Louisiana: The State We're In; 304
- Transcript
Production assistance for the following program was provided in part through contributions to Friends of LPB. [Beth George] Do you think this is madness out here? [Speaker 1] It sure is. I've never seen anything like this before. [George] Why are you out here then? [Speaker 1] We're trying to purchase a home. It's just we can't afford it at the regular interest rate. [George] This'll be your first home then? [Speaker 1] Yes. [Speaker 2] I'll figure this way. If I make $50,000 on the deal with all the properties. That's $8-- that's $8,000 a day. That's more than most people make a year. So I guess that's worth it. [Speaker 3] Little ridiculous. But here we are. (music) (more music) [Announcer] Louisiana: The State We're In with Beth George and Ron Blome.
[Beth George] Good evening. Welcome to this edition of Louisiana: The State We're In. Tonight we'll take a look at how some people are getting cheap loans to buy new homes. [Ron Blome] And we'll take you behind the scenes on the campaign trail. [George] But first this week's capital highlights: The office of governor has been in Louisiana a position of power and authority unequaled in many other states. This week a man who was never elected to a major political office, who has served as a powerful advisor to governors, ended his long career of government service. [Blome] It was with tears in his eyes that Governor Edwin Edwards publicly accepted the resignation of Camille Gravel, his executive council and close friend. And it was an equally emotional Camille Gravel, besieged by family problems, who said goodbye to a long career in Louisiana government. [Camille Gravel] Being the officially designated attorney for the man I believe to be the most competent governor in the history of Louisiana was an exhilarating, challenging, fruitful, and exciting experience
which I immensely enjoyed. Laboring with you and for you in the political and governmental vineyards, especially in the heat of days of turbulence, produced so many memories for me to cherish and nurture in the days ahead. Governor, as an aside, I'd say I enjoyed not only thrill of high achievement but the association with you in those days of splendid misery which you overcame so well. [Blome] Gravel said he was returning to Alexandria to be with his family and to devote more attention to his law practice. But obviously the recent death of his wife this year, and the recent sentencing of his son for drug trafficking, and the arrest of his daughter on similar charges played a big role in his calling it quits in Baton Rouge. Replacing Gravel in the job of executive counsel is Judge Edmund Reggie of Crowley, another long-time friend of Governor Edwards and no stranger to state government.
[Edwin Edwards] Nevertheless, here they are. [Edmund Reggie] Thank you, Governor. I'm deeply moved to be the governor's executive council on two scores: one, to be executive counsel to my dear friend who is, incidentally, I think, the most -- and everybody else thinks -- the most popular governor in the history of the state. And then to follow another dear friend like Camille Gravel. [Blome] Reggie will serve without pay and brings with him an interesting political connection. For he is the force behind Louisiana's draft movement to bring Ted Kennedy into the presidential race. Governor Edwards says that political tie is OK with him, but he stressed that for now he's staying out of national politics. [Edwards] I am reluctant to get involved in national politics. I just think that a Southern governor, especially one who is as outspoken as I am, has as much to lose as to gain by getting involved. It may be in everyone's interest and certainly the desire of the people of the state, that I just stay out of it. I'm simply going to reiterate that I reserve all options unto myself and I will make decisions as the opportunities unfold. [Blome] Certainly the headline stories this
week centered on the weather as Hurricane Frederic battered the Alabama, Mississippi and Florida Gulf Coast. Most people in Louisiana prepared for the hurricane that never came their way. But in this part of the world, the next storm might have a different course and so a wary eye was kept on Frederic's destructive path. We have a report from Charles Zewe of WYES TV. [Charles Zewe] They call the Dauphin Island Gulf Shores section of Alabama the "Redneck Riviera." But what Hurricane Frederic did to that resort community this week was not funny. Five hours of 130 mile-an-hour winds left the area a shambles. Frederic's winds and waves whipped the dunes from the beach, buried cars in mud and sand, and swept away many homes. The causeway linking the mainland to the island was cut. An estimated 90 percent of the businesses and homes in the area were destroyed. In Mobile, the 300-year-old port city was reduced to a scene reminiscent of a battleground. The downtown section was a mass of wreckage. Shop windows were
blown out by the hundreds, rooves and walls pitched into the narrow streets. Frederic was the worst storm on record in Mobile, surpassing the 90 mile-an-hour winds and widespread damage of a storm in 1926. There were incredible displays of the storm's fury like this one: a DC 3 that was picked up and hurled upside down almost a mile from its moorings. This dry storage boathouse was smashed. Hundreds of incidents of looting were reported in the Alabama and Mississippi coastal areas. National Guardsmen were called out to patrol the area with orders to deal with looters severely. Some mayors ordered the Guardsmen to shoot looters after only two warnings. Pascagoula was perhaps the hardest-hit area. Destruction was almost complete in some sections of the 40,000 resident town. Stores were smashed, apartments unroofed, the town was without power and water. Mississippi Governor Cliff Finch estimated damage in Pascagoula alone would exceed $50 million.
