock,” Spees said. “Louisiana residents have a right to know what role local officials played in that situation and how it relates to events playing out closer to home.”
Surveillance of Opponents of the Bayou Bridge PipelineDominic Renfrey, a representative with the Center for Constitutional Rights, informed me that Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC is employing the firm Hub Enterprises to provide security for the company, based on sightings at pipeline construction sites.
Energy Transfer Partners spokesperson Alexis Daniel told me, “The safety of our employees and the communities in which we live and work is our top priority. In order to ensure that, we do have security plans in place and we do communicate with law enforcement agencies as appropriate. Beyond that, we do not discuss details of our security efforts.”
CCR’s Renfrey also said that documents released last week indicate the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) “might be involved in surveillance.” The GOHSEP director sent an email about the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to state regulatory and law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Department of Natural Resources, the Louisiana State Police, and the Louisiana National Guard.  The agency also prepared a report about the L'Eau Est La Vie Camp, contrasting it to the resistance camps against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Hub Enterprises security personnel near a Bayou Bridge pipeline construction siteHub Enterprises security personnel across the street from a Bayou Bridge pipeline construction site that activists shut down temporarily on February 26 during a direct action leading to the arrest of three protesters. 
GOHSEP Communications Director Mike Steele told The Advocate that there’s nothing sinister about his agency’s role. “The agency keeps an eye on issues that may, at some point, draw big crowds requiring security, traffic control, or crowd control. Homeland security may have an ominous connotation,” he said, “but they aren’t spies.” 
“It’s not surveillance. It’s letting these agencies know that these matters are ongoing,” Steele said.
There was plenty of security on hand at the March 1 press conference and impromptu visit to the governor’s office. Some of the security personnel were impossible to identify because they remained in vehicles with tinted windows.
Anne Rolfes tries to catch who is inside an apparent security vehicleAnne Rolfes, founder of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, trying to figure out who was in an SUV monitoring the press conference across from the Governor’s Mansion.
Security inside the foyer of the Louisiana governor's office during an anti-pipeline protestSecurity inside the foyer in front of the governor’s office.
The documents so far obtained by CCR don’t indicate that any state agency hired a private security firm to surveil opponents of the pipeline. However, if one did, it wouldn’t be the first time a government agency in Louisiana hired a private firm to supplement its resources.
Last year, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration hired Trident Response Group, a private security firm based in Texas, for risk assessment, surveillance, intelligence gathering, and extra security at sites where Confederate monuments were slated for removal.
Landrieu’s administration defended the move to hire a private security firm after documents from an open records request showed the city paid over $700,000 dollars to Trident in May while the city prepared to remove the monuments. While denying that the city spied on local groups on either side of the issue, the city has not been transparent about what services Trident provided.  
Take ’Em Down Nola, the group pushing for the removal of the Confederate monuments, suggested that Trident may have hacked some of its members’ emails and social media accounts and possibly infiltrated the group.
Trident shares similarities with TigerSwan, one of the private security firms employed by Energy Transfer Partners in North Dakota, and Hub Enterprises. All three companies’ websites tout staff that include former military personnel. 
TigerSwan’s license application with the Louisiana State Board of Private Security was turned down last year. The denial was based on the pending litigation against the company for allegedly operating in North Dakota without a permit. 
Some Bayou Bridge opponents believe the company was working in Louisiana without a license before its application was turned down.
In February 2017, James “Spider” Marks spoke in favor of the Bayou Bridge pipeline at a permit hearing. He identified himself as a retired U.S. Army major general and president of a corporate advisory firm, but did not disclose that he also sits on TigerSwan’s board of advisors. 
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade says that emails from GOHSEP reveal Louisiana officials are aligned with a growing national trend of surveillance intended to intimidate citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, a finding the group considers alarming.
“Since the Standing Rock camp opposing the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota was disbanded last year, 56 bills that heighten the risk and criminal penalties of dissent have been introduced across 30 states,” reads a press release from the organization. “Many of these bills seek to frame protests as ‘riots’ and activists as ‘terrorists‘ or ‘jihadists,’ in attempts to criminalize protected free speech activity.” 
Several states have even gone as far as introducing or passing bills that critics say would specifically criminalize pipeline protests.
“The documents reveal an unacceptable disparity in the public agencies’ treatment of pipeline and industry representatives in contrast to the communities they're obligated to serve,” Spees said. She told me that CCR will continue to seek more information from Louisiana’s public agencies because the documents already obtained suggest there is more to the story.
Energy Transfer Partners spokesperson Alexis Daniel told me, “The safety of our employees and the communities in which we live and work is our top priority. In order to ensure that, we do have security plans in place and we do communicate with law enforcement agencies as appropriate. Beyond that, we do not discuss details of our security efforts.”
