Liberty and Justice for All!

That’s right, after all of his grandstanding on how government needs to be more transparent, about how there needs to be increased disclosure and stronger ethics laws in the state of Louisiana… Governor Jindal’s office ranks dead last nationwide when it comes to transparency.

S.B. 363, a bill about the Louisiana Youth Advisory, includes an amendment to exclude any records in Jindal’s hands from the open records law.

Let me repeat this for all the Jindal supporters who still are grasping on to the hope that Jindal is a reform candidate. Bobby Jindal, the person who said:

Today, we embark on the single most important endeavor for the future of Louisiana - bringing comprehensive ethics reform and transparency to our state

will now only have to give you his records if he feels like it. You cannot make a public records request for them. You cannot do anything. Our Governor’s office now operates in secrecy. Of course, remember the words of Jimmy Faircloth on why the Governor needs to operate in secrecy.

… the governor’s office opposed the bill because it would create problems for the governor to freely receive ideas, policy recommendations and communications from legislators and others. He also said it would create problems with investors who want to privately negotiate with the state.

It is really hard to orchastrate bribes in the form of campaign donations when you are under public scrutiny after all.  

So now Jindal has his own propaganda machine, can operate in secret without anyone knowing what he is doing, and has a Press Secretary and the rest of his handlers who will make sure that you cannot even talk to him unless they want you to. This is the exciting change that Bobby Jindal was talking about? Seems to me that the “die hard Jindal supporters” where duped! I wonder when they will finally admit it! Seems one one of them already has. Ironically, Trotsky was one of the biggest Jindal supporters who attacked me constantly (and pathetically so I might add) for daring to challenge Jindal’s sincerity on reform. What is also interesting is that the real Trotsky also started a little magazine called “Pravda”. It all comes full circle.

Kudos to the citizens of Louisiana’s 6th district for electing Cazayoux over Woody Jenkins. Of course, the choice of Woody Jenkins wasn’t that much of a choice at all. With ties to David Duke and false claims of voter fraud, it is amazing that he managed to get over 40% of the vote. I guess with Jindal’s endorsement, the DHJS will do whatever he wants, including voting for unethical people.

Unfortunately, the Democrats could not pick up two seats. Idealism won out over effectiveness in LA01. Of course, speaking from experience, running in the most conservative district in the state doesn’t help you if you have a “D” behind your name. Gilda did get a larger percentage of the vote than any one Democrat has gotten in a while in this district, but with low voter turnout that only turned out to be about 10,000 votes.  It is amazing that in a time where Republicans are so unpopular nationwide that the Democrats in this district are still lazy and uninterested.  

So, all that is left now is for Scalise to go to Washington and prove how ineffective he can be… that is until he runs for his next seat leaving LA01 unrepresented yet again.

For a comical, typo filled, look at the LA06 race, check out Avman’s rant. Avman also wonders why Democrats would put money into the race that he feels will go back to the Republicans in the fall. The simple answer is this, they believed they could win (especially against Jenkins) and the power of the incumbency makes it much easier for the person sitting in the seat to retain the seat.

Update: An excellent comment by Gilda, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Please do not hurt for me. I am fine with my election loss last night and, in fact, am relieved to become a regular mom, grammy and teacher again. We local Democrats worked hard and I fully appreciate every single thing you did to spread the word. I have made life-long friends among you.

Only 10,000 folks voted for me which is an abysmal performance. To all the rest who either voted for Scalise or who chose not to vote at all—you have the representative you deserve. To all those in the national Democratic Party who perpetuated the reality of a Republican district by your statements, attitude and choke-hold on funds—shame on you! To all media, political pundits and dKos contributors who fed the self-fulfilling prophecy and stacked the deck against whomever dared run—enjoy your power. I have laid to rest any illusion I had of the power of grassroots. My dues have been paid and my conscience is free. Louisiana District 01 is my home and I love the people in it no matter how misguided they are.

Sincerely, a proud American,
Gilda Reed

Amen sister, Amen.

No, it’s not an endorsement from me. Not in the least. However, it seems like Deryl “don’t you dare look at my man” Bryant has gotten over his jealousy and has now accepted the idea that if Bobby Jindal leaves, Jindal will be doing what is best for Jindal. This is typical of the Die Hard Jindal Supporters (DHJS). They often are more than willing to put their own wants and needs aside, all for the good of Bobby.

