State commissioner addresses SU students

Southern University students may have already met the next governor of Louisiana on Wednesday, Jan. 31.
Foster Campbell, Louisiana’s Public Service Commissioner, was invited to speak at Southern as part of the Department of Political Science, in conjunction with the Agricultural and Research Center’s, Educational Forum series.
“I’m glad I was invited to be here at Southern,” Campbell said. “It was an honor.”
Campbell, who has served as the state Public Service Commissioner since November 2002, has represented 24 parishes and nearly one million people in North Louisiana.
Although he hasn’t officially announced his bid for state governor, Campbell has publicly eluded to throwing his hat in the ring for the next gubernatorial election.
According to Carey Ash, a junior political science and history major from Baton Rouge, Campbell led a three-year campaign to regulate the rates charged by rural electric companies thus lowering the electric bills for a million state residents during his tenure as commissioner.
“His main focus is economical development and I believe through that we can advance Louisiana,” Ash said. “From his records shows he helps people who can’t help themselves.”
In his introductory speech, Ash said Campbell recently gained national and international news recognition in 2004 by leading the effort to provide telephone service in the Mink and Shaw, the last communities to receive telephone service in Louisiana.
In his speech to the students, Campbell said he was sick and tired of Louisiana being behind in everything from having the lowest capitol income, a large number of people incarcerated, having the worst roads and having the most children living in poverty.
He said Louisiana’s problems stem from a state capitol being full of politicians working special interest groups and not politicians working for the people.
“I’ve been here all my life and I want to build a better Louisiana for its residents,” Campbell said.
In his speech on Wednesday, Campbell discussed the “chock hold” he felt oil companies have on the state and how he would put an end to it.
He said the fact there was a time when 95 percent of oil came from Louisiana and now only five percent comes from the state, with the rest being foreign oil, which is hurting the state’s economy due to the fact that the five percent from Louisiana is the only oil being taxed, therefore he is working on legislation to tax all oil.
“Even though it would raise oil prices by about nickel, (with) the money from the taxes we could in time raise enough money to rebuild New Orleans which cost 14 billion dollars to rebuild,” Campbell said. “We don’t have to ask Washington for money when we can generate money right here”.
Campbell also said he is working on legislation to stop oil refiners from corroding the canals on the gulf coast which worsened hurricanes such as Katrina.
Other initiatives he has planned are to cut interest rates for payday loans and a program for battered women who want move and have their utility deposit waved.
Campbell concluded his speech by reminding those in attendance that to get rid of politicians who work for special interest groups, they would have to vote for one who is of the people’s interest.
“He actually fights for consumers,” said William Arp, a professor of political science at Southern. “(He) fights for the middle class, and fights for their future.”