Bobby Jindal's Anti-Leadership in Louisiana

My governor recently released a book, Leadership and Crisis.

I have not read the book, and I don’t intend to read the book. I have experienced his leadership first-hand, and the devastating crises that have resulted.

This week, various media outlets have hosted Mr. Jindal as he shared his leadership theories, and his solutions to our country’s current economic problems.

Many of us here in Louisiana would like the rest of the country to know exactly how Bobby Jindal solves social, educational, and economic problems.

For the record, Louisiana enjoys indulgent revenue income from the gaming industry, film industry, industrial production, oil and gas industry (i.e.: Haynesville Shale), and tourism (i.e.: New Orleans Saints/LSU football).

1. He (Jindal) cut HIV prevention THIS year by $800k+ state-wide, and is expected to cut the remaining amount down to ZERO this next year (probably a mid-year budget cut in January). Overheard at a state-wide HIV Prevention Conference two weeks ago: "Well - at least once we get down to ZERO state dollars, we won't have to worry about getting cut any more(Source: Executive Director of The Philadelphia Center, Shreveport, LA)

2. The state school budget is $42 million too low. Colleges & universities have been cut by $315 million in the past two years…(Source: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/108327999.html)

3. “Right now, Jindal is doing a book tour for his newest novella “Leadership and Crisis”. Maybe what we really need is ‘Leadership during Crisis.’” (Source: www.projectcrisiscall.com)

4. “Real leadership" is what Gov. Bobby Jindal said was needed in response to the latest episode in Louisiana's ongoing fiscal crisis, in which the state discovered it was $107 million short last year….The Department of Health and Hospitals followed through with its plan for "doing more with less." DHH proposed cutting $20.8 million from this year's budget to cover its share of the state's shortfall. The department also projected a $50 million shortfall of its own due to a 4.4 percent increase in Medicaid enrollments. (Source: http://www.nola.com/news/tp/otheropinions/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1289892019241500.xml&coll=1)

5. The Jindal administration wants to chop state construction dollars for LSU, a north Baton Rouge YMCA, and other projects to generate $30 million for a (proposed) St. James iron facility. (Source: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/105005259.html)

6. Health insurance companies are stepping up their campaign to take over part of Louisiana government’s health insurance program for the poor….meanwhile, Louisiana’s pediatricians joined a coalition of health care groups working on an alternative provider-directed, patient-centered plan similar to one in North Carolina that has no insurance company involvement. (Source: http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/politicsblog/108280209.html)

7. “These cuts are fiscally irresponsible and discriminatory to certain providers,” the Coalition to Protect Louisiana’s Healthcare says in a written statement. “They will limit patients’ access to primary and specialty care and to hospital and emergency services. Slashing state funding for health care does four times as much damage, because we lose the ability to match millions of dollars of federal health-care funding.” (Source: http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20101114/ARTICLES/101119609/1211/news01?Title=Opposition-to-Jindal-8217-s-Medicaid-plan-mounting-)

8. The governor told college students, via Facebook, that they were being short-changed by inefficient administrators and sabbatical-happy professors. Then, after a quick campaign trip to Houston, he ordered $157 million in mid-year spending cuts — including $35 million to higher education — told agency heads to quit their whining, and was back on a plane for another campaign stop in Pittsburgh. (Source: http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20101027/OPINION01/101029389/1229/?tc=obinsite)

9. Last year the non-profit organization (Northwest Louisiana Food Bank) lost 85 percent of its funding after Governor Bobby Jindal made budget cuts to the state's surplus funds. The remaining 15 percent was cut this year. (Source: http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=13515308)

10. “The secret of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s success may be that he can fast-talk his way into a fancy job before he has had quite enough time to be judged a flop in the last one… Things are certainly about to get ugly around here, as a quick look at the budget figures will confirm.” (Source: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/11/is_louisiana_gov_bobby_jindal.html)

11. Bobby Jindal vetoed a bill requiring his office's documents on the (BP) oil disaster to become public. (Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0627/Bobby-Jindal-vetoes-bill-to-open-his-office-s-records-on-oil-spill)

12. Jindal has studiously avoided making substantive campaign finance reform part of the special session on ethics that he called...He gets downright antsy when the discussion turns towards campaign finance reform, probably owing to the fact that his own campaign has admitted to violations of state campaign finance laws. (Source: http://www.dailykingfish.com/diary/472/)

13. Under changes the Legislature made to state ethics laws in 2008 as part of Gov. Bobby Jindal's revamp, members of the state Board of Ethics no longer had the authority to judge ethics cases at a trial. (Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/06/state_ethics_board_still_lacks.html)

14. Health care services and public colleges are bearing the brunt of cuts to close a $248 million midyear deficit and rebalance the budget. Gov. Bobby Jindal made the cuts Tuesday in an executive order. (Source: http://www.abc26.com/news/local/state-budget-cuts-news-wgno,0,6973618.story)

15. Governor Jindal has announced that he seeks to balance the budget by relying almost exclusively on cuts in spending to vital state programs such as higher education, public schools, and human welfare. (Source: http://www.labudget.org/lbp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/louisianas-fiscal-crisis1.pdf)

Links to recently published articles regarding the ongoing “Jindalcide:”

http://www.labudget.org/lbp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/louisianas-fiscal-crisis1.pdf (Louisiana Budget Project report on alternatives to Jindal’s cuts to human services)

www.projectcrisiscall.com (Student protest of ongoing higher education funding cuts)

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/otheropinions/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1289892019241500.xml&coll=1 (Dept. of Health & Hospitals/Medicaid/prescription cuts)

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/108327999.html (“unexpected” $42 million education budget shortfall)

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/105005259.html (Education & social service funding cuts)

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20101114/ARTICLES/101119609/1211/news01?Title=Opposition-to-Jindal-8217-s-Medicaid-plan-mounting- (Healthcare funding cuts)

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20101117/NEWS04/11170341/Budget-cuts-to-ripple-through-system?GID=vp6Fmy+mxwcQy9xPwbdWl6hEQnef9pFMEfK298tXJ60%3D (Education funding cuts)

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20101112/NEWS04/11120320/School-officials-fume-over-funding-loss (Education funding cuts)

http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=13515308 (100% cut to NWLA Food Bank)

http://www.jindalwatch.com/wheresbobby/ (our absentee governor on the prowl for book sales and campaign contributions)

http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0627/Bobby-Jindal-vetoes-bill-to-open-his-office-s-records-on-oil-spill (Jindal’s refusal of transparency regarding the BP oil spill)

www.citizensforethics.org/node/45314 (DC-based ethics group finds Jindal among US’s worst governors)

http://www.abc26.com/news/local/state-budget-cuts-news-wgno,0,6973618.story (Jindal cuts health care to balance state budget)

http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/opb/pub/FY11/FY10-11_StateBudget.pdf (2010-2011 Louisiana State Budget)

http://www.dailykingfish.com/diary/472/ (Jindal’s campaign for ethics reform; he violated state campaign finance laws by accepting corporate contributions)