(The Center Square) — Restoring the focus on education, addressing violent crime, vetting science in policy decisions, supporting small businesses and reforming health care will be Louisiana’s top priorities over the next four years.
Jeff Landry, at his inauguration as Louisiana’s 57th governor on Sunday, laid out the focus for his first term as “a new Louisiana dawns” with Republicans in all statewide offices and supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature.
“The people sent us here to repair and reform their government and to unleash innovation and production so their future and the future of their children are made better,” he said. “They demand leadership that will place the greater good of this state above personal agendas, delusional entitlements and special interests.”
That includes an education system “that reflects those wholesome principles, not an indoctrination behind their mother’s back,” Landry said to a roaring applause. “I believe the most important voice in a child’s education should be that of their parents.”
Landry called on leaders to “commit ourselves to the crisis that is evolving in some of our schools and restore the peace of mind that our parents enjoyed when they sent us to school.”
“We must honor teachers by letting them teach,” he said. “And we must safeguard our schools from the toxicity of unsuitable subject matter so that the sanctity of the student and the teacher is restored.”
Landry spoke to victims of violent crime, whose voice has been “squelched by the misguided noise of those who would rather coddle to criminals than live in peace.”
“It is our duty to act, so that others are spared that burden of pain,” he said of the “senseless, uncivilized and outrageous violence too many have suffered.”
“We owe no higher obligation as public servants than to fix this,” Landry said. “Fix it now and to fix it for good.”
The governor also vowed a renewed focus on leveraging science to guide a variety of policy decisions that greatly impact Louisiana residents.
“We shall heed all the science, not just the selective slices spoon fed to us by those seeking to profit in many cases from the taxpayer funded subsidies and disregard the health, safety and the employment security of our citizens,” Landry said.
Protecting small businesses will be a top priority, as well, as a means to “pave the way to prosperity for all Louisiana citizens,” he said.
“As a small business owner myself I understand, I appreciate and I fully support any Louisiana citizen with the courage to risk their precious capital, to pour their heart and labor into an idea, working tirelessly to make a dream a reality,” Landry said.
Other priorities include ditching politics in health care to improve access and services for residents, from hospitals, to clinics, to nursing homes and to put the perspective of the state’s health care workforce at the forefront.
“The health care policies we make as a government cannot and will not be advanced without the benefit of their invaluable knowledge and their inspirational compassion,” Landry said of health care workers.
Accomplishing the governor’s objectives rests on lawmakers and citizens unifying behind shared values, said Landry, who promised to “welcome thoughts” and “invite ideas” from all.
“When we provide that unity, when we show that we can come together and solve the problems of this state, we then show America and the world how it will be done,” he said.