The Founders Show #477

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Bite holes. The politicians addressed todigitators and magicians troops to see the money.
Then you don't, there's nothing tofeel the holes while then fill in
their pockets, bite holes, thepoliticians bouncing down the road every batsuition to

(00:24):
no more corruption and dysfunction. It'sgonna takevent show. Saint Bernard Parish is
changing, ladies and gentlemen. Newpeople are moving in, New atmospheres are
happening in. New leadership is required, and that's one of the reasons why
our special guest has announcing for theLouisiana Legislature, long time Saint Bernard hand

(00:45):
and an innovator Mike Baham here onthe Founders Show, and God bless all
out there. You are now listeningto the Founders. So the voice of
the founding fathers, your founding fathers, coming to you deep within the bowels
of those mystic and cryptic alligator swampsof the Big Easy, that old Crescent
City, New Orleans, Louisiana,and high up on top of that old

(01:07):
Liberty Cypress tree way out on theEagles Branch. This is none other then
you're Spengary bah bah Other Republic ChaplainHigh mckenry who with Christopher Tidmorey Roving Report,
a resident Radical Moderate and associate editorof the Louisiana Weekly Louisiana Weekly dot
net. And Hi, we've gota friend of the program who's been a
frequent voice talking about everything from theBattle of New Orleans. He's one of

(01:30):
the people who's kept the reenactment alivesomething close to our heart, to political
commentary. He's one of the foremostpolitical commentarists in in saltsan state to basic
quality of life in Saint Bernard,which is his day job. He is
the guy who basically, when anybodywants to get anything fixed in Saint Bernard,
they give it to Mike. Heworks with President Guy McGinnis and runs

(01:53):
everything from the bus system to platform. I don't think there's anything you don't
do in that parish at some timeor another, at least that's what Guy
McGinnis tells me. Mike Bayham isjoining us on the air, and you
have an announcement to the Mike,wait a minute, I'm voting for you
because the guy who can really getthe job done, meaning right there out
in the trenches doing it, that'sone we need in political office, not

(02:13):
these high class connars that we havegoing forward to my hearing what you have
to share, Mike, You've gota pretty big announcement for us, aren't
you. That's right. I'm goingto be a candidate for State Representative for
District twenty oh three. That district, the lines are all of Saint Bernard.
I had worked with the House andGovernmental Affairs Committee to ensure that Saint

(02:34):
Bernard's district was not brought cut upinto three different parishes as it was previously.
We will plaque them in part ofNew Orleans East and Saint Bernard itself,
but there was no need for thatto have happened back then, and
we corrected this mistake in the reapportionmentsession last year, and so now Saint
Bernard has its own State Rep district, and I'm very proud of that accomplishment

(02:58):
because unfortunately we're divided into two Senatedistricts. And you know, there was
a time when Saint Bernard had twoState Rep seats and not only the heart
of a Senate district, but thepresidency of the Senate at one point.
And right now we're we're taught intwo now. Fortunately, the two individuals
who represent the Senate, though nowthey're from Saint Bernard, have been very

(03:22):
good to our community. They've workedwith our elected officials that I've worked with
them on countless occasions, and they'vecertainly been very instrumental in delivering needed support
for projects we have in our community. But you know this is whoever wins
the seat will almost certainly be SaintBernard's only voice in the state capital.

(03:44):
And I have an experience with stategovernment that dates back to nineteen ninety five,
and it worked in the Senate.I worked in the capacity of the
Legislative Ade to the late Senator Cecilt Card and I got to become friends
with people like John Hankel, ofcourse, who's a big figure in politics
in the New Orleans area and inthe Republican Party, Senator former Senator Craig

(04:10):
Romero, Ken Collis who died afew years ago. But that these were
people I had an opportunity to workwith, and most of them are gone.
In fact, I think the onlytwo individuals stolen a legislature from going
to work there in ninety five wasGreg Tarver, who's not going for a
reelection, and Francis Thomas Thompson,who is now a Republican in his seeking

(04:33):
reelection, and I think Francis wasin the legislature since the fall was born.
Yeah, he's completing forty seven years. He went from the House to
the Senate in term limits and backto the House. And it's there's times
where I used to write very criticalarticles about Francis Thompson and it's kind of
weird being in the same party ashe shows you how much things have changed.

(04:55):
Just so you release, I've knownMike Bayham since we were pretty much
sixteen years old. I've watched him, so everything he's telling you is quite
true, starting at a very earlyage. And Mike, one of the
things that's happened is there's not alot of historical memory in the legislature anymore.
A lot of people who are electedthe names you've given out, they
literally would look at you blankly andnot know who you're talking about. And

(05:16):
it's not just these personalities, it'sknowing where for lack of a better term,
and Louisian this could be literal,but knowing where the bodies are buried,
knowing how the appropriations process works,knowing how the regulatory process works.
This kind of experience matters a littlebit. Well, you know, you
do see John Hankle's face. Theyhave a sculpture of them about the elevators.
But Francis Thompson is kind of aliving memorial to himself, and I

(05:41):
had a chance to visit with himtowards the end of session. And I've
known Francis since nineteen ninety two whenI was at LSU. But I could
tell you that it's important to haveinstitutional knowledge because I've seen where that is
one of the few failings of termlin. It's not I'm a supporter of torone
limits. I think it brings farmore good than bad with it. But

(06:05):
you know that is one of thethat that is one of the considerations is
that you lose institutional knowledge, andyou do need to have that memory and
recall of things that happen in institutionsand laws and in legislative issues from the
past and see how so you don'tmake those same mistakes again in the future.