I asked Governor Edwards’ office what he would say to those who feel he is willing to meet and listen to representatives of the oil and gas industry but not the Bayou Bridge pipeline’s opponents, including those directly impacted by the project. Shauna Sanford, a representative from the governor’s office, said, “We don't have a comment at this time.”</div><div></div><div>=<div><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/11/13/bayou-bridge-pipeline-opponents-file-intervene-hearing-private-security-firm-louisiana">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/11/13/bayou-bridge-pipeline-opponents-file-intervene-hearing-private-security-firm-louisiana</a>
<div>A broad base of advocacy groups opposed to Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) proposed <a href="mailto:https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Bayou Bridge pipeline</a> continue to pressure officials in Louisiana to deny the remaining permissions the company needs to build the pipeline.The groups are also trying to stop TigerSwan LLC, one of the security firms that ETP worked with in North Dakota, from obtaining a permit to operate in Louisiana.ETP, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, intends to build a 162-mile pipeline across southern Louisiana. If built, the Bayou Bridge will be the last leg, carrying oil fracked in North Dakota to Louisiana. Before the pipeline can be built, ETP needs a water quality certificate from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.The company already obtained another <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/03/breaking-louisiana-s-bayou-bridge-pipeline-one-permit-closer-reality-groups-opposing-pipeline-plan-resistance" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">required permit to operate from Louisiana Department of Natural Resources</a> under the state’s Coastal Zone program, but that permit is being <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/26/pastor-leads-lawsuit-opposing-bayou-bridge-pipeline-protect-louisiana-cancer-alley-community" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">challenged vy a lawsuit spearheaded by the St. James community</a>, where the pipeline will end, roughly 50 miles west of New Orleans.
 <h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">TigerSwan in Louisiana?</h3>Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.tigerswan.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">TigerSwan</a> is trying to obtain a permit from the <a href="http://lsbpse.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Louisiana State Board of Private Security Examiners</a> to operate in the state. <a href="http://www.katc.com/story/35902508/private-security-firm-that-surveilled-dapl-protests-seeks-louisiana-license" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Board rejected TigerSwan’s permit application in June</a>. In part, the denial was based on the <a href="https://theintercept.com/document/2017/06/28/tigerswan-complaint/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ongoing litigation</a> filed against the company by the North Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board for allegedly providing services without the required license. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/28/tigerswan-faces-lawsuit-over-unlicensed-security-operations-in-north-dakota/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Despite being turned down for a permit twice in North Dakota, TigerSwan operated on ETP’s</a> behalf anyway.A few days after TigerSwan’s permit was denied in Louisiana, the company filed an appeal and hired five lobbyists who work for the lobbying firm <a href="http://sostrategy.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Southern Strategy Group.</a>At a November 9 press conference at the office of Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, groups opposing the Bayou Bridge pipeline, including theLouisiana Bucket Brigade, Bold Louisiana, 350 New Orleans, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Gulf Restoration Network, Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association - West, and L’eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life) Camp, announced that the New York-based <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/Petition%20to%20Intervene%20-%20Louisiana%20-%20Nov%209%202017.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a petition to intervene</a> on their behalf. CCRwants to ensure that the groups can participate in the permit appeals hearing set for December 14.Video: Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade</div><div></div></div><div>=<div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/06/23/louisiana-joins-compact-brought-state-cops-dakota-access-protests/">https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/06/23/louisiana-joins-compact-brought-state-cops-dakota-access-protests/</a></div><div>
</div><div>
<div>By Steve Horn and <a href="https://www.muckrock.com/accounts/profile/chwaltman/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Curtis Waltman</a>On June 19, Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards <a href="http://www.wafb.com/story/35699999/la-has-45-more-new-laws-after-gov-edwards-signs-bills" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">signed a bill into law</a> which will enter his state into the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)</a>.EMAC is the compact which last year gave out-of-state cops the legal authority to flood into North Dakota during the protests against the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access pipeline</a>, owned by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Transfer Partners</a>. The Louisiana bill, <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1051705" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">SB 151</a>, was signed as Energy Transfer Partners has another pipeline proposed to run through Louisiana, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Bayou Bridge pipeline</a>. Bayou Bridge is an <a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2016/12/03/proposed-south-la-pipeline-linked-dakota-pipeline/94603448/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">extension</a> of Dakota Access, set to run from Nederland, Texas, to refinery markets and export terminals in Louisiana.The compact, signed into existence by President Bill Clinton in 1996, was created in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew with the intent of expediting and bolstering natural disaster response efforts. But the federal <a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ321/PLAW-104publ321.