Liberty and Justice for All!

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.

Mr. “transparency in Government” himself, Governor Jindal, is not only refusing to listen to military advisors he appointed for issues surrounding the Louisiana National Guard, but he is not letting anybody see the report they submitted either. According to T-P:

The Louisiana National Guard is suffering from low morale, leadership problems and nepotism, according to a group of retired generals appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to review the military department’s operations.

The governor’s office, however, has dismissed some of the suggestions made by the generals and has refused to release the report, citing executive privilege.

So executive privilege now trumps transparency? I wonder how the hacks who support Jindal and everything he does will defend that.

The article discusses a letter to the administration by Adjutant Gen. Ansel “Buddy” Stroud and a response by Timmy “my homeschooled homeboy” Teepell. An important statement by Stroud involving all this is:

“Our committee members . . . were told that the reason for our mission was to keep politics out of the process,” Stroud’s letter says. “Because of this statement, these committee members agreed to devote their valuable time to the project. Obviously, we were misled regarding this.“

That just goes to show that Jindal will say one thing and do another.

“I just wished the governor would have approached this in a manner that was more open, and not as divisive as it has become in the last week,” said retired Brig. Gen. Sam deGeneres, a member of the panel. “He has challenged Gen. Stroud’s integrity, as well as ours, and that’s not acceptable. Mr. Teepell owes Gen. Stroud a public apology and he owes the members of the committee a public apology.”

I wouldn’t expect one from Mr. Teepell. The arrogance of the Jindal administration is clear and Homeschool has that arrogance down to a T.

More from the article…

Retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth Ross said he and his fellow panel members put in days of work only to be rudely dismissed by the governor’s office. He said he hoped the panel’s concerns about the Guard would reach the governor.

“I’m actually mystified,” Ross said. “I thought Bobby Jindal was smarter than this.”

Well, a lot of people thought a lot of things about Governor Jindal that they are now finding to be false. If only someone had been around to reveal those things about Bobby Jindal ahead of time….

And as if this wasn’t enough, while listening to Jeff Crouere this morning I heard that Jindal replaced the now former head of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission Colonel James Champagne. Why? Cause Bobby Jindal promised the bikers that he would repeal the helmet law and the Colonel was against such a change. He fought Governor Foster when Foster tried to repeal the helmet law during his administration. Champagne helped Blanco get the law reinstated. So now that Jindal wants to allow bikers to splatter their brains all over the highway, the best way to do that is to remove someone from the LOUISIANA HIGHWAY SAFETY COMMISSION who is trying to make sure that Louisiana’s Highways are safe. Go figure.

Cross posted at Jindal Is Bad.

That is a quote from Mike Stagg and his “pay to play gop way” piece on Bobby Jindal and the bundling  of campaign donations. If you click on the “campaign finance reform” link below this post you will see my previous comments on the issue. Mike brings some very valid points to this important issue. He also shows that Bobby Jindal received a third of his campaign funds through bundling (which is enabled by allowing corporations to contribute to political campaigns).

Mike’s post refers to an article in the Advocate. There are some  interesting comments that need to be looked at (some Mike looked at already, others he did not comment on directly).

The first business to benefit from state economic development aid under Gov. Bobby Jindal is run by a man whose family and businesses donated at least $135,250 to the governor’s campaign and local Republican Party causes during the past year.

That in and of itself shoudl raise an eyebrow of any concerned citizen.  

Jindal used part of the state’s $1.1 billion surplus to put $10 million in a Terrebonne Parish port expansion. Jindal also gave an additional $4 million grant to the project.

So $14 million dollars in our tax dollars goes to someone who contributed over $100K to Bobby Jindal’s campaign. That is a fact.

Jindal said he did nothing improper in pushing a deal that creates 1,000 new jobs in two years time.

“Anyone who looks at the facts will clearly see that it’s a great success story for Louisiana,”

Right, just as Jindal said he would “follow the law” after “ticketgate” even though he previously said that there should be no free tickets and his administration should set the example. This is yet another example of Bobby Jindal trying to spin away a negative into a positive. And people like “4unionparish” (who are blind Jindal loyalists) will probably see no problem with the manner in the FACT that over $130,000 in bundled campaign contributions  resulted in 14 million of our tax dollars going to a well connected company.

I thought Bobby Jindal wanted to get rid of the PERCEPTION of ethical problems. How on earth does this help to solve the perception of ethical problems in Louisiana? All this does is promote the perception that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is for sale. It promotes that all you need to do is make a modest investment in his campaign and he will reward you in kind with our tax dollars.

The state Legislature approved both proposals earlier this month.

So no, they are not off the hook either. This is not about one man abusing the system. This is about unethical people from many parties who violate the spirit of the law who use bundling for fundraising and who use the excuse that it is “legal” instead of working to close the loophole.

“I know some people are trying to sell this as a Jindal project,” said state Sen. Reggie Dupré, in whose district the Chouest project is being built.

