Jindal Chief Under Fire Over Ethics Flap

Comparisons made to Vitter

In response to the uproar over Jindal’s campaign-finance-disclosure investigation, the Louisiana Democratic Party has released a statement calling for the new governor’s chief of staff, Timmy Teepell, to resign. Chairman Chris Whittington said:

“This is an opportunity for Jindal to show the people of Louisiana and the country he’s serious about ethics reform by holding his own staff accountable.

Read the whole release after the jump.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 25, 2008

CONTACT: JULIE VEZINOT
225-336-4155

JINDAL’S ETHICS REFORM MUST START AT THE TOP

Staff Must Adhere to “Non-Partisan” Ethics Laws

BATON ROUGE – Bobby Jindal should ask Timmy Teepell to resign. Jindal’s “war on corruption and incompetence in government” should start with his own staff who failed to comply with state ethics laws long after the violation came to light, according to Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Chris Whittington.

In September, Timmy Teepell and his campaign staff were made aware of the violation and subsequent fine yet failed to resolve the matter and blamed the state Republican Party for failing to alert him of the in-kind donation. Forgetting to pay the fine in September and continuing to campaign on strict ethics reform is inexcusable and would not be tolerated by Jindal if he adheres to his own pledge of comprehensive transparency among all elected and government officials, said Whittington.

The fact that Jindal’s spokesperson referred to the ethics violation being made public as “a partisan political stunt” is a slap in the face to Republicans and Democrats alike who have no problem adhering to Louisiana campaign finance laws.

“This is not a partisan issue. Ethics laws apply to everyone. This is about Jindal and his staff not following the rules that everyone must abide by, regardless of party,” said Whittington. “The state Republican Party legally documented the expenditure on their finance reports, yet Teepell and his staff continually failed to take any responsibility.”

“This is an opportunity for Jindal to show the people of Louisiana and the country he’s serious about ethics reform by holding his own staff accountable. We fully support ethics reform, but feel reform led by an administration that claimed to be unaware of current state laws is questionable,” said Whittington.

“We have seen the same double standard in both David Vitter and Jim Tucker who themselves have skirted ethics laws and avoided reprimand. We hope Jindal isn’t using his campaign platform of ethics reform as a tactic for his own political gain.”