LA-01: Getting to Know the District
Mon Jan 14, 2008 at 06:48:20 AM PDT
First of three parts.
With today's inauguration of Piyush "Bobby" Jindal as Governor of Louisiana, LA-01 no longer has a Congresscritter. One of our Kossacks, Gilda Reed, is running for the seat in a special election (closed primary, 8-Mar, general election, 3-May). This is the first of a three-part series offering some background on the district. Today's installment focuses on the Orleans parish segment of the district, tomorrow we'll look at the "Suburban South Shore," and on Thursday we'll review the portion of the district that is north of Lake Pontchartrain.
Go here for a map of the district.
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LA-01 was, for the longest time, the "New Orleans" congressional district. LA-02 covered suburban New Orleans, and LA-03 the bayou country south of the city. LA-01 and LA-02 essentially switched dynamics because of racial gerrymandering. The Democratic-controlled state legislature re-tooled both districts to give one of them a black-majority. Since LA-02 was safely in the hands of a popular Democratic incumbent (Lindy Boggs, wife of the late T. Hale Boggs, who held the seat from 1947 to 1972), the lines were drawn so that LA-02 covers most of Orleans Parish. The strong-majority-white sections of Orleans Parish were joined to the white areas of Jefferson Parish, along with St. Charles, St. Tammany, and Washington Parishes to make LA-01. LA-01 switched party control to Republican in 1977, when disgraced almost-speaker Bob Livingston won a special election to replace Chalmatian Rick Tonry, who resigned the seat after being indicted. Livingston's sexual hypocrisy proved to be his downfall as he resigned the seat in the midst of the Clinton impeachment drama. It turned out that Livingston was an even bigger freak than the Big Dog, and that didn't quite fit with the program.
Livingston was replaced by David Vitter, who won a special election in 1999. Vitter did not seek re-election, choosing instead to run for US Senate in 2004, an election he won. Fresh off a loss to now-former Governor Catherine Babineaux Blanco in 2003, Bobby Jindal changed his residency from Baton Rouge to Kenner to run for Vitter's seat.
In terms of Congressional district construction, LA-01 is the "white" district and LA-02 is the area's "black" district. Many local politicians switched parties in the early 80s, jumping on the Reagan bandwagon, giving the party a strong presence in Jefferson Parish as well as the more white-bread portions of Orleans.
The segment of Orleans Parish that is part of LA-01 is roughly analogous to City Council District "A." The city council's districts were also drawn along racial lines. District "A" consists of the neighborhoods of Carrollton, the University District, and Lakeview. All of Lakeview and selected Uptown precincts cross over into LA-01.
I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Lakeview to write this. Across the street is an empty strip mall that used to house a supermarket. Down the street is a 6-acre lot that used to be the location of Edward Hynes Elementary School, the neighborhood's public school, and one of the few bright stars in the fiasco that was public education in the city. Lakeview got hit by the storm as hard as the Ninth Ward. This is the neighborhood of the 17th Street Canal and expensive homes which were drowned in 11' of water. Unlike other neighborhoods, the people of Lakeview are more well-off, so the area is coming back faster.
Prior to the storm, this was a Republican comfort zone. The combination of older "Reagan Democrats" with upwardly mobile, younger Republicans helped propel white, Republican, candidates into city, state, and federal offices. The storm changed that dramatically, however. While the older, wealthy, residents of Lakeshore (the subdivision right along Lake Pontchartrain) received minimal storm damage, the upwardly-mobile residents of Lakeview south of Robert E. Lee Blvd. got hit hard. That's changed the perspective of many here.
Flood insurance is either underwritten directly by FEMA, or guaranteed by them when written/administered by private companies. Like many homeowners in New Orleans, many Lakeview residents purchased their homes long before the flood insurance program existed, so they were not required by their lenders to carry it. Flood insurance only covers the first $250K of damage to a home. Since everyone here believed the lies of the Army Corps of Engineers, that level of coverage was acceptable to a lender of even homes ranging from $750K-$1million. Nobody ever thought a flood would force these residents to demolish their houses. Even the staunchest Republicans are unhappy with a government that's left them holding the bag for mortgages they simply cannot repay.
It's an understatement to say that these folks are angry. Initially their anger had a partisan face, as they blamed Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin for their problems. As they began the rebuilding process, many realized that ineptitude crosses party lines. They threw out District A Councilman Jay Batt (R), in favor of a Democrat, Shelly Midura. Still, in last fall's legislative elections, Lakeview passed over progressive Democrat Deborah Langhoff to put two Republicans in a runoff for State Representative (District 94).
In terms of religion (and religion is always a huge factor in New Orleans), Lakeview is heavily Catholic. St. Dominic Parish and St. Paul's Episcopal (across the street from St. Dominic) define the neighborhood. There's a large Jewish community here as well, even though Congregation Beth Israel's synagogue on Canal Blvd. was heavily damaged and they've been forced out to Metairie to worship. This isn't fundigelical wingnut country; the Catholics and Episcopalians are anti-abortion, but they're also skeptical of Christian Dominionists. David Vitter's whoremongering is an embarassment to these folks, as was Livingston's before him. A candidate who can tap that sentiment can succeed here.
Lakeview is very white, but not exclusively so. A number of middle-class black who grew up in Gentilly moved into the neighborhood as they grew up and moved out of their homes on the other side of City Park. Still, the black population here is not significant in terms of identifying a "black vote."
Lakeview is up for grabs in the special election. The post-storm residents of the neighborhood are willing to elect Democrats, so Gilda should pull votes here a Democrat would not have dreamt of getting prior to the storm.
Tomorrow: Jefferson and St. Charles Parishes.
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