Hugh Cassidy

I am very conflicted on this issue. I believe in the right to life, but I don't know that I would be able to tell a young rape victim that she HAS to relive her attack every day for the next nine months by forcing her to carry the child of her attacker. I believe "Plan B" or "Morning After" pharmaceuticals should be included in the rape kids at our hospitals, so that rape victims can decide if they want to take measures to keep any fertilized egg from attaching itself to the uterine wall. I do not support abortion once a heart beat is detected.

Strongly Agree

ProLife taxpayers should not have to see our dollars used to perform abortions we fundamentally disagree with.

Disagree

I am conflicted on this issue. My first instinct is that it's wrong, but if someone is terminally ill and in pain so intense that medications are not able to assuage, I don't think I could blame them from wanting to speed up the inevitable. I don't think there is a one size fits all answer to this question. It would depend on the circumstances. So I wouldn't author a measure like that, but if it were properly regulated with the right criteria, I MIGHT support it.

We need to eliminate our State income tax and the inventory tax. We have to change the way we (the Louisiana State Government) look at businesses. In my view, we currently see them almost with almost a "lust" for the money we can squeeze from them. We have to change the culture in BR to begin seeing business and industry as PARTNERS who we want to work WITH to ensure their success. When businesses prosper, they grow, they expand and more importantly, they EMPL0Y us....and they employ our children. And they STILL provide that revenue stream the Government needs to operate. If we'll be fair with businesses and help them achieve success, we will build our economy, increase employment opportunities and build a real tax base that doesn't overly burden anyone but is broad enough to fund all of our state services.

Louisiana has a constitutionally mandated balanced budget, so it's already technically "balanced", but there is much that can be done to curb wasteful spending, lessen the burden on our taxpayers and make Louisiana attractive to new businesses and industry. Louisiana spends 20% more than the national average per capita on public welfare and 57% more than our peers in the West South Central U.S. I don't think Louisiana's citizens are 57% less "able" than our peers. so there has to be huge opportunities for savings in there. We have a high rate of "Government Dependence" in Louisiana and we need to work on solutions to make our citizens more self sufficient. Let's start with work requirements for able bodied recipients for everything from food stamps to WIC to subsidized housing and government cell phones. We have a moral obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves, but everyone else should be earning in one way or another. It is JUST as immoral to make an able bodied adult "Government Dependent" as it is to refuse support to someone too old or too sick to care for themselves. Government assistance to anyone who is able to work, should be a TEMPORARY thing, but all too often, it has become a way of life and, for many, it has become generational. We HAVE to fix that. Eventually the people riding IN the wagon are going to outnumber the people PULLING the wagon. When that happens our entire economy will crumble. We need a revamping of our civil service system to eliminate protections that keep underperforming employees on the payroll. Along the same lines, we need to look at tenure for our Educators. I am all for rewarding loyal employees, but loyalty alone doesn't make someone deserving of the protections that come with tenure. Underachieving teachers in Louisiana are enjoying the same protections as our best educators, simply because they stayed around and many only stayed around because they couldn't get a better deal anywhere else. In other words, they weren't doing us (the taxpayers any favor or really showing us loyalty). I made a successful career out of rewarding my best employees, showing them my appreciation so they continued to work for me and continued to provide great care for my patients. But almost as important as rewarding our top staff, we must be constantly weeding out the non-performers and recruiting better, more dedicated staff, to take their place. This is how you build success and the reputation that goes with it. It's hard work at first, but once you get rid of the under performers and the bad attitudes, and begin encouraging improvement in the ones with potential by letting them see the rewards of the top producers, then you create a culture of achievement and the top staff begins to mentor the newbies and they all begin to hold one another accountable. Then things get exponentially easier for management to manage. I've done it over and over, at every facility I've been hired to run and it works every time. It's all about culture change.

Disagree

Taxpayer funded college would be a great thing if we lived in a state of abundance and could afford it. Unfortunately this is not the reality we live in. Taxpayer funded education should be K-12. There are scholarship opportunities and student loan opportunities for anyone who cannot afford college, so no one has to go without a college education if they truly want one and are willing to put in the work.

Strongly Disagree

Business owners should have the right to refuse service in situations where it would violate their moral or religious beliefs. This right is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

NONE! Our Constitution (a copy of which stays on my desk at ALL times), guarantees us the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs. It also guarantees us the right to peaceably assemble. So it was patently unconstitutional for the Biden Administration to tell Americans they could not attend church services - pandemic or no pandemic.

C. Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. We have a moral obligation to help care for those who cannot care for themselves and Medicare isn't a government "give away". Our seniors PAID for that benefit. Medicaid is the problem. Too many recipients could take care of themselves, they just choose not to. Medicaid for the able bodied, should come at a cost with premiums and copays that have to be paid.

I only agree with requiring the vaccinations for school children that have been approved by the FDA, have been proven safe and have been proven EFFECTIVE. Our government should never again mandate vaccines they have not fully approved by the FDA, have proven INEFFECTIVE and when the people are required to sign a waiver of all liability.