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">legislation creating the compact</a> also has language allowing for a governor of a state to issue an emergency order in the case of the rise of an “insurgency or enemy attack.”The Louisiana legislation, which <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1051335" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">got rid of</a> its previous membership in the Interstate <a href="http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=85681" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Compact</a>, passed unanimously in both the <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1047614" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">House of Representatives</a> and the <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1037421" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Senate</a> without debate.<div class="td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-content_inline " style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p class="noc-ad noc-ad-inline" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; word-wrap: break-word; border: 1px solid rgb(34, 34, 34); padding: 10px; background: rgb(252, 252, 252);"> NationofChange is a nonprofit organization, and this website is funded by readers like you. Please support our work. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/nationofchange?refcode=inline" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Donate</a> or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/nocmember?refcode=inline&recurring=1" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">give monthly</a>.</div>According to state campaign finance data, Governor Edwards <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2016&vendor=John+Bel+Edwards+Campaign" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">received a $5,000 campaign contribution</a> from Energy Transfer Partners during his successful 2015 run for governor, with the company serving as one of his biggest donors. In February, Edwards <a href="http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/02/john_bel_edwards_supports_bayo.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">endorsed</a> Bayou Bridge.“There is no way to move crude in significant quantities that doesn’t have some risk associated with it,” Edwards said of the pipeline. “But ultimately the pipeline is much safer than moving it on trains or on trucks.” As DeSmog has reported, this is a talking point often conveyed by Energy Transfer Partners, even though<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/17/dakota-access-pipeline-safer-owns-rail-hub-connected-pipeline" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"> it owns an oil-by-rail terminal</a> which connects to Dakota Access in Patoka, Illinois.Governor Edwards’ brother, Daniel Edwards, serves as <a href="http://www.tpso.org/sheriff" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">sheriff for Tangipahoa Parish</a> in Louisiana, which is located about an hour drive north of Bayou Bridge’s end point in St. Charles Parish. Tangipahoa Parish is part of the senate district for <a href="http://senate.la.gov/senators/senpage.asp?SenID=6" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Senator Mack “Bodi” White</a>, a co-sponsor of the bill.Officials from the office of Governor Edwards and Senator White did not respond to a request for comment.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 30px 0px 20px; line-height: 38px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DAPL model</h2>Law enforcement officers involved in the Dakota Access response effort, which has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/27/leaked-documents-reveal-security-firms-counterterrorism-tactics-at-standing-rock-to-defeat-pipeline-insurgencies/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">come under fire</a> for <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/03/standing-rock-documents-expose-inner-workings-of-surveillance-industrial-complex/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">its militarized nature</a>, have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy7uPV82hkk" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">traveled to Louisiana</a> in recent months to speak about lessons from Dakota Access which could be applied to Bayou Bridge. The protests against Dakota Access, which took form as a months-long encampment near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, were the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/standing-rock-pipeline-fight-draws-hundreds-north-dakota-plains-n665956" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">largest mobilization</a> of Native American tribes in modern U.S. history.As previously reported by DeSmog, the National Sheriffs’ Association <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/27/dakota-access-sheriffs-lobbying-military-gear" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">served as the key vehicle</a> for carrying out the emergency compact at Standing Rock. The association has lobbied Congress for more military gear for sheriffs’ departments under the auspices of the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/09/02/342494225/mraps-and-bayonets-what-we-know-about-the-pentagons-1033-program" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">U.S. Department of Defense’s 1033 program</a>, which enables police departments to buy surplus military gear from the department’s Defense Logistics Agency.The current president of the Sheriffs’ Association, Sheriff Greg Champagne, oversees St. Charles Parish, the end of the line for Bayou Bridge. According to a Bayou Bridge corporate fact sheet, the Sheriffs’ Association <a href="https://bayoubridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Bayou-Bridge-fact-shee-2.2.17.