08/14/2026
The foundation of any economy has to be value added manufacturing. That is especially true in Louisiana. It has been for 100 years. Value added manufacturing creates thousands of high paying direct jobs in our state. That payroll turns over in our economy multiple times. Retail does better. Housing does better. Service industries do better. The local resturant that employs 10 people survives because of it.
Industry pays more than 80% of the property tax in the river region parishes. What that means is, industry pays the salaries of 8 of 10 teachers, 8 of 10 police officers and sheriffâs deputies, 8 out of 10 miles of paved parish roads, 8 out of 10 sanitation workers, 8 out of 10 parks, 8 out of 10 homeless shelters, and 8 out of 10 fire trucks, 8 out of 10 parish EMTs - you get the idea, but think about that. How much greater would everyoneâs personal tax burden be without industry or would we just accept fewer services?
Our state is blessed with lots of oil and natural gas, with the Gulf of Mexico (or America), and the Mississippi River. We are an energy and chemistry provider to the US and the rest of the world. That is value added manufacturing at its finest.
We should hold every single industrial facilityâs leadership accountable for responsible operations - protecting the environment and our health, for safety and incident prevention, for local hiring and purchasing, and for being engaged in their communities. Iâve worked with the chemistry, refining, and steel making heavy industries for 35 years. I can say that the industry in Louisiana is responsible. It is cleaner, safer, and more engaged with its communities than ever before. Louisiana industry leads the world in these spaces. I have met thousands of industry leaders in Louisiana over the years and can honestly say that Iâve never met one who didnât care about the environment or the community where they operated.
And let me address NDAâs and the associated but not always stated allegations of âcorruption.â âIf you ask for an NDA as a corporation, you must be evil and if you sign one as an elected official, you must be corrupt.â NDAs are a daily part of business. They protect proprietary technology, proprietary financial information, proprietary plans, and yes, for competitive reasons, economic development/incentive offers. We donât want Texas and Mississippi and Alabama and Florida to know what incentive offers we are making to prospective investors in Louisiana. Corporations have too much at stake to let this kind of information out and too much at stake to engage in corruption and illegal activity. NDAs simply protect proprietary and critical information. We can stop them in Louisiana, but we will see our neighboring states get all the investment because companies simply wonât come here. We elect individuals to lead and we should trust them to do that until they prove to us that we shouldnât. If you still canât accept that, you should vote against them but you shouldnât automatically disparage the character of people you donât know and have never met.
Multiple things can be true at the same time. We can grow our economy, attract responsible investment, create jobs and opportunity to lift our neighbors out of poverty, increase tax revenue that provides critical government services, protect communities, respect history and culture, and address legitimate concerns.
I ask an honest question of the out of state funded âwe are against everythingâ organizations. What is your plan to grow the economy, provide opportunity and lift our neighbors out of poverty? Itâs easy to be against everything. What are you for?