Strongly Disagree

Israel is among our closest, longest running allies and the U.S. should continue to stand by them. The BDS movement is inherently Anti-Semitic, singling out Israel for sanctions. In addition, the conflicts between Israel and Palestine are complex and multidimensional - religious, cultural and political - and do not need to be oversimplified.

Strongly Agree

Our open border policy is a nullification of our national sovereignty. It is a cheap attempt by the left to recruit new voters who they hope will be sympathetic to their cause. We are a nation of immigrants and we should never close our door to immigration. My family came her from Ireland but there was a difference: They came here looking for WORK. They did not come here looking for a free hotel, free food, free healthcare and a free cellphone. The didn't come here with their hand out.

We cannot afford to take in the entire world's poor. We just can't afford to support the entire world. We should always allow for true asylum seekers - but NOT for benefit shoppers. Anyone who come to the US from Nicaragua for example, has to pass through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to get here. If they were truly seeking asylum from the Nicaraguan government, they would have stopped in the first county they came to. But they are NOT asylum seekers. They are benefits shoppers and they pass through Guatemala, Honduras AND Mexico and claim asylum status in the US because even though any of those other countries could offer them asylum, they wouldn't be putting them up in the Roosevelt Hotel, paying for their healthcare, giving them free food or a litany of other free benefits. They are not running from the tyrranacal government of their homeland, they're running from the poverty of their homeland. And I understand that too, but we cannot afford to support all of the world's poor. Our national debt is about to strangle us and we're tightening the noose every day by waving all these people in and agreeing to support them. We also need to tell every country, that we will be reducing their foreign aide by an amount equal to or greater than what we spend on any of it's citizens who come here seeking asylum or any other means of immigration. So if we normally send $170 million dollars to Guatemala in foreign aide, but we spend $70 million on Guatemalan "refugees", immigrants or "asylum seekers", then Guatemalan foreign Aide should be reduced AT LEAST by the $70 million we spent. I would be in favor of reducing it by a factor of 1.1 or $77 Million in this case. Something has to change and we cannot continue to support these countries when they're sending all their poorest citizens to us.

Strongly Agree

Parents should have the ultimate authority in choosing the school that best meets their child's needs. In addition, school choice will promote competition among the schools and I can't think of a time when competition didn't result in a positive outcome.

Strongly Agree

We must return to the Judeo-Christian values our society was built around. We have serious problems in this country (crime, drug addiction, poverty, et al) that would ALL be improved by a return to the moral values of our past.

Strongly Disagree

This is a mental health crisis and it needs to be addressed as such. It's also being pushed on kids in the liberal school districts. I know a boy who moved to Louisiana from N.C. He went to some progressive school where to sit at the "cool kids' table" you had to be "non-binary". So that's what he called himself - even though he didn't even understand what it meant. Then he moved to Louisiana and told his peers at his new school that he was non-binary. He has been ostracized ever since.

Disagree

If two people of the same sex love one another and want to be married, I have no problem with that and I believe they should have that right. Gay couples who have committed themselves to one another should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Strongly Disagree

NO! This is nonsense. All CRT does is promote racial conflict. We should be doing what we can to put out these fires, not stoke them. We are raising a generation of people to hate their country and a generation who hates their country will never stand up to defend it in times of war. We have to reverse this trend. We should teach our kids about the mistakes our country has made, but we should also teach them that it is the greatest experiment in human governance in the history of the world.

I am a Christian. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe He was raised again on the 3rd day and that by accepting Him as my Lord and Savior I am saved. I believe we should live life in a manner where we don't have to TELL this to anyone, but rather that it shows in the life we live, the way we treat each other and in how we carry ourselves. I believe in hard work. I believe in treating others as I would like to be treated and I believe in helping whoever I can, wherever I can. I believe in being honest with others, treating everyone with respect and dignity. As I said above, I believe the U.S. (while not perfect) is the greatest experiment in human governance in the history of the human race and I feel blessed to be an American and would gladly give my life for my country if asked. I come up short of my ideals every day, but I pray each day for forgiveness and to do better the next day.

Strongly Disagree

Photo identification is NOT asking for anything out of the ordinary and I question the motives of anyone who objects to the requirement.

Not many in Louisiana. We do require photo ID and we have some of the most secure elections in the country. It's one of the things Louisiana does well.

It's beginning to be, but wouldn't be, if the people who are profiting off of it would stop stoking the fires. People like Al Sharpton, Benjamin Crump and even the Obamas have gotten wealthy by playing the race card and screaming racism where it doesn't exist. They perpetuate the tension between the races and its wrong. I believe that if Martin Luther King could have foreseen what's going on in the U.S. today, back when he have his famous speech, he would have called it the "I had a nightmare" speech. The US has done more to combat racism than any other county in history. We need to find common ground and work from there. Stop using our differences as weaknesses and see them as strengths. Isn't our diversity supposed to our greatest strength? So why don't we treat it like that? We need to learn to love one another and to accept on another and celebrate the differences in our cultures and the different talents we all bring to the table.

A. There are companies who will cut corners where they can and pollute the environment so we need certain regulations to keep them in check. But over regulation has stifled more opportunities and more jobs than we can count. We just need balance.

