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.

In another example of Jindal’s hypocrisy, he will allow people in the executive branch to have pay raises while not allowing the legislature to have their pay raises. Does this sound familiar? Of course it does! Jindal has shown many times that the standards he sets for the legislature are not the same standards that he sets for “his branch” of government.

Oyster has called out the “pay raise zealots” and challenged them to stand up on this issue as well. However, from what I heard this morning on WWL on my drive in, I am unsure if that will happen. One caller said how Jindal has only been in office for 6 months and “should be given a chance”. Of course, had nobody taken action and they just gave Jindal “a chance”, he would not have used his veto power on the legislative pay raise either. And while some callers have called in to voice some outrage, you just don’t hear the passion on this issue as you did with the legislators raise. I hope I am wrong and that the people will continue their outrage (even though I don’t expect Jindal to be swayed from giving “his people” raises).

According to Bayou Buzz, LAGOP Executive Director Matt Parker (Jindal’s homeschooled homeboy’s  brother in law) stated this about Mary Landrieu and her failure to respond to Nagin’s endorsement of Barack Obama:

Today’s endorsement raises more questions than answers.  In a press release announcing today’s endorsement, Nagin cited ‘Obama’s advocacy for the people of

Louisianaand working men and women across the county’ and specifically his work to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.   Does Mary Landrieu disagree with Nagin?  Why won’t Landrieu stand up and let Louisianans know why she won’t endorse Obama?”

Say what?!?!?! Mabye Landrieu doesn’t want to take sides. Maybe Landrieu would be happy voting for either of the two Democrats against John 100 years in Iraq McCain. Maybe Landrieu figures that she can be silent in a race where the presumptive Republican nominee didn’t get the most votes in the Republican primary. Maybe Mary Landrieu didn’t feel that she needed to make an anouncement over an endorsement by someone else. Or maybe, just maybe, Mary Landrieu doesn’t feel the need to answer to the head of the party who is trying to unseat her. I would at least go with the last one, though others may be valid as well.

This is just a silly question raised by Matt Parker. Now, is he the voice of Cartman? Or is that Trey Stone? See, I got the names mixed up and even those are better questions than the brainchild of Homeschool’s brother in law.

The idea that Nagin’s endorsement raises more questions than it answers is absurd. I guess the Republicans set the bar low when they chose their executive director.

David “WWVD” Vitter has been spared from testifying in the Palfrey trial.

 Sen. David Vitter will not have to testify about his ties to an upscale

Washington escort service, a defense attorney said Monday, sparing the Louisiana Republican an embarrassing trip to the witness stand.

So yeah, he has been “spared” the “embarrassing trip”. Of course he is not spared the embarrassing media attention that he will get with this and every other sex scandal that arises between now and his 2010 campaign. And if everyone buys a t-shirt or bumper sticker, we can make sure that nobody forgets his “serious sins”.

According to an article on Bayou Buzz, David Vitter (among other Republicans) are supporting Steve Scalise for Congress. Will Steve Scalise reject the endorsement of David “serious sins” Vitter? Or will Scalise continue to be a hypocrite by campaigning on ”our shared family values“ while openly accepting campaign support from adulterers?

The Louisiana Family Forum named Steve Scalise “Outstanding Family Advocate.”

I guess their standards are rather low.

Louisiana needs Gilda Reed for Congress. Read more about Gilda here.

Having run for office in Kenner, I know how some of the activists there will just focus on one issue and refuse to look at anything else. This is true in politics nationwide. However, some people in Kenner have turned their ferocity into an “art-form”.

Several activists have come together to demand the resignationof one Kenner Councilwoman because of one picture showing a “suggestive pose”. One of them, Arthur Tudela, was on Jeff Crouere’s show this morning explaining his case for her resignation. I had to call in and call him out on his hypocrisy. See, I asked him if he has called for David Vitter’s resignation as well. He said no, that the circumstances are apples and oranges, and that even though she wasn’t acting in an official capacity that she would have never met the guy in the picture had she not been a Kenner elected official.

