The switch of 11 House members from voting to renew a sales tax on cigarettes in May to not bucking Gov. Bobby Jindal's veto Thursday led to the defeat of the attempt to keep the tax on the books.
The veto means a 4-cent sales tax on each pack of cigarettes sold in the state will expire in 2012, reducing state revenues by $12 million.
House members, who voted 70-30 to pass the tax renewal, voted 58-44 to override the veto, but 70 votes were needed. Jindal and his staff heavily lobbied lawmakers to change their votes.
An examination of the votes when state Rep. Harold Ritchie's original HB591 was passed by the House May 24 and Thursday's motion to override the veto shows considerable movement.
Among those switching from supporting the bill to upholding the veto were Reps. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro; Kay Katz, R-Monroe; Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe; Charles "Bubba" Chaney, R-Rayville; Joel Robideaux, I-Lafayette; and Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette.
Fannin spoke for several lawmakers saying, "It's different in an override than it is in a vote for a bill. When I committed to work with the governor, this is part of it."
He said he agreed to support Jindal "if 4 cents was worth that much for him. It's not worth that much for me."
Fannin pointed out that he has disagreed with Jindal on several issues and supporting him "is not a down-the-line thing."
Asked for a comment, Katz just smiled, waved what she called "a queenly wave" and walked away.
Landry said she voted for renewing the tax because unlike Jindal, "I don't think it's a new tax," and her stepmother died of lung cancer, so she wanted to do something that might prevent people from starting to smoke.
"In the end, I didn't think it was something I wanted to challenge the governor over," she said. "It was important to him and I'm going to be, hopefully, working with the governor another four years. I didn't think it was worth a challenge to him."
She said "there was no fear of retribution" from Jindal if she didn't switch her vote.
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