(06:29):
And so U and you know,I do bring that to the table
in addition to a working relationship withhelpless legislators in both the House and the
Sin and Mike Baham. This isparticularly important for Saint Bernard at this juncture
in history, Saint Bernard is changing. I never thought i'd hear myself saying
all the hipsters are moving into Araby, but it's becoming true. On the

(06:49):
one hand, you have the byewaterextending into Araby. On the other hand,
the old suburban neighborhoods that was SaintBernard are experiencing major change. You're
seeing demographic change, You're seeing parishchange. And I'm curious, you're kind
of You've got a front row seatto all of this because not only running
for this office parish wide, you'rebasically the guy who deals with a lot

(07:10):
of these pressures in parish government.And what is what is happening to Saint
Bernard? How is it changing?Well, you do have you do have
people investing in the community. Thecrime and the taxes and the failure of
the municipal services in New Orleans aredriving people out. Now some people,
you know, used to be thatSaint Tammany's or Jefferson was where people relocated.

(07:31):
Now you know, people are givingSaint articles to look because you do
have the close proximity to downtown NewOrleans. For those who have office jobs
in downtown on Canal and Portress.Those who you know, have to deal
with um, you know, peoplethat that that are priced out of the
Jefferson real estate market on people thator Saint Tammany. So Saint Bernard is

(07:56):
an alternative we do have. Wedo have a an abundance of land in
our parish. It's undeveloped or clearedsince Katrina, and some people see Saint
Bernard as an affordable alternative. Andthere are a lot of corollaries. There's
a lot of similarities between Saint Bernardand Saint Charles Parish. But we're a
lot closer to the city, andyou know, we have a good sheriff's

(08:20):
department in our community. Our districtattorney is not shy about charging people for
in throwing the book at those whoengage in criminal activity in our in our
parish, So you'll have a veryfunctional parish and that the people that are
there are very productive and functional.And like for instance, when when Katrina

(08:41):
hit, many of the law firmsthat had closed down because their infrastructure with
Saint Bernard people and they just didn'tcome back. So the law firms they
had the lawyers, they just didn'thave all the backup, you know,
paralegals and the legal secretaries and allthat kind of stuff that were coming out
of Saint Bernard, and many ofthem actually moved to the North Shore and
they got so active in Saint TammanyParis, we started calling Saint amNY Paris

(09:03):
Saint Taminard. So that's a greatcredit to the people of Saint Bernard.
It's truly a really fine Paris withsome great people. Well we have we
have a resilient people, and that'sreally the secret ingredient to our Saint Bernard.
It's not just a place, it'sa culture, it's a people.
It's people who rebuilt after Hurricane Betsyin nineteen sixty five that rebuilt again in

(09:28):
two thousand and five. Saint Bernard'scomeback was far faster than New Orleans,
even though we had fewer resources.Effect we were neglected essentially during Katrina.
We didn't get much attention, youknow, every all of the focus was
on New Orleans. Saint Bernard hadto literally pull itself back up from its
own boot bootstraps, and we didget some help from folks in Alabama who

(09:50):
all worked with on search and rescue. We had some folks from Canada that
anticipated the hurricane that showed up.You know, we had these folks from
Ohio firemen, so you know,we other communities looked after us better than
the state. Than the state andthe federal government did in some ways,

(10:13):
which is unfortunate. But part ofthat was our community was completely cut off
from the world. I mean,unlike New Orleans, our parish was one
hundred percent inundated. Our government wastrapped in any building with steaks and water
that was ten feet high. Iremember, so, uh you know,
so you and you did not havethe communication devices and infrastructure that you have

(10:37):
in place now. Yeah, thehighest watermarks of any place in the Greater
Normals area twenty feet. I wasthere. I was all over Saint Bernard
after the hurricane, had a lotof friends down there, and well,
we got we got to double count. We got, we got. We
got hit by the mist, wegot hit by the industrial canal failures.
That was where the first water camein to Araby, and then we got

(10:58):
hit from behind by the Mississippi ofa golf outlet, which years before Katrina
I was an outspoken advocate for closingthat shipping channel because of the ecological damage.
You did talk let me let melet me say this. It was
prophetic because I remember sitting in councilmeeting Mike. For those that don't know,
Um, Mike Bayham is joining us. He's running for the state legislature.

(11:20):
But this is not his first electiveoffice. He was a Say Bernard
councilman and before he went to workin parish government for the parish president.
And you I remember you talking aboutGod help me, something along the lines
of God help us if that thingever comes in attacks And it was about
a year before Katrina or something alongthose lines. The dark shot right end
of your parish. Mike. Yeah, it was essentially like an expressway for

(11:43):
title, sir, like a shotgunbamed right at the more like a tsunami,
you know, coming through. Waswrote it in And Mike, now
that that's closed, it's something youworked very hard on. Say Bernard hasn't
quite gotten back the population it hadpre Katrina. It's lost it, but
it's gotten many other people that havemoved in from the city. If ever,
if anything is probably Saint Bernard ismore integrated with the metro area more

(12:05):
today than at any point in itshistory. But it has changed as a
parish. Um, tell us whatyou know. A lot of people make
fun of Saint Bernard. Let's faceit, it's been a punchline. But
Saint Bernard today is not your daddy, Saint Bernard. It's a different place
and good and many other ways.But you still have your Salmatians. Never
forget that, Mike. How isSaint Bernard changed? Well, s Saint

(12:26):
Bernard. I mean we had peoplethat after Katrina, they already paid their
dues in Hurricane Betsy, and said, look, they can't do this anymore.
You know, the house flooded forthe second time catastrophically. You know,
those people can't blame him. Theirsenior citizens, they didn't have the
wherewithal physically to deal with evacuations andloss of power and rebuild them a home.