In Florida Governor Bob Graham estimated damage at $95 million. But in Alabama officials refused to give estimates, saying the damage was too widespread to even guess at what the final damage figure would be. This is Charles Zewe reporting. [Blome] President Carter flew to the hard-hit Gulf Coast on Friday to examine the damage, and he declared 30 counties in Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama disaster areas. [George] There was other news out of Washington this week affecting the Louisiana. Former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu won an easy and unanimous Senate confirmation as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Last week Landrieu faced tough questioning before the Senate Banking Committee on his relationship with developers while mayor of New Orleans. [Blome] United States Senator Russell Long announced this week that he was going to vote against ratification of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union. He said any doubts he had about Soviet intentions were erased by recent disclosures that they placed combat troops in Cuba.
[George] Well, this week on the campaign trail for governor, there were these developments. The Louisiana Right to Work Committee, headed by Republican Jimmy Wilson, has endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Treen. The committee says Treen is the only man who said he would veto any repeal of the right to work law. Two major endorsements came to candidate E. L. "Bubba" Henry this week as two newspapers, the New Orleans States-Item and the Shreveport Journal, called him the best man for the job. [Blome] And, Beth, in one of the most unusual developments this election year, candidate for governor L.D. Knox has had his name legally changed to None of the Above and now he's asking that it be listed that way on the October ballot. The attorney general's office is looking into the request to see if it must be done that way since Knox, or None of the Above as his name may be, qualified under his old name. [George] Well the resolution of that legal question should be interesting. But in this election year we've heard an awful lot already about multimillion dollar campaigns and high-priced media consultants. In fact the major candidates say they may spend as much as $3 million apiece in their campaigns. But this week when we visited the campaign headquarters of several candidates for governor,
we found that volunteers are still the backbone of any political campaign. [Speaker 4] You've heard enough or heard enough about the candidates so far that you feel like you might be able to support Dave Treen in this upcoming election. [George] Politics may be one of Louisiana's favorite spectator sports, but for some citizens just watching from the sidelines isn't enough. They want to be actively involved in the race itself. And this year there are more than enough candidates to go around. [Betty Cameron] Well, I worked in campaigns in New York state. I've only been here a year, but I always enjoyed it and I always thought it was exciting to be part of the political process. So I think it's something you just gravitate to. And I became very interested in this campaign through watching the candidates ever since I arrived. And I just feel that I like Senator Mouton. I think he's a very good candidate. And I think I can work for him sincerely. [George] What sort of things do you do in the campaign as a volunteer? [Cameron] Well, this is the kind of work we do. I think it's probably the most important work that a volunteer
can do. It has to be done. [Beth George] Stamping envelopes, typing labels, addressing and stuffing letters, and endless hours on the phone aren't the glamorous aspects of a campaign. But any candidate will tell you those are the things that have to be done. And usually it's a volunteer that does them. We can take it for granted that a candidate enlists all of his friends and relatives in his campaign. But who else would spend all that time? Ruby Powell is a retired nurse and active in a senior citizens group. She says more senior citizens should get involved. [Ruby Powell] We were bringing in a few of the senior citizens to help assemble material. They look forward with it. They like getting out, you know. They're in apartments. ?????????????We haven't done that in a few days, but we're gonna hope to start that again because they enjoyed it. [George] s there a sense of camaraderie here at a campaign headquarters? [Powell] We're in there together and we're all doing everything we can to help each other because we have different phases of work and if we don't have anything to do for the elders then it's a lull time so
we don't have materials to assemble, telephone calls to make or somewhere to go, we just come in here and find something to do. [George] At Treen headquarters, the story is much the same. Volunteer Ben Nixon works the voter identification phone bank. Nixon says most of the people he talks to want to know more about the issues in this campaign. [Ben Nixon] I would find that most of them have not made up their mind. It seems like that most of them are having trouble finding out just exactly the position that the candidates are taking on the various issues. It seemed like the television ads don't exactly nail down where they stand. In other words, if you listen to the television ads you don't get exactly the position on a lot of the major issues. [Blome] Do you think the voters are eager for more information? [Nixon] Well, from my findings of the people I've talked to, yes, they'd like to have more information and less of the propaganda handout sheets. In other words they like, specifically, where does your
