The Louisiana media loves to write about Gov. Bobby Jindal’s political jet-setting ways, says Jeremy Alford, noting The Advocate has dedicated a small section of its blog to regularly answer the question: “Where in the world is Gov. Bobby Jindal?” It follows a special report in the daily last month that revealed the governor spent 165 days, or 45% of 2014, in other states.
“Even lawmakers are getting in on the fun. After Jindal delivered his session-opening speech on April 13, Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, remarked, ‘We were all worried with the weather that he wouldn’t be able to fly in,’” Alford writes in his latest column. “But there’s perspective worth adding to this conventional wisdom. While the quasi-presidential candidate is certainly on the road and in the air more so than any other modern Louisiana governor, Jindal is far from totally absent. Just ask members of the House and Senate, who are performing backflips and calculating creative math just to satisfy the governor’s revenue neutral rule.”
Alford notes that with a $1.6 billion shortfall to address, Jindal has told lawmakers he would veto any net tax increase, which would be an easy way to right the deficit. However, Jindal will endorse taxes if they’re offset by a reduction of an equal amount elsewhere in the budget. “That’s no simple task, and many lawmakers question the logic. Yet they will deliver,” Alford says. “By traditional definitions, there’s no such thing as a lame-duck Louisiana governor, even if they’re sinking in the polls back home and being ignored by handfuls of legislators. That’s because Louisiana governors have a unique grasp over the legislative process that can only be loosened voluntarily or by political ineptitude.”
Louisiana governors control the purse strings for the capital outlay bill, which lawmakers rely on to get construction projects—or what some might call pork, Alford says.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
