Gov. Bobby Jindal is a busy man.
In one week alone, he has made major headlines twice. Both stories, though unrelated, show exactly how open Jindal is to allowing both individuals and corporations to buy control of Louisiana.
First, The New York Times ran an article March 2 on the dubious ethicality of allowing big companies to donate to a charity fund closely associated with Jindal.
The foundation in question — eponymously titled The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children after the founder, First Lady Supriya Jindal — took in donations from corporations that also contributed to Bobby Jindal’s campaign funds, according to the report.
While Jindal himself had no apparent function in the organization except to show up at parties, the chief fundraiser for the governor’s campaign also works for the foundation, and several of the corporations involved received favorable decisions by the Jindal administration. Complete detachment between the charity and the administration is, therefore, unlikely.
On one hand, the fund could be seen as mutually beneficial. Jindal received money, corporations received favors, and Louisiana schools got some fancy new electronic blackboards.
But the whole production is inherently dishonest. Rather than eliminating corporate influence as he professed to do near the beginning of his term, Jindal found a loophole in his own ethical legislation and exploited it with no intention of anyone ever finding out.
That’s clear-cut corruption right there.
Following the story in The New York Times was a damning exposé on Jindal’s appointments to the Board of Regents (which oversees Louisiana’s higher education system).
As the Louisiana Constitution states, “The Board should be representative of the state’s population by race and gender to ensure diversity.”
However, Jindal’s thought process when appointing the all-white, mostly male members seems to have gone something like this: “Do I know you? Are you an older, white gentleman? How much money can you give me? That much? … OK, you’re in.”
Now, in an effort to save his image, Jindal has apparently pressured Roland Toups, the longest serving member of the Board, to resign.
Jindal, unsurprisingly, appointed a minority member in Toups’ place.
Even before these scandals surfaced, the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington targeted Jindal as one of the nation’s 11 most corrupt governors. The group’s charges include hampering government transparency, weakening the authority of the state ethics board and using hypocritical standards when accepting funds for the state.
Perhaps it’s somewhat impressive that in between talking about God (not government) in churches across the state and attempting to sell off prisons, Louisiana’s governor has also found the time to operate a modern-day Jacksonian spoils system.
It just goes to show that one shouldn’t judge a person based on age or disarmingly geeky smiles.
So what does this mean for Jindal?
In the future, the accusations may keep him from stepping away from state politics and becoming a truly national powerhouse, a transition many support and Jindal doubtlessly wants to make.
More presently, the timing of the news — mere months away from the October elections — will be doubly harmful to his upcoming gubernatorial campaign. More than anything, the scandals offer an opportunity for a political opponent to put up a challenge in a race currently set to be entirely one sided.
Of course, Jindal is just one in a long line of corrupt Louisiana politicians. Maybe the state is somehow a natural magnet for malfeasance, but perhaps it is an absence of vigilance — or desensitization because of proximity — helping dishonesty to grow roots and flourish here in the marshes of Louisiana.
To stop that tradition from continuing, we as citizens need to hold Jindal to higher standards — though Jindal also needs to hold himself to higher standards.
And if that’s not possible — get rid of him.
Macy Linton is a 19-year-old international studies freshman from Memphis, Tenn. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Mlinton.
 
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Contact Macy Linton at [email protected]