The Houma Democrat said he has been helping Chouest company officials arrange state funding for the project since 2005.

Is it a shock that Dupre has accepted campaign contributions from one of Chouest’s companies? Granted, it is not as much as Jindal accepted (not even close).

Of course, some contributors are more altruistic as to why they circumvent campaign finance law:

Jimmie Martin is a boatman from Cut Off who attended high school with Chouest. Martin said he gave Jindal $35,000 on May 4, using six different companies he controls because that was “the best way to give Bobby Jindal the most money.”

Isn’t that sweet of him.

“This is the quid pro quo,” Stonecipher said of the link between Chouest and Jindal. “I believe that this is a smoking gun, and to hear Jindal say, ‘I’m going to follow the law’ without addressing campaign finance bundling, well, that’s a way to game the system for your own advantage.”

Again, Stonecipher nails it.

I  find it ironic that Bobby Jindal, the person touted as the one to fix our ethics problems, is one of the ones who best exemplifies the actual problems we have in this state. The proof is in the pudding folks. Want a big chunk of our tax dollars? Just open multiple corporations, bundle some campaign contributions, and you will receive your money back 100 fold!

Tax assessors scratch Jindal’s back, he scratches theirs.

See, the Blanco tax commission sided with taxpayers, requiring assessors to take obsolescence and depreciation into effect when determining when determining the amount to tax your home. In doing so they listened to the testimony of taxpayers and assessors and made a decision after giving both sides the ability to argue their points.

So in the election, the assessors endorsed Jindal. Jindal appointed new people to the commission to do his bidding…. and it seems his bidding was to reward the assessors for their loyalty.

In a meeting with no public input, Jindal’s new tax commission overturned that ruling, sided with the assessors, and now they can decide the level, if any, of obsolescence your house has and can adjust accordingly. I am sure that such decisions will be made with sound judgement and will not be based on anything political… this is Louisiana after all. (Since you can’t see it, my eyes are rolling as I type).

Seems to me that Bobby Jindal, instead of appointing independent people who would make the best decision for the people of Louisiana, has instead used more of his appointments to pay off his political debts. Seems like he has just proved, yet again, that he is a typical politician.

Just sayin…. 

Oh, and one more point. The Bayou Buzz article states:

On February 29, 2008, Governor Jindal announced his five appointments to the commission. On the same day they took their oath of office, the new commission, on rehearing and without any public discussion or explanation, reversed the obsolescence policy in favor of the assessors.

Is that commission not subject to the open meeting law? As such, wouldn’t proper notice have been required? Wouldn’t them meeting on the day of their appointment to change a policy constitute a violation of the open meetings law (since there is no way the new committee could have given proper notice)?

In the rush to achieve what poster “chukmaty” called “epic success“, it seems that the new ethics laws are too vague in certain areas. I guess that is what happens when Jindal wanted to fix the “perception” of ethical problems, you tend to miss important details.

Of course, there is also the other problem of ethics laws not having enough “teeth”. There is the other problem of the ethics laws not being complete. With so many problems with the ethics laws, it is a wonder that these laws are seen as a success, let alone “epic”.

WWL reported that Juan Lafonta is complaining that Bobby Jindal is refusing to meet with the Legislative Black Caucus even though they have sent 3 letters to him requesting a meeting.

If Bobby Jindal was really different, as he tried to claim, he would meet with everyone regardless of party. Of course, as I have said from day one, Bobby Jindal is far from “different”.

More on this story as it comes out.

Update 1: LaFonta is apparently having the same problems with certain legislators as I am having. He criticized Karen Carter Peterson, Cedric Richmond, and J.P. Morrell for backing Republican Jim Tucker instead of Don Cazayoux for the House Speakership. He claims that they are trying to gain control of the caucus in order to back Jindal. I have previously criticized Peterson and the other Democrats for being selfish and putting their own power above the needs of Democrats statewide. The issue of LaFonta not getting access has not gotten much coverage.

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.

Sound familiar? It should!

Update 1: And here is the fluff peice from the T-P. Oyster should love this quote from Jindal:

“We have literally passed the nation’s gold standard.”

Update 2: More media fluff. The New York Times, The Daily Advertiser, Sify, and again, the T-P are drinking the kool aid and praising Jindal for passing comprehensive ethics reform, something he did not do. Let’s look at T-P:

Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature dealt the infamous Louisiana Way a substantial blow with the historic reforms coming out of the special session on ethics.

Really? So lets say a lobbyist wanted to spend $200 to wine and dine a legislator. This just means he has to go to 4 luches with him/her and not just 1. Is that a huge stride? I don’t think so. These are mostly “feel good” but “do nothing” laws that have no bite since we are not seeing how they will be enforced. And when your governor balks at increased transparency on his administration because he feels that investors should be able to meet with the governor in private (ahem.. back room deals… ahem), I fail to see how Louisiana is not operating under business as usual.

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.