Chairman Louis Gurvich: It's Time for Some New Year's Resolutions

Aneurin Bevan, an early to mid-20th Century British Labor politician otherwise best forgotten, once said “Politics is a blood sport.” He was right, of course, and as American politics in the 21st Century has become more partisan, so it has become bloodier and bloodier. But while we expect to engage in bitter partisan conflict against our increasingly radical opponents of the left, we can sometimes become mired in internecine fights against our fellow Republicans, and that is the subject of today’s post. And it just so happens that right now would be a good time to make some New Year’s resolutions…

If you are reading this you are probably a Republican, or at least a conservative. Perhaps you are a veteran political activist of many decades; perhaps you are a brand new, wet-behind-the ears political novice. Whatever the reason that you joined the LAGOP or began identifying yourself as a conservative, something caused you to commit to a set of ideals and goals which we all espouse. (I always assume it was just plain old common sense that caused you to join our ranks.) Yet we have seen an increasing number of Republican v. Republican races in the last few decades. That’s a great indicator of our party’s growing strength, but it can present serious problems if we let it.

You may well ask, if we are all committed to the same or nearly the same goals, why should there be any strife among us? After all, we have battles to win, battles which we must win to save our state and our country. Well, there are a couple of reasons.

Obviously, more than one Republican may seek any one office. Of course, this is a major factor in causing internal divisions. Because Republicans have the right set of beliefs and ideology, and the LAGOP is growing in strength and numbers, we frequently attract more than one quality candidate for any given office. 

While an abundance of good candidates will inevitably cause some divisions within our ranks, this problem is a natural outgrowth of belonging to a successful political movement. However, the problem can be controlled; in fact it must be controlled, or we’ll continue to lose the occasional race which we should otherwise win. Let’s briefly examine some of the factors which may play a role in our choice of a candidate:

Personalities are always a factor in politics. Psychiatrists and psychologists have long noted that there are distinct personality types among us, and certain types get along better or worse with other types. Different personality types are a fact of human nature, and this can play a huge role in our choice of a candidate. This factor is more important now than ever, because almost every voter can be in direct virtual contact with the candidates through mass and social media.

Political differences, even among Republicans and our allies, are also a fact of life. There will inevitably be some political differences among us, simply because we aren’t likely to agree with all of our colleagues all of the time. And this isn’t something new- it’s a fact of life in parties which operate within a democratic system of government.

In addition to personalities and political differences, other factors often come into play when we choose a candidate. He or she might hail from our city or region, or might have an accent we identify with. (We really do have lots of accents in Louisiana.) Maybe one candidate attended the same school or university, or attends the same church, or would be more likely to give you or someone you know a job or some appointment or other. 

There are all types of considerations, but remember, the fact remains that only one person can be elected to a given office. So I propose that we all adopt a short set of resolutions for the new year. Taken together, they may help us avoid some considerable disasters in the future:

(1) Resolve to never allow personal candidate preferences or anything but the most fundamental political differences to allow us to risk losing an election against a liberal and/or progressive candidate, and I mean never let this happen.

After all, this would be a betrayal of our fundamental political beliefs. I don’t care how mad we may become with each other over a particular candidate or issue. There is simply too much at stake to risk another debacle like the ones we suffered in 2015 and 2019. That’s not to say that we should give up on our principles- by all means we must hold our own in discussions and disputes with fellow Republicans, but remember that they may have a point and be respectful. (You should always be respectful anyway- civility and politeness are some of the traditional values that we are fighting to preserve.)

(2) Resolve to forgive your Republican opponents for past and present differences and grievances.

I’m not asking you to love all of your political colleagues. (That’s a commandment from a far higher authority.) But please, please be willing to work with them. Remember that we have far more in common with our fellow Republicans with whom we may occasionally disagree than we have with anyone in that other political party which has lost its collective mind. And don’t forget that you may need the help of your colleagues one day. This is the reason for one of the basic rules of politics- never hold a grudge!

(3) Resolve to spend a few moments early in this new year to recall the reasons that you joined our movement, and recommit yourself to your original goals and principles.

I think you’ll find this to be the most important resolution of all. I know I do, because it helps me to clear my mind of all the mental debris from the previous year’s fights. When I realize the importance of the battles we are fighting for the soul of a great nation, which in turn affects the lives of billions of my fellow human beings, this puts my personal feelings in perspective. I quit worrying about the slights and grievances that I’ve suffered or that I imagine that I’ve suffered.  I then understand the deeper message: I could no more quit and go home to a quiet apolitical life than I could grow wings and fly off into the sunset. That’s simply not an option for me- I’m in this fight to my dying breath. How about you?

LOUIS GURVICH, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

LAGOP: The Republican Party Continues to Grow

While Republicans were not as successful around the country as we had been led to believe by the pollsters, we certainly exceeded expectations here in Louisiana. Congratulations are in order to Senator Kennedy for his magnificent victory with just under 62% of the votes cast despite running against a field of no less than twelve opponents!

