It appears that on-the-whole, the Coast did not come out as well as we should have in terms of committee chairmanships. For instance, the longest serving Senator and former President Pro Tempore- Tommy Gollott, was assigned the Chairmanship of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. While this is an important committee for the Gulf Coast, it is not considered to be one of the 6 most important committees. The newly formed committee on Housing has no members from the three coastal counties. The insurance committee does not appear to have any members who ran on the "insurance reform" theme.
Looking at the big picture, all of the important committees are chaired by Republicans, and most committees have a Republican majority. In our system, the victors get the spoils, and as Lt. Gov. Bryant gets to make the appointments, he can appoint anyone he wants regardless of the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Senate. On a less partisan note, my colleagues in the Senate seem to be willing to work with one another. Therefore, I remain optimistic that we will have a productive session.
It's unfortunate to hear that Katrina recovery appears to have taken a back seat to Phil Bryant's partisanship. I had hoped that state leaders would agree and fight for it in Jackson, but again the Coast takes a back seat to the established political players.
Insurance and housing have to be the two biggest Katrina recovery issues and to fail to place advocates for reform and those affected most by the storm on those committees shows ignorance at best.
