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The Price of Democracy

Just last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a law that would get more national attention for Louisiana’s presidential primaries by holding them earlier in the year, but this probably wasn’t the attention he wanted. “I have no funding for elections past the fall elections,” said Tom Schelder, the state’s secretary of state. Louisiana law says there must be primaries, but they would cost $3.5 million, and Schelder says he won’t have it after allocating money to elect a governor and legislators. The Jindal administration says it gave Schelder a target for cutting his overall budget and the rest was his problem. “We cannot dictate where those reductions happen and did not advise him.” Schelder says he warned the administration the primaries would be cut. And besides elections, the only function in his department that depends on general state funds, a spokesman explained, is museums — and that budget has already been halved. (AC/Washington Post) ...Maybe for efficiency he can combine them by putting democracy in the museum.