[StBernard] Boasso's mission: Fix Louisiana in a hurry

[Westley Annis]

Boasso's mission: Fix Louisiana in a hurry 
By Diane Haag 
The News Star 
  
In his rare free time, state Sen. Walter Boasso loves to head out to his
ranch, where he raises 14 different species of exotic animals. 
"I love riding around in a Jeep never knowing what's going to jump out
in front of me," he said. 
   
He has approached his bid for governor in much the same way. He has
aggressively gone after front-runner Bobby Jindal in a series of TV ads.
In appearances, he seems to prefer to take questions from a crowd rather
than give prepared stump speeches. 
  
And when he talks about governing he refuses to "study studies" and
promises to get things done. 
"We all know what the problems are," he said. "The reason those problems
don't get solved is because of political courage. They lack the courage
to make the tough decisions and not worry about the consequences." 
  
So far, his approach has put him in second place in the governor's race
in the most recent Southern Media Research Poll, taken in August.
Keithville resident Don Parker attended the opening of Boasso's local
campaign office and has signs in his front yard supporting the southern
Louisiana native. 
  
"He appears he's sincere about doing something good for the state,"
Parker said. "I think he'll take care of business." 
  
Originally from St. Bernard Parish, Boasso's history is familiar from
his earliest TV commercials. His father, a union electrician, was
disabled at a young age, and the family relied on food stamps. 
  
"When you see people come to the door with turkey and a basket of food,
those are things you never forget," he said. 
  
While working his way through college cleaning ships, Boasso took a call
from a customer who had some large tanks he needed cleaned as well.
Boasso's boss didn't want to fool with the job, but Boasso took it on as
an independent project "with a box of Tide and a garden hose." 
  
"I started washing them like you'd wash a car, and it grew from there,"
he said. 
  
His business, Boasso America Corp., has operations in six states. He
sold the company to Quality Distribution Inc. in August for about $60
million. 
  
That story made Shreveport resident Ron Ferris a supporter. 
  
"With his past, I thought maybe he was more for the little man," Ferris
said. 
  
At a Red Cross banquet four years ago, a conversation with a friend led
Boasso to look at politics. 
  
"I had the idea to go to Baton Rouge and save the world," Boasso said. 
  
Many of his ideas about government came crashing down as he watched
Hurricane Katrina destroy his hometown. In St. Bernard Parish, he
commandeered a warehouse that he and others outfitted as a shelter,
eventually housing 2,500. 
  
"All we had at night was light from the burning gas lines," he said.
"You could hear screams from people hollering for help." 
  
They waited eight days before help arrived. 
  
"That is what changed my life," he said. "How can we have a system so
incompetent?" 
  
It changed his approach to politics and motivated him to get more
involved. 
  
Although he started his political career as a Republican, the events of
2005 changed his mind. 
  
"My party left me. My party lied to me," he said, referring to the
response to Katrina. 
  
Some have questioned him about switching to the Democratic side instead
of declaring himself an independent. To that, he has a pragmatic
response: "An independent can't win in Louisiana." 
  
In his time in the Legislature, he also realized the governor had all
the power to change Louisiana's system. With recovery in mind, he
decided to run for the state's top job. 
  
"I wasn't going to waste four more years in the Legislature hoping I
would have a governor willing to make headway," he said. "The next four
years are going to be tough." 
  
In a not-so-subtle jab at his opponents, Boasso asks voters to look at
why he's running. 
  
"There's nothing else I want. It's a passion because we see the
opportunities and we can never seem to grab it." 
  
His agenda starts with the hurricane-related concern of insurance. He
has accused many insurance companies of acting in bad faith. 
  
"I want to change the criminal code to make insurance executives liable
for their actions," he said. "People have been lied to and strung
along." 
  
In the face of rising premiums, he is supporting tax credits to help
make up the difference. He also wants to end "cherry picking," or the
ability of insurance companies to insure cars but not homes. 
  
Other key issues for the senator have been education and health care. He
has made multicity tours touting plans for both issues. 
  
On education, he hopes to expand preschool education and to create a
system that would allow all high school students to learn a vocation or
pursue a college preparatory curriculum. 
  
He is not a fan of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that
requires annual testing to evaluate a school. Instead he prefers a test
at the beginning of a year and one toward the end to evaluate how
children are learning and teachers are teaching. 
  
  
"We have some leeway" with the federal law, he said. "We haven't
challenged it." 
  
For health care, he wants to take some of the money that pays for care
of people without insurance and provide insurance policies for them,
expand LaCHIP for uninsured children and work with small businesses to
find insurance solutions for their employees. 
  
He also wants to preserve the charity hospital system for catastrophes
and implement more local clinics for preventative medicine and chronic
illness. 
  
As he has toured the state, he continues to see potential and continues
to be frustrated by the lack of movement. 
  
"You can't wait for someone else to help you," he said. "We've got to do
what we need to do as Louisianans to make our state a better place."