Louisiana voters have largely rejected four constitutional amendments, backed by Republican President Jeff Land Cell, associated with crimes, courts and finances.
Voters said no to each amendment was more than 60%.
Landry and his allies had taken the country with their backs to support an amendment that had to make a major change in the state’s constitutional revenue and finances. The amendment was presented in a special session of November on tax reforms by lawmakers and presented as a way to raise teachers’ salaries, restrict additional expenditures and get rid of special tax reduction in the constitution.
But critics from across the political sectarians, the proposed amendment did not underestimate transparency. The bill exceeded 100 pages, but was concentrated on a 91-word question.
While the major teachers’ unions supported the amendment, the coalition of liberal advocacy groups and influential religious figures were against changes that had to liquidate educational confidence funds and remove constitutional protection to reduce taxes to certain types of property.
Another proposed amendment would make the legislators easier to expand crimes that hunters could be punished as adults. Criminal Judge Reform Groups gathered and were against what they described as the punishment of Dracon that does not mention the roots of youth crimes.
The remaining amendments allow lawmakers to establish a regional privacy court, which opponents have said could be used to seize the judiciary from local courts.
Landry said he was disappointed but would continue to fight for “generation change” in Louisiana.
“We don’t see this as a failure,” he said in a statement. “We understand how positive changes can be implemented in case of failure.
Landrey blamed the left-wing billionaire George Soros and “did liberals. The Open Society Institute, a charity founded by Surus, did not immediately respond to its requests to comment.
The Louisiana Democratic Party called the results “a resonance failure” for Landry.
“The voters of every party have come to the conclusion that the constitutional amendment is at best misleading – in the worst case, trying to pay taxes to the rich while we closed more than our children,” the party said in a statement. “That’s not the values of Louisiana that we stood for.