This is not to say that Deryl wont be sitting alone, listening to the Pretenders “I’ll Stand By You”, with a tear on his eye if Bobby Jindal leaves. Just look at several of his statements.

Hopefully this will make it easy to understand why this writer will be heart-broken to lose such a Gift

and

I will be able to gather some forgiveness for being so selfish in my calls asking our Governor to dispel my worries of his leaving with the continuous onslaught of “greedy” calls for his help to perform even greater miracles.

and

Even more hopeful am I that Governor Jindal will forgive me for being so extremely selfish, as I relieve him of the promise made to me that he would serve a complete term as Governor of Louisiana

It really is enough to make you cry, isn’t it?

It is rather unfortunate that a man with such passion as Deryl has for Jindal couldn’t be used for good. Instead, he uses it to help propel the liar and hypocrite, Bobby Jindal, further in his own political career. Our state is no better off with Jindal in office, despite the claims of miracles by Deryl.

We have a Governor who promised tougher ethics laws. All we have now are tougher to enforce ethics laws (meaning more people will get away with ethics violations).

We have a Governor who demanded transparency from others yet balked when others demanded it from him.

We have a Governor who said that free tickets are unethical, but who gladly handed them out to members of his staff because the practice was still legal.

We have a Governor who circumvented the open meetings law by meeting with legislators in small groups to discuss issues of his agenda.

We have a Governor who is for sale, giving millions of our tax dollars to the company of someone who bundled over $130,000 in campaign contributions to his campaign.

We have a Governor who claimed what you know is more important than who you know, that is unless what you know directly contradicts the Governors agenda, then you get fired! And of course you cannot forget that he was able to use his office to obtain admission for his child to the LSU Lab School, bypassing any waiting list that others may have had to wait on.

So will someone tell me, how are we any better off in Louisiana?

Garland Robinette(Jindal cheerleader and apologist, at least until today) had C.B. Forgotston on his show today at noon to discuss an article in the advocate about the possibility that Louisiana had the wool pulled over its eyes when ethics reform passed. *GASP*

From the article:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of charges that are unprovable” under the tougher new standard, said Richard Sherburne, the former prosecutor who now runs the Board of Ethics.

“Necessarily that change will let some people who have violated the law avoid responsibility,” he said.

Let’s get into a layman’s explanation on what happened. To win a civil case, the plaintiff only needs to establish a preponderance of the evidence to get a verdict against you. To win a criminal case, the state needs proof beyond reasonable doubt (a much tougher standard). Garland used the OJ criminal and civil cases as an example. So basically what the state has done is made it tougher to prove that someone is guilty! And while “clear and convincing” is not as bold as “reasonable doubt”, it is still more than “preponderance”. This means less people will be punished, even though we have more laws. Let me make that clear so everyone, including all the Jindal apologists, can understand. BOBBY JINDAL SIGNED A BILL INTO LAW THAT MAKES IT HARDER TO CONVICT PEOPLE OF ETHICAL VIOLATIONS.

Hopefully, the Legislature will change the standard so that their “new gold standard” for ethics is not fool’s gold.

Nobody should be surprised that Jindal’s gold standard is more like pyrite. Garland seemed to be very shocked. After all, he has been a shill of Bobby Jindal’s for years now. However, for him to admit that the wool “may”  have been pulled over our eyes is a big step for him. I tried to call in and give him more examples of Jindal’s ethical failings. However, an hour later the show was over and they took no calls.

Please see C.B. Forgotston’s site for the autopsy of the death of ethics in our state.

Update: The State Senator who put forward the change in wording was on Garland’s show this afternoon. And in typical Jindal Apologist style, the State Senator accused Garland of wanting to give “entertainment” and that was the only reason he was continuing to discuss this issue. I am used to those kinds of tactics first hand. See, Jindal Apologists will tend to make wild accusations if  you do not support their beloved politician. If you did not believe that Jindal would bring meaningful ethics reform to Louisiana, you were attacked as being someone who must be against ethics.

