Feedback: Letters to the editor

Jeff Landry response to column

OUR LEGISLATURE WRITES our laws, the governor enacts them and I defend them. This is the case with our state’s abortion restrictions signed by Kathleen Blanco in 2006 and John Bel Edwards this year. After Dobbs, these trigger laws went into effect; and the only ambiguity about them has been created by those wishing for their demise (Life in Jeff Landry’s Louisiana, JR Ball, August 2022 issue).

As an elected official, it is my sworn duty to uphold all laws. Unfortunately, our state has too many officials who believe our laws are a buffet where they can pick and choose which to enforce based on their personal ideologies.

Just as consumers vote with their dollars, the ballot box reflects the true market of our ideas. And in 2020, our state voted overwhelmingly to support an amendment declaring a right to abortion and the funding of abortions shall not be found in the Louisiana Constitution.

Our “best and brightest” are not moving from Louisiana because of this supposedly intolerant democratic process. While you may live in a bubble where social issues are acceptable scapegoats for our state’s problems and dictator analogies are sold like hotcakes, I do not.

People are fleeing our state almost as fast as your legacy media is losing subscribers for real reasons including tax-friendly policies, thriving business environments and a lack of COVID restrictions. They are also going to Texas, Tennessee and Florida in droves because those places are significantly safer than Louisiana.

Eight years ago, business owners feared for their properties; now they fear for their lives. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies like NOPD are struggling to recruit new police officers while misguided federal consent decrees prioritize woke politics over public safety—handcuffing cops, not criminals.

This is why we can’t have nice things: our elected officials refuse to enforce the laws because of “equity” when we are all equally getting victimized. As a result, our state continues struggling to attract good-paying jobs. Not too long ago, Louisiana had 23% of the nation’s refining capacity; today, it is only 21%. While every state increasingly hosts menus with a taste of Louisiana, they now also host too many of our neighbors as their new residents.

At the same time, our educational system does little to promote the education and skills necessary to make a decent living here. College is not meant to be a louder version of high school with more pronoun options. Rather, it is supposed to equip students for the world outside of academia. Instead of creating young leaders, our schools support diversity and inclusion of the individual but not of thought. Such blindness to our true problems, and thus the real solutions, is a byproduct of this echo chamber.

But these are merely glimpses into the failed policies and initiatives brought to you by Louisiana wokeness, resulting in innocent blood being shed in our streets while students scream to defund the police for trying to hold criminals accountable for their behavior. Yet have any of our corrupted leaders been held accountable for creating this perfect storm of chaos and mediocrity? No—because it is easier blaming our problems on my work as attorney general rather than exploring their true causes.

Such willful ignorance cannot possibly be good for business. It certainly is not serving Louisiana.

Jeff Landry, attorney general

Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge coming ALIVE!

I WAS HAPPY to read Rolfe McCollister’s editorial (It’s time for Baton Rouge to come ALIVE, Rolfe McCollister, September 2022 issue). While I will always be a Louisiana girl, I am glad to now be living in California.

It was often difficult to live in a place like Baton Rouge that wanted people like me to bring opportunity to the city and region, but then made change very difficult. I was very lucky, people in all the areas of Baton Rouge’s infrastructure (LSU, city, state, business and philanthropic) welcomed me at first. I had access to people and funds that most people never enjoy. While Rolfe’s editorial focuses on the ALIVE project, it points to a larger problem in Baton Rouge: the fear of change and a resistance to taking risks. Baton Rouge could do more to help keep young people and industry interested in the area. I left after trying for almost a decade to be part of a revolution to bring digital industry to Baton Rouge through LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology (CCT).

The state, LSU and Baton Rouge initially wanted change, but the city and its leaders struggled with investing in long-term plans. Education was our biggest problem. The industries I brought to the table wanted an educated and diverse workforce. We struggled to change their minds in the absence of convincing data. We could promise that we would educate the population, but we could only point to numbers of people in a far adjacent industry (oil and gas) and those numbers were nowhere near what places like Google, Sony, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft were looking for.

