Governor vetoes $400,000 to be used for Erath utility substation

Gov. John Bel Edwards scoffed at lawmaker’s efforts to reign in his spending powers and killed a handful of pet projects in conservative legislators’ districts in a dozen vetoes to Louisiana’s budget blueprint Wednesday night.
The Democratic governor nixed nearly $1.8 million in local projects. That included a $400,000 appropriation for a utility substation in Erath, home of Rep. Blake Miguez, the House Republican majority leader. Edwards earlier this week vetoed legislation from Miguez that would have forbidden private contributions from defraying election costs.
Miguez was not too happy with the veto considering the Governor approved the same item in a different parish. Miguez released a statement directed to the people of Erath explaining the veto.
“Citizens of Erath, Governor John Bel Edwards has line-item vetoed a project out of the budget which would have worked towards lowering your electricity rates. It would have meant a permanent utility sub-station in Erath, allowing the city to get the most competitive pricing on electricity that is provided to you. Again, he has chosen politics over people.
“In his veto letter, he called the project unnecessary while approving a similar project in another region of the state much closer to his home as well as other projects funding parks, recreation and other non-infrastructure items. The fact of the matter is he doesn’t like our conservative beliefs and values that I fight to protect every day in my job as a legislative leader. I will continue to stand strong in my fight to protect innocent life, our constitutional rights and AGAINST government waste, fraud, abuse, and higher taxes.”
Erath was hoping to use the money to build a new utility substation to replace old substation Erath uses today.
The governor also did away with three projects in Republican Rep. Danny McCormick’s district. That included $75,000 for street improvements in Plain Dealing, $26,000 for signage in Greenwood and $50,000 for recreational improvements in Bossier Parish.
Otherwise, the governor left most of $70 million in pork-barrel projects built into House Bill 1 and House Bill 516 intact.