forgotston.com

Transparency is the “in” word for those in the reform movement in LA.

Transparency is often used by Governor Jindal to describe his planned (but not detailed) reforms.

A hallmark of the Jindal Administration is to replace smoke signals used by us old-timers in favor of new high tech, Internet communications to let us see what is going on in our government.

I poured water on my signal fire and hopped on the Internet with my trusty, but aging computer.

I went to Governor Jindal’s highly-touted website to get some contact information for the governor’s staff.

The first day, there was no listing for the governor’s communication/press people. I mean nothing. No names, no phone numbers, no fax numbers, no mailing addresses, no office locations and no email address.

The next day, the names, phone and fax numbers of the governor’s staff was listed, but still no email addresses.

The Office of the Governor’s Executive Counsel was listed as “Executive Council.” What do I know. I’m an old lawyer and not hip to the new legal jargon.

Ask Louise

I used the feature on the state website called “Ask Louise” to inquire about email addresses for the governor’s staff. “Louise” responded saying to contact the governor directly and gave me the link to contact Governor Jindal directly.

Bobby and me

I filled out the form including the name of the state in which I lived.

Needing all that information was kinda of surprising. All during the campaign for governor, I thought Bobby and me were buds. Almost daily, he would send me an email, telling what had been happening with him that day. So, I figured that all I needed to tell him that it was his friend C.B. was trying to contact him.

But I digress.

Turns out Bobby and me weren’t that close after all. Bobby insisted that if I didn’t answer all the questions the mail wouldn’t get to him. Well, I answered all the questions and sent the governor an email asking or his staff’s email addresses. No response.

Press Secretary and me

I sent a email using an address from the Jindal campaign to Jindal’s press secretary. I got an automated message saying that she no longer checked email sent to that address. It provided a state email address for her.

Good enough.

I sent an email to the new email address asking to be placed on the distribution list for press releases and for email addresses for the governor’s staff. No response.

Maybe because I don’t have press credentials, being she’s the “press secretary,” she didn’t feel the need to respond to a mere citizen and taxpayer.

After all my efforts, I am not on the distribution list and still don’t have any email addresses for the governor’s staff despite the fact that I pay for them to have these email addresses.

Transparency or invisibility?

All of this has caused me to wonder if “transparency” is synonymous with “invisibility” when it comes to the Jindal Administration.

Hello! Anyone out there?

C.B.