(12:52):
So they pulled stakes and went tothe north Shore, which I can't
blame them. Some dear friends ofmine not relocated to Unchitula and Saint Tammany
and Mississippi. So you had avacuum from people leaving, and there are
folks who in the city and somepeople who came in to help with the

(13:13):
recovery, and they liked the community. So much they wanted to stay.
And there are some people I've met, wonderful people that they stopped what they
were doing because they were familiar withthe tragedy of Katrina and they wanted to
do their part. And they fellin love with the community when they came
down here. And we do havea unique culture. It's very informal culture,

(13:33):
but it's very warm and embracing.And look same in our people.
We're decent folks, you know.We're people who look for our neighbors,
who look for our community. Youknow, just because just because as a
person doesn't know that doesn't mean theytreat you like a stranger. You know,
we want everyone to have a goodlife. We want everyone to be

(13:54):
safe in our community and be aproductive member of our community. And look,
I mean Saint Bernard was initially populated, you know, in the twentieth
century by folks from the Ninth Boardwho came in what Kaiser, So you
know, most of Saint Bernard's populationfor decades was actually east of the Violet

(14:16):
Canal. I looked at an oldpolice jury map and down the road had
more votes than up the road.But that changed with the development of the
oil refineries. That changed with KaiserAluminum, which was huge, which really
gave birth to Chalmette because Sean Mettused to just be you know, open
Oak farmland. Parish road was calledVersailles. That was where tomatoes were harvested.

(14:41):
So Mike Bahamas joining us. He'srunning for parish wide in Saint Bernard
for the state representative post from SaintBernard in the October fourteenth primary. And
Mike, we've been we've talked tofifteen minutes and we haven't promoted your actual
campaign announcement that's coming up this Wednesday. Can you talk about that? Well?
On August ninth at Rocky Carlos atsix thirty, we're gonna have a

(15:01):
campaign kickoff fundraiser. It's one hundreddollars a ticket and it's gonna be in
a Sicilian room. And Rockies isa very special place to me. It's
my favorite restaurant in the world.It's literally I grew up in Rockies.
You know, my grandfather used toon those way to bringing me to school.
We had to eat breakfast there.And you know the owners of Rocking

(15:22):
Carlos, originally mister Rocky but thenhis son Tommy who's a dear friend of
mine, a friend of the family. Used to bring my grand prior to
Katrina, used to bring my grandfather'slunch every day. Personally, I'll be
there tomorrow with the Ministers group tomorrow. We love Rocking Carlos. It is.
Yeah, it's a great place andthe Daughters of British Empire do a

(15:43):
lot of their social events there relatedto the Battle of New Orleans and they're
great defeat well well, Rockies isRockies has really been a big part of
my life and I couldn't think ofa better place to kick off my campaign.
So that'll be of course on theninth on Wednesday, and it is
open to the public for anybody wantsto come and have some good food and

(16:04):
support your candidacy. And we'll giveout that information again after the break.
But Mike Bayham, we got alot to talk about about the future of
Saint Bernard, the challenges to comein the port issue, which I know
is a major issue, and abit of a disagreement between you and the
previous incumbent who's been term limited out, and we're going to talk about all
that more after these important messages.Stay tuned more of the Founders Show with

(16:26):
Hi mckenry and Christopher Timore our specialguest Mike Bayham right after these important rescue,
recovery, re engagement. These arenot just words. These are the
action steps we at the New OrleansMission take to make a positive impact on
the homeless problem facing the greater NewOrleans area. Did you know in twenty

(16:49):
twenty, homelessness in our community increasedby over forty percent. We are committed
to meet this need to the workbeing done at the New Orleans Mission.
We begin to rescue process by goingout to the community every day to bring
food, pray, and share thelove of Jesus with the hopeless and hurting

(17:11):
in our community. Through the processof recovery, these individuals have the opportunity
to take time out, assess theirlife, and begin to make new decisions
to live out their God given purposeafter the healing process has begun. No
one is meant to live under abridge. No one should endure abuse,

(17:33):
no one should be stuck in addiction. The New Orleans Mission is a stepping
stone out of that life of destructionand into a life of hope and purpose.
Partner with us today go to www. Dot New Orleans Mission dot org,
or make a difference by texting toseven seven nine for eight Welcome back

(17:59):
to the Founders Show. You canalways hear this program every Sunday from eight
to nine am on w RNL ninefive FM, every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. Friday, Monday and Wednesdayin WSLA ninety three point nine FM,
fifteen sixty AM twenty four seven threesixty five on the iHeartMedia app, and
of course at the Founders Show dotcom. As always, I'm Christopher Tidmore
and chap On High mc henry withmy whole partner here always workings so very

(18:21):
hard to bring you the truth,the whole truth. Another about the truth,
so help us God, and Mike, I know you're a man about
truth. Really looking forward to hearmore of your insights and advice for us
and what you're planning to do.We're looking forward to Mike. One question
I got is you. For thosethat know you, you were secretary of
the Louisiana Republican Party. You've beeninvolved in politics and races, not just

(18:42):
your own, but for many othercandidates. You've run races, you've managed
races, and one of the challengesthis election cycle. I literally wrote an
article in Louisiana Weekly about it isit's really hard for candidates to get attention
because, frankly, the governor's racehas taken the oxygen out of the room.
Even though most people know it probablygoing to be a runoff between Jeff
Landry and Sean Wilson, and alot of down ticket accunidates are trying to

(19:06):
say, hey, I'm here,I'm running, and there's not really a
lot of media or personal attention onthis race. So how are you getting
people's attention that you are running forthe legislature. Well, social media is
bigger now than it was twenty yearsago. You know. I was one
of the first candidates in say buthard to have a website. I was
the first candidate who promoted an emailaddress or a cell phone number. You

(19:29):
know, these are all things thatI utilized that my opposition didn't. And
as a councilman, I was thefirst councilman with an email address. I
was the only councilman what a computerin his office. You know, I
was the first councilman to encourage peoplesend their complaints about the district that needs
we needed to address. The emailso utilizing new technology is something that I