Congratulations are also in order to our five Republican members of Congress, all of whom received well over 60% of the vote in their respective elections or ran unopposed. Steve Scalise is on track to return as the House Majority Leader, the second ranking member of Congress, and Mike Johnson will also return as Vice Chair of the Republican Conference, the fifth ranking GOP House leader.

Elsewhere, our former LAGOP Chairman Mike Francis was handily re-elected to the Public Service Commission. Don’t forget to welcome our new Republican State Senator, Caleb Kleinpeter. We also have a host of new, conservative school board members from around the state. Let all of them know how much you appreciate their sacrifices on our behalf!

But don’t forget that we have another election just over a week away (Dec. 10th, and early voting has already begun). In addition to three more constitutional amendments (more on that below), and several important judgeship races (including two pivotal seats in East Baton Rouge Parish), the mayorship of our third largest city, Shreveport, will also be on the ballot. Tom Arceneaux is running under our banner, and he has plenty of support from Democrats, independents, and Republicans. Please support our candidates on December 10th!

P. S. Our party continues to grow. The latest registration statistics indicate that we now have 1,007,718 registered Republicans in Louisiana.

Louis Gurvich, Chairman

Republican Party of Louisiana

Happy Thanksgiving from the Republican Party of Louisiana

Friends,

The Republican Party of Louisiana would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and present a reminder of the damages done by the Biden Harris Administration to our dinner table this special day.

The price of a Thanksgiving meal is up over 20% from last year, and that’s after the price rose nearly 14% from 2020 to 2021.

The specifics per the survey:

• Turkey is up 21%

• Stuffing mix is up 69%

• Frozen pie crusts are up 26%

• Whipping cream is up 26%

• Frozen peas are up 23%

• Dinner rolls are up 22%

• Miscellaneous ingredients are up 20%

• Pumpkin pie mix is up 18%

• Whole milk is up 16%

• Sweet potatoes are up 11%

• Carrots and celery are up 8%

Americans deserve a pardon from these high prices this holiday season, but with the Biden Harris Administration, we'll have no such luck.

Chairman Louis Gurvich: Democrats' Are No Longer Capable Of Running A Government

Last month, I reported on the terrible situation regarding inflation. Welcome back to last month, because the consumer price index (CPI) for this month is 8.2%, virtually unchanged from last month’s 8.3%. The 8.2% increase is much worse than economists had expected. It proves that no real progress has been made in the war against inflation, despite the passing of thirty more days and another steep hike in the federal funds rate. In fact, the CPI went up .4% in September alone, even after all the previous rate hike increases!

To recap from my previous article, the CPI is the measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services. You can pick and choose what’s in the basket, but the goods and services which you put in the basket must remain the same over time so that you can compare their cost over time. Every now and then, you add up all the prices for all the goods and services in the basket. If the prices go up, we call that inflation. If the prices go down, we call that deflation, but as long as Joe Biden and the Democrats are running the government, don’t worry about deflation.

To better illustrate what inflation is and what it does, look at it this way: You have a dollar in your pocket, OK. It looks just like the dollars you had in your pocket last month. It could even be one of the same dollars you had in your pocket last month. That dollar bill hasn’t changed, but the amount of goods and services it buys can change, especially if you are being governed by incompetent leftist ideologues who do not understand or even care about basic economics.

To further illustrate, if I purchased a gallon of gas at the pump in January, 2021, for $2.25 per gallon, and then I have to pay $3.91 for a gallon of the same gas in October, 2022, the dollar and sixty-six cent difference is inflation, and the seventy-four percent change in price is the inflation rate. Likewise for an apple which goes up by five cents, or a lawnmower which goes up by $50, or a service like mowing your lawn which goes up by $10 a week.

Now here’s inflation’s dirty little trick: Recall that the CPI went up by 8.2% over the same time last year. You could say that prices went up 8.2%, or the purchasing power of your dollars went down by 8.2%- it’s the same thing, actually. That dollar bill in your pocket can now buy only 91.8 cents in goods and services. That $10,000 in savings that you worked so hard to accumulate is now worth only $9,180. Maybe you received a raise over the last year to make up for some or all of your lost purchasing power, but you still lost 8.2% of every dollar you own.

How is that possible, you may ask? Annual inflation  was under 2% when Donald Trump was president less than two years ago. What happened? Joe Biden and Progressive Democrat control of Congress happened. Elected as a “moderate“ Democrat, Joe has been anything but moderate, and the Democrat Party is now effectively run by Progressive Socialists (read ‘Marxists’), who do not understand or care about traditional economics.

Against the advice of virtually every sane economist in the United States, Biden and the Progressive Democrats have continued to spend trillions and trillions of dollars at a relentless pace since the day they took office, all in the name of equity, green energy, pandemic relief, and any other woke causes they could think of. And once you start flooding an economy with trillions and trillions of dollars, prices go up. There is simply too much money chasing a limited number of goods and services, so people start paying a little more to get what they want while it’s still available. That’s what causes inflation, and it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

But Biden and the Progressive Democrats will keep on spending until they are stopped by the voters of this great nation, or the United States effectively goes broke and our economy is virtually destroyed. That’s what woke Progressive Democrats do because they don’t understand anything about business or economics as so few of them have ever held a real job. You don’t get real-life business experience as a community activist or a government bureaucrat.