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">has endorsed the pipeline</a>.In October 2016, Champagne visited Standing Rock and criticized the protesters, who call themselves “water protectors,” in a lengthy article posted both on the <a href="http://www.sheriffs.org/blog/Presidents-Podium-Dakota-Access-Pipeline" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Sheriffs’ Association website</a> and on his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sheriff.gregchampagne/posts/1337399006279642" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">government Facebook page</a>. St. Charles Parish also <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3517836/completed-1102-REQA-5527-0.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">sent officers</a> to Standing Rock.“We are a nation of laws. Emotion and empathy cannot carry the day. It just seems that opposition to this pipeline is not reasonably based upon legitimate environmental concerns,” Champagne wrote. “Energy independence has been one of the major goals of this country for decades. In my home state of Louisiana, we are surrounded by gas and oil pipelines and safely so.”<a href="https://www.sheriffs.org/about-nsa/leadership" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">According to his biography</a> on the Sheriffs’ Association website, Champagne in the past has attended “two international counter-terrorism programs in both Israel and England, which focused on the detection and prevention of terrorism.” A member of the Houma tribe and the head of the group Bold Louisiana of Native American descent jointly responded to Champagne’s letter, saying that they too had visited Standing Rock, but had only seen peaceful and prayerful protest.“If you are looking as to who has engaged in acts of war, sir, it might be best to see who came for one,” <a href="http://bridgethegulfproject.org/blog/2016/letter-st-charles-parish-sheriff-greg-champagne-response-comments-about-standing-rock" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">they wrote</a>. “A simple Internet search will produce countless images of unarmed Water Protectors being confronted by military-grade weaponry pointed at them by law enforcement.”<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin: 30px 0px 20px; line-height: 38px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">EMAC abuse?</h2>It has been debated whether or not the “insurgency or enemy attack” legislative language found within EMAC pertains to mass protest, but regardless, the gray area has created an opening for state-level law enforcement agencies. The Interstate Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Compact, signed into law in 1993 <a href="http://gohsep.la.gov/ABOUT/AUTHORITIES/Louisiana-Disaster-Act" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">as a section</a> of the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act (Louisiana Disaster Act, for short), had no language found within the bill about an “insurgency or enemy attack.”The first major instance of EMAC’s use for a protest movement <a href="https://patch.com/new-jersey/oceancity/150-state-troopers-headed-baltimore-riot-aftermath" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">came in Baltimore</a> in April 2015 in <a href="http://media.nbcwashington.com/documents/Baltimore+Bills+-+Frederick+County+sheriffs.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">response to demonstrations</a> pertaining to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">law enforcement killing of Freddie Grey</a>. At that time, only a few agencies answered the EMAC call, including the New Jersey State Police and the Pennsylvania State Police, while the law enforcement crackdown was bolstered by mostly local and state officers in Maryland.In 2016, the <a href="https://cdn.muckrock.com/foia_files/2016/11/16/161116_1016-RR-4781.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">EMAC was again put to use</a> to deal with those protesting at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio. According to an “<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2016%20Republican%20National%20Convention%20EMAC%20AAR.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">after action report</a>” published by EMAC, 1,071 out-of-state police officers came from 18 different states to assist with law enforcement efforts at the RNC.<img class="aligncenter" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-21%20at%202.25.10%20AM.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; text-align: center; clear: both; display: block; margin: 6px auto 21px;" />In Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/City%20of%20Cleveland%20EMAC%20Request.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">requested</a> that Republican Governor John Kasich declare a state of emergency in February, some five months before the RNC. A month later, the City of Cleveland signed a state emergency <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Cleveland%2C%20State%20of%20Ohio%20MOU.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">memorandum of understanding</a> with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and the next month, Kasich signed the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Kasich%20Emergency%20Declaration.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">emergency order</a> triggering EMAC. The after action report for the RNC spells out what law enforcement sees as the major advantage of having EMAC as a tool in the toolbox.