candidate stand on this, this, this and this. Not what he's done in the past or where's he's going or what he thinks he might be able to do. Where does he stand? That's what they want to know. [George] Over at Bubba Henry headquarters, the volunteers want the public to get to know their man. Dianne Bennett shared the deep commitment common among volunteers. [Dianne Bennett] My husband and I talked this over and I think one of the things is I really love people, and therefore this is an opportunity to get out into the community, get to meet people and to work for somebody you believe in. [George] You know, you hear a lot about voter apathy, about people not being concerned about politics in many cases. That's not the case in Louisiana. Do you think people are interested? Is it a pastime, sort of, sort of a sport if you will? [Bennett] Oh, I think it's a sport but it's also a delightful sport. I think-- I don't-- I have not run up against the apathy. People that I have called, and they're not necessarily my friends, alright. Some of my friends are involved in other campaigns. Everyone that I have called and asked, they are all
helping in one way or another. Some women, for instance I'm running into more women than the men angle. Women are helping at home. They're doing things out of their own house. They're out talking. If they're here, they're working here. But I'm saying that they're all contributing in different ways. So I don't feel the apathy at all. I feel excitement kind of, you know. [George] If there is a constant characteristic from campaign to campaign, it is the enthusiasm of the volunteers. The workers in the trenches really believe in their candidate. They aren't expecting any jobs or favors. Those kind of commitments may come with big contributions. But for these campaign workers, involvement in the political process is what it's all about. [Betty Cameron] I hope to continue working in political campaigns. I think that it's the heart of the system, and I enjoy it. [Blome] First there were the gas lines of summer and now, as improbable as it seems, there are the money lines of September. It's the result of a new state plan aimed at giving the housing market its shot in the arm and it's the subject of this week's report.
[George] Do you think this is madness out here? [Speaker 1] Sure is. I've never seen anything like this before. [George] Why are you out here then? [Speaker 1] We're trying to purchase a home. It's just we can't afford it at the regular interest rate. [George] This will be your first home then? [Speaker 1] Yes. [Speaker 2] But I'll figure this way. If I make $50,000 on the deal with all the properties. That's $8 -- that's $8,000 a day. That's more than most people make a year, so I guess that's worth it. [Speaker 4] As a matter of fact, it's the only way I can afford to get a home is at this low mortgage rate. [George] How much money do you anticipate you'll save? [Speaker 4] Well, the difference between interest rates is going to work out about $190 a month and the difference in the down payment with what they have available for 5 percent money means about $10,000 front money. [Speaker 3] A little ridiculous. But here we are. [Blome] Some waited for up to seven days. At one point there were as many as 3,000 all lined up at 63 Jefferson Parish banks and lending institutions, all waiting for a chance to borrow some cheap money. That was the scene in New Orleans last week, a scene repeated in Shreveport this week and a scene that may occur again across Louisiana as local governments enter
the bargain basement home mortgage business. The single family home is an important part of the American dream. But recent economic developments have pushed the cost of borrowing money for home buying and building sky high. Interest rates for single family home mortgages in Louisiana now run between 11 and 12 percent where money is still available. When money is tight, the housing market usually slumps -- bad news not only for potential home buyers but also for the builders, real estate agents, and money lenders. Some of Louisiana's business and political leaders think they've found a solution to the housing money squeeze in the form of public mortgage finance authorities, authorities chartered by local government with the blessing of the State Bond Commission. The authorities raise their money by selling tax-free bonds at around 7 percent interest then loaning the money out to the public for seven and a half to eight and a half percent interest, depending on administrative costs and actual bond rates. It's a program that puts money in the hands of homebuyers who keep the builders, Realtors and bankers in the home business, all at no cost to the taxpayers. It sounds good, perhaps too good.
[Charles Gray] I'm just really expressing concern that everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Everybody is in favor of it right now. Gentlemen, all good things, if this is a good thing, are going to come to an end. Not everybody can afford a $75,000 or $100,000 home. And what we're dangling in front of these people is a pie in the sky dream that they can, all of a sudden, get this. What happens if they can't afford it after two or three years? [Blome] It is the January meeting of the Louisiana Bond Commission and, despite the reservations of a few, the Commission gives the go-ahead for new authorities in Lafayette, New Iberia, and Rapides Parish. At the same time the Commission gives final approval for a $100 million bond sale by the Baton Rouge Mortgage Authority, approval which comes only after lengthy questioning concerning the personal financial interests of authority backers. Lawyer Steve Hicks helped write the public trust law and create the Baton Rouge Authority. As a lawyer for the public trust, he will be paid up to $125,000 from bond proceeds.