(19:53):
embrace. And we're going to doa lot on social media. I've got
an Instagram account, got a website, Facebook page, But a lot of
it's going to be retail politicking,which is something I enjoy because this is
where I learned what's on voter's mind. When I ran for councilman, I
did started my campaign with a listeningtour. I walked the district with a

(20:15):
pen and paper and just knocked ondoors and said, Hi, my name's
Michael Bayham. I'm running for councilman. I'm not here to tell you why
you should vote for me. I'mhere to ask you what's on your mind
and what do you think the parishneeds to do. And it was a
new strategy no one had ever done, and I called it a listening tour

(20:36):
and I walked the area and Ijust the only thing I did was leave
a sheet of paper behind with myname and some general bio and encourage people
to share their thoughts with me.And I got a lot of great input
on that, because that's something thatrepresentative or a councilman, or anyone should
do in order to learn what bookpeople's priorities are now. There are things

(21:00):
that are very important. It maynot be in the public consciousness because you
know, when you're in government,you may be more familiar with certain infrastructure
issues that are critical that may notbe circulated or appreciated. But you also
need to address the people's needs andtheir concerns. So that's going to be

(21:22):
part of my campaign. Is theretail and last time I ran for state
were up twelve years ago. Ididn't have much money. I think I've
spent maybe ten thousand dollars at twentythree percent of the vote. Only mister
run off a few points despite thespending disparity. But I got that twenty
three percent because I worked for it. I went through the door. I
talked to people and treat people withcourtesy and respect, and you listen to

(21:47):
them, and you know, youcan't address every issue and every concern,
or you can't make every vote orhappy. You know, I'll never forget
what I campaign for. Councilman hadone God said he wouldn't vote for me
because I was a Republican, andI pointed out, were all out A
candidates a Republican in this race?He said, well, I'm not going
to vote. They said, well, you've got to sign up for a

(22:08):
guy running for judge, so apparentlyyou're going to be voting. And he
said, well, I don't haveto vote for counselman. And needless to
say, I didn't agree with thattake, because at the end of the
day, someone's going to be acouncilman, so you may as well choose
the person that you think will doat least a better job than the others.
But you know, some people,you know, are pretty strong in

(22:29):
their ways, and it is whatit is. And you can't make everyone
happy, and you shouldn't try tomake everyone happy. And because you can't,
you can't do that. It's impossibleand you can't. And Mike and
I've had people tell me that,you know, in New Orleans when I
was running as a Republican's it comesinto that element. But talk about something
that can't make everybody happy. Probablyif one issue has been resonating across the

(22:52):
state, it's an issue that isdividing Saint Bernard, and it's an issue
that you've been involved, you know, trying to figure out what to do.
And that is the extension of thePort of New Orleans into Saint Bernard.
You're the previous incumbent, Ray Graffalowas a strong supporter of it.
I'm getting the sense though, onthe ground, basically because I haven't yet
anybody from Saint Bernard who supports it, that this is not a popular issue

(23:15):
in Saint Bernard. No, andit's not popular because this thing is going
to have an adverse effect on thequality of life of the people in Saint
Bernard. And this is in asituation like you had in Charleston, South
Carolina, where they built communities aroundthe port. This is a port being
built up in the middle heart ofcommunities, and that's simply, you know,

(23:40):
is not any interest of our people, and it is highly unpopular in
our community. I can't blame anyonefor Mike. Couldn't they build it like
an old factory, So maybe theold chives are aluminum plants something like that.
We're already well, we have aport there, but they want something
that's they want virgin landscape and theywant to go back very far. So

(24:03):
I mean, this thing is theKaiser is not big enough for what they
want. Okay, I've seen theplans. This thing is going to be
huge, so okay, well,but it's gonna you know, like Kaiser's
only a lot of the industry isno longer there, and that those were
great jobs for the people in SaintBernard. This would bring great jobs for
the people in Saint Bernard. Itseems like they can. They can put
borders up and make it look reallovely, you know, attractive and anything,
and put expressway to it so it'snot a lot of traffic running through

(24:26):
your streets and whatnot. It seemslike they could do it in a way
that would be would work. Isthat possible? According to the ambitious plans
I've seen by the port, itcannot be done. They need too much
land for what they envision, andSaint Bernard does not have the infrastructure for
this. And there there's talk ofbuilding the infrastructure. But look, I

(24:48):
mean, this is the same statethat built an airport without an access road.
You know, no one in SaintBernard trusting, has any reason to
trust outside interest to look for ourbest interest. So let me ask you
this question. There's no doubt thatLouisiana has a competitive disadvantage because we don't
have a container port. Bernard isPlaquemont. On the other side, of
the river has kind of wowed aport to do just that, to actually

(25:11):
build a container port. What isthe status of that. I think we
have jurisdictional issues with all of this. Um, you know, we have
a confederacy of port boards in louisIn South Louisiana. You left out a
term, it was confederacy of duncesof port boards. But okay, well

(25:32):
they're very wealthy people, so youknow, I'm not going to call them
dunces, but but you do.And you know, part of the issue
is that each entity wants to havecontrol and unfortunately in Louisiana, we believe
in this system that that there isn'ta whole umbrella that really coordinates these things,

(25:57):
and no one looks at the holisticapproach of what benefits the state while
providing the minimum amount of degradation ofquality of life. And you know,
that is something that that's something that'sone of the reasons why Louisiana doesn't do
as well. Now consider this aswell. I mean, it takes a

(26:19):
while to meander a boat up theriver. So I mean when you hear
about things like well Galveston and Houston, they're practically on the water they have
to navigate ships through a bay.You know they don't need to or Charleston.
I mean, it's the port's rightthere on the water. I mean,

(26:40):
the river isn't a straight line.I mean that's why they built the
mist Go. And look out howwell the mist Go walked out for everybody.
I'm being facetious. Please don't takeme literally, but trust me,
a mist is an economic, financial, and environmental disaster. Mike Mike Baham

