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LSU's finances are a mixed bag. On the one hand, you've got LSU Athletics making bank and giving to academics - - - - on the other hand you've got the school President poor mouthing to the media for damn near 6 months and alledging that he was "preparing bankruptcy papers" just a few short months ago. WTF?

New guy with zero idea about the political climate or history of the state. Edwin Edwards rewrote our Constitution with a shrewd politician who never really held office. He was an attorney and a wily one. A man by the name of Camille Gravel. He was a wayback crony with Edwards who came up with him from tiny Crowley, Louisiana. In 1971, they worked together to change Louisiana forever.

Gravel rewrote the State Constitution for Louisiana more uniquely than any other state in the Union which helped level the playing field for state Democrats for decades onward...and then tilted it completely in favor of Republicans moving forward. How you say?

Well, he Constitutionally protected all state agency's budgets from being cut outside of Healthcare and Secondary Education. This meant that to balance the state budget or trim it in any way someone from a more fiscally-minded party (IE-Republicans) would have to cut services to the sick or cut Educational opportunities for our Youth.

Both of which are obviously not palatable on first blush to anyone.

It worked masterfully. But, he also did away with the old party-primary system that everyone else in America uses for the most part. In his day, everyone in Louisiana was a Democrat. So the main money got spent in the Democratic Primary where all the candidates bruised each other up. Meanwhile, state Republicans rested up and waited to see who came out, complete with a massive war-chest and no cuts or bruises after a damaging party-primary.

Louisiana began to utilize a Jungle Primary where everyone ran against everyone and-if no one received over 50% of the vote-the top two vote getters-regardless of party affiliation-entered a runoff against each other. It also allowed crossover voting in the General Election where everyone ran against everyone. This meant that longtime Democratic voters were free to vote for Republican candidates they felt better represented them on a statewide and/or local level.

Two massive changes that have created a fascinating political climate here whereby Edwin Washington Edwards, the most influential and impactful governor of Louisiana outside of Huey Long and a Democratic Lion in state political circles can easily be said to be the Father of the Modern Republican Party in Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina's complete destruction of New Orleans' ability to generate 100K+ vote totals and leads for Democratic statewide candidates coming out of Orleans Parish was undoubtedly its Mother.

Interestingly enough, the man with a bigger political profile and larger mandate than any other-even Edwards-chose never to call the Constitutional Convention so that he could truly balance our budget and leave a lasting impact and true political legacy in Louisiana. Jindal's failure to do so and reliance on sleight of hand and accounting tricks to balance the budget with a magic wand in one hand while using his other hand to call registered-and-likely-Republican Iowa voters means we'll continue to be scarred.

As far as LSU is concerned, we'll continue to hear out-of-state bureacrats like F-King Alexander blather about the subjects they lack context on, as the LSU Budget is ALWAYS filled in and ALWAYS done last minute by the Legislature during financial/fiscal sessions.

This post was edited on 7/20/15 at 3:41 pm