Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser rejuvenates push for privatization of state parks as budget cuts loom

Though not real excited about what he expects to be a 10 percent cut in the operating budget of the state’s parks and historical sites, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser does see a chance to fulfill a long-held dream to privatize.

Letting private businesses into the public parks, for a price, was a cornerstone of Nungesser’s first, unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor in 2011 and featured prominently in 2015, when he won. The subject is at the center of his speeches during a recent campaign-style trek around the state.

Privatizing public parks has been on the conservative Republican bucket list for years. But many balked, not wanting to sully the Sportsman’s Paradise with commercialization and fearing the further Disneyfication of Louisiana’s unique culture.

State parks stayed under the government control during the go-go years of Gov. Bobby Jindal, when all manner of public assets from office buildings to charity hospitals were turned over to for-profit enterprises.

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