Dr. William Ross, former dean of the business school at LSU, also help father the public trust law and the Baton Rouge Authority. Now retired from the University, he stands to collect $100,000 a year for the next 14 years as program administrator. [Kevin Reilly] It's a disturbing thing to see four and a half to $5 million worth of fees go out the window if they're not necessary, and we won't know that they were necessary fees unless we have, as they say, open public bidding. I think, and I've asked the attorney general to resolve this, I think that both of those fees should be subject to the public bid laws. [William Ross] That $100,000 a year certainly is primarily going to go in terms of operating expenses to get the job done and under no circumstances should it be implied that that's going into Dr. Ross's pocket. It's will be an operating expense proposition. I would hope that there would be a
little bit in it for Dr. Ross. [Blome] Another criticism of the program is hung on the broader issue of whether local government should be in the home mortgage business in the first place. [Edwin Edwards] I don't think that that's a very good method for financing housing, although many people disagree with me, as you know. We had a housing authority established by legislation in 1972 which I never implemented. It had the authority to float $30 million worth of bonds. Reason being when you talk about housing, you, the numbers are in figures so great that it's a matter which can only be handled on the level of the federal government if you're to really have an effective program. [Joe Traigle] If you look at it on the positive side, it is an opportunity for people in a certain income category to be able to move into home ownership. And you know, we as a financial institution...(fades out). [Blome] Joe Traigle is president of American Bank in Baton Rouge, an institution which has asked for the largest share of the mortgage authority money.
He says he has no hang ups about the government financing for mortgages. [Traigle] The only difference that it makes in this program and someone else walking in to get a loan is the fact that the funds are available. And the funds are available because the government allows itself to be a party to issuing the bonds at a tax-free rate which does generate the funds for the program. We have no problem with it, and we strongly support it. [Barry Karns] You may or may not, as a policy consideration, want this type of program every year or every six months because it would have to be something that the normal lending institutions would be able to live with. Obviously they realize, and they're very short of money right now. They realize, with interest rates going out of sight the way they have been and will continue to do for the near future, that this program is very good. It's very good for the people who need to get in a home. It's good for the lending institutions because they wouldn't have any funds to lend
anyway. So but if things changed, then you'd have a totally different picture. And you wouldn't really want to make it so easily available in times when the normal market channels could take care of the demand for housing. [George] Then you might be hurting those savings and loans. [Karns] So it's got to be restrictive and it's got to be tailored to just the times when the interest rates are so prohibitive that most people just couldn't get a home loan otherwise. [Blome] Philosophical arguments over the government's role in home lending aside, the low interest home mortgages may be the deal of a lifetime for those lucky enough to secure a loan. In two of the program cities, however, that has meant a long wait in line for the opportunity to apply for a loan. And following the divvying up of the mortgage money, there have come charges of favoritism, charges still under investigation that some lenders favored certain developers and that, in some cases, employees of the lending institutions received too many of the loans. Program administrators say the charges were expected from those frustrated borrowers who missed out on the
cheap money. But can all the charges be so easily dismissed with so much money at stake? Last January State Representative Kevin Reilly warned that the temptation was high in a program without standardized rules. [Reilly] Who gets them? Who doesn't get them? Does favoritism creep into the thing? Who approves of projects? In this particular situation, some of the lenders have complained to me that the absolute arbitrary life and death as it is placed in the hands of approval is placed in the hands of the authority. That can lead to problems. Point is, when you get into a situation where somebody has a life and death over your use of your property, then you, as my mother used to say, the occasion of sin arises. [Blome] But authority backers like Joe Traigle say that when the rules are written properly, everyone will get a fair shake. And he says the public mortgages are a very good deal if you can get one. But if Congress gets its way, you may not be able to get them much longer. A bill is already pending before a congressional committee to severely restrict the use of tax-fee bonds as Barry Karns
explains. [Karns] There was a proliferation of these types of bonds across the country. The Treasury Department felt that the great amount of these bonds would actually cut into their revenues, the income taxation revenues, significantly because all of these bonds naturally are tax exempt. So they had some input and had some pressure that they exercised on some of the members of Congress that resulted in a bill being introduced by Representative Altman (??) in the House Ways and Means Committee of which he is chairman. His original bill would have completely eliminated the tax-exempt feature of these types of bonds so they would have no longer been desirable. It'd been just like another loan that someone could have gotten from the bank for a home mortgage with no interest rate differential. That bill was amended significantly when it passed through the Ways and Means Committee. And it now stands