(27:00):
is joining us here in the FoundersShow with him, Henry and Christopher Tidmore.
He's running for State rep for adistrict that covers all of Saint Bernard
Parish. He's been involved in SaintBernard Parish government for decades, an assistant
to the President of Saint Bernard,and he of course was a former councilman
in Saint Bernard. I actually somebodyasked me, what do you do for
the parish president, and Mike,well, let me let me. I

(27:23):
do the governmental relations for the parishand I do special projects. During the
last two legislative sessions, I wasembedded up in Baton Rouge to make sure
that we got support for our jailrepairs and secured funding for special operations facility
that our sheriff needs. So I'vebeen working on that being keeping an eye

(27:47):
on bills that affect the levy districtsthat could be adverse to our community.
I know there was a bill StateRep that would have extended that would have
hampered the operation of leaving maintenance bychanging up the right of ways and for
them to get machinery through. SoI was tracking a number of bills throughout

(28:11):
the session and you know, essentiallydoing the work. I've a representative just
on the opposite side of the brassrailing. So I've also was chairman of
the Fisheries Task Force pre Katrina toseek a Fisheries Disaster declaration in DC after
they opened up the Bonnie Craze spillwaysand Mississippi River freshwater cass skating into Lake

(28:34):
Pont train which found its way intoour estuaries and had an adverse effect on
our on our seafood industry or oystersand including our marine mammals. We had
a lot of dolphins getting sick anddying from being contaminated with the freshwater.
So and I've been working on thoselevels for quite some time because I'm one

(29:00):
of the few people in Louisiana who'snot a really well paid lobbyist who has
direct working relationships with not just ourentire congressional delegation. And many of these
people I've had worked with for overtwenty years. In case of Mike Johnson,
thirty years he and I were instudent government together at LSU. But

(29:21):
you know Kevin McCarthy in nineteen ninetyeight, he and I won the National
Young Republican Board together. I mean, this is someone who actually donated to
my council campaign in two thousand andone, and Steve Scleeze went door to
door for me. So the futurespeaker and a future majority leader of Congress
literally intersected into my council race,you know, in two thousand and one,

(29:41):
which I don't think anyone in America. I don't think many people can
say that. Mike, I dowant to actually go a little further.
We want to talk some more aboutSaint Bernard, and I'm want to close
out the show talking about our favoritetopic, the Battle of New Orleans and
the re enactments. But we gotto go a little further. If you
get elected to the legislature, youwill walk into a fiscal crisis. We're

(30:03):
be going from feast to famine.The point four or five percent sales tacks
will be rolling over the end ofthe BP settlement has pretty much been spent
this year. There's not going tobe any lingering COVID money, and economically,
the state is going to be facingpossibly some pretty big deficits. To
talk to us about the fiscal environmentthat we're facing next year and some of

(30:26):
the problems we're going to have tobe confronting. It's funny how the last
year of a governorship goes from beingall you could eat buffet to a souper
kitchen the next year when someone elseis in charge. But that's the Louisiana
way. I guess when it comesto politics. I could tell you that

(30:47):
we'll know what the real numbers arenext year. And one thing we need
to do is look at our spendingand figure out what where where are we
not getting the best return in ourinvestment, What investments the state has made
in spending and departmental spending that canbe cut if need be, without too

(31:11):
much of an adverse effect on services. And look, well, we're going
to have a new governor. We'regonna have a new outlook on We're gonna
have a Republican governor almost certainly,and we're going to have to look at
where are the priorities of our newgovernor versus the priorities of the old governor.
And I think we may have alot more wibble room to work with

(31:33):
than you would think. Well,one major difference, one major difference,
and I think this is bigger thanjust the corporate franchise tax. But the
legislature overwhelmingly, I think that wasone vote against it. We repealed the
corporate franchise tax. But the reasonthey were willing to do it was that
about basically about fifteen years ago,we capped the amount of money that comes

(31:56):
from corporate income and corporate franchise atsix hundred million dollars and any thing above
that had to go into the rainyday fund or retirement funds. That intrigues
me because when you do something likethat, you force people long term to
be able to be fiscally responsible andmaybe cut taxes, but short term,
you don't you get votes for itbecause it doesn't affect anybody right now.

(32:19):
When I think they did that,it was Walt leje the third and he
set the bar at six hundred million, which people thought was so high we'll
never achieve it. We ended upgetting there about eight years later, and
so it was an environment if youcould talk about the appeal the corporate franchise
tax that was veto, but alsotalk about this idea that we can set
some boundaries that might take effect inten years, but actually take effect sooner

(32:42):
or later. Well, the firstthing is we need to become more competitive
in terms of attracting business. Louisianait has not enjoyed the investment that other
southern states have, where you havenot the same um workforce benefits that o
the states have. I mean stateslike South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia.

(33:07):
You know they're growing, you knowTennessee, and we do need to be
competitive with the rest of themself.It is expensive being the exception to the
rule. However, you cannot doshock therapy to the budget as well.
So we are going to have tolook at what the what the real financial

(33:29):
members are going to be and tryto do things in a way that that
that will enhance our ability to attractlong term business investment. And one of
the things we have to do isin still confidence in people that Louisiana.
We're not going to bait and switchpeople. We're not going to cut something
and then go right back, youknow a few years later after you've sunk

(33:51):
you know, millions of dollars ofinvestment, you know, into our communities,
into our state with business relocations,and we have to figure out which
is going to be the best avenueto pursue. Now, the governor did
veto the corporate franchise tax repeal bySenator Island, who this was something he

(34:14):
worked very hard on. And SenatorAlan's a dear friend of mine and I've
worked with him on a bunch ofthings. And his son, Robert is
running for the seat. And youknow, Robert is a very sharp person.
And you know, if he getselected, it's not going to because
of his father's name. It's becausehe will have earned earned that seat.
You know, he's there's no baitand switch. He's as sounds say,

(34:36):
Robert Alan and as his aland sentit. So he's doing the right thing
in that area. But we haveto look at what the numbers are going
to be, look at what thepotential gain is going to be, and
figure out a long term plan onthe physical approach otherwise, which is,
you know, pull clog on something. We could have some major budget issues.

