Jindal’s “Double Standard”

C.B. Forgotston and Clancy DuBos mounted a dual pronged, and at times entertaining, attack on Bobby Jindal’s ethical “Double Standard” this past week (Forgotston and DuBos have taken to calling it Jindal’s “Aluminium Standard”). Forgotston has long been a Jindal skeptic (at least when it comes to ethics reform), but DuBos is a newcomer to the fray. Gambit Weekly, which DuBos and his wife run, gave Jindal a ringing endorsement last fall:

In these times of ethical uncertainty, Jindal’s integrity is beyond reproach.

It’s probably a tad early to say DuBos has done a complete 180, but he’s certainly close. He struggled to contain his disdain over Montana-gate:

This week’s revelation that Bobby Jindal’s chief of staff, Timmy Teepell, razooed 3 tickets to the Hannah Montana concert for his brother — while everybody else either had to tell their daughters and granddaughters “sorry, dear, they’re just too expensive” or fork over hundreds of dollars to some online broker — is only the latest example of the “gold standard” that our new governor is delivering on the “ethics” front.

I find it strange that the “first” leges to ask for tickets just happen to be FOBs — Friends of Bobby.

But why do 90-day wonders in the Jindal Administration — who jawbone us about their so-called “gold standard” of ethics — get to watch the Hornets, Hannah and God-knows-who-else for free … and THEN claim they are so ethically pure?

Here’s Gov. Jindal’s response to The Times-Picayune’s questions about the obvious hypocrisy of Mr. Teepell and the Hannah Montana tickets: “We’re going to follow the law.”

Ah, the majesty of the law.

It seems the sanctimony of the Jindal administration is getting under Clancy’s skin (he’s not the only one!).

DuBos goes on to outline the “double standard” that exists at the heart of Jindal’s ethics package:

Publicly, the “double standard” is already apparent in the administration’s public positions with regard to exempting itself from many of the “ethics reforms” it is foisting on everybody else…In committee meeting after committee meeting, ranking members of Team Jindal argue for exempting the executive branch from the very reforms that Gov. Jindal is pushing.

The bill as originally proposed is but one example of Team Jindal reforming everybody else, but keeping the “gold” for itself.Look for leges to continue pushing back this week as they actually start reading the bills that the administration is pushing. What’s becoming obvious is that Governor Jindal, who promised us a “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.

By that measure, Gov. Jindal truly has achieved the “gold standard.” He and his pals get to keep all the gold to themselves. As for the rest, beatings will continue until morale improves.

Forgotston, whose original rant DuBos riffed off, cited another egregious example of Jindal’s “Double Standard:”

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?

In Jindal’s Machiavelian mind that might seem like a smart idea, but to you and I it seems devious, duplicitous and downright unethical (I would argue that politicians spend far too much time immersed in Machiavelian strategies that are irrelevant to citizens daily lives, however, let’s save that for another day).

All this culminated in an editorial in this week’s Gambit Weekly, which although more measured than DuBos’ earlier post was still highly critical of Jindal:

Truth is, we are being kind in describing the Hannah Montana ticket razoo as an “inconsistency.” Let’s call it what it is: hypocrisy. As veteran blogger and watchdog C.B. Forgotston noted last week, “There’s a distinction between ending corruption and merely passing more ‘ethics laws.’” Governor Jindal seems to be focused on the latter. The more I watch the pragmatic Jindal at work the more I come to the conclusion that the “gold standard’ is quickly becoming the “aluminum standard’ — it is lightweight and flexible.”

If this were an isolated incident, we would be inclined to slough it off as a rookie mistake. Unfortunately, we see other inconsistencies.

During the campaign, Candidate Jindal proclaimed that he would have a “zero tolerance” standard for members of his administration who violate the Ethics Code. So far, that standard has not applied to Teepell.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), Jindal now proposes to strip the state Ethics Board of its enforcement authority as part of “ethics reform,” even though the state Constitution expressly stipulates that the state’s Ethics Code “shall be administered by one or more boards created by the Legislature.”

Some opposition to the governor’s proposals is borne of Old Guard resistance, but we suspect a good deal of it is healthy skepticism in the face of too many “inconsistencies” on the part of the new administration.

Clearly, there’s a pattern emerging of sanctimonious demands for ethics reform for all levels of government, except the Governor’s office. If Jindal truly believes in ethics reform and if he really wants to change the prevailing political culture in Louisiana, he will have to lead by example and apply the same standards to his own office.