You have to give Gov. Piyush Jindal credit—he has chutzpah.
Jindal, to paraphrase Bill Murray (Dr. Peter Venkman), Harold Ramis (Dr. Egon Spengler) and Dan Aykroyd (Dr. Raymond Stantz) of Ghostbusters fame, ain’t afraid of no state constitution.
And he ain’t afraid of throwing good taxpayer dollars after bad to prove it.
Last November, Baton Rouge District Judge Tim Kelley shot down Jindal’s far-ranging school voucher program when he ruled it was unconstitutional for the state to use funds—about $25 million this year—dedicated for public education to pay private-school tuition.
Then late last month, another Baton Rouge District Judge, William Morvant, ruled the administration’s 401 (k)-type pension plan scheduled to take effect July 1 for future state employees also was unconstitutional because it had passed the legislature by a simple majority vote and not by the necessary two-thirds majority.
Taking his cue from Admiral David Farragut at the Aug. 5, 1864, Battle of Mobile Bay, Jindal shouted to his minions on the fourth floor of the State Capitol something that sounded like, “Damn the Constitution, full speed ahead!”
Or maybe it was, “Damn the legal costs, full speed ahead!”
He said it kinda fast, so it was hard to understand, really.
It might have even been, “Damn those Republican judges, full appeal ahead!”
Kelley’s ruling was “wrong-headed” and “a travesty for parents across Louisiana,” Jindal sniffed after last November’s setback. We’re not sure of “wrong-headed” is an acceptable term in a court of law but hey, he’s the governor so who are we to quibble? After all, legend has it that a Texas cowboy in the old West successfully defended himself on a murder charge with the defense that his late adversary “needed killing.”
“We are optimistic this decision will be reversed,” said State Education Superintendent John White (An attempt by LouisianaVoice to determine from which law school White holds his juris doctorate was unsuccessful.)
“We are disappointed in the court’s ruling and we look forward to a successful appeal,” Piyush said of Morvant’s ruling on the pension plan. “We’re confident that the bill was constitutionally passed,” he added. (As with White, efforts to learn where the governor obtained his degree in constitutional law were fruitless.)
So, having already spent thousands of dollars at the district court level, he now will contract with outside counsel (eschewing the attorney general’s office right across the Lake from the Capitol) to take both cases to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Not only is he tossing good taxpayer money after bad, but he also is forcing the Retired State Employees Association of Louisiana, two teachers unions and dozens of local school boards to spend membership money and local tax dollars to continue the fight to uphold the lower court rulings.
Perhaps the governor should take a look at his latest poll numbers (37 percent approval rating) and try to understand that he can’t always get his way even though he and his $10 million campaign war chest did collect 66 percent of a 20 percent voter turnout in his re-election just over a year ago—against a field that included as his strongest opponent a school teacher with no money. And the teacher, Tara Hollis, still got 18 percent of the vote.
So what if 80 percent of the Louisiana voters stayed home? Sixty-six percent is a mandate!
A former middle school teacher said even as a child his mindset was such that he always had to have his way and that it was simply inconceivable that he might be wrong.
But this isn’t middle school and even by spending thousands more of taxpayer money, he still isn’t likely to get his way.
Ever see a governor throw a tantrum? Stand by. It might even qualify as a hissy fit.
Who you gonna call?
Constitution Busters, aka Bobby Jindal, Timmy Teepell and Jimmy Faircloth!
Louisiana Voice 
He ain’t scared of no constitution or surpreme court. He bought and paid for big bird, the newest judge.
Why isn’t ALEC presenting Jindal’s appeal? It’s their plan.
And our legislators keep bobbing their empty little heads in consent with Jindal’s lunacy and selling a once fair-to-middling state down the river all for a $49.99 “business meal” and possibly a tryst with one of “Creepy” Vitter’s Red Light Ladies!
Somalia is beginning to look even more civilized than Louisiana.
Maybe even ALEC knows a dead horse when they see one. Figure the best they can do is say it ain’t theirs and slink away. But BREC caught the last guy who did it and brought him to justice. GO BREC!
Good one Tom! The hissy fit will be good except who knows how much that one’s gonna cost us. Well If he’s gonna squander our treasure at least we get to watch him burn his own tail feathers and watch the minions come running with empty fire extinguishers. Maybe he can use all the legal papers to try to fill the pothole down Hwy 70. Oh sorry, he doesn’t realize that’s in Louisiana.
If my math is correct, he was elected by 13.4% of the registered voters. That was hardly a mandate. I am a graduate of Loyola Law School, and have been a member of the bar for three decades, and the likelihood of overturning a trial court judgment is very rare. No competent lawyer professes to know the law. He practices and gives his opinion of the law as it currently stands. An old axiom I learned in law school, “avocat non novit lex; curia novit lex.” The lawyer does not know the law, only the court knows the law.
Of course, the law actually is always what a sitting judge says it is. And then the various courts of appeal can have a say. Fortunately, Booby Jihad had the foresight to buy a new Supreme Court justice. And the beat goes on………….
Caught a picture of lil Bobby on nola.com actually taking questions from the local press! Bobby didn’t look so good. Maybe someone gave him a copy of that poll.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/gov_bobby_jindal_says_tax_prop.html#incart_river_default
ALEC likes to remain behind the curtain and I do not see Chief Justice Johnson cutting Jindal any slack.
Louisiana Legislators have been stripped of their right to fight for the rights of the constituents who elected them to be their voice. In Louisiana we have put our citizens lives in the hands of a government who ,’ decides as things crop up,” stated by Opelka. How many people will die at the hands of Jindal, Greenstein and Opelka? The governor of Louisiana lied to us when he campaigned. Too many to list here but you can look it up. He conceals public records from us. He is spending billions without any evidence of success. Great teachers have left our public schools. When is the damage to our state enough? I believe thousands of LA. citizens would say now. 37% approval rating cannot be discounted. Even pollsters have rules to follow. Let’s find some strong leadership and go at the recall petition from all points of the state. Jindal must go and for those who still believe he is selling change then I challenge you to stand up and reveal the records which show evidence of change in the state of Louisiana. Jindal didn’t create the jobs, Louisiana citizens did that. What do you say…… Recall with some strong efforts and led with courage. Contact the Louisiana Voice and request another recall. We need the great people of Louisiana to stop the Governor from further destruction and move forward with real Leadership based on truths not lies. Governor Jindal is a paid state government employee who hates government employees. He won’t show us the dollars he has spent on his privatization plan but you can bet it’s in the many millions…… Let’s stop talking about reform and start talking recall……..
I have to respectfully disagree with your first sentence. Nobody has stripped the legislators of their rights to anything. It is the choice of those legislators who do so to roll over and play dead and blame everything on the governor, but their lack of intestinal, or any other other, fortitude is to blame for the failure of the legislative branch to exercise its legal and doctrinal right to be co-equal.
Stephen, you are absolutely correct. I have never seen so many legislators suck up to the administration as the crop we have now. It’s new ones, old ones, Republicans, Democrats, white, black, female and male. It is the most disgusting thing I have seen in nearly twenty years of involvement with State government.
Jindal (piyush) would be an excellent ambassador to say Mali or Perhaps Haiti