(34:57):
But you know, one thing I'venoticed a the revenue estimating. They
always tend to be a lot moreconservative and then when they about the gavel
and all of a sudden, oh, we got a lot more money than
we plan. So you know,we just have to see what we're actually
dealing with. We could speculate allwe want, but we won't know.
I mean, we do know oflooming obligations that are out there. Well,

(35:22):
but let's face forty billion dollars inpension funds requirements that are coming due
for baby boomers that are retiring,and we have no idea how to pay
for it. I mean, that'sthat was an argument, and that was
an argument for not bustling the budgetthis year. And so for those that's
just joining us. Mike Bayham isrunning for state legislature, state representative from

(35:43):
Saint Bernard. He will be thewell the Saint representative for Say Pernard.
He has got an event campaign announcementand fundraiser on the ninth of August that's
Wednesday at Rocking Carlos. It isfree and open to the public and Mike
before so we'll do this at leasta couple more times before the show.
Somebody wants to find out more aboutyour campaign or get in touch with you,
how will they do it? Theycould go online Mike for Saint Bernard
dot com. They could go tomy Facebook page Mike Bam for Saint Bernard

(36:07):
and uh, you know, ifif you're in Sant Bernard, there's a
chance I'll be running into you soonon the campaign trail. And Mike,
let's let's because we can talk alot about the state. I know,
Um, if Jeff Landry as governor, we're gonna be talking a lot about
education, particularly vouchers, UM probablybeing expanded, something that we've seen in
other states. There's gonna be alot of issues there come We're gonna see

(36:29):
it's a lot of social issues aswell. But what I'm what I'm hoping
is that we see more on fiscaltransparency. You brought up all these issues.
You know, we have to getlet we have to find out what's
in there. What most of thepublic doesn't realize is how opaque this process
is. That even if you're inthe you're around the legislature you're around these
people. You're your journalist like me, you're obvious like you who are dealing

(36:52):
with these trying to we don't evenknow what's going on. Sometimes the legislatures,
legislators don't know where the money isand we're all right think, you
know, member of the legislator ortelling me they thought that something got cut
on the budget and it was ona different page of a very large bill.
So you're right. I mean,it's the you know, the legislative

(37:14):
legislature. I'm sorry, the legislativeprocess can go very, very slow,
and all of a sudden they couldbreak the sound barrier. And he too.
And that's something that every candidate,not just my race, but across
the state needs to understand. Itmay pay like a bad part time job

(37:35):
because legislators on their salaries sixteen thousand, eight hundred, there's a per Damn,
there's a little bit here, buttrust me, it is a This
is not a way you're going tomake a whole lot of money. So
it's a low paying job. Theyhaven't adjusted it since the eighties, and
every time they've looked at adjusting,uh, they demurred. And now partly

(37:59):
due to the fact that they triedto do it where people that were about
to retire, and back when youryears in a legislature canta towards retirement,
these people would have had a nicewindfall because you know, but and you
know that got scrapped rightfully. Butyou know, this is going to be
a job where you're going to haveto not just invest well over one hundred

(38:21):
days of your year to baton rouge, but you got to be there early,
and you got to be prepared tostay there late. And you got
to be in that building because ifyou walk, you take a walk out
that building at the chamber at thewrong moment, you know, or you
miss a committee meeting, they're gonnabe some problems and you could miss a
lot. And I've literally tracked,you know, the capital outlay builds these

(38:45):
last few years, and these thingshave been, you know, significantly changed
where money wasn't there. Money popsup, money gets cut, money pops
up, money gets cut, andit's constant. It's like the whack a
mole. And it could be downto it could be down to the person
who's advocating for not being in theroom, who's a legislator. I would

(39:07):
say I would say the museum funding, because I happened to be covering a
story and they kept saying what isthis for? And they were going to
strike it, and I just putin a thing and said, well this
is what it's for. They hadno idea, So well, well I
could I could go one further.It could come down to what's your working
relationship with the conference committee members?That's true, you know that that is
Look, six people can four sixpeople could and rewrite the budget in the

(39:31):
blink of an eye. And Mike, we're running low in time, and
I know High has got a question, and I want to ask you a
culture speaking of museums and the budget, is anything going to be in the
air for the dude drop in thebirthplace of rock and roll right here in
New All. I'll answer you aquestion. There's nothing in there for it
right now. What do you thinkyou think you could muscle something up for

(39:53):
it? I think Louisiana's cultural tourismis a key staple of our economy,
It's part of our identity. Andlet's face it, you come to Louisiana,
people think of two things, musicand food. And we need to

(40:14):
look if I would have been incharge of designing the airport. I would
have designed it to make it looklike a musical note. It could have
been a musical note. We couldhave We could have done with so that
when people see this airport when they'reabout the land. Yeah, I mean,
there's no reason why that couldn't havebeen done. It wouldn't have been
there. We could have had anextension. One of the things I proposed
was I'd sit on the Louisiana StateMuseum Board, as Mike knows and knows,

(40:37):
and we proposed doing a mini museumin there. Or you know,
there was a lot of stuff thatcould have been done, and that let
me let me, because we're almostout of time, Mike, let me
transition. You have all I've donea lot. High's done a lot.
But you, I can say,without fear of contradiction, have almost single
handedly kept alive the celebration of thegreatest American victory this side of the Mississippi,