Another disturbing problem was that Garland claimed he was being told by his higher ups that he had this all wrong and that the State Senator was correct. Well, Clancy Dubos came on and showed the State Senator to be completely wrong. I wonder why Garland’s higher ups would tell Garland that he had it wrong? Perhaps it is because they feel that they might lose access to Governor Jindal? This happened to Steve Sabludowski for a while over at Bayou Buzz. And according to the author of the article in the Gambit, many people in the media are afraid to write items that are critical of the Jindal for fear of having their access to the governor eliminated. He says that the  those who surround Jindal tend to be “angry” and vindictive (and this is not the first I have heard this). They (probably “homeschool” and Sellers.. and perhaps others) will cut off access to those members of the press who dare challenge the almighty Jindal. Clancy Dubos basically told any journalist who would cower to the thugs in the Jindal administration to grow a spine and do their jobs. (He didn’t call them thugs, but by using fear tactics that is what they are).

Clancy also stated that he has written an editorial on this very issue. As soon as he posts it on his website, I will provide a link.

I think Deryl (4unionparish) at Louisiana Conservative is in love. Ironically, i believe the ultra conservative blogger who supports those candidates that fight same sex love, is in love with Governor Bobby Jindal.  How else could you describe the gushing that takes place at one of his most recent posts? The post title itself (Stealing Governor Bobby Jindal) reminds me of a Jerry Springer episode where one of the guests will challenge the other guest because the other guest wants to steal his significant other. He even wants a “2×4 wake-up call” to be given to those who wish to steal his beloved Bobby away.

leave our miracle working Governor the hell alone!!!

Miracle worker? Please. I can see the chair throwing starting already. Steve will jump in and break them up any moment.

Is this the attempt by jealous conservatives to steal away the most popular, most capable, and most honest Governor in

Louisiana history

Most honest? Granted, that wouldn’t take much. Most capable? That has yet to be seen. I think he must sit in his room, listening to “can you feel the love tonight”, gazing at a picture of Jindal’s inauguration and reflecting on his special night at the mansion, crying that he couldn’t have more alone time with Governor Jindal.But then he can’t just let the blame rest on fellow conservatives. No, he has to try and put the blame (and suspicion to the plot to steal his beloved) on liberals.

First, and superficial, is that by having a TRUE conservative, unlike McCain, on the ticket will make it much easier for the Dems to motivate their voters and fight against their obvious (and comical) party division. Many Dems are threatening to crossover to McCain if their choice, Obama or Oclinton, is not the Dem candidate. Governor Jindal would provide the necessary conservatism, something very lacking in the McCain campaign, to persuade those Dems to remain loyal to the Democrat ticket.

Um, wrong. The last thing that Democrats want would be a strong conservative on the ticket. Why? Because conservatives will have a huge problem voting for McCain because they view him as being too moderate. A conservative on the ticket, especially Jindal, will bring out the die hard voters who will blindly follow “true conservatives”.

Much more devious, and more characteristic of a liberal media that has never let the truth get in their way of manipulating public opinion,  is the possibility that the liberal media is trying to sabotage the political career of the most popular, most capable, most honest and most conservative Governor in Louisiana history.

How on earth would someone getting the national stage as a V-P candidate hurt that person? If anything, Jindal as the V-P candidate along with a McCain loss would probably move him into the spotlight for 2012. But the truth is often something hidden from Deryl when he is blindly attacking liberalism. 

“Conspiracy nut”, you, say?

No, just nut.

The outrage from abandoned Louisiana conservatives would be so severe that Governor Jindal would become an albatross around the neck of McCain.

Only Nick (from what I  have seen) from LouisianaConservative.com has said that he would openly speak out against Jindal if Jindal accepted an invitation to be V-P. I have a feeling that a supermajority of Louisiana conservatives would blindly follow Jindal anywhere he goes. See, they care more about Jindal and his cult of personality than they do their own well being.

He then goes on to quote Jindal on several spin answers where one might think he intends to stay Governor for 8 years. However, what he cannot quote is Jindal answering “NO” to the question of “will you accept the nomination to be Vice President”. Why? Because such a quote does not exist.  But that still doesn’t change the fact that Deryl is so blinded by his love for Bobby Jindal that he cannot stand to think that his beloved governor might very well have flaws. In fact, he repeats himself several times. I guess he needs to convince himself that his beloved wouldn’t dare leave  him so he repeats how much Jindal is “smart” and “capable” and honest”.

I think he should just send the Governor flowers and get it over with. But here is a newsflash Deryl, Bobby Jindal is happily married. Or did some toe tapping take place in the bathroom during the blogger dinner at the Governors mansion that went unreported? Hmmm….

h/t to Jim at JindalWatch