Their incompetence is stealing the purchasing power of our hard-earned money right out of our pockets, every minute of every day. Here it gets a bit complicated, because to bring down inflation caused by the President and Congress, another branch of the government, the Federal Reserve, must continue to sharply raise interest rates in order to cool down the economy and reduce demand. We are now virtually assured of huge rate hikes (.75% per month?) through the end of the year and likely beyond.

Borrowing money to buy a house, finance a business, or just to pay our bills, has already become a lot more expensive, but it’s about to get worse. People will therefore buy fewer houses, cars, refrigerators, etc., and as businesses get hurt, they will be forced to lay off workers. In all likelihood, millions of our fellow citizens are soon going to be out of a job, and almost everyone’s real wages will go down as the current recession bites deeper and deeper into our daily lives.

The really big deal about today’s inflation number is that from here on out the economic news will be almost universally bad for quite a while. It is therefore no longer possible for good economic news (of which there is precious little anyway) to avert the Democrats looming date with political disaster. Their chickens are coming home to roost and there will be a lot of bloody feathers on the ground late on the night of November 8th.

As I wrote last month, this awful mess should make you mad, because it was all foreseeable and avoidable, but Joe Biden and the Progressive Democrats had higher priorities than you, your family, and your country. However, you can stop this insanity by voting Republican on Tuesday, November 8th!

LOUIS GURVICH, CHAIRMAN
Republican Party of Louisiana

Chairman Louis Gurvich:Last Tuesday Was A Very, Very Bad Day for Joe Biden

Last Tuesday, the proverbial straw broke the camel’s back. Or rather I should say, the donkeys’ backs. The donkeys, of course, being Joe Biden and his administration, the Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, and the entire woke political and media establishment (if you care to make a distinction).

And the little straw which caused the demise of this herd of jack…, er, donkeys? Why, it was none other than the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a tiny little two digit number (you had better hope it is a two digit number), which is reported every month by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, and then flashed across news screens across the country.

This month’s number happens to be 8.3%, which as I mentioned above was reported last Tuesday. That was extremely unfortunate timing for Joe Biden, who was celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act at the White House on the very same day. Of course, the Inflation Reduction Act was never designed to reduce inflation in the first place - it was a Democrat giveaway which will actually make inflation worse, but Joe Biden doesn't think the American public will ever figure this out. 

In case you are not a regular follower of economic statistics, you may well ask just what the Hell is the CPI, and that is an excellent question. After all, even the behemoth federal government which rules our lives in so many ways, pays obeisance to this little number. It is as if a tiny mouse were leading an enraged Godzilla through the city on a leash, but such is life in our time.

Now the CPI is nothing more than the measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services. Simple as that. You can pick and choose what’s in the basket, but once you pick your stuff, it has to remain the same. Every now and then, you add up all the prices for all the goods and services in the basket. That way, you can measure how much prices have changed over time. If the prices keep going up, we call that inflation. If the prices go down, we call that deflation, but you probably won’t need to use the D-word as long as Joe Biden is your president.

So the CPI measures inflation. You’ve no doubt heard that word a lot. Just what is inflation? Well, if I purchased a gallon of gas at the pump in January, 2021, for, say $2.25 per gallon, and then I purchased a gallon of the same gas in September, 2022 for, say, $3.75 per gallon, the dollar and fifty cent difference is inflation, and the percentage change in price is the inflation rate (67%). Likewise for an apple which goes up five cents, or a lawnmower which goes up $50, or a service like mowing your lawn which goes up $10 a week.

Now here’s inflation’s dirty little trick: Recall that the CPI went up by 8.3% over the same time last year. You could say that prices went up 8.3%, or the purchasing power of your dollars went down by 8.3%- it is the same thing, actually. That hundred dollar bill in your pocket can now buy only $91.70 in goods and services. That ten thousand dollars in savings that you worked so hard to accumulate is now worth only $9,170!

Maybe you received a raise over the last year to make up for some or all of your lost purchasing power, but you still lost 8.3% of every dollar you own. And the news gets worse, because while you lost 8.3% of every dollar you owned over the last year, remember that Joe Biden has been your president for longer than one year. The inflation rate since his "reign" began is closer to 12% or 13%. Feeling a bit light in the wallet lately? You certainly should...

How is all this possible, you may ask? You heard about inflation in the 70’s and 80’s, but we learned how to correct the problem, didn’t we? We’ve had inflation under control for over forty years. Inflation was under 2% when Donald Trump was our president less than two years ago.  So what happened?

