Nola.com: ‘Progress, not press releases:’ Senate, under Cameron Henry, serves as check on Jeff Landry

Unlike the House, the Senate under Henry has posed obstacles for the new governor

BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer | May 19, 2024 | 5 min to read

State Senate President Cameron Henry had a tough message for Gov. Jeff Landry when they met in the governor’s fourth floor Capitol office in January.

Landry, who had just been sworn into office, wanted to end Louisiana’s unique jungle primary system by making candidates run in closed party primaries that would more likely elect hard-right conservatives.

State senators accepted his plan to close primaries for congressional races, Henry told him, but not in elections for the Legislature, statewide offices, sheriffs or district attorneys.

Landry became angry at the prospect of not notching an early win. Henry raised his voice in return.

“He wants things his way, which is to be expected,” Henry said later. “But it wasn’t possible to get there.”

It hasn’t been the only time that Landry — who was quoted earlier in the session as saying, “I don’t move slow” — has had to bow to the Senate’s wishes.

While the governor’s bills have sailed through the more conservative House, the Senate under Henry has held up and even derailed key measures sought by Landry.

Senators for a time sidetracked Landry’s proposals to redistrict the Louisiana Supreme Court, and they have killed his effort to shield whole swaths of government records from public view.

The Senate has stalled or watered down legislation to call a special convention to rewrite Louisiana’s constitution and to expand the governor’s ability to make appointments to key government boards.

On Thursday, after weeks of delay, senators agreed to create education savings accounts that will allow parents to send their children to private schools with public dollars, but only after revamping the legislation so that it may take effect only partially.

That Henry and Senate Republicans have frustrated Landry surprises Bernie Pinsonat, a veteran political consultant and pollster.

Pinsonat noted that not only did Republicans win supermajorities in both the House and the Senate last fall, but the incoming Republican senators seemed more conservative than those they replaced. And all of them seemed itching to pull Louisiana to the right after eight years of John Bel Edwards as the Democratic governor.

In addition, Landry helped tip the scales for Henry to become the new Senate president in January by privately expressing his preference for him. Senators who were backing another senator for the job then rallied behind him. Henry seemed positioned to give Landry what he wanted.

“You can’t walk around the Capitol without getting questions about what’s going on in the Senate,” Pinsonat said. “The Senate is slowing down conservative measures and mellowing them out. People are scratching their heads. Is it Cameron personally or his leadership?”

The answer is simple, Henry said during an hourlong interview in his first floor Capitol office, sitting at a large round table, surrounded by Jazz Fest posters: He is representing the will of the 39-member Senate, Democrats included. Other senators confirm this, saying he protects them from taking votes on controversial bills that won’t pass.

“I lived through the [Gov. Bobby] Jindal years where he came in and tried to bully everyone to make all the changes he wanted in a short period of time,” Henry said. “We then spent the next two years trying to unwind them and make them work. I want to make sure this governor doesn’t make the same mistake, and we have to spend the next three years fixing them. We all have greater expectations for this governor.”

‘Actually trying to get something done’

A primary mission for Henry is keeping Baton Rouge from turning into Washington, where the two parties are locked in endless partisan battles.

“We’re actually trying to get something done,” Henry said. “We focus on progress, not press releases.”

The approach of Henry and the Senate has disappointed conservatives such as Eddie Rispone, a Republican megadonor and education savings account advocate who narrowly lost the 2019 governor’s race.

Rispone calls Henry “very smart” and “astute” but said, “I think the Senate could have been more responsive and expedited things that the governor wants to get done.”

Conversely, Henry has become something of a hero to the anti-Landry crowd and to those who think he’s trying to do too much too quickly.

“George Washington supposedly defended the creation of the U.S. Senate by calling it a cooling saucer for legislation,” said Peter Robins-Brown, executive director of Louisiana Progress, a progressive group. “The same idea should hold true for state senates, especially the Louisiana Senate right now, as Gov. Landry tries to rush through an incredibly broad agenda incredibly quickly.”

Landry has two weeks to get Henry and Republican senators to agree to his biggest remaining priority before the regular session ends on June 3: to convene the constitutional convention in August. Henry has continued to express doubts about the idea.

The governor did not respond to a request for an interview for this article. Henry said the two have a good working relationship and that he doesn’t take their disagreements personally. Henry also said he has a good relationship with Kyle Ruckert, Landry’s chief of staff, a fellow member of Jesuit High School’s class of 1992.

Senate has history of working with governors

With 105 members, the House can be an unruly and rambunctious chamber. Governors have traditionally sought to get their way by working closely with the Senate president, regardless of party.

John Alario, a Republican from Westwego, helped deliver changes in the education system sought by Jindal and a sales tax increase pushed by Edwards to plug the massive budget gap that Edwards inherited. Along the way, Alario never aired disagreements with either governor.

Page Cortez, a Republican from Lafayette, worked closely with Edwards over the past four years when he could and even joined in the poker games that Edwards hosted at the Governor’s Mansion. But Cortez also frequently told Edwards that the Senate would buck his proposals, and the Senate twice joined the House in overriding vetoes by Edwards, the first time that had happened in decades.

Alario, who also served two terms as House speaker, said a governor and Senate president need each other.

“In the end, it’s better for them to work together rather than be at loggerheads and nothing moves,” he said. “That’s not good for the state.”

To be sure, the Senate has helped deliver major victories for Landry. The Senate joined the House in approving measures to deregulate Louisiana’s insurance industry, heeding the call of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple that this will stop or slow property rate hikes. The Senate also passed Landry’s anti-crime package in February, including a controversial measure to allow people over 17 to carry a concealed gun without a permit.

Henry as leader

Henry, 49, got his start in the Capitol as an aide to then-state Rep. Steve Scalise and remains close to Scalise, now the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Henry first made his name during Jindal’s second term as a second-term House member. He joined with other conservatives to repeatedly challenge how the governor balanced the budget through gimmicks.

Henry’s outspoken comments got him bounced from a plum position: vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

In 2015, Henry made a strong bid to become the next House speaker, traveling the state to ingratiate himself with other Republican House members. He fell short but received a consolation prize to chair the Appropriations Committee. Over the next four years, he regularly expressed skepticism about government spending programs.

Henry was elected to the Senate in 2019 and, since his reelection in 2023, represents Metairie and a sliver of Uptown New Orleans that includes Tulane and Loyola universities.

As Senate president, he has taken an inclusive style to governing, as did Alario and Cortez, who operated with smaller GOP majorities.

Henry meets every Monday with the 11 Senate Democrats and can be frequently seen talking with Democratic senators on the rostrum during lulls in the Senate’s proceedings.

Sen. Gerald Boudreaux of Lafayette, who heads the Democratic caucus, said Democrats appreciate that Henry listens to their concerns.

“We’ve been able to keep the personalities out of it and professionally disagree because of the dialogue,” Boudreaux said. “There hasn’t been anything close to people going after each other. We realize we will be on the short end but will do everything respectfully.”

Henry is a bit of a mystery to Capitol insiders. He is known for keeping his political cards close to his vest and won’t disclose the clients of his business consulting firm other than to say they don’t do government work. Henry has also surprised many observers by insisting he won’t seek Scalise’s congressional seat whenever Scalise steps down.

The parlor game of Capitol insiders of late is to assume that Henry is ratcheting up the pressure on Landry to get something major in return. Not so, said Henry.

“I don’t want anything,” he said. “I don’t have any great ask of the governor. I’m not leveraging the Senate for a personal reward. That’s not how I operate.”