By DAN JUNEAU

Last year, our state government decided it was in the best interest of the state and its citizenry to cut in half the taxes of a bankrupt casino in New Orleans.

One of the main reasons given for that action was to save the jobs of the 2,500 employees who worked there. As this column is being written, state government is in the process of committing, over time, almost $200 million of state funds to bring a professional basketball franchise to New Orleans and to make the city’s professional football team more “competitive,” from an earnings standpoint, with other football teams in the NFL.

Some argue that those actions by state government were sound economic decisions, while others question the logic of those tax breaks and subsidies.

For the purposes of this column, assume the state made a wise decision in cutting the casino’s taxes to save jobs and spending huge sums to secure or retain the sports franchises. After making that assumption, please continue the same logic while analyzing a major industry in this state.

In Louisiana, the forest products industry is one of the mainstays of our economy.

Its manufacturing component is the second largest in the state, and when the total impact of manufacturing, raw timber sales, harvesting and transportation is considered, the industry has a significant influence on our state’s economy. But according to recent data from the Louisiana Forestry Association, the LSU Ag Center and the Louisiana Department of Labor, all is not well with Louisiana’s forest products industry.

During the last three years, the total economic impact of the industry has declined drastically from $5.4 billion to $3.3 billion – a catastrophic drop of 39 percent.

That $2.1 billion is a huge loss to workers, businesses and governments combined. Not surprisingly, the income of forest products workers and contractors has declined significantly from $2.1 billion in 1998 to $1.7 billion in 2001. Likewise, the number of high-wage manufacturing jobs in the industry plummeted by more than 5,500 in the last year alone.

Let’s put this in perspective for a moment.

Imagine a map of the state and draw a line from Lake Charles, to Alexandria, to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The areas above that line are the main regions for forest product activity. Those areas are also among the poorest in the state and have the highest levels of unemployment and outmigration of citizens.

To put it bluntly, if the forest products industry sneezes in those areas of the state, the businesses, workers and local governments get pneumonia.

This key industry is well beyond the sneezing stage. Consequently, many areas of Louisiana are suffering badly.

But interestingly, there is no hue and cry in Baton Rouge to have a Special Session or a raft of Foster administration bills to pump life back into this vital industry.

Likewise, what is being done to stop the growing problem with closings, relocations and suspension of operations in the chemical and petrochemical industries in Lake Charles and the industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

Neither the Foster administration nor the legislative leadership has put forth any proposals in the current Special Session to help these ailing industries. Expect more of the same in the Regular Session.

If sports franchises and bankrupt casinos are deserving of huge sums of state money for their survival, aren’t struggling major industries and small businesses all over the state worthy of having some of the major obstacles to their profitability and competitiveness removed?

There will be bills introduced in the Regular Session to reduce or eliminate some of the economic disincentives plaguing ordinary businesses and industries that have been the mainstays of our economy for decades. It will be interesting to see if the Foster administration and the legislative supporters of the sports franchises and the casino will vote to help other areas of the state in their quest for economic survival.

DAN JUNEAU is the president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.