Bad... no, not just bad, but absolutely terrible government happened. That doddering ‘moderate’ Democrat whom we elected in November of 2020, wasn’t a moderate Democrat after all. He fooled a lot of people into thinking he was a moderate Democrat, but he had a lot of help from unscrupulous organizations and individuals. Since the day he was elected, however, he’s been a shill for the most extreme element of the Democrat Party. In fact, woke Progressive Democrats aren’t really even Democrats, just America-hating Marxists hiding from public view, and they happen to control both houses of Congress and the Presidency of the United States!

Biden and the Progressive Democrats have spent trillions and trillions of dollars at a relentless pace since the day they took the reigns of power, all in the name of equity, green energy, pandemic relief, and any other woke causes they could think of. Now every sane economist knows that once you start flooding an economy with trillions and trillions of dollars in spending, prices go up. There is simply too much money chasing a limited number of goods and services, so people start paying a little more to get what they want while it’s still available. That’s what causes inflation, and it could get a lot worse.

Make no mistake: Biden and the Democrats will keep on spending until they are stopped, or the United States effectively goes broke and destroys our economic well-being for a generation or more. That’s what woke Democrats do; that’s all they know how to do. They don’t understand anything about business or wealth accumulation because so few of their leaders have ever held real jobs. They are almost all community activists, lifelong bureaucrats, or lawyers; almost never businessmen, accountants, or economists.

And that brings us back to the importance of Tuesday's little CPI number. You see, until Tuesday the Biden administration and its compliant press minions could maintain the fiction that inflation was going down, energy was getting cheaper, and all would be well in the end. The fact is that the only reason that oil and gas prices have gone down is because people are driving less due to the economic recession and winter is not yet here.

Energy prices will soon go back up, and as we now know thanks to the CPI report, inflation continues to rage. That is to say that inflation is still stealing our hard-earned money right out of our pockets, and it keeps on stealing from us every second of every day. And to bring down inflation, the government must keep raising interest rates to make it harder and harder for folks like us to borrow money to buy a house, or finance a business, or just  pay our bills as the value of our money keeps declining.

This awful mess should make you mad, very mad, because it was all foreseeable and avoidable, but Joe Biden and the Democrats had higher priorities than you, your family, and our country. You can stop this insanity by voting Republican on Tuesday, November 8th, for a better America!

And one more thing: Only the tens of millions of members of the Republican Party have the strength in numbers and in resources to resist the Democrats’ plans. Love and respect for America and its achievements aren’t something to be ashamed of in our party. We believe that parents should control their children’s upbringing, and Americans should be free to live their lives as they choose with minimal governmental interference. If you aren’t yet a member of the LAGOP, please go to geauxvote.com and become a Republican. Most folks can register to vote or change their party registration on the Internet. 

LOUIS GURVICH, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

LAGOP: Biden's Speech Last Night Was Dangerous and Disrespectful to Millions of Americans

Last night we were treated to just over twenty-four minutes of an angry, bitter, and downright nasty campaign speech by Joseph Biden. The speech was delivered to a smallish crowd within Independence Hall against an odd blood-red backdrop as he was inappropriately flanked by two marines, who should not have been present for a campaign speech. It was obviously intended to be the opening phase of the final push by the Democrats to preserve their majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Like so much else that has gone wrong with this presidency, the speech was a failure, but it was not just a simple political mistake. No, in fact it did terrific damage to a sorely divided nation and worsened a widening partisan divide. Under the pretense of attempting to bring the country together (under Democrat control, of course), Biden had the temerity to demonize the seventy-four MILLION American voters who pulled the lever for Donald Trump in 2020.

He persisted throughout the speech in accusing the Republicans of every sin that the Democrats had been flagrantly committing for years- lawlessness and disrespect for the police, class hatred, undermining respect for our governmental institutions and elections, etc., etc. Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich, once wrote, “If you tell a lie, tell a big one.” Goebbels would have heartily approved of the Democrats’ political tactic of accusing your opponent of every sin your side was committing in spades. On a human level, the psychiatrist Sigmund Freud called this “projection,” the mental process by which people attribute to others what is in their own minds.

“Equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden railed, and indeed they are, but not by Republicans. He then went on to assert that “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution…” even as we fight to preserve it. He accused Republicans of “a willingness to engage in political violence…” ignoring the tens of billions of dollars in damage and dozens of lives lost in over a hundred riots instigated or condoned by Democrats. “We are in a battle for the soul of this nation….” Well, he got that one right.

Insurrection was the underlying theme of his speech, even though the publicly acknowledged intention of Joe Biden’s administration has been to “transform” the country against the wishes of the great majority of its citizens. (He somehow failed to mention this goal during his campaign.) But as stated above, the greatest fault of the speech was his repeatedly expressed view that his Republican opponents (you know, the folks who make up the party founded in 1854 which opposed slavery and then saved the Union), are disloyal and dangerous Americans. For this alone Joe Biden can never be forgiven.

Perhaps the only (unintended) lighter moment of the speech occurred when Biden asserted “I give you my word as a Biden, I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future…” This from the man who cheated in law school, plagiarized his speeches, reversed his positions on virtually every major issue he espoused over a fifty year political career, and then ran for the presidency of the United States under false pretenses as a moderate Democrat!

