Sunday, December 17, 2006

Jindal's Ethics Issues

With Republican legislators going partisan in the Special Session, it's clear that the race for governor is now on.

Sure, Bobby Jindal is going through the motions of praying over whether he's going to run or not when, in all actuality, that decision was made the night he lost in 2003.

Jindal will bring something new to this election: a deep bag of connections to corrupt Republicans that extends over the network that he used to raise funds for his congressional races and that he pandered to while in Washington.

Jindal's campaign will explode the myth of Republican rectitude that has been the basis of the party's claim to the moral high ground (such as it exists) in Louisiana politics over the past 30 years. After all, Edwin Edwards was not a member of their party.

No, but Donald "Boysie" Bollinger is and recent stories about Bollinger Shipyards' role in the emerging scandal in the supposed upgrade of the Coast Guard fleet are going to seriously eat away at the state Republicans' phony righteousness.

Then, too, there will be Jindal's ties to Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform. Jindal has signed every pledge that Norquist has stuck in front of him at the same time that Norquist and his various organizations were acting in partnership with and as fronts for money laundering schemes developed by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. I'd be interested in learning more about the ties between Jindal and Ralph Reed. If ever there were two opportunists whose ambitions and egos would have driven paths to cross, those are two.

Then, too, there will be the actual record of Jindal as a public official. I am particularly interested in the boy wonder's role as head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in the first Foster term. There was at least one serious public health issue that was swept under the rug during Jindal's tenure that later came back to haunt residents in the Baton Rouge area. Will the media stick to repeating the fawning myths of this guy, or will they actually look at his record with a critical eye on what he really did?

Jindal has gotten a free ride from the media and the political establishment. It is going to be different this time around.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I AM a registered Republican, I VOTED FOR BLANCO! Why ?, the GOP has deserted ME. The deficit (the highest in history), out-sourcing, open borders and now they're looking at creating a NORTH AMERICAN UNION.

I joined the USAF the day JFK was assinated, Nov. 22, 1963.

Richard M. Nixon (the ONLY Republican that I ever voted TWICE for) had the IQ to "Cut-n-Run" from the Vietnam debacle.

GB2 has less brains than a door-knob.

America should be the object of let's fix it now...I am sick of fixin' the whole WORLD and NOT Louisiana..God bless Blanco for tryin', the GOP IS SITTING ON THE MONEY...NOT BLANCO...JINDALL is another GOPPER...

FIX AMERICA FIRST, CRAP ON THE RESTUVA WORLD...Alpeaux

Anthony Fazzio said...

"I am sick of fixin' the whole WORLD" So am I! National defense means just that. It doesn't mean "nation building" or exporting revolution, even if it is alleged democratic revolution. Trotsky argued for exporting revolution, and it didn't work.

Anthony Fazzio said...

Nick:

If your question was addressed to me, then the answer is NO!

Anthony Fazzio said...

"Fixing the world" and having a international assembly for discussing world problems before violence ensues are not the same thing.

Anonymous said...

What does Jindal have to do with Bollinger? You imply that when you say
"Then, too, there will be Jindal's ties to Grover Norquist" infering that he had anything to do with the Coast Guard dilemma.
And you say
"Then, too, there will be the actual record of Jindal as a public official"
but you don't provide any facts.
We need facts. What are the facts?

"Jindal has gotten a free ride from the media and the political establishment. It is going to be different this time around."

Sounds like wishful thinking.