Being in such a conservative place that took itself too seriously was another problem. I remember working on a very important project for over a year that would have brought game development to Baton Rouge from the biggest studio in the world. The board of BRADIC told me to go after big fish, yet when I did those same officials treated those big fish with disdain and arrogance. I remember being dismissed from a meeting at the “Big Fish’s” offices in Europe after members of the Louisiana-based team showed up unprepared for this meeting with a world leader in the field and then acted as though the company should want to come to Louisiana because it’s, well, America. It was dismissive and arrogant. That contact had taken a year to develop and it was squandered in minutes. Baton Rouge had an opportunity to do something in that meeting that would have changed the state and it was treated like they were there pitching a new franchise at the Mall of Louisiana. I was embarrassed and that contact never took another call from me.

I loved what I did at LSU and I loved Baton Rouge. I felt welcomed (at first) and at home. But soon the conservatism and arrogance was doing real damage to my efforts, and eventually to me professionally. When I moved back to Los Angeles in 2012 I noticed that when people talked about politics, or indeed anything even remotely controversial, I became nervous. I realized that I had been editing myself for years in order to fit in. It’s not that Los Angeles doesn’t have a diversity of opinion—hardly. But even among conservatives where I live in the suburbs, there is an expectation that having a multitude of ideas is good for everyone in the end. That was dangerous to do openly in Baton Rouge.

If Baton Rouge is to take its place among the leaders of Southern or national midsized cities it must first take a long, hard look at its practices and attitudes. It must be willing to make 20-, 50- or even 100-year commitments to change the state’s educational attainment—both in educational levels and in diversity of degrees and areas of specialty. It will have to make investments in content creation and stop looking outside for brilliance—there are educated, talented, capable people right there in Baton Rouge. Support them and they will stay and build infrastructure around their efforts. One need only look at the successes in Austin around SXSW, game development and Robert Rodriguez’s studio to see how this can work.

Perhaps if Baton Rouge were a little more self-reflective on how it sees history, education, diversity, women’s issues, religion, creativity and politics it would be easier to keep people like me (and all the folks in Los Angeles who come to my semi-annual jambalaya and gumbo parties) from leaving in the first place. If you want to change the state, stop looking out, and look in—both at your attitudes and also at the talent that has stayed and committed to making their art and commerce there.

I am grateful for the opportunities I had in Baton Rouge. Those were some of the most formative years of my career. But it came at a great personal and professional price. I encourage the city’s leaders to reconsider their efforts as they think about Rolfe’s editorial. Build opportunities to support your local creative professionals, and reflect on ways to present the people of Baton Rouge in a way that makes the world sit up and take notice. That will come with education, humility, grace and clarity about the past and the future.

Stacey Simmons

Los Angeles, California

Our philosophy centers on continuous improvement, teamwork, transparency and making a difference.

FORMED IN February of 2005, the company offered only flooring services at first, but expanded to provide countertop installation and fabrication in 2008. Today, with its custom fabricators and design consultants, Assured Flooring & Countertops enjoys a reputation for combining the beauty of nature and craftsmanship to create exquisite interiors.

AFC has also grown to include 25 employees and multiple locations, including a showroom and a warehouse/fabrication facility. The company caters to both residential and commercial construction projects, and its granite fabrication facility is currently the largest in the state, producing 7,000 square feet of granite per month.

The company culture promotes teamwork and values its employees. Leaders recognize the team with annual appreciation demonstrations that include bonuses, quarterly team building events, and holiday parties.

We take great pride in staffing our properties with the best-trained people in the business, and it shows through overall performance and positive feedback.

ARTHUR C. LEWIS, III, owner of A. C. Lewis Management, has owned, managed, and built apartment properties since 1969. He has more than 50 years of experience managing multifamily housing, commercial offices, retail leasing, and commercial construction. The company currently manages and operates 21 multi-family properties throughout Louisiana.

