Jindal’s stumping for Romney cost La. taxpayers

While Gov. Bobby Jindal crisscrossed the country stumping for Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful White House bid last year, Louisiana taxpayers picked up the tab for the governor’s security detail, with a price tag topping $18,000. The Republican governor’s trip on an Iowa bus tour aimed at ousting an Iowa Supreme Court justice cost Louisiana nearly $1,200. A September speech by Jindal to the New Hampshire Republican Party added another $2,500 to the tally. Taxpayers in Jindal’s home state have shelled out thousands as the governor travels the country for political events, fundraisers and campaign speeches that have little to do with official state business. Jindal’s campaign, other GOP campaigns or event hosts pay for the governor’s flights, meals and hotels when he travels for non-state business, but the Louisiana State Police reaches into its own budget to cover similar costs for the governor’s bodyguards. An Associated Press review of the expense statements filed by troopers shows at least $226,500 has been paid for out-of-state travel with Jindal since he took office in 2008. A spokesman for the governor, Sean Lansing, didn’t directly answer a question about whether Jindal has considered reimbursing the security detail’s travel costs from the $3.7 million in his own campaign account, rather than from tax dollars in a state struggling with repeated budget shortfalls. “The state does not pay for the governor’s unofficial travel out of state. As far as State Police, they have a legal duty to provide protection. As far as how, when, and where they do that—that’s up to them,” Lansing says in a statement. You can find more details in the full story here.