Louisiana Voice

Trying to obtain what are clearly public records from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office is somewhat akin to trying to nail Jell-O to a wall but CNS has succeeded in obtaining some information from his deputy executive counsel, albeit somewhat confusing and perhaps incomplete data.

Deputy Executive Counsel Elizabeth Baker Murrill provided the records while implying that the governor’s staff was doing Capitol News Service a favor in being forthcoming with the information because, she said, there was no legal mandate to “manufacture and compile information in response to a request.”

The Louisiana Public Records Act, however, says precisely the opposite.

Murrill also said campaign-related records “are not public records.” Jindal, however, was fined $2,500 in 2008 for failing to report more than $100,000 in campaign expenditures on his behalf by the Louisiana Republican Party.

In responding to the specific request by CNS for an accounting of the number of days Jindal was out of state during 2010 on personal campaign fundraisers, campaigning for other Republican candidates, or promoting his book, Leadership and Crisis, Murrill provided 17 separate emails from press secretary Kyle Plotkin detailing the governor’s itinerary.

While Jindal has been admonished for his frequent out-of-state trips by critics who say he should be spending more time in-state attending to the impending $1.6 billion budget deficit, he also has been just as active—maybe even more so—in his recurrent Sunday morning trips to Protestant church services, particularly in north Louisiana.

Federal laws forbid political activity on the part of churches and also prohibit fundraising activities in churches by political candidates. Violations could result in the loss of a church’s tax-exempt status but Jindal apparently is not shy about skirting the ragged edges of the law.

A visit to one north Louisiana church reveals just how far he is willing to go in flirting with IRS sanctions against host churches kind enough to allow him to “witness” to their congregations about his Christian conversion.

The identities of the town and church are relatively unimportant to the facts of the story, so we will save them that embarrassment. But the story, as told by a member of the congregation bears repeating. We’ll call him Sam for the purposes of this story.

The pastor one Sunday told his flock that they would be visited by the governor the following Sunday. “I decided right then that I was not going to miss the next Sunday,” Sam said. “The next Sunday as I sat and listened to the malarkey of his life story, I sensed something going on at the pew to my left. I looked and saw that a clipboard with a sign-in sheet was being passed around.”

The sheet, he said, contained spaces for attendees’ names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. “They weren’t one bit shy about it,” Sam said. “They were compiling information to key into a campaign data bank so they could call these people back later to solicit votes and campaign contributions.”

He said at the close of services, the pastor informed the congregation that Jindal would have a meet and greet session at the parish sheriff’s firing range. “I went to that, too, and that’s where the contributions were being solicited,” Sam said. “Big time. They were very open about asking for contributions.”

Sam admitted that he has never been a fan of Jindal. “I can’t stand him. But I have to give it to him: he’s slick.”

In-state travel notwithstanding, the emails provided CNS by Jindal’s office revealed 17 out-of-state trips totaling 30 days. The first trip was for three days, beginning on Feb. 19. On that date, he traveled to Washington, D.C. for the National Governors’ Association’s winter meetings and the Republican Governors’ Association meeting. He returned on Feb. 22.

He didn’t travel out-of-state again until Sept. 17, when he attended campaign rallies in Pensacola, Orlando, and Jacksonville for Rick Scott in his successful campaign for governor of that state. Jindal also attended fundraisers in Pensacola and St. Petersburg before returning to Baton Rouge that same day.

There were no trips reported by the governor’s office between Feb. 17-22 and Sept. 17. The April 20 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occupied much of his on-camera face time during that period and the leak was finally stopped on Sept. 19 just in time for his jaunt to Cincinnati on Sept. 20-21 to attend the Republican Governors’ Association Policy Summit.

Other trips listed by Murrill included:

• Sept. 24—Fundraisers in Fresno and San Diego in support of unsuccessful California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman: 1 day;

• Oc. 4—Fundraiser for the Georgia Republican Party in Atlanta: 1 day;

• Oct. 8—Fundraiser for his own reelection campaign on Oct. 8; campaign stop for successful U.S. Senate election campaign of Roy Blunt; later that same day, Jindal and family attended his brother’s wedding in St. Louis: 3 days;

• Oct. 13—Campaign rally in Tampa, Fla., for Marco Rubio’s successful U.S. Senate campaign: 1 day;

• Oct. 14—Fundraiser in Portsmouth, N.H., on behalf of John Stephen’s unsuccessful campaign for governor of New Hampshire. Also attended fundraiser in support of his own reelection. On Oct. 15, Jindal traveled to New York City to attend meetings of the Republican Governors’ Association: 2 days;

• Oct. 18—Fundraiser in Milwaukee in support of Ron Johnson’s successful campaign for U.S. Senate. Also traveled to Madison, WI to attend fundraiser for Scott Walker’s successful campaign for governor: 1 day;

• Oct. 21—Houston fundraiser for Bill Flores’s successful campaign for Congress: 1 day;

• Oct. 22—Pittsburgh fundraiser for Tom Corbett’s successful campaign for governor of Pennsylvania: 1 day;

• Oct. 26—Fundraiser in Hobbs for Susana Martinez’s successful campaign for governor of New Mexico: 1 day;

• Oct. 27—Newton campaign rally for Terry Branstad’s successful campaign for governor of Iowa; Milwaukee, WI, for fundraiser for Scott Walker; Homer Glen campaign appearance on behalf of unsuccessful Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady: 1 day;

• Nov. 14-23—New York City appearances on the Today Show and Fox and Friends to promote book, Leadership and Crisis. Several interviews scheduled before departing on Nov. 16 for San Diego for the Republican Governors’ Association annual conference; reelection fundraiser on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles; Nov. 20 speech at Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara before flying to Washington, D.C. for media interviews for his book. Return to Baton Rouge on Nov. 23: 8 days;

• Dec. 10—Reelection fundraiser in New York City: 1 day;

• Dec. 15-16—Two reelection fundraisers in Dallas; on Dec. 16 reelection fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston: 2 days.

The cost of all this travel? Well, it depends on where you go for answers. The report provided by Murrill indicates that $65,898.85 was spent for something. The printout itemizes 34 separate payments between Jan. 8 and Dec. 23but only three dates of those payments appear to match up with travel dates provided by Murrill.

The Associated Press, however, puts the cost at $134,000 with more than $75,000 of that amount for his own reelection fundraising appearances.

AP provided a factor that was not provided by Murrill, the cost of paying for state police protection during his trips.

At a time when statewide budget cuts have forced state police to cease training courses for new troopers, state law requires the governor to have police protection at all times, even while traveling for political campaign appearances.

One administration spokesperson said that police protection costs should not be factored in because the governor must have state police protection whether he’s traveling or in Baton Rouge.

That may be but one still has to wonder where the governor’s real priorities are these days.