Where lawmakers have failed, Gov. Bobby Jindal must lead. He must veto this mess of a [pay raise] bill.
...
Jindal, in now-trademark fashion, is ducking the press and the public on this issue while saying "no" to voters through his press secretary.
...
Why won't Jindal "man up" and do the right thing? Simple: He cut a political deal, and now he feels a misplaced sense of honor to uphold it. What else is the public to conclude when the young governor issues a press release saying he won't block a legislative pay raise — and the next day the Senate Finance Committee restores $110 million that the House had stripped from his budget? Ironically, some of those "restored" funds include massive pay scales for top Jindal appointees.
In politics, one hand washes the other while the voters get soaked. That's business as usual in Louisiana — the kind of business Jindal promised to eliminate.
The governor has two weeks to do the right thing, which means voters have two weeks to pound him with calls and emails.
...
And if he doesn't, then throw him out in 2011...
Just so we're clear: the "Next Ronald Reagan" apparently cut a deal with legislators and allowed them to boost their pay so he could increase government spending, and lavish giant salaries upon his top appointees.
After endorsing Jindal for Governor, the Gambit Weekly began criticizing his administration almost immediately after inauguration. Moreover, in February, Gambit editor Clancy Dubos wrote a blog post, saying:
What’s becoming obvious is that Governor Jindal, who promised us [an ethical] “gold standard,” actually wants to give us a “double standard” — one for himself and his cronies, and another for everybody else.
All of this reminds me of a piece of wisdom I got years ago from my old friend Jim Carvin, the dean of Louisiana political media consultants, who said, “In Louisiana, ‘reform’ means cutting out somebody else’s piece of the pie.” How true.
Why do pundits like Clancy keep such timeless "wisdom" preserved until after an election?
Dr. Ashley Morris wrote a comment mocking
A few weeks earlier, a Gambit Weekly cover story titled "Geek Appeal" stated:
[Jindal's] campaign is so tightly organized that one could easily foresee it morphing into something more than a one-time political run. It could become a movement.
At the core of this movement, if that's what it is, lies a generational shift that has anointed Jindal as its leader.
...
Jindal's youthful zeal plays to the [age 26-46] demographic... right alongside his impassioned calls for reform.
Yes. Quite so. I think Jeffrey wrote a post or two (or twenty) about this topic.
===
So, after The Gambit Weekly endorsed Jindal and his "movement" last fall, he has already disappointed them so thoroughly that they are telling us to "throw him out"-- 40 months from now, in late 2011.
I guess that gives us lots of time to ask questions like: "Who will watch the watchdogs, and who will reform the 'reformers', next election?" "Will a 'true conservative' run to the right of Jindal, and make the pay raise blunder a centerpiece of his or her attacks?"
I'm sort of reminded of Pappy "pass the biscuits" O'Daniel*, the former Governor of Texassippi, who unmasked an egghead "reform" candidate who was challenging him around the time of a great flood. There was a hit song back then called... called... I think it was called "reform biscuit," or something like that. The kids sure seemed to love it, that one summer. Perhaps I'm confused. (My history is a little fuzzy due to my politically correct public schooling, which deprived me of the "best" theories. )
"Did you ever hear of a wish sandwich?"
---
* LBJ learned to rig elections and do archconservative radio rants from Pappy.
Labels: ashley morris, Elections and Campaigns, Jindal