I would never have voted for Biden even if I were a Democrat because of his repeated moral failings, his advanced years and obvious mental decline, and of course Obama’s warnings about his inadequacies for the job back when Joe was his vice president. But last night Joe Biden cemented his position as one of the two or three very worst presidents in our nation’s history, and he is trending downwards from there.

May our country survive this presidency!

LOUIS GURVICH, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

LAGOP: Biden Bails Out the Rich

So Joe Biden claims that he has the authority to “forgive” student loans. He is proposing to forgive $10,000 for most borrowers of student loans and $20,000 for recipients of Pell grants. He has been threatening this action for some time; at one point he seemed to be playing with the idea of forgiving all outstanding student loans. Now that would be quite an undertaking, because total student indebtedness is now over $1.6 trillion. Wiser heads have apparently prevailed over Joe’s more outlandish scheme, at least for the time being.

There are problems with Joe’s plan, however: Many legal experts think he is overreaching his authority. While they admit that he has the power to delay loan repayments during a crisis, they do not believe that he has the authority to forgive the loans outright. And it is a stretch at this late date to even use COVID-19 pandemic relief as an excuse to burden the taxpayer (you) with an additional half-trillion dollars in national debt.

No less an “authority” than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that while the President may delay the repayment of student loans in a crisis, only Congress can actually forgive them. Now this would not be the first time that the Biden administration and Democrat congressional leadership has been unable to coordinate on messaging, but who’s counting?

Perhaps Joe Biden hoped that no one would care very much about a mere half-trillion dollar loan forgiveness scheme which would help the college educated at the expense of the folks who didn’t go to college, paid their own way through college, or paid off their student debt. Like many of his political calculations this one turned out to be dead wrong, but so what? He can take credit for aiding a bunch of totally out of touch woke colleges which aren’t preparing their students for the real world, and no one will likely notice that his action will fuel the increasing cost of a college education well into the next generation.

You can understand his reasoning: In the twenty months of his administration, Uncle Joe has passed several trillion dollar bills through Congress (American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act), and run up hundreds of billions in more debt with his off-the-cuff, poorly thought out executive actions and administrative orders. So what’s the big deal about a mere half-trillion dollars?

Well, actually, this is a big deal, because Joe Biden was already well on track to exceed Barack Obama’s 2009-2017 deficit spending rampage, during which time Obama added $8.6 trillion dollars to a national debt which in the previous two hundred and thirty-three years of our nation’s history had only accumulated to $10.6 trillion. (The current national debt is over $30 trillion dollars!)

You see, the present hot mess isn’t just the result of electing a doddering and morally compromised rascal to the presidency of the United States. Running up gobsmacking deficits in pursuit of their social engineering goals is what the Democrats do. And they’ll keep doing it until they are stopped, and the country’s economic and social health be damned in the meantime.

The simple fact is that we cannot sustain Biden and the Democrats’ level of spending without soon suffering a catastrophic inflationary spiral which would wipe out the accumulated savings of the American people and cost us our position as the world’s lender of last resort. The existential problem that we face is that the Biden administration is not yet half-way through its term, and God help us if there is more than one.

All the more reason to vote Republican on November 8th. This election isn’t just about halting the collapse of the world economic order and avoiding the threat of major war. It’s also about losing your life savings and having to start over from scratch, and leaving your children to face diminished prospects in a diminished world. We can’t let that happen!

Louis Gurvich, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

LAGOP: The Raid of President Trump's Home

The August 8th raid on the residence of former President Trump is a precarious harbinger for the United States of America. The idea that the home of a former Chief Executive of the United States would be searched and then documents and materials seized in a fashion similar to a high level white collar or even dangerous criminal is startling and troubling. No one is above the law, but no one should be beneath the law, nor beyond the framework of respect due an ordinary citizen. A simple subpoena or call to Trump’s lawyers would have been a more appropriate action.

A politically-motivated and controlled Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice are two of the most dangerous things we can have in the United States of America. All aspects of investigations in our country must be politically-agnostic, and the actions of the DOJ (which includes the FBI) reek of partisanship and an effort end the political life of an individual who happens to in opposition to the current presidential administration. The events of 8 August on the face seem to be politically motivated and part of the effort to squash both an individual and a political movement.

The LAGOP resolutely stands for the rule of law throughout the United States of America. All citizens in this country deserves EVERY aspect of due process, the presumption of innocence and equal treatment under the law. Law enforcement, intelligence and the armed forces of this country must be politically neutral and in place ONLY to serve the public interest and to protect the integrity and safety of our citizenry and our country. What we have seen unfold in the news in the last 24 hours is troubling at best, and should give all Louisianians pause and concern. The LAGOP calls on all facets of law enforcement to resist being weaponized for any political purposes. Our republic will rise and fall on the principles of this country being run by the consent of the governed, and not at the whims of political bickering between parties.