(41:00):
the reenactment of the Battle of NewOrleans and the history of that as
a cultural tourism and activity as wellas a historical activity. And it's been
a lonely battle, but you've keptit alive year after year, after year
on the parriside and it's an example. Can you talk about that and how
we could use some of our historyas a way of drawing people to be
tourists, spending money here and enjoyingin this place. In two thousand and

(41:22):
one two, when I was acouncilman, I went to the annual commemoration
at the battlefield and asked a question, how come we don't have any reenactments.
We have people in period uniform,we have them firing cannons, but
just in the year and I wastold that the National Park Service doesn't allow

(41:42):
set piece battle re enactments on theirproperty. Said fine, about with the
reenactors? They said, guys,how would you like to do a battle
reenactment, even if it's not hereon the battlefield? Overwhelming support for it.
The next year, in conjunction withthe Louisiana Purchase by Centennial, we
had our first battle reenactment. Itwas held at Torres Park, as the

(42:04):
late Tim Pickles so blithely observed,Yes, we had the battle to protect
the monkey bars and the slides,but it was a beginning, and out
of that seed we planted. Startingin two thousand and two, we had
over a thousand reenactors participate in theBattle of New Orleans recreation and it brought

(42:30):
in tours from around the world.It brought us the British government officials,
and that is something that's been nearand dear to my heart because the Battle
of New Orleans is the most importanthistoric event to take place in Saint Bernard
and one of the most important militarybattles in world history. And in what

(42:51):
country loves to visit New Orleans?The United Kingdom. There is a strong
attachment the British have to New Orleans. They love this place and this is
something that we could you know,and look, foreign tours spend more money
the local tours because they're here fora while and they're here to indulge,
so not here for a quick visittheir beauty and booty. Well exactly,

(43:17):
but which was the which was thecoast of the alleged password for the British
camp prior to the Battle of Newand the battle cried during a battle and
Mike and I was I was proudto see that through your efforts um in
Saint Bernard government, you Tim Strainand others managed to keep the reenactment going

(43:37):
and of course, I played alittle role at this, but I can
honestly say that without your work,it would have died. There's no doubt
about it. And um, Ihope and I hope that people recognize the
amount of work. Somebody asked meI was making the joke of what Mike
doesn't do from running the buses andall the different special projects. But basically
the answer is, whenever something isbeing needed to be doing. You took

(43:59):
up that portfolio in Saint Bernard,and I hope you can continue it.
Being elected to the legislature. ChristFred, you've played a major role.
I was there, I saw it. Yeah. But Mike, if somebody
wants to attend your fundraiser a campaignannouncement at Rocky Carlos on Wednesday, give
that information out one more time ifyou would. We'll be Wednesday, August
ninth at six thirty in a Sissilianroom, which is a side where I'm

(44:20):
at Rockies. The suggested donations onehundred dollars needs to be needs to be
a check, can't show up atcash and you know because it's it will
be a donation and will go onour campaign finance reports. You could also
email me at Mike at Mike ForshaintBernard dot com or go to our Facebook

(44:42):
page Mike Bayham for Saint Bernard.Early voting folks starts on September thirtieth,
head and through the seventh and theelection is October fourteenth for the primary.
And Mike Bayham, we wish youthe best of luck running for the legislature.
You probably this season. I've lookedat the candidates for the third of
open seats. You're definitely the mostqualified of anybody who's running for the Legendary
Bayham is the man. Vote forBayham, Mike, thanks for joining us

(45:06):
here in the founder. Thank youfor having all right my god, bus
you sir, thank you, andfolks will be back with a patriotic moment,
the spiritual moment right after. Well, hardy, folks. It's Chaplanheim
mckinry, and I'm here to tellyou about our ministry, LAMB and Ministries.
We're an intercity ministry with an innercity focus and formula for inter city
folks. Please check us out.Go to our website and that's LAMB n

(45:28):
Ola dot com, lamb Nola dotcom, or just call me Chaplanhi mckinry
at Airy code five zero four seventwo three nine three six nine, Folks,
is very rewarding ministry. We've seenmany, many tragedies turned into victory.
Come join us. We've been atthis for twenty seven years now,
operational in the city of Noelus fortwenty seven years, and we need all
the help we can get. Weneed prayer warriors, we need finds for

(45:51):
support, and we need volunteers.So please, folks check us out and
thank you so very very much.Get the gifts of hours by calling Villaris
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End of summer road specials are abounding, all available at Villaries Florist one
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(46:15):
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Check them out one eight hundred villErie or Villies Florist dot com.
Well, folks from our back andyou are listening to the Founders show,
and this is none another then you'respingary ba by all the republic Chaplin high

(46:37):
Mgemery. And today we're going totalk about in our chaplain patriotic moment,
We're going to talk about the blackRobe Regiment. Now, during this time,
I just give you little history lessonsabout our biblical foundations, our Judeo
Christian jurisprudence. And let's talk aboutthat black Robe Regiment. Who was that
it was the most feared fighting forcein America according to the British US and

(47:00):
many of the military British military dispatches. Who was this black Robe Regiment?
My goodness? That dangerous? Yes, that dangerous, and we were the
black Robe Regiment was viciously attacked atevery turn in every operation by the British
during the war. The black RobeRegiment were the preachers of America because they
had played such a significant role inraising up the people's sentiments for patriotism to

(47:27):
have an independent country with liberty asour guide. They had done such an
amazing job for that and supplied somany of the soldiers and the commanders.
In fact, there's one story wherea mister Mullenberg, Reverend Muhllenberg, after
he preached a sermon calling Americans togo to war and defend our land.
He ripped off his black robe andunderneath it was the uniform of a US

(47:51):
military colonel, and he led hismembers to war. Folks, this is
an amazing story. Now, pleasedon't tell me these people want to keep
God out of God. This issilly, this is absurd, this is
insane. Yes, America, it'sbeen great because we've always kept God in
the middle of our government. Likeyou know, in God we trust on
our money. God. God isour trust in the National Anthem and the