on the House floor. There are a number of restrictions in the bill as far as who can receive the funds, how an agency goes about restricting itself. There is a provision in there that someone cannot apply for the funds if they have owned a house within the last three years ,for instance. They have targeted areas that they mention in the bill that to which funds should be applied. So all in all, it's very, very restrictive type of program that you'll see after this bill winds its way through through Congress, assuming that it passes and in substantially the form it's in now. [Blome] It may have been inevitable that the federal government would get involved in a program that undercut interest rates in the Internal Revenue Service so effectively. Perhaps a scaled-down program will survive the congressional assault, leaving some persons still eligible for the low interest housing dream. But for those who didn't make it to the head of the money lines of 1979,
perhaps it was too good to be true. [George] The circus came to Baton Rouge this week, but a lot of people never noticed it. That's not surprising, however, since it's one of the world's smallest shows on Earth as we see in this report by LPB's Bill Fugler. [Bill Fugler] For the past 33 years, Ernie and Virginia Palmquist have been providing people with a very special view of life under the big top. They have been carving blocks of wood into a 50,000 piece replica of the animals, performers, roustabouts, and spectators at the Ringling Brothers' Barnum and Bailey Circus. Ernie's miniature circus has traveled across the world to the delight of young and old alike. [music] [marching band music] Ernie started the circus in 1946 when he was the leader of a dance band. He
began carving as a way to relax. And since he'd always enjoyed the circus, he combined the two and started his display. [Ernie Palmquist] We only had three tents and a few little animals and figures when we first started out. Now we have over 50,000 pieces to the whole show. Well, we've carved out most of the acts of Ringling Brothers. I've got Emmett Kelly, the famous clown. He gave me some of his hair so I could have the little figure look just like him. And I've got Gunther Williams, the star of the Ringling Circus this year. I've got Mrs. Gunther. I've got ?????????? the world's smallest man. Unus, the man who stands on one finger. I've got the Wallendas, the Cristianis, the Hannafords. They're all in the main tent. My wife and I built the whole circus, just the two of us. We both do the carving. We both do the painting. My wife did the sewing and I made the wagons and the railroad car. It all packs up in 51 cases, $50 worth of cotton. We transport it in a large truck and trailer. This is our last year on the road. We're closing out on December 13th and we're going to retire. And as to the circus, we don't know where it's going to go yet. It will likely be
either at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., the Circus Hall of Fame, or the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. [Fugler] Ernie got his wife Virginia involved in the circus at first by having her sew tents. Later she also started painting and carving. [Virginia Palmquist] I've been carving about 16 years now. I started 16 years ago because working in a place like we've been, it's a long day if I'm sitting around doing nothing. In order to pass the time, I start carving little figures. It's hard to tell I can make a new figure almost one a day. And in a week's time, I get seven. It depends on detail. In a week's time, I may get 12 to 15 if I stick to it. I only work when I feel like it. It's been a lot of fun, yeah. We get to see a lot of people and meet a lot of nice interesting people, go to different cities and countries. It's a real interesting, nice pastime if you want to call a pastime. It's like having a paid vacation, really. [music]
[George] We'll be back next week with news from the political arena as we have our monthly discussion with capital reporters. Until then, I'm Beth George for Ron Blome. Good evening. [music] The preceding has been an LPB production.
Production assistance for the preceding program was provided in part through contributions to friends of LPB.
- Episode Number
- 304
- Producing Organization
- Louisiana Public Broadcasting
- Contributing Organization
- Louisiana Public Broadcasting (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/17-074tncnx
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/17-074tncnx).
- Description
- Series Description
- Louisiana: The State We're In is a magazine featuring segments on local Louisiana news and current events.
- Description
- Home Finance Authorities; Campaign HQ; Gravel resigns
- Broadcast Date
- 1979-09-14
- Asset type
- Episode
- Topics
- News
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:29:11
- Credits
-
-
Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority
Producing Organization: Louisiana Public Broadcasting
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
Identifier: LSWI-19790914 (Louisiana Public Broadcasting Archives)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:30:00
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “Louisiana: The State We're In; 304,” 1979-09-14, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed January 27, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-17-074tncnx.
- MLA: “Louisiana: The State We're In; 304.” 1979-09-14. Louisiana Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. January 27, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-17-074tncnx>.
- APA: Louisiana: The State We're In; 304. Boston, MA: Louisiana Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-17-074tncnx