
After Shreveport Republican Senator Alan Seabaugh ripped Governor Landry on KEEL radio last week, the governor went on its morning show to give his response.
“I’ve known Alan for a long time, and we don’t always agree,” Landry said on KEEL’s morning show. “But that’s okay.”
Seabaugh especially had some choice words over Landry using his line-item veto power to scrap four of his projects.
Landry says there simply wasn’t enough money for all the projects the legislature gave him.
“What he failed to tell all of the listeners out there and all of the folks in Shreveport and Bossier is that the Senate sent me a construction bill that was overdrawn,” Landry said.
Landry said as such, some projects had to go, and Seabaugh’s projects got the short end of the stick.
While one legislative reporter found that Landry’s line-item vetoes were aimed at projects put forth by lawmakers who voted against House Bill 148 (the one that gives the insurance commissioner the authority to reject excessive rate increases regardless of market conditions), Landry gave a different reason.
“We looked around for projects that had not started yet,” said Landry, “because that would be the most responsible way to do this. Let me tell you something — we looked over projects based upon merit.”
Landry says the reason that Seabaugh is criticizing him is because he’s mad at him for vetoing his Senate Bill 111, which would have watered down Louisiana’s “bad faith” law, which holds insurance companies responsible for unreasonably delaying or denying claims.
“He’s mad about the bill that I vetoed that did nothing … to lower insurance premiums. But the one thing I can promise you is that it would inflate litigation costs for defense lawyers like him.”
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