From the Huffington Post: In what promises to be just the first in a new line of national stories on Jindal’s VP prospects, the big question is whether the administration’s door slamming and no comment approach to the Louisiana press corps will hold up with the national gang.
There can be no denying it now. Jindal is clearly considering leaving Louisiana in the lurch. Courtesy of the New York Times:
“in a year in which Democratic voters have raised few objections to such traditional “obstacles,” Mr. Jindal may be especially attractive as Republicans seek a way to offset the “post-racial” and youthful appeal of Senator Barack Obama.”
From the Advocate: Responding to implications that he worked with the Jindal administration to gut ethics reforms by changing the standard of proof by which ethics charges are prosecuted, Senator Bob Kostelka contends that there was no hidden agenda.
According to Kostelka, meetings were had on the issue of changing the standard prior to his last minute inlcusion of the amendment raising the standard from “reliable and substantial” evidence to “clear and convincing”. However Kostelka provides no details as to who, other than Jindal’s executive counsel Jimmy Faircloth, attended this meeting.
From the Baton Rouge Business Report: Rolfe McAlister, who by all accounts has no problem getting through to the Governor or his chief of staff, puts his paper in the line of fire between Jindal and an increasingly disgruntled Louisiana press corps. After debunking his own sport’s metaphor, JR Ball opts for the last defense of the hopelessly arrogant, namely, that if the people don’t care what Jindal does then the press can take a flying leap.
From the News Star: Tactics of Governor’s office during voucher debate suggests that nothing has “changed” when it comes to how Baton Rouge does business as Freshman lawmakers accuse Governor of leveraging state money against support for his controversial proposal.
From the Advocate: In documents obtained by the paper, the state ethics board warned Governor Jindal that his move to raise the standard of proof for prosecuting ethics charges to “clear and convincing” threaten the board’s ability to enforce the Governor’s ethics “gold standard.”
In a fiery rebuke of the board’s actions, Senator Bob Kostelka, Jindal’s Senate floor manager and shepherd of the Governor’s ethics package, said the board’s request for the Governor to veto a portion of the ethics package that Jindal had called for was “asking the impossible.”
The big question that remains is exactly why did the Governor request this change in the first place?
From Nola.com: As the Saints look to bring the 2013 Super Bowl to the Superdome, the issue of the Saint’s lease with the state returns.
From WDSU: Provides public school support workers with $1000 bonuses while shorting the pay Jindal wanted for Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret ($320,00) keeping at the currently level of a mere $245,755.
From the Times-Picayune: After initially trying to kill efforts to reverse the Stelly Tax, Jindal will now be looking to position himself as its champion.
Despite how all this started, it also turned out to be quite a good day for Jindal. If all goes according to plan and the Legislature goes along, Jindal will get to sign the measure. And from here on out, his name will be associated with a great big tax cut.
From the Times-Picayune: Once the champion of openess and transparency, the Jindal administration is now fighting tooth and nail to beat back attempts to limit public records exemptions in the Governor’s office.
Asked why the Louisiana Governor deserves greater exemptions that most other state, Jindal top lawyer Jimmy Faircloth chalked it up, cryptically, to “a hundred years of Louisiana politics.”