Strongly Agree

Absolutely. We need to frack and we need to drill. Louisiana is SO rich in these natural resources, it makes no sense how much poverty we have. And it will only be made worse if we continue to push for all green energy. There is not enough wind or solar to run our country and there never will be. It's just not feasible. We need to turn away from this nonsense and get back to producing energy with the resources Louisiana is so rich in. We have to protect our petrochemical industry.

On the state level, to provide a system of fair and equal justice, to hold criminals accountable and protect the law abiding citizenry from them. To provide a system of higher education and oversee the K-12 levels provided by the parishes and municipalities to make sure they uphold a standard. Government is a necessary evil, so although we need it, I believe in keeping it at a minimum.

Conservative

I consider myself fiscally conservative with some moderate leanings on certain social issues. I do not believe biological men should compete against women and they should NOT share the same dressing rooms. I believe in traditional family values. I believe in law and order. In punishing violent offenders and in holding repeat violent offenders without bail until trial. Where I lean more moderate is on same sex marriage. I have no problem with it.

Interview with Kristian Garrick on 8/21/23 from 1:35 until 1:55 PM.

I have never even been accused of sexual misconduct. In the fall of 2001, while vacationing in Florida, I had an incident which caused me to have to plead guilty to possession of a controlled substance. I made a mistake which, for a time, cost me friends, loved ones, my reputation, and maybe even some endorsements. But I learned from my mistakes, turned my life around and used what I learned in treatment to help others. The judge, seeing my progress, and the work I was doing to help others, decided to withhold adjudication of my plea and placed me on probation, which I completed in 2003. I owned up to my mistake, turned my life around and focused on helping other drug addicted people like the inmates in St. Tammany Parish Jail who I ministered to once a week as part of Project 180. I have also helped dozens of employees and nursing facility residents over the years, using the principles of the Bible and of 12 Step Program. I will continue to use that experience to advocate for our children on drug prevention, namely fentanyl poisoning. I made a mistake that I was able to atone for. Children today face mistakes that can cost them their lives so I hope everyone will join me in this fight to save our children from this poison. I have been in recovery now since November 7, 2001.

My legislative priorities are to address the Insurance crisis in Louisiana. I want to enter into a compact with other costal states along the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic seaboard and maybe even Pacific Coast states since they just got hit with their first huricane in decades. I don't deny that the climate is changing. I believe it's been changing since Genesis 1:1; I think that's just how our creator made it and I don't think we are in charge of ANYTHING. My point is hurricanes may start hitting states that aren't used to being hit. They may ease off the Gulf region. Nobody knows. So it would behoove all of us coastal states to enter into a compact telling the insurance companies if you want to write policies in ANY of our jurisdictions, you have to be fair to ALL of us. Secondly, I want to fight to ensure that more of the taxes paid by St. Tammany citizens, comes BACK to St. Tammany for infrastructure, flood control and other projects vital to us. St. Tammany Parish pays one of the largest shares of the tax revenues that go to Baton Rouge, but we aren't getting our fair share back in project money. I want to partner with Sen. McMath to increase our piece of the pie. Third, I want to educate all of Louisiana's kids on the dangers and prevalence of fentanyl. This poison is flowing like a river out of Mexico and it's pressed into counterfeit pills that look JUST like the legitimate pharmaceuticals. Our kids need to know not to take any medication that they didn't personally see come from the pharmacy and they need to know that ONE PILL CAN KILL. And, if Joe Biden won't stop the flow of fentanyl across our southern border, then we need to be stopping it at the Louisiana State Line. We all know it's coming in from Texas on I-10 and being distributed all over the south via I-10 / 1-12, which runs right through this district. I don't know yet exactly how we will stop it at the State Line, but we need to start a conversation and figure it out.

Strongly Agree

The key words here are "for conduct consistent with departmental policy". I don't think they should be immune when overstepping their authority.

Disagree

I do support bringing our mental health facilities back to an appropriate level of funding, but not at the expense of law enforcement.

NONE. It has already been proven that the jurisdictions with the tightest gun control laws are actually the most dangerous - NYC, Chicago and D.C. to name just three. These laws only disarm the law abiding citizens leaving the predators to do as they will. I am a hunter, a marksman, a concealed carry permit holder and a firm supporter of our 2nd Amendment rights. If anything we need to be doing more to PROMOTE gun ownership by the law abiding citizens. Jurisdictions with the highest percentage of gun ownership tend to have lower rates of crime, because the criminals may be ruthless, but they are not stupid.

Strongly Disagree

This is nonsense. The "violence" is not the fault of the firearms dealer or manufacture. Do we sue GM when we get hit by a drunk driver in a Chevrolet?

Neutral

I do not know enough about the issue to make an informed decision. I like it as a tax revenue stream, but I know it can be harmful to families when the bread winner develops a gambling problem. I would have to study both sides of the issue before forming a final opinion.

Strongly Agree

Absolutely! Our children are a gift and it is our responsibility to protect them. We have to shield them from adult content that they are not ready for. I believe library content should be appropriate to the age range for the school.