House members were hoping by now to know who would be chairing most committees, but it appears those decisions, as in the Senate, won’t be made until a new speaker is elected in January. While Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, is widely believed to have the votes, the refusal of Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, to concede could be slowing the process down. “There is no urgency,” says Kleckley, who earlier stated he would start making assignments after the Nov. 19 runoffs. “It needs to be done by March 12, when we go into session,” he says, acknowledging he might wait until the formal leadership elections on Jan. 9. He denied that Robideaux’s continued opposition is the reason he is taking his time, citing the need to strike a partisan and regional balance. Kleckley believes any contest with Robideaux is over. “I’ve got way over 53 votes. My numbers have been rock solid since the end of October and have only grown since then.” Yet members and sources close to the process believe that Robideaux’s holdout is complicating the process. Robideaux seems to hope so. “Nothing changed,” he says. “We’re all just kind of waiting to see what the governor does regarding who will be chairmen, to see who’s happy and who’s mad.” He says he has no plans on conceding. Kleckley and Gov. Bobby Jindal could play that waiting game, too, for it could put pressure on those who are committed to Robideaux. According to a source close to the governor, “There’s no reason to be handing out candy until Christmas.”
—Jindal says he plans to serve out his second term, but he will remain very engaged on the national Republican scene. He returns today from the annual Republican Governors Association as the organization’s dinner chairman. It might sound like a social gig, but it is the third leadership position behind chairman and vice chairman. That puts him in line for the chairmanship in 2014, when gubernatorial elections will be held in 36 states. The chairman’s job is to help Republicans win as many of them as possible, which should put him on the road even more than in his first term, during which he has frequently traveled out-of-state. It will also build for him a wide political and fundraising network for presidential election years to come.
They said it: “The senator is grateful for the governor’s gracious bipartisan gesture, but he has been there, done that, and has the T-shirt and chad to prove it.” —Sen. Joe Lieberman’s spokesman on GOP presidential candidate Buddy Roemer’s declared preference to have him as a running mate, in The Times-Picayune
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