Company culture is important at A.C. Lewis Management. The “hands-on” philosophy includes the involvement of senior team members in day-to-day operations. The company believes in hiring qualified professional people of good character and keeping them happy by respecting and welcoming their input, providing them with progressive technology, and rewarding them with competitive compensation and benefits. New employees are also given opportunities to excel and advance within the company.

Employee recognition takes many forms, including holiday gifts, additional days of paid time off (PTO), an annual retreat, performance awards with plaques and cash prizes, reviews with feedback and pay increases, and Years of Service awards complete with personalized gift baskets and gift cards.

James A. Spokes and Paul “Woody” Scott

The company culture focuses on diversity and inclusion, mutual respect, and high-quality representation.

PAUL “WOODY” Scott founded Scott Law Firm in 2010 on the premise that the legal industry was failing to keep up with what clients expected. He understood that by leveraging technology, he could provide better and more cost-efficient legal services, whether clients were looking for representation in personal injury, criminal defense or immigration cases.

Diversity and inclusion are also important at Scott Law Firm. Woody, who is fluent in Spanish, recognized that the local community included many Spanish speakers, so he addressed that need. In addition, the staff includes employees from a number of countries, speaking at least five languages. The firm’s mission is to “spark positive transformation” in every community they interact with.

Scott Law Firm is proud of its team and believes that experience matters. Employees are routinely recognized for their dedication, hard work, special achievements and strong job performance.

b1BANK prioritizes giving back to the communities that it serves.

SINCE BEING FOUNDED in 2006, b1BANK has grown to have more than $5.5 billion in assets across Louisiana and now into Dallas and Houston, Texas. With this growth, so has the b1BANK team grown—and they are proud to give back to the communities they serve through the b1COMMUNITY initiative and the b1FOUNDATION. b1BANK employees are afforded 16 hours of paid leave per year to volunteer for any non-profit, school, religious organization, or cause they are passionate about through the b1COMMUNITY program.

b1BANK’s commitment to service was reinforced by the establishment of the b1 FOUNDATION, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with the purpose of promoting entrepreneurship and financial education, and to assist employees in their time of need through an Employee Relief Fund. Through payroll deductions, b1BANKers support each other when they need it the most in unexpected and unavoidable emergencies.

We don’t simply build tools. We create solutions that help our clients stay ahead of the curve as they scale.

ELEVATOR3 was founded to provide honest advice on software needs. Due to demand, it quickly expanded from a side gig to a 16-employee company with two offices. The company offers a unique mix of talented employees who take the time to understand clients’ challenges, and it invests in the team’s development in order to offer the best solutions possible.

Elevator3 has big ambitions and knows every partner and employee becomes part of the story. As a learning organization, it strives to create an atmosphere of trust and transparency. Employee development and well-being is a priority because, in order to succeed, employees should be fulfilled and excited about their work.

The company makes a habit of recognizing employee accomplishments and demonstrating how their work creates a collaborative culture. This includes regular outings and bonuses for outstanding performance. Annual performance reviews are also conducted, which allows company leaders to recognize employees’ strengths and identify opportunities for growth.

Gallagher boasts a global client base and has been internationally recognized for industry leadership and best practices.

IT STARTED as a single office in Chicago and has grown to a publicly traded global organization. Gallagher today has 850 offices in 68 countries, and 39,000 team members with service capabilities in 150-plus countries. It is the only publicly traded firm led by insurance professionals, and one of the few firms that offers a consulting staff of local, national and international caliber.

Fostered through three generations of family leadership, Gallagher’s approach to business has always centered on creating relationship value as true partners with our clients. Your Gallagher team understands they can make a genuine difference in protecting and supporting your human capital only if they fully engage in your business.

Each quarter, local office leadership takes the time to recognize employee achievements and designates an Employee of the Quarter. An Employee of the Year is selected each year at the company’s annual sales conference. As part of the company culture, employees are routinely recognized and rewarded for their hard work and dedication.