My response was that yes, the issues are apples and oranges. David Vitter admitting to violating the law and to cheating on his wife. The Kenner Councilwoman did not do either of those things. And David Vitter would have never met the D.C. Madam had he not been elected to Congress. So the argument by Mr. Tudela is clearly flawed. The failure of him and others on their witch-hunt to demand Vitter’s resignation hurts their credibility on this issue.

And of course, the obligatory WWVD.

Less than a week after David Vitter tried to step into the public spotlight on an issue other than  prostitution, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been outed as client number 9 of Emperor’s Club VIP prostitution ring. Many blogs and articles have discussed this issue and I wont rehash many of the comments already made.  I do have a couple thoughts on this though.

A) Spitzer does have one ace in the hole. All the Republicans who are calling for his resignation who didn’t call for Vitter’s resignation (i.e. Jindal) have absolutely no leg to stand on. He can deflect this argument to Republican Hypocrisy if he wants to try and survive. I’m not saying he will be successful in defending himself and it is possible that he will have to resign. However, he can go down swinging.

B) Vitter will not be able to do much with his caucus if his power rankings drop whenever someone else is busted on having an affair.

And of course, the obligatory….  Who Would Vitter Do?

I mean didn’t Bobby Jindal buy a house and make his home in Kenner when he ran for election in LA01? Oh yeah, that’s right… he intended to deliver his last child in Baton Rouge. It was also reported on 99.5 FM that he put his house up for sale (by owner). And now the paragon of ethics and virtue Bobby Jindal has “established” his home back in Baton Rouge. His child is now attending the LSU Lab School. Mr. “what you know and not who you know” Jindal seems to have violated that idea yet again in using his position to get his daughter admission into this highly sought after school where only 1/3 of all applicants make it in.

Just to show the differences in the story that are listed in the article.

The school’s director, Wade Smith, said the school did not recruit Jindal’s 6-year-old daughter, Selia….However, Jindal said Monday that the lab school was one of several schools that contacted him after he won the October governor’s election.

So what is it? Did they contact him or didn’t they? More important is this statement:

In the past, the school operated on a lottery system. But LSU officials acknowledged at the time of the lottery system that a governor’s children would get special consideration because of state government’s influence on the schools’ funding.

Not who you know but what you know indeed. Seems that Louisiana politics is alive and well in Baton Rouge and that Bobby Jindal is an active participant. Oh yeah, Timmy Teepel’s kids go there as well.

And anyone thought that Jindal intended on living in Kenner after he was done with his Congressional seat was a fool.

Jindal’s Budget: $30.1 Billion
Blanco’s Budget: $29.7 Billion

Though the governor campaigned on ways to cut government spending, Jindal’s spending recommendations are larger than the budget approved by lawmakers a year ago.

‘Nuff said.

Update 1: Oyster has more for those who need a history lesson on why Jindal is again showing himself to be a hypocrite and again vindicating those of us who knew the truth before the election.

Update 2: Now the Jindal apologists are flocking to his defence by claiming that as long as the percent increase in the budget is less than the percent increase for inflation that it “isn’t really” an increase in spending. I am sure that if we had a Democrat in office, that such a justification would not fly and they would claim that the spending is increasing out of control. I am also sure that they forget Jindal’s criticisms of Blanco’s budget that included income that many viewed as “one time” revenues from sales taxes collected on people spending their insurance checks. Jindal said in January that he wanted to cut back from using one time cash. I guess he changed his mind. And if he viewed that budget as irresponsible because of one time revenues, wouldn’t an increase on that total also be responsible? Of course the Jindal apologists wont see it that way.

Jindal’s victory speech he stated:

Who you know will no longer be more important than what you know

Really now? Does that explain why Matt Parker, Timmy Teepell’s brother in law, is now the executive director of the Republican Party, replacing James Quinn (who took a job in Jindal’s administration)? Yes, I am sure that James Quinn’s appointment had nothing to do with who he knew. I am sure that Matt Parker got his position in the Republican Party had nothing to do with his being Timmy’s brother in law.