(48:15):
so help us God when we doour oaths and on and on and on.
Folks. You know, how canyou say that we don't we didn't
want to have God and am ofcourse we did, and that's the reason.
That's what made America great. Andour finding falls kept telling us that,
so you know, God bless America. Well, folks, it is
now time for us to go intohow God can bless you as a person,
because you know, you could havethe greatest country in the world,

(48:37):
you could be the greatest patriot.But if you went through all that,
and you could talk about how greatGod is America. But if you did
all that and you still died andwent to hell. What good would it
do you? Because you see,this is an up close and personal thing,
your relationship with God. You canjust talk about him and know about
him and say he's great. Yougot to be up close and personal.
You got to be his child ifyou want to go to heaven. And
I'm gonna show you how you cando that right now as we go into

(48:57):
our chaplin blah blah gospel. Woman. You know, the Bibble says God
loves you with an everlasting love.The Bible says, for God so loved
the world, that's you, that'severybody. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, perfect
God, perfect man, all theway God and all the way Man,
that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believeth in him. Wow,
what does that mean? Believeth inhim? Well, only you believe

(49:19):
in him. Yeah, But it'sgot to be a little more than that,
right, and you kind of understandwhat you believe in a little more
about what you believing here. Andthis is what it means when it says
believing in him, it means believehis gospel. The Bible tells us what
the gospel is. For I declaredto you the gospel that Jesus died for
all of our sins, according thescripture, was buried and rose from the
dead, according the scripture. That'sFirst Corinthians in the Book of First Corinthians.

(49:40):
Folks, God loves you so much. He wants you in heaven.
He doesn't want you in hell,but you gotta believe his way. His
way is that because you couldn't doit, he did it for you.
He paid for your sins for you, because you would never be able to
do it. And the split secondyou realize that you just repented. You

(50:00):
see that's required in this belief system. That's required of you to go to
heaven. You have to believe youcannot save yourself. You're hopeless and help
us. Without God, you haveno way on your own, you won't
make it. And the moment youbelieve that you just repented. Okay,
next step is the positiveness. That'sa negative belief, not as a positive
belief. Negative belief is in yourself. And whereas don't believe in yourself,

(50:22):
believe only in God, believe onlyin Christ. That in fact, he
did die for all your sins.And the day you're born to the day
you die, your tiny is thegreat sense. He was buried and he
rose from the dead to win foryou his precious free gift of resurrection,
everlasting life. The moment you believethat and you really do with all your
heart, that means you not trustanything else. It's faith alone and Christ
and not alone. You're not believingthat your religion, your money, your

(50:44):
good looks, you charm, orwhatever you think you have going for you.
You realize that's worthless. That,in fact, that Bible calls that
filthy rags. Filthy rags. Allof your righteousness is as filthy rags.
Of Scripture says, think of this, He that knew not sin. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ was made sentall your dirty written sins. This isn't
First Corinthians five twenty one. Hethat knew no sin was made sin that

(51:05):
you might be made the righteousness ofGod in him. He took all of
your bad to give you all hisgood, and then you have all of
His righteousness. Folks, that can'tget any better than that. That's how
you know you're going to heaven.That's how you know that you can get
it. When you know said Godbless bringer, that's not you can know
you get the greatest personal blessing anyhuman being could ever get. Get that
right now. The Bible says,now today is a day of salvation.

(51:28):
And like the old Kutch said,preacher said, don't wait till it's too
late to finish the verse. Hesays that whosoever believed in him shall not
perish. This is John three sixteen. Not go to hell, but have
everlasting life. Again. If you'venever done this before, do it now.
You may not get tomorrow. Well, thank you so very much.
It is no time for us togo into our watchman on the wall.
You know today you hear a wholelot of folks, this is about end

(51:50):
times. This is about is Jesusreally coming back? And he's coming back
soon. I think he's coming backvery soon. So this is what it's
about, folks. The Bible saysthat in the in there would be wonders
and signs and the heavens of Biblesas in the days of Noah. What
were the days of Noah. Well, one of the unique things about the
days of Noah's devils cohabited with womenand produced these monsters, these x men,

(52:12):
these uh, these great uh legendaryfigures of Greek mythology, and all
the pagan countries had their own formof mythology, have human animal or whatever,
and they would superhuman. They couldrun faster than you know, than
a race horse. They could theyhad the strength of ten bulls. I
mean, they could do all thesegreat things, hercules, et cetera.
Um. They were giants also,and there many stories of giants. Uh.

(52:32):
The Bible one of the names fromhis Nephelin and that means giant.
Uh. The Bible says that's comingback. And it is interesting that in
ufology they keep talking about this.They call it other dimensional, like not
coming from the universe, but maybeanother dimensional, maybe heaven. The way
that the UFOs fly around, um, the way these things appear and disappear,
uh. The and they're describing thatthese creatures, these quote aliens,

(52:58):
are taken humans and cohabitant taking withthem. Could these actually really be devils
and they're cohabiting with humans again,like in the days of Noah. I
think that's what's going on, folks. Believe me, folks, we are
in the end we are in thefinal time. You need a safe house.
You need a bunker. The Biblesays, run of the hills,
hide in the caves. You needa bunker. And I guarantee you the
greatest bunker you'll ever find. It'sthe Lord Jesus Christ. Go to him

(53:20):
right now. I believe that hedid die for all your sins and rose
from the dead. And you gotyour bunker. And no matter what's going
on, you're gonna make it.Folks, it's gonna be good. So
thank you so very much for listento us. It's not time for us
to close, but the mind SaintMartins singing a creole goodbye and God bless
you all out there. Does thishave to be the end of the night?

(53:42):
Do I love you? In thepay lad, I can see across
the stars, kid,