I think part of the problem is Jindal's seeming detachment from doing the job, as evidenced by the record number of bills signed without his signature. I cast my first vote for a Republican in over ten years because I hoped he would move away from his job-hopping to advance his career and concentrate on eight years of reform for Louisiana and them move to national office in his mid 40s. It seems that's not in his plan as he is out of Louisiana more than in the state. (I don't think he can get the all-time record though, Jimmie Davis spent over half of his first term (1944-1948) out of state in Hollywood trying to become the next great singing cowboy.)
The worst part of this is that as the earlier comment said, negotiation and give and take are all part of politics; however, we saw no sign of negotiation by Jindal on this issue. It seems at the first the Legislative leaders said, "We want to triple our salary" and Jindal said, "I don't want that" and the resulting "deal" was that the legislature got what it wanted in exchange for promises of future cooperation. The reduction of the increase was not orchestrated by Jindal, or at the least not his idea as he announced his "hands off" policy when the bill still tripled the salary.
For several years now I've told my La. Government classes that one of the worst legacies of Huey Long in terms of day-to-day operation of the government was the destruction of separation of powers and checks and balances. Essentially the Louisiana Legislature has functioned almost like a committee appointed by the Governor. He picked the officers and vetoes were seldom if ever overridden.
When Jindal was elected and promised to change things, I was pleased. Then he caved a little and did pick the officers as in the past, indicating he was going to continue the gubernatorial dominance to some degree. Now, I'm blown away as he apparently has adopted the view held by all those weak, ineffective U. S. Presidents of the 19th Century that the legislative branch should run the show. His implication that he lacks the power and/or the political courage to veto a bill that goes against his campaign promise is not a good sign. Heck, even Blanco had the testicular fortitude to kill this pay raise idea before it got started.
It just looks like Bobby is too busy filling out job applications for his next promotion to concentrate on the job. I guess we Democrats fell down on our job when we didn't attack him for his almost non-existent voting record during his last year in Congress. If you'll look back, that's what he did, spent his time running for Governor and seldom if ever voted. It seemed excusable because of our situation in Louisiana, but now it seems more like a pattern of behavior than a reaction to that situation.
In short, I want my vote back . . . .
, here I trusted you Republicans to fix things and you did as bad as my people
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Originally Posted by Rooster