If the United States and subsequently Louisiana are to remain free, we must all make a concerted to hold all facets of government and especially those executing governmental duties accountable for their actions. If the FBI and DOJ discover criminality in their searches, so be it. If they do not, they are duty bound to report both their actions and the results of the earth-shattering developments of the 8th of August, 2022. In turn, if the FBI and DOJ are engaging in criminal behavior, then they should be held accountable. If one person in our nation loses his or her civil liberties in a manner than is outside the bounds of law, then the liberties of all are in jeopardy. Free people should not fear their government, and the government should not behave in a way that intimidates, intrudes nor creates an atmosphere of fear.

Statement by Chairman Gurvich on the Mar-a-Lago Raid

“These are dark times for our nation…”
President Donald Trump

Late yesterday afternoon, a small army of FBI agents, some armed with machine guns, descended on the private home of Donald Trump. The unannounced raid was carried out pursuant to a search warrant issued under the authority of no less a federal statute than the Presidential Archives Act. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Now in order to gauge the seriousness of this grievous breach of presidential decorum, you should know that this is the first such raid ever conducted against a sitting or former president of the United States in the two hundred and forty-six years of this republic, and it was conducted in the name of the Presidential Archives Act!

During the raid the FBI agents ransacked the President’s private home, broke into at least one safe, and removed numerous boxes of paper. Fortunately, the President was not at home and was spared the personal indignity of being present during the search and seizure. You can be assured that this was no accident, however- the raid must have been carefully planned at the highest levels of the Department of Justice (if not the White House itself) several weeks in advance.

Now the matter almost certainly could have been handled with negotiations and, if necessary, a subpoena and a hearing, but that is not how the progressive Democrats running this administration do things. They are all about the propaganda value of the moment (which explains the timing of the raid, just as folks were returning home to their TVs) and how it would further their pursuit of raw power by any means. Neither presidential decorum nor hundreds of years of precedent concern them in the least, because they do not care about the health of our republic; quite the contrary.

And once more their victim is Donald Trump, whose home was invaded even as Hillary Clinton remains unaccountable for the massive security breaches, email deletions, and much else, while no one in the Biden family has yet been indicted despite decades of illegal and unethical influence peddling and sundry other crimes too numerous to list in this space.

There is most certainly a double standard evident here, but please understand that this double standard is only one result of the intrigues of the progressive Democrats running the Biden administration. Their real goal is to tear down this republic to its roots and rebuild it on Marxist principles which will ultimately take away our dearly won rights as Americans. Dark days, indeed!

That, my friends, is the real nature of the on-going war that we have been fighting since at least the early Obama years. We have a major battle to win on Election Day, November 8th.

So if you want to save your country, your lifestyle, and a future for your children, vote Republican on November 8th. And if you’ve had enough of Democrat judicial tyranny, you might also wish to join the Republican Party of Louisiana. Just go to Geauxvote.com and click on Online Voter Registration. Most folks can save themselves a trip to the registrar of voters’ office and register to vote or change their party registration online. Join us and help make the difference!

LOUIS GURVICH, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

LAGOP on Congressional Oversight of Justice Dept

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Countless times we have examples of Democrats flouting the law and abusing power with no recourse. Democrats continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans... https://t.co/IQqz6w0yvD

— Republican Party of Louisiana (@LAGOP) August 9, 2022

A Recession Is Here, and Democrats Are to Blame

Well, it is official: As of yesterday’s bad second quarter economic report showing that our economy had shrunk by .9%, America is in a recession. This is because the first quarter report also indicated that our economy had shrunk (by 1.6%), and the commonly accepted definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

At least that was the commonly accepted definition of a national recession until Joe Biden called upon his minions to proclaim in unison that no, we were not really in a recession and the economy was actually in pretty good shape. Joe himself then made a brief comment to reporters to the effect that it didn’t seem like a recession to him, before fleeing the scene and leaving reporters to devour his easily befuddled press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. She promptly declared that “We’re seeing a transition into stable and steady growth…,” but she was clearly way out of her element. We seriously doubt that many folks were paying much attention to her musings on the state of the economy, anyway.

But the fact remains that things are clearly not going well- that much is obvious to even the most heedless of our fellow citizens. The economy is volatile and substantial parts of it are performing poorly. Inflation is soaring, energy prices are double what they were when this president took office, necessities like food and housing are becoming unaffordable for many, and borrowing money to stay afloat has become more expensive for all. Strangely, several million people refuse to return to the workforce despite the fact that there are plenty of jobs to be had. What’s more, the experts don’t really know where we are headed- will this be a relatively mild recession, or as many predict, are things about to get one Hell of a lot worse?

Now this is not a good place to be, and one might well ask how we got here? But first, allow me to digress for a moment: Recall that less than two short years ago, under President Trump the economy was recovering from COVID, inflation was under two percent, interest rates were near their historic lows, and energy was plentiful and cheap (gas was half its current price). Several COVID vaccines were only months away and our national debt was many trillions of dollars lower than it is now.

