Defense as Representation: The Louisiana Black Caucus’ Fight for Fair Taxes

• In Event: Race and Representation

Abstract

Minority parties in legislatures have long practiced obstruction to prevent policy they opposed from becoming law or to extract concessions to limit the negative impact they perceived would come to pass under a new law. In previous work, I have argued that defensive legislative behaviors (the preservation of existing policies and programs and the delaying or defeating of those policies and programs opposed by the legislative actor) are manifestations of substantive representation. By acknowledging policy delay, limitations, and/or prevention as substantive representation, we are able to observe them as practiced by legislators marginalized by identities beyond party. Legislators marginalized by race and gender, often isolated from traditional power centers, utilize defensive legislating to maintain the status quo of their constituents’ rights hard won and continuously under attack, sometimes without broader party support. In this paper, I conduct a case study of the Louisiana State Legislature’s 2018 session wherein a Democratic governor’s compromise with Republican legislators to avoid a fiscal cliff was thwarted by the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus (LLBC). Challenging their own party leader’s attempts to resolve a $600 million budget shortfall, the LLBC substantively represented their constituents, not by initiating a bill or program, but by exploiting ideological divisions among Republicans on a tax reform bill and holding out for concessions on tax exemptions which largely benefit the wealthy as well as preserving other protections for more vulnerable citizens. The case study to be presented examines popular media accounts and personal interviews with legislators and staff, executive branch staffers, as well as local advocacy groups to determine the legislative strategy and political consequences of such decisions. Acting in unison as descriptive representatives, the LLBC’s strategy serves as empirical evidence of my argument regarding defensive legislating and documents the critical role of descriptive representatives and their legislative organizations in policymaking.

Author

• Anna M. Mahoney, Tulane University