“One of the great advantages of EMAC is that troublesome and often complicated legal issues are resolved upfront within the EMAC law,” wrote EMAC in the report. “These issues include tort liability, workers’ compensation, reimbursement, and acceptance of licensure.”For Standing Rock, nearly 40 law enforcement agencies from around the Midwest answered the call made by North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple. They responded by bringing assault rifles, thermal imaging cameras, and military vehicles. It was the first instance where the emergency compact was used to create what resembled a massive law enforcement militia to suppress a protest.After EMAC was put into action, 23 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter on November 14, 2016 to then-President Barack Obama expressing their concerns about the compact’s potential misuse.The “use of the EMAC [for Dakota Access] raises questions when compared to the original legislative intent of Congress in 1996 to allow member states to provide emergency assistance after natural disasters overwhelm a state’s capacity to respond,” <a href="https://connolly.house.gov/uploads/2016-11-14,%20joint%20letter%20to%20president%20obama,%20dakota%20access%20pipeline.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">wrote the members of the House</a>. “Its use for additional law enforcement personnel and equipment to respond to this peaceful demonstration is part of a recent trend away from historical precedent.”As a recent case in point showing of the compact mixed uses, Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin received two EMAC requests in late October 2016: One from North Dakota to assist with Standing Rock and one from North Carolina when the state’s coast was battered by Hurricane Matthew. While Standing Rock protests did not result in any deaths, Hurricane Matthew claimed the lives of 26 people in North Carolina.<a href="https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/02/wisconsin-governor-NoDAPL-EMAC/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Emails obtained by MuckRock</a> show that the Walker administration chose to aid North Dakota rather than North Carolina, which experienced $2.75 billion in damages from the hurricane. An email from Brian Satula, head of Wisconsin Emergency Management, sent to the Walker administration, explains that Wisconsin “has not been able to adequately fill those mission requests,” in reference to North Carolina.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px 20px; line-height: 38px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">No Bayou Bridge “direct tie”</h2>Considering the Louisiana bill’s recent passage, though, it appears EMAC’s use beyond natural disaster zones could just be getting started. Mike Steele, communications director for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, said there is no connection between Bayou Bridge and Louisiana’s EMAC bill.“I don’t believe there is a direct tie other than pipeline related emergency being one of many types [of] emergencies where we may need assistance from officials outside the state,” said Steele. “I believe this bill just addresses a few technical issues like liability.”Yet a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/EMAC%20talking%20points%20%28002%29.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">talking points sheet</a> on the EMAC bill supplied to DeSmog by Steele actually lists Dakota Access as one of its prominent, recent uses.Indeed, a related<a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=17rs&b=HB654&sbi=y" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;"> bill</a> proposed in the Louisiana State Legislature would <a href="http://press-herald.com/bill-would-add-extra-fee-to-home-insurance-to-fund-gohsep/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">levy an insurance surcharge</a> and give the revenue from that to the Emergency Management Assistance Trust Fund. This may indicate that Louisiana is trying to get ahead of the kind of financial woes currently facing North Dakota, which has footed a <a href="https://apnews.com/c53e57e2321b480abecc84710c533c02/dakota-access-protest-policing-costs-exceed-22m" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">$22 million bill</a> for all of the out-of-state assistance it received under EMAC to handle the Dakota Access protests.For months, North Dakota had attempted to secure federal funding, but it will receive <a href="https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/5/heitkamp-helps-secure-federal-funds-in-congressional-spending-bill-that-could-help-reimburse-nd-for-dapl-law-enforcement-costs" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">$15 million in repayments</a> as part of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr244/BILLS-115hr244enr.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">congressional spending bill</a> passed in May. That, however, will still leave North Dakotans on the hook for about $7 million of the EMAC costs.<div></div></div></div></div><div>==
activist suppress
On June 19, Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards <a href="http://www.wafb.com/story/35699999/la-has-45-more-new-laws-after-gov-edwards-signs-bills" target="blank">signed a bill into law</a> which will enter his state into the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops">Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)</a>.

EMAC is the compact which last year gave

out-of-state cops the legal authority to flood into North Dakota during

the protests against the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa">Dakota Access pipeline</a>, owned by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688">Energy Transfer Partners</a>. The Louisiana bill, <a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1051705" target="blank">SB 151</a>, was signed as Energy Transfer Partners has another pipeline proposed to run through Louisiana, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock">Bayou Bridge pipeline</a>. Bayou Bridge is an <a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2016/12/03/proposed-south-la-pipeline-linked-dakota-pipeline/94603448/" target="blank">extension</a> of Dakota Access, set to run from Nederland, Texas, to refinery markets and export terminals in Louisiana.

The compact, signed into existence by President Bill Clinton in 1996, was

created in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew with the intent of

expediting and bolstering natural disaster response efforts. But the

federal <a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ321/PLAW-104publ321.pdf" target="_blank">legislation creating the compact</a> also

has language allowing for a governor of a state to issue an emergency

order in the case of the rise of an “insurgency or enemy attack.”