So how did we arrive at this sad state of affairs in so short a time? The answer is obvious- only a doddering but deceitful Joe Biden, controlled by the progressive, neo-Marxist wing of the Democrat Party, could have caused this much damage so quickly and so completely!

Who else would have begun a new presidency by attempting to shut down the eighty percent of our energy production provided by fossil fuels? Who else would have mis-spent trillions of dollars, much of it for Democrat political ends, thereby creating huge imbalances in the supply and demand for our nations’ goods, even as productivity had not fully recovered to pre-COVID levels? Too much money chasing around too few goods is the classic cause of inflation, and reducing domestic energy production even as the economy required more energy, could not help but cause gas prices to shoot up.

So how bad will the economy, and with it the lives of most American citizens, ultimately worsen? Even as I write this article, a new half-trillion dollar round of spending is wending its way through Congress, along with a tax increase. (Thank you, Joe Manchin!) This will further stoke inflation, of course, but the tax increase will make a serious recession far more likely. To tame the out-of-control inflation, the Federal Reserve last Wednesday raised interest rates another three quarters of a percent on top of the one and a half percent increases of the previous two months. Even worse, the Fed hinted at further raises in the coming months. Don’t forget that these rate increases are intended to slow down our economy, which again, will also make the recession worse.

As we teeter on the precipice of an unpredictable economic future (and I have not even touched on the rapidly deteriorating geopolitical situation, the worsening border crisis, the politicization of our school curricula, etc.), be reminded that the gross and misdirected overspending was all avoidable. The attempt to shut down most of our energy production and replace it with expensive and unreliable sources was also avoidable. Why were such basic economic mistakes ever made in the first place?

The fundamental problem here is that progressive Democrats do not learn and they do not admit the error of their ways, because they are Marxists. If we learn anything from history, it is that Marxists do not learn from history. In fact, they are even now complaining that the problem with our economy is that they have not done enough to transform the United States into a more social democratic or even outright Socialist nation.

So be forewarned and vote to save our country on November 8th, before it’s too late!

Louis Gurvich, Chairman
Republican Party of Louisiana

The Republican Party of Louisiana Officially Endorses Congressman Garret Graves for Re-Election

The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana unanimously endorsed Congressman Garret Graves to represent the 6th Congressional District in the U.S. Congress.

Garret has a proven record of delivering positive results to the people of south Louisiana. In a short time, he's cut through decades of bureaucracy and inaction on traffic solutions, flood control, coastal restoration, hurricane protection and disaster recovery efforts. He has a strong pro-life record. Most recently, Republican leaders have appointed him to lead the efforts to reverse the Biden Administration's disastrous energy policies which have caused record gas prices which struggling American families cannot afford. Garret is ranked as one of the nation's five most effective Republican Members of Congress and we look forward to him continuing to deliver more wins for Louisiana.

Congressman Graves had this to say about the endorsement: "We deserve a government that works for us -- not against us. There are urgent needs in our communities that have to be addressed and that's why we are running for Congress. People are struggling with record-high inflation, unaffordable energy costs, hurricane recovery, traffic problems, crime and much more. Our families, small businesses, seafood industry, and many other sectors of Louisiana's economy need help. We're ready to hit the ground running day one to deliver solutions because we believe Louisiana is worth fighting for. Our future is too important to remain on the sidelines."

The LAGOP urges the voters of the 6th Congressional District to support Garret Graves on November 8th.

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The Republican Party of Louisiana formally endorses Congressman Garret Graves for re-election. Garret has a proven record of delivering positive results to the people of south Louisiana.

To read our press release, go to https://t.co/WJfrzFlK3H pic.twitter.com/E1zZSNa2nN

— Republican Party of Louisiana (@LAGOP) July 26, 2022

The Republican Party of Louisiana Formally Endorses Congressman Clay Higgins for Re-Election

BATON ROUGE- The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana unanimously endorsed Congressman Clay Higgins for re-election on Monday. 

Congressman Higgins continues to be a strong conservative and outspoken voice for Louisianans. His work to support American energy production, the 2nd Amendment, free market principles and a secure southern border have been pivotal to putting America and Louisiana on the right path forward.

The LAGOP urges the voters of the 3rd Congressional District to support Congressman Clay Higgins on November 8th.

"I'm humbled and uplifted to receive the endorsement of Republicans across Louisiana, to have our Congressional office recognized for dedicated service. We will not stop fighting for Constitutionalist and Conservative values. Our mission to serve the citizens of South Louisiana shall continue," said Congressman Clay Higgins.

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LAGOP: Critical Race Theory Workshop: Join Us in Alexandria!

The following was in an email to supporters of the Louisiana Republican Party concerning Critical Race Theory in Louisiana:

Patriots,

We are hosting our next Critical Race Theory workshop in Alexandria on April 12, 2022 at 6:00 pm at the historic Hotel Bentley.

We have hosted workshops in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Covington, and we need to keep up the momentum!

Click Here to RSVP!

