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Sen. Richard Gallot speaks to students

 

Richard Gallot Jr., Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 29, spoke to students about the states motives in a politicians perspective Thursday, Nov. 15. Sen. Gallot was invited to speak by the advisors and executive of the Master of Public Administration Association (MPAA), Dr. Lemmy Akoma and Dr. Fabian Nabang.

 Giving off a humbling demeanor, Gallot made interacting with him easy.

Opening the seminar MPAA President Jessica Philegence gave the crowd some words of encouragement and following special guest Angelica Brown gave a brief introduction and biography of the speaker for the evening. 

Mentioning that Gallot was an undergraduate at Grambling State University made him closer to home with the college students who filled the blue seats of the Woodson auditorium. Speaking on politics, Gallot stated how Louisiana creates more revenue by giving a lot of tax cut breaks in certain corporations. 

As the seminar continued Gallot used a slide show to give students a visual affect. Showing them all of the different projects he has been a part of, as well as the numerous amounts of people he has met along the way who have helped to make tremendous transformations in reconstructing the state of Louisiana. 

Throughout the slideshow Gallot spoke on topics such as health care, education and employment. The senator went into an hourlong segment of Q & A. With an overload of questions dealing with current Gov. Bobby Jindal Gallot was open and willing to answer to his best ability. It was evident that the concerns of the governor swarmed the minds of students. 

“The problem Jindal has is that people try to reform their lives trying to make it seem as though their for the people,” says Gallot, “When politics is all about who’s willing to put up the money to run.”

Going further into the segment the senator went on to speak on the misconceptions young people often have about politicians. 

“All politicians lie is the biggest misconception,” said Sen. Gallot

He said politicians often fall victim to speaking and not listening to the general public.  Another topic the senator spoke on was learning leadership. 

Gallot feels that every politician or people who hold a position of power don’t understand the meaning of being or holding that leadership role.

“Leadership is disappointing people at a level they can absorb, delivering no in such a way that people are not offending by it,” said Gallot.