LAGOP: Failure to Override Must Have Consequences

For the past month, the Republican Party of Louisiana has promoted the veto override session, fighting with all the tools we have at our disposal. Chairman Louis Gurvich issued the following statement this afternoon:

“Louisiana Republicans are profoundly disappointed and deeply angered by the events that occurred in the Louisiana House of Representatives today. Louisiana Republicans insist that there must be consequences for the Democrats, Independents, and the one Republican who voted to sustain the Governor’s veto of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

I am calling on Speaker Clay Schexnayder to immediately replace all Democrat House Committee chairs with Republicans who are members of the Conservative Caucus. If this does not happen, then a broader conversation about how the House of Representatives is run will become necessary.

We would like to point out to the voters that 67 of 68 House Republicans voted for the override of the veto of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act today. The only Republican who voted against us is Representative Joe Stagni of Kenner, who is being targeted for recall. Additionally, 26 of 27 Senate Republicans successfully voted to override the Governor’s veto of the same bill. Only Senator Ronnie Johns failed to show up and vote.

While we are angry and plan to lead the charge to make sure this sort of thing never happens again, we want to express our deep appreciation to the great majority of Republican legislators who voted right 100% of the time.

Finally, we must address the fact that Senators Louie Bernard, Pat Connick, and Franklin Foil voted to sustain the Governor’s override of the Constitutional Carry bill, while Senator Ronnie Johns failed to show up and vote. We encourage the voters to hold them accountable as well.

Republican voters expect more.”