Louisiana House Speaker Taylor Barras delivers remarks at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference at the Pontchartrain Convention & Civic Center in Kenner , La. Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. The two-day event opened Friday.
Advocate staff photo by MAX BECHERER
House Speaker Taylor Barras was described last week “as the ultimate gentleman” in the announcement that he would be the Mardi Gras Grand Marshal in his New Iberia hometown.
That accurately describes the patient banker who quietly herded various factions of angry Republican and Democratic representatives through seven special and three regular sessions before passing a state budget with enough funds to cover expenses.
Twice, adversaries tried to oust him and, by his own account, came close. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has never been shy about expressing how wanting he found the speaker’s leadership. Through it all, Barras did not lash back, saying he was too busy to comment.
Barras’ diplomatic white gloves came off at the recent Southern Republican Leadership Conference during a 15-minute speech that was, by far, his most pugnacious.
Edwards must go in the election slated for October, Barras said. But more important is for Republicans to protect the GOP majority in the House and shoot for a supermajority.
“We need it badly, especially if by some fluke of the system, this governor gets elected for another four years,” Barras said.
Maybe his fierce partisan words came because of his audience — the red, white and blue-clad GOP activists cheering for a wall and booing every mention of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic progressive from the Bronx. Or it could have been because he’s term-limited and going into his final year in the Louisiana House. (He said he has no plans to run this fall for the state Senate.)
Or it could be…
