by DOMINICK CROSS
You know, it’s more of a no-brainer than wishful thinking to run against Louisiana Sen. John Neely Kennedy.
Of the things he hasn’t done for Louisiana, just keep in mind that the Republican senator voted against the infrastructure bill.
If Kennedy’s vote had been in the majority, Louisiana would’ve missed out on an incredible opportunity of improved roads and safe bridges for those who live here and not in Washington, D.C.
Kennedy didn’t just poke President Joe Biden in the eye. Nor did he only put it to the Libs.
Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R) apparently is not aware that registered Republican voters also drive these same roads and over the very same bridges.
In no small way, Sen. Kennedy told his constituents that they, too, are simply fodder and a contemptible means to his ends.
And it’s at those ends you’ll find his blind fealty to Donald Trump.
The Republican senator couldn’t even hold the former president accountable for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And then, after the smoke settled on that fateful January day and Congress came out of hiding, Kennedy joined the ridiculous effort to overturn certified election results that went for Joe Biden.
But I digress.
Enter Gary Chambers Jr.
“Other than being entertaining sometimes, he does very little for us,” Chambers said of the senator. “John Kennedy needs to be challenged by somebody who is not going to play with him.”
Chambers also said that this same somebody is one who need not “pretend that they care so much what the Democratic Establishment says that they cannot move people that are non-chronic voters to show up to vote.”
Chambers, a Baton Rouge native and social justice advocate running for the U.S. Senate, spoke to about 40 area residents Thursday, April 14, 2022, evening in downtown Lafayette at a gathering billed as Backyard Conversations with Gary Chambers.
Chambers motto is Do Good, Seek Justice. He’s been leading the fight for a better, more just Louisiana.
Prior to his announcement for senate, Chambers helped get an emergency room in North Baton Rouge when two hospitals closed; led the effort in the name-change of Robert E. Lee High School in Baton Rouge; and helped to keep the Baton Rouge Zoo in North Baton Rouge.
During his talk, in the Q&A that followed, and in general conversation, it’s readily apparent that Chambers also walks the walk.
“They talk about cannabis being a ‘gateway drug.’ I do think it’s a gateway drug — to better roads, better schools, better bridges and better opportunities for people.”
Gary Chambers
“When you look at where we are as a state, roads are not red or blue. Roads are not Democrat or Republican. Roads are for everybody, ok,” said Chambers. “And the man voted against the Infrastructure bill.”
Whether one is a fan of Biden or not, “At the end of the day, he had a plan that was going to bring $7B to Louisiana that was going to fix roads and bridges,” he said. “And (Kennedy) voted against it.
“I promise you, you will not agree with everything that I do if I’m your U.S. Senator,” Chambers continued. “But you will not have a problem with me voting for roads and bridges. That just doesn’t make sense and I don’t think that it makes sense to most of us.”
Chambers took note of the current Republican effort across the country to disenfranchise voters, as well as the Louisiana Legislature’s recent thumbs down to secure a second African American congressional district.
“I believe that where we are as a country is a very tricky place and that if we are not careful, our children will inherit a world that is much less democratic, or democracy is much less abounding for our children than it is today,” said Chambers. “There are people that are working in every corner of this country — from Ohio to Georgia, to here — to restrict people from access to the ballot.”
“Black people make up 34 percent of the state of Louisiana,” he said. “But there’s one Black congressional district for this state.”
The contender said the issue matters because “that means there’s one Democratic congressional seat for this state. There’s one democrat going to D.C. to fight for all the other democrats in this state — not just black people — but people who want to see our state have a fighting chance.”
Louisiana goes to the polls in November where along with Chambers, two other Democrats, Luke Mixon and Syrita Steib, seek to unseat Kennedy.
In January, Chambers rocked the political world with an ad of him smoking a blunt in order to get a new conversation going about marijuana, and, “how do you get people to pay attention to what’s happening in Louisiana without a little bit of ‘shock & awe.’”
(The candidate followed up the ad with one of him burning a confederate flag.)
Chambers wants to get the word out on the injustices that has befallen many people who smoke pot, the business potential, tax revenue and related industry in direct relation to the plant.
“But talking about the data, a man named Kevin Allen, right now, in this state, is sitting in Angola Penitentiary serving a life sentence,” said Chambers. “He has been there since 2013 for less than a blunt of weed.
“While, currently, Colorado, with the fourth-ranked education system in the country, is breaking records in tax revenue and sales, improving their infrastructure, improving their education system,” he said. “While Louisiana ranks 50th.”
Chambers said the state’s commitment to the oil and gas industry “like that’s the only jobs we can find in this state,” needs to be reexamined.
“The truth is, we’ve got a lot of land that we’re going to drive by,” he said. “Why can’t we get some agriculture going there and not just cannabis for recreational use, hemp, and all of the things that go along with this industry.
“You guys know that they build houses out of hemp, now? That they make clothes out of hemp? That this is not just about people smoking, this is about a product that can be used to create thousands of jobs.”
“So, yes, I smoked a blunt to make us have a conversation about the inequity that surrounds that issue and the opportunities that surround it,” said Chambers.
“They talk about cannabis being a ‘gateway drug.’ I do think it’s a gateway drug — to better roads, better schools, better bridges and better opportunities for people.”
