“My own self-interest”

The firestorm of controversy behind the recent legislative pay raise has caused Gov. Jindal to admit he made a mistake in allowing such a bill to pass through the Legislature - though he still says he will not veto the increase.

But even with the admission, the Governor could not resist some doublespeak on the topic.

It would be in my own self-interest to veto the bill. I have learned my lesson: We will keep a tighter rein on the Legislature in future sessions.

It’s quite a leap to say that a veto would be in the Governor’s self interest, rather than in the interest of the taxpayers who elected him. A veto might give Jindal a rocky road in upcoming dealings with legislators, but it would at least be a start in validating his claim as a reformer that he constantly made on the campaign trail.

It is much more in Jindal’s own interests to do nothing. He does not run the risk of angering the Legislature, and he can hope that another few years will be enough time for voters to forget about his failure to act.

As for keeping “closer tabs” on the legislature, as Jindal promised to do, it’s difficult to believe that he was not aware of the pay raise or the controversy that it would cause. Either the Administration at least gave a wink and a nod to the pay grab, or they were remarkably clueless about such a hot piece of legislation.

Either way, the Governor’s statement sounds less like a mea culpa than just more of the same old political tapdancing.