forgotston.com

John Maginnis in today’s LA Political Fax Weekly reports:

Legislators are hearing that Gov. Jindal will call them back into special session on Sunday, March 9, to spend the $1.2 billion surplus and to reduce business taxes.

That can only mean one thing. The current Special Session on ethics is a complete success. The state has, in Governor Jindal’s judgment, achieved the “gold standard” for ethics. Otherwise, Jindal promised to keep bringing the leges back into session until the “gold standard” is achieved.

More likely, as was the practice of his mentor Big Daddy, Jindal will take whatever the leges give him and then declare that he won.

After all, Jindal will want highlight the “reforms” at his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Term limits and reform

In today’s editorial of the Daily Monopoly we find the following.

Louisianians want real ethics reform, not window dressing. But it’s evident that most state House members just don’t get it.

Senators went along with the proposal. Their colleagues in the House, however, were not in the mood to give up their freeloading ways.

Lege term limits were supposed to change things for the better. However, the House which has more than a majority of brand-new members is opposing Governor Jindal’s reforms. The Senate which has almost all lege veterans is supporting the reforms.

I’m confused.

“Reform” like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In this case the beholder is Gov. Jindal.

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 9:18 am

It’s now clear why the executive director of the state GOP recently took a job in the governor’s office.

According to an article in Sunday’s Baton Rouge paper, the brother-in-law of Governor Jindal’s chief of staff was hired to fill the vacancy at the GOP headquarters after the GOP staffer was hired by Jindal to head his office of Boards and Commissions.

It would not have looked too good for Timmy Teepell’s brother-in-law to be hired to work in the governor’s office, especially for a “reform” administration.

However, when it comes to patronage, even our “reform” governor, Bobby Jindal has found a way to continue the long-time tradition of the “spoils system” in LA without doing anything illegal.

While he was campaigning for governor, Jindal talked at great length about the perception that LA was corrupt. This latest patronage ploy isn’t likely to do much to change the perception that in LA it is more important who one knows or, in this case, who one is related to than what one knows.

EWE must be sitting in his cell in Oakdale marveling over what Jindal can get away with that he could not.

It’s call the “Jindal shuffle.” No laws were violated.

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 8:00 am

Governor Jindal has made a strong case in favor of requiring lobbyists to disclose the amount of money spent wining and dining leges. Apparently, knowing how much is spent on lunch or dinner is important to keeping the law-making process transparent and honest.

Friday we read in the Daily Monopoly that Gov. Jindal regularly hosts members of the lege for lunch at the Governor’s Mansion “to discuss his agenda.” (emphasis mine)

Unlike restaurants where lobbyists entertain, the Governor’s Mansion is not open to just any member of the public (or the media) to observe the meetings.

Circumventing the law

Additionally, Jindal circumvents the Public Meeting Law by inviting fewer than a majority of each house of the lege to these meetings.

I repeat. JINDAL CIRCUMVENTS THE PUBLIC MEETING LAW.

Is that transparency? Is that good government? Is that better than the status quo?

Disclosure

As I understand the current and proposed lobbying laws, there is no required disclosure of the cost to the taxpayers for the lunches for Jindal “to discuss his agenda.” That is, assuming no registered lobbyist is paying for the meals.

If the amount of spending by private individuals (lobbyists and employers of lobbyists) on meals for leges is important to having a transparent and honest law-making process, shouldn’t we also know how much the governor and his staff spend of our hard-earned tax dollars on influencing leges.

In some cases, the governor may actually be working against the interest of the taxpayers. For example when a governor lobbies leges to impose a tax or fee on the people.

Influencing the process

If we follow the logic of Gov. Jindal’s argument for disclosure of spending by lobbyists on meals purchased for leges, shouldn’t Jindal disclose the amount he spends on influencing leges?

Does a steak at the Governor’s Mansion have less influence than at steak at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse?

To the contrary, I suggest that a lunch with the governor is more influencing on a lege than having lunch with a private citizen who may happen to be representing someone else.

Shouldn’t Jindal disclose the cost of wining and dining leges to pass “his agenda”?

Can we get an amendment for the sake of transparency?

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 8:00 am