Chambers reminded the crowd of the $2B deficit left to the state after Republican Bobby Jindal sat in the governor’s chair for two terms and what it took to right the state’s ship.
“We figured out how to tax the hell out of us to get the money out of the hole,” he said. “But the way we continue to make sure that this state doesn’t end up in that situation again is, we build a diversified, thriving economy.”
And to be able to do that means having everybody on the same page.
“That means that every partner in every branch of government has to be working together. You guys can imagine that John Bel and John Kennedy don’t work together too much. That doesn’t benefit our state. That doesn’t benefit working class people,” said Chambers.
A partner of the same party on the federal level is one way to make it happen.
“And so, I may be a little loud, I may be a little unorthodox, but I think that’s what’s going to win this election,” Chambers said. “I don’t think you beat Kennedy by running to the center and hoping that you get a bunch of Republicans to switch over.
“I think you run on the values of supporting a woman’s right to choose. I think you run on the values of providing green opportunities and new jobs in communities,” he said. “I think you run on the values of democracy and protecting the right to vote and you touch the percentages of people that don’t show up to vote.”
Getting people to the polls is key to victory, especially those who don’t vote, both registered and those who need to, but have not.
“(When) John Bel became governor, 50 percent of Black New Orleans did not go vote; 45 percent of Black Baton Rouge did not go vote. About the same in Shreveport,” said Chambers. “Kennedy was elected with 536,000 votes. There’re 900,000 registered Black voters and about 30 percent of White voters in this state who are going to vote Democratic when they go vote.
“The math is there. Also, there’s 1.2 million eligible Black voters in the state of Louisiana. So, there’s another 250-300,000 voters that are not registered that could be mobilized that agree with you and I on policy.
“I thought Build Back Better was a great plan. Do I think that there needs to be more in it, be more inclusive? Yeah. But I think that you don’t let perfect get in the way of good.”
Gary Chambers
Chambers has a theory why the Democratic Party have not pursued such voters in earnest.
“Real simple. The Party wants a centrist, the people don’t,” he said. “If we are going to change this state, we’ve got to be bold like other states have been. We have got to organize and raise resources. One of the things you’re going to find out in the next few days is that we’ve raised a lot of money in the first quarter.”
Money is paramount for victory in politics these days and Chambers said he and his team have been “been darting all over the country raising money to make this a national race so that we can have the resources to be competitive, but I can’t win without people like y’all.”
In addition to fund-raising, a successful political run requires organization and reaching out to voters.
“I’m one man and this is one team, but it’s going to take thousands of us organizing around the state and knocking on neighbor’s door and telling them the numbers so that they can know what’s possible.
“The reason people don’t go vote, or don’t participate in the process is simply because they don’t know their power; that nobody’s ever told them these are the numbers and it’s that simple.
“(Louisiana Governor) John Bel (Edwards) was elected with 700 and 40-something thousand votes; 450,000 of them were Black voters. Why (hasn’t) anyone told you that before now?
“Because they don’t want you to know that there’s another 500,000 of them that didn’t go vote. And that if we get those people to go vote, then all of our children end up living up in a more prosperous Louisiana, a more equitable Louisiana, a more diverse and inclusive Louisiana.
“And I think that that’s a Louisiana that gives all of our babies a future worth living,” he said. “I don’t want my daughter to leave Louisiana to live out her wildest dreams.”
In addition, as people leave states and cities like California, New York and Chicago and other Northeastern states, having Louisiana as a go-to option
Is a positive proposition — and is part of his platform.
“We have an opportunity to draw those people in, draw those jobs in, diversify the economy,” said Chambers. “But you’ve got to have a partner at the federal levels that says, ‘You know what, I want to go out and talk to people about what Louisiana really is and how we can bring people to the table.”
Chambers said a U.S. senator has a lot more power than some people may realize and he pointed out how Arizona Democratic Senator Krysten Sinema and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have stalled parts of Biden’s agenda.
“A U.S. senator has the ability to hold up a president’s agenda, or advance it,” he said. “When we talk about the things that are important to us, the John Lewis Voting Rights, making sure that everybody can have access to the ballot — if you’ve got a senator that would do the same thing that they would to to leverage their vote to ensure that that would pass, you’d get it. Right?
“Now they’re leveraging their vote for things that are not beneficial to us.”
Chambers is a supporter of Biden’s Build Back Better plan that was stymied by the Arizona and West Virginia senators, both Democrats.
“I thought Build Back Better was a great plan. Do I think that there needs to be more in it, be more inclusive? Yeah,” he said. “But I think that you don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
“There was enough in that bill that would’ve touched working class people,” said Chambers. “That child earned income tax credit where people were getting $300 a month per child, that was helping bring people out of childhood poverty. That was helping eradicate poverty.”
Chambers said as a result of building stronger families, “we build stronger communities and we solve some of these problems in these communities,” he said.
“Everybody wants to talk about violence and all of the crime that happens in all of our communities,” said Chambers. “All the folks who think we can put more police on the ground to solve the problems — we have had a wave of mass policing that has produced nothing but mass incarceration.”
“Let’s talk about jobs and opportunity,” he said. “When we create more jobs and opportunities for people, then they aren’t left with choices that allow them to be in an environment that creates the violence that we see.”