Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief of staff says that “overwhelming” majorities of both houses support the governor’s choices for Senate president and speaker of the House. Yet, just to be sure, decisions on key chairmanships, particularly in the Senate, might not be made until after the leadership votes are taken in January. Sen. John Alario, R-Westwego, and Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, have both said they will wait until all runoffs are decided on Nov. 19 before making committee assignments in consultation with the governor. But while Kleckley said some decisions would be made before Thanksgiving, Alario tells LaPolitics, “I don’t want to put a deadline on it,” and that he might wait until the presidency is formally decided on Jan. 9. While there is no competition left for Alario, some of his Republican colleagues have heard complaints from conservative constituents opposed to the candidacy of the former Democrat who served two terms as speaker under former Gov. Edwin Edwards. Before Jindal made his choice known, there was some talk among senators that one might call for a voice vote, to put Republicans on the spot. But since Jindal’s announcement, other president hopefuls have dropped their bids. Unless someone opposes Alario, a voice vote is pointless.
—The man that presidential candidate Herman Cain has blamed for leaking the sexual harassment story involving Cain to the press is a partner in the political consulting firm that worked for Gov. Bobby Jindal. Curt Anderson, who works now for candidate Gov. Rick Perry, said he did not know about the allegations before he read them in Politico this week. On Thursday, Cain’s campaign manager said they no longer believe Anderson was the source. Anderson and his brother Wes are partners in OnMessage, the consultant for Jindal’s re-election campaign. Jindal’s former chief of staff Timmy Teepell, who took leave to run the governor’s campaign, joined OnMessage as a partner last week. OnMessage was retained by the Perry campaign last month. “From conversations I had with him (Anderson) about Herman Cain and Rick Perry, if he had known I would have known,” says Teepell. “I can tell you he was not the source.” On Wednesday, Cain said that while Curt Anderson worked for his 2004 Senate campaign, he told the consultant about the sexual harassment suit in order to prepare for its being used against him.
They said it: “I am not going to get mad, go away and blow up the whole world.” —Sen. Danny Martiny, on not being the governor’s choice for Senate president, in The Times-Picayune
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
