A hotel ballroom in Baton Rouge was filled to capacity Thursday, as AARP hosted a forum for the gubernatorial candidates Thursday. Three of the four leading contenders showed up.
“I want to thank Scott and Jay for being here today. You know, showing up counts,” John Bel Edwards quipped, prompting appreciative laughter.
DavidVitter, who was holding a hearing in Washington, D.C., did not attend, so he took a bit of ribbing.
“As you assess all of us, including one who’s not here and I hope will stay in Washington after this election, I hope you’ll look and see who has the right leadership,” Jay Dardenne said.
The forum was for and about senior citizens, who are predicted to be nearly 25-percent of Louisiana’s total population by 2020. They wanted to know what the next governor will do for them.
“One of the first things I will do as governor is ask members of the legislature to create a separate Department of Elderly Affairs,” Scott Angelle announced.
“I support the creation of a Department of Elderly Affairs, and I will work with you to make that a reality early on in my administration,” Edwards said, as well.
That’s when Dardenne decided his fellow candidates needed some schooling in current events.
“There was a constitutional amendment put before the people last year, to create this department. And it didn’t pass,” he reminded his fellow competitors and the crowd.
But Louisiana does have a Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and Dardenne says it makes sense to add elder issues to that department, rather than trying to create a whole new cabinet-level department.
“I don’t want to wait any longer,” Dardenne explained. “I think by combining these two areas, as I’ve said –Veterans’ Affairs and Elderly Affairs—we get immediate results.”
Candidates were also quizzed about expanding managed care plans for seniors, so they don’t have to go into nursing homes—something Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected earlier this week. They were also asked about Medicaid expansion.
The candidates won’t have long to wait for their next chance to answer questions about their plans for running state government. All four have another forum Saturday, with the Louisiana State Troopers Association.
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