Louisiana GOP: "Avon Honey used mind control powers to make us accept stimulus that Jindal refused!"

Did they really say THAT?

No. But they might as well have.

"In a classic move of legislative subterfuge, a House member quietly slipped an amendment into an unrelated bill at the end of the House session Monday that puts Louisiana in position to accept federal stimulus dollars for jobless benefits, a policy that Gov. Bobby Jindal had made national headlines by vowing to oppose.

Legislation had been offered this session to put Louisianas jobless claims system in a mode that would make the state eligible for the money, but Jindal and his allies bottled up the bills in the House Labor Committee, where Republican opponents hold a majority.

To get around that hurdle, Labor Committee Chairman Avon Honey, D-Baton Rouge, brought one of his bills to the House floor late Monday evening while few members were paying close attention. His House Bill 841 originally dealt with workers compensation issues, but he asked for an amendment that made the bill a vehicle for changing state law to take the stimulus money.

The bill passed 99-0 without debate and apparently with few if any members noticing Honey's amendment.

...

Opponents to Honey's move were outraged when they discovered later in the evening what had happened.

"It is deeply disappointing that a measure to significantly raise taxes on our Louisiana businesses passed through the House without any discussion. The people of Louisiana deserve better," Louisiana Workforce Executive Director Tim Barfield said. "Sneaking on an amendment that so dramatically affects all of the businesses in our state, even after a resolution with the same goal as this amendment was defeated in committee, flies in the face of the open, honest government our people deserve."

Barfield said the governor would veto the measure in any form and criticized the "covert tactics that were used to quietly put this into a bill in the House."

Two members who voted for the measure late Monday were not happy to learn about Honey's amendment.

"I am stunned that an amendment to raise taxes on Louisiana businesses was so quietly put through the House today by the committee chairman," said Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, a member of the Labor Committee. "This is absolutely unacceptable to skip the committee process. We need a debate on this issue and we need to make our case very clear that raising taxes on our businesses is absolutely the worst thing we could do during a time of national economic crisis".

"I am very disappointed by the way this amendment was snuck onto legislation on the House floor," Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Jefferson, said. "If I would have known this amendment was to accept unemployment insurance stimulus funds and change the law to raise taxes on Louisiana businesses, I would have been an outspoken critic against it." "

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/house_member_slips_unemploymen.html

You guys didn't read the bill, plain and simple. It's too bad Honey didn't put in a measure saying that Jindal was no longer recognized by the Congress of Louisiana to be the legitimate governor of Louisiana or anything.

ever having time to read it ...

:sarcasm:

This is not the bill you're looking for.