Liberty and Justice for All!

Well la-di-fricken-da! Bobby Jindal set a record by saying no over 250 times on the budget bill via his line item veto. A whole $16 million stricken from the budget of $29.9 Billion. That is 0.05 of 1% of the budget the high and mighty Jindal has saved us from.

But $16 million is a lot of money to you and me. Heck, $130K is a lot to you and me. That is the amount that Jindal got in bundled campaign contributions from Choest. What did Choest get in return for his “generous” contribution? Well, he got a $14 million grant of course!   Kinda makes Jindal’s “fiscal conservative pen” look a little limp now doesn’t it?

Even worse for those who would claim that Jindal’s veto pen was fiscally responsible is that those cuts equate to only 1/3 of the earmarks in the legislation. $39 million remain. Jindal said he would cut NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) funding if it didn’t meet an established criteria. However, it seems that Jindal cut more than that.

But other items _ besides non-government organization funding _ were removed from the budget as well, and lawmakers said they didn’t understand what criteria the governor and his staff used to strip the projects.

Well, the explanation given in the language was that he felt the spending should be funded from “other sources“. However, knowing Jindal, I highly doubt that this was his only criteria. What remains to be seen are at least two questions.

1) How many worthwhile organizations that provide regular services to communities across Louisiana will have to suffer from Jindal’s cuts.

2) How many of these earmarks that got the veto pen belonged to legislators who did not listen to their orders and follow the diktats of the Jindal regime?

The Nation has a must read article about Bobby Jindal called The Jindal Mystique. At first, when you start reading it, you might think “what are you talking about, this sounds like another Jindal fluff piece”. But once you think that this article will just be a “lets praise the wunderkind”, they throw a very refreshing curveball:

Perhaps because the media have fixated on Jindal’s image, rapid rise and sweeping popularity, they have left his voting and policy records largely unexamined.

This is exactly what I have been saying from day one. No real investigative reporting had been done by Jindal by major media outlets whatsoever. I am impressed that Deepa Fernandes not only mentions this but also takes the time to actually discuss his record.

Countless articles have sung the praises of this “wunderkind”–who changed his name from Piyush to Bobby (he was a fan of the youngest boy on The Brady Bunch) and converted from Hinduism to Catholicism–yet few have delved into the “whip smart” governor’s ideology.

Exactly!

Jindal also initiated cuts to the healthcare system that made it much harder for doctors to treat poor patients.

Again, what I have been saying since day one.

The only thing the article is missing is the actual failure of Jindal to bring meaningful ethics reform to Louisiana and that the office of the Governor is the least transparent in the nation. However, there is much more time to write more articles.

Cross posted at the ressurected Jindal is Bad.

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).

A Believe in Louisiana propaganda piece was supposed to run on Moon Griffon’s show that was supposed to praise Jindal for leading the effort to cut income taxes. Griffon rejected the ad and returned the money spent on it, refusing to play it on his show.

Moon said:

Gov. Jindal led the charge to cut the income taxes? That’s an outright lie,”

Rolfe, former Jindal campaign treasurer and head of Jindal’s propaganda machine replied by saying:

Moon Griffon was the only person to refuse the spot. I believe he let his personal feelings affect his judgment

However, the Advocate reports that Moon was one of Jindal’s biggest Conservative supporters. Perhaps Moon is just more principled than the other stations running the spot.

Believe in Louisiana has posted previous radio ads on its website. However, I don’t see this one posted on their website.

I also don’t see the promised disclosure of who is supporting them.

All contributions and expenditures will be publicly disclosed. Believe in Louisiana knows that complete transparency is very important to us, just as it should be in government.

Good thing I didn’t hold my breath.

Bobby Jindal was on Face the Nation on June 15th.

A few thoughts about what he said.

A) Republicans have embraced corruption since they took control of Congress. At least he was honest about that.

B) Jindal still never answered the question on whether he would accept if asked. (We all know the answer, so why won’t he answer the question?)

C) Jindal ignorantly stated that race wont be an issue in this election. I rarely question Jindal’s intelligence, but now I have to. The only time race will not be an issue in elections will be when racism is eliminated.

D) Jindal believes that local school boards should be able to decide the kind of curriculum that is shown to kids in schools. So if a local school-board decides that the world is flat, we should allow that?

And hey, I agree with Jindal that life wasn’t put here by mistake and that a creator was involved. However, that belief is not science and does not belong in the classroom.

And a newsflash for Jindal. Keeping Intelligent Design out of the classroom is not ignoring facts or theories and it is not politically correct. It is scientifically correct to only include items that are actually part of the scientific process in the science classroom. Intelligent Design/Creationism is not part of the scientific process.

Other things about that show. Of course the host did not question Jindal when he claimed to have brought ethics reform to Louisiana. He also did not question Newt’s endorsement of Jindal for V-P, which included the lie about Jindal’s ethics reform.

Cross posted at my Barack Obama blog.

Bobby Jindal has said that being Governor of Louisiana is the job he wants. However, he is talking like someone who actively is seeking out the vice presidency.

Jindal says Obama speaks well, but hasn’t delivered

That is a change, or a flip flop as you will, from his previous statement to Wolf Blitzer:

We want all the candidates to pay attention to Louisiana, especially our recovery needs. I think it’s a great thing. John Edwards came and announced his candidacy here, and got out of the race here. Major candidates have traveled here multiple times. We want both parties to pay attention to Louisiana. You know, the recovery needs will go well into the next administration.

Sounds like someone had a change of heart. Does Jindal no longer want both parties to pay attention to Louisiana?

On a related note, Sound Politics believes that Jindal should be first on the short list.

The Southern Political Report states:

Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, and Phil Bredesen, the Democratic governor of Tennessee, both promote a transparent, business-like approach to managing state government. But as both have shown this year, transparency has its limits.

Just sayin…

With apologies to Oyster’s “quotes of the weak” posts, a rip off to bring some amusing quotes.

“He is a politician’s politician. He has an ability to tell everyone what they want to hear. …We’re a waste of this man’s talents,” — State Sen. Joe McPherson (D - Woodworth) (who doesn’t buy Jindal’s V.P. denials.)

“I don’t know if his heart was so much into being governor as it was in (finding a) stepping stone.” — State Sen. Eric LaFleur, (D-Ville Platte) (on Jindal not being available to legislators, only his staff)

And then there was this one:

“If (Barack) Obama asked me to be his vice president, I would say yes.” — Lt. Gov. MITCH LANDRIEU, in joking contrast to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s reluctance to respond definitely to questions about whether he would be John McCain’s running mate.

Marsha Shuler’s article today in the advocate wonders where Bobby Jindal is when it comes to his call for ethics reform.

 [Jindal] told national Republicans about how things have changed in Louisiana in just the past four months.

But back home, legislators are struggling to fix the flaws in those laws, largely without any help from Jindal.

With canned statements from Melissa Sellers and Jindal happily embracing the national media attention he has gotten for supposedly being on the “short list”, Jindal hardly has time to take care of the ethics reform he used to “care” so much for. (Of course, those of us who have paid attention know that Jindal really did not care about any meaningful ethics reform.)