Liberty and Justice for All!

Despite the best attempts of Jindal and his cronies to play an ethics shell game, making us believe that we had stronger ethics rules when in reality ethics violations where made harder to prove, the house approved legislation to change the ”clear and convincing” burden of proof back to “substantial”. Kudos to those in the house who moved to pass this needed legislation. Now the Senate needs to step up and send this bill to the Governors desk and force Jindal to either put his money where his mouth is or have his hypocrisy exposed.

The Gambit is against teaching Creationism/ID in schools. Jindal supports it.

The Gambit supports keeping the helmet law. Jindal opposes it.

Now, the Gambit reprinted Jeremy Alford’s articlediscussing Jindal’s tight ship and how “Melissa Sellers has become Public Enemy no. 1 to many reporters at Louisiana news outlets”. She has already become famous for removing people from mailing lists and otherwise having a very tight ship, keeping the Governor in a press vacuum as much as possible unless she can control the setting. However, included in the Gambit was a piece by Clancy himself discussing the preview of Melissa Sellers and her tactics. The Press Secretary from Hell nearly threw a tantrum about not being allowed in the Gambit endorsement meeting. She could not just sit still. She apparently paced back and forth and even went as far as to put a glass against the wall to hear what was going on! The woman is obsessed!

So the Gambit staff knew Jindal’s positions on helmet laws and ID. The Gambit, who is usually rather liberal, knew his extremist stance on gay marriage and abortion. The Gambit knew the kind of people that Bobby Jindal surrounds himself with. Yet they endorsed him anyway?

This tells me one of two things.

A) They are really that stupid

B) They knew that Jindal was a bad choice for Louisiana but knew it would create four years of stories that they would be able to write about. They could write on how Jindal lied to them, how he hasn’t kept his end of the bargain, and how he turned out to be a wolf in sheep clothing. They would sell advertising in their newspapers and keep raking in the dough.

These are the only to reasons I can think of. Anyone have any other good possibilities? I’ll add them.

The Advocate seems to be getting on the bandwagon of criticizing Jindal and his weakening of ethics standards (which is a good thing). However, they are quoting PAR (who is also upset at the increase in the change of burden of proof) when they say:

The Public Affairs Research Council said the new standard “seems to be an attempt to undermine the recently strengthened ethics laws.”

They are “almost there” because they just don’t want to admit that there was never any intention to have strong ethics laws. The only intention was to change the ethics perception but not change the reality. Even the Advocate balks at blaming Jindal completely because they state:

Now, though, there’s a serious question whether enforcement of the shiny new reforms will be an illusion — undermined by decisions of Jindal’s own lieutenants in the Legislature.

Note that according to the Advocate, it is not undermined by Jindal, but his “lieutenants”.

During the campaign for Governor, Jindal (while trying to distance himself from Blanco) stated that the surplus should be used as tax breaks.

It was reported on 990 AM this morning that Jindal is now against using the surplus for tax breaks.

Just another example of Jindal saying one thing and doing another.

Oyster points us to the latest Jeremy Alford article which is a must read. Oyster does cover most of the important items. However, I do have to correct one thing Alford said:

Publicly, Jindal maintains a schedule that favors tightly scripted speeches and appearances to community groups and gatherings of supporters, spreading an unwavering message of positive change… 

Behind the scenes, media and good-government groups like PAR scratch their collective heads as they watch the transformation of Louisiana’s Ivy League-educated Rhodes Scholar governor from an engaging, serious policy wonk to a stonewalling, carefully protected politician.

Perhaps there is a transformation on perception on the part of the media who bought what Jindal was selling. However, for those of us who paid attention from day one, we understand that there has been no real transformation. Jindal has always been this way. Look at the 2004 campaign. Timmy Teepell defended Jindal’s failure to answer surveys by saying that he attended meetings with his supporters. I criticizedthis during the campaign. Of course the media back then refused to challenge Jindal on anything.

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?

If I was someone who knew nothing about Bobby Jindal and I watched Jay Leno last night, I would have probably been impressed with what I saw. He seemed very comfortable, came across as a nice guy, and (if I believed what Jay Leno and Bobby Jindal said) seemed to show a Louisiana that was getting better on ethics. When it comes to the perception of Louisiana’s governor, I am sure that if someone took a poll of Republican voters, that they would be very impressed with our Governor.