We ask all concerned parents, activists and citizens in the Alexandria area to join us and help eliminate this Marxist philosophy from our classrooms. The best way to do this is by attacking it head on and supporting vetted candidates running for your local School Board.

Join us for our next CRT workshop at the Hotel Bentley, 200 DeSoto St, Alexandria, LA 71301.

To RSVP to the Alexandria CRT Workshop, visit 
https://www.lagop.com/alexandria-crt-workshop.

St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis Switches to Republican

BATON ROUGE- The Republican Party of Louisiana is proud to announce St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis has officially become a Republican.

McInnis has served as St. Bernard Parish President since 2015 as an Independent. After a recent trip to Washington D.C., McInnis returned to Louisiana side by side with Congressman Steve Scalise to announce his switch.

"I've been a conservative my entire life and have voted Republican in every presidential election over the past few decades. However, seeing what's happening to our country has led me to make this move," said McInnis.

LAGOP Chairman Louis Gurvich said, "We are excited to welcome President McInnis to the Republican Party and work together to advance conservative policies for the great people of St. Bernard parish." 

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Statement by Chairman Louis Gurvich on Governor Edwards' Scandal

BATON ROUGE- "The Governor’s press conference on February 1st leaves us with more questions than answers. The reasoning provided by Governor Edwards as to why he either stayed quiet, omitted the truth, or was actually complicit in the lies regarding the death of Ronald Green, is implausible at best.

"Even the known facts are damning: Wiped cell phones, delays and denials of public records requests, fired whistleblowers, an overall refusal to provide justice and transparency to the family of Mr. Greene, and recently leaked proof that Governor Edwards knew the official story was false the very day that Ronald Greene died. Most of all, the continuing refusal of the Governor to provide the family of Mr. Greene with the updated facts as they became available speaks volumes of this Governor’s lack of integrity and common human decency.

"Now, two and a half years too late, the Governor insults us with a litany of implausible excuses which satisfies no one. And the great question remains: How much more evidence is out there still waiting to be revealed?

"The people of Louisiana are entitled to all of the facts. The Governor must immediately turn over all public records, phone logs, text messages, videos, documents, reports, and emails regarding the incident which ended in the tragic death of Mr. Greene on May 10, 2019, and the subsequent coverup which continues to this day.

“All who played a part in this shameful story must be held to account. Nothing less will restore the public trust of all Louisianians in this tarnished administration. We must have leaders who value integrity, transparency, and justice, even when it may cost them an election."

Republican Party of Louisiana Strongly Urges Veto Override Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2021

(Baton Rouge, LA)- The Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Louisiana has unanimously endorsed the effort by Republican state legislators to hold a veto override session on July 20.

"Our Democrat governor has vetoed common sense legislation that would provide needed protections for our daughters, our gunowners and our elections," Republican Party of Louisiana Chairman Louis Gurvich said. "Our Republican legislators should have no difficulty in deciding to convene this veto-override session.”

LAGOP: Let The Override Session Begin!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2021

(Baton Rouge, LA)- Governor John Bel Edwards has vetoed Senator Beth Mizell's "Fairness in Women’s Sports Act," which would have protected thousands of female athletes in Louisiana from being forced to compete against biological males in athletic events.

This action perfectly illustrates this Democrat governor's lack of common sense regarding the difference between male and female anatomy. It also shows his tone deaf disregard for our daughters, who could be seriously injured or face the loss of academic aid and recognition of their achievements. This is not a difficult idea to understand: Biological men should participate in male sports, and biological women should participate in female sports. 

As Governor Edwards voted the bill, he remarked, "We should be looking for more ways to unite rather than divide," yet he willfully ignored the bill's bipartisan support among our state legislators, as well as the bill's support from the great majority of Louisianans.

This is yet another clear example of Governor Edwards putting politics over people.

Call your state senator TODAY at (225) 342-2040 and urge him/her to support a veto override session.

Call your state representative TODAY at (225) 342-6945 and urge him/her to support a veto override session. 

Our daughters are counting on your support.

Republican Party of Louisiana Supports Closed Party Primary System

The Republican State Central Committee has voted to support the establishment of a closed party primary system in Louisiana.

Please see a copy of the resolution adopted at the April 17, 2021 RSCC meeting, below: 

This Is Why The LAGOP Can't Have Nice Things

With a conservative Republican, Claston Bernard, being kept from a televised debate on WWL, the latest slap in the face comes with the Republican Jefferson Parish President, Cynthia Lee Sheng endorsing one of his Democratic challengers for the 2nd Congressional District race.

Lee Sheng has endorsed candidate Troy Carter.

“Troy’s always been accessible and easy to work with,” said Lee Sheng, a Republican, noting that Carter’s Algiers-centered district includes a portion of Jefferson Parish’s west bank. “I have not had an opportunity to work with Karen,” she added -- although a small portion of Peterson’s district extends into the east bank of Jefferson Parish.

It’s been said before and worth reiterating. The GOP will end up screwing up everything they put their hands to.