Of course, I am someone who knows a little bit about our Governor and several of the statements last night were misleading to say the least. When asked why Bobby Jindal entered politics, he mentioned that he and his wife noticed all of the young people leaving Louisiana. Bobby Jindal entered politics before he married his wife (and probably before he met his wife). Jindal has worked for Bob Livingston when he was in Congress and was appointed to be head of the Louisiana Department of Health before he married Supriya. I don’t think he decided to work for Bob Livingston because of all the young people leaving Louisiana.

Of course, Bobby Jindal was also a bit misleading on our having the toughest standards. Sure, the laws may be tough but if the laws cannot be enforced because the burden of proof is too high. What good are the unenforceable laws other than to try and fool people nationwide that we are somehow better than we used to be. We are not better than we used to be, we just put lipstick on the pig.

Finally, the interview came down to the big question of the day. Would Bobby Jindal say yes if asked to be Vice President. He didn’t say no. He didn’t even use his precognition and suggest that McCain would not ask him (perhaps that was out of respect to Carnac the Magnificent*). What he did do was compare saying no to McCain right now to  saying no to the pretty girl who hasn’t yet asked you to the prom. Guess what? You don’t say no if the pretty girl asks you to go to the prom! So again, I have no reason to believe Bobby Jindal will refuse McCain if asked to be V.P..

Jeff Crouere beat me to the punch this morning by suggesting that no other potential Vice President candidate is appearing on Jay Leno or any other late night T.V. show.

Speaking of Carnac:

Carnac: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal

McMahon: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal

opens envelope

Carnac: Name a tire, a friar, and a liar.

Oyster quoted the Reduct Box who quoted the Washington Times that said:

Governor Bobby Jindal is escorting Senator John McCain around New Orleans today and by all accounts it’s not just for exercise. Between the Leno gigs and DC Press club speech, Jindal’s playing his VP ambitions about as cool as a Freshman at the Senior prom.

Now, I respect Oyster’s opinion on many things, but we happen to disagree on Jindal’s ambition for higher public office. Oyster does not believe that Jindal wants the VP position, even though he feels Jindal will use such talk to propel him onto the national stage.

The problem with this is twofold. First of all, nobody should take Jindal’s thirst for power for granted. Jindal, and the people around him, drool at the opportunity to climb that political ladder. If politics was an art-form, the way that Jindal has been able to manipulate not only the voters, but the media as well, would be on the level of a Picasso.

Second of all, I don’t think Jindal would risk losing this buzz by not pushing for his spot as VP this time around. Jindal currently is the owner of “the buzz”. If he allows someone else to become the VP candidate and is unable to slay more dragons in the next four years, he risks losing the national notoriety that he currently holds. He could become yesterdays news and I really don’t think Jindal wants that or will allow that. The other reason Jindal needs to hold onto the buzz now is because Bobby Jindal has never held a job for more than 2-3 years. This gives him time to get out before anyone realizes that he has made things worse and not better. If he stays as Governor too long, the voters may realize how badly he misled them.

What will likely happen is that up until the time he is selected, Jindal will continue to play “Mr. Modest” and say how he has work to do here. However, he will never stand up and say “no, I don’t want to be VP this time”. So when McCain asks him to be his choice, he will gladly take it and use this opportunity to sell himself nationwide.

The Reduct Box also points out that Jindal refuses to say “no” when asked about whether he will be VP.

Saying that McCain is not going to ask him to be VP does nothing to clarify what Jindal would say if he did.

Sounds familiar

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.

Bobby Jindal will be on Jay Leno this Monday.

According to a similar Web site news release posted by Jindal’s office, the governor will discuss the many reforms under way in the state and highlight the fact that Louisiana is open for business and working to become the best place in the world to raise a family, get a high-paying job, and pursue a great career.

I wonder if Leno will be allowed to ask whatever questions he wants to ask or if the question and answers will be scripted to be another Bobby Jindal press release. I am sure that Jay Leno will ask the question on if he will run for V-P and I am sure Jindal will give the typical dodge.

A note to the Jindal apologists. Until Jindal answers “NO” to the question of whether he would accept the V-P nomination, you have no reason to believe that Bobby “Job Hopping” Jindal will stay put.

Update: “NBC’s public relations team, meanwhile, is billing the governor as “possibly being the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket” in November’s election ” link