Just when you think Bobby Jindal is AWOL, we learn that he’s still on the job.
Sort of.
Jindal recently went off on the father of Umpqua Community College shooter Chris Harper Mercer’s father for being an “absentee dad” in yet another of his futile attempts to bring attention to his faltering president campaign.
Never mind that as governor, he is something of a titular head of a family of 4.6 million souls but has been an “absentee dad” for much of his term while he pursues his own selfish interests, leaving us to our own devices.
But hey, it’s good to know that he’s not too busy to see to the needs of his favorite contributors children.
Take his latest scam plan, for example. Last month Jindal announced that he wanted to rip surplus money from the $700 million in coastal restoration funds from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill settlement to use on the $350 million LA. 1 project.
While there is no prohibition against the use of coastal restoration funds on infrastructure, it is something that has never been done in the 10-year history of the Louisiana Coastal Authority prior to Jindal’s latest brainstorm.
Two gubernatorial candidates, Democrat John Bel Edwards and Republican Jay Dardenne are opposed to the idea while Republican Scott Angelle declined to state a position for or against while Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter typically did not respond to an inquiry by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/10/louisiana_gubernatorial_coasta.html#incart_river
LA. 1 runs from the Arkansas line in Caddo Parish to Grand Isle but more importantly, it runs right past a handful of businesses enterprises owned and operated by the mega-wealthy Chouest family of Lafourche Parish. Improvements to LA. 1 would necessarily enhance the bottom line of those businesses which are concentrated primarily in the shipbuilding industry. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m16!1m12!1m3!1d361617.85208354063!2d-90.43452757962136!3d29.350605373288044!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!2m1!1sedison+chouest!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1444571122922
Don’t buy into our skepticism? Well, consider this. Barely a year into his first term of office, Jindal announced that the state would invest $10 million into the Port of Terrebonne to accommodate LaShip, an Edison Chouest company. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/deep-pockets/Content?oid=1255831
At the time of Jindal’s announcement, the Chouest family and affiliated businesses had coughed up $85,000 to Jindal’s campaigns to that point. Since then, an additional $45,000 has found its way from the Chouest family and businesses into Jindal’s campaign coffers.
Last year, Jindal pulled $4.5 million from the developmentally disadvantaged and gave it to Laney Chouest for repairs to his $75 million Indy racetrack. The inaugural—and last Indy race was held last spring and was an unqualified bust that resulted in litigation filed by race sponsors.
So, weren’t the $10 million for the Port of Terrebonne and the $4.5 million for a one and done racetrack sufficient payback for $130,000 in contributions?
Well, perhaps, but consider this:
Boatbuilder Gary Chouest in July contributed a cool $1 million to Bobby’s Believe Again super PAC.
So while Jindal blithely allows the state’s fiscal condition to metastasize from neglect, abuse and absenteeism, it’s good to know that he’s looking out for the welfare of his favorite children.
It’s refreshing to know that while he parties in Iowa, protected by taxpayer-funded state police security, he has not forgotten those who have been good to him. The Chouest family should be so proud of their sugar daddy.
In real estate, the three most important words are location, location, location.
In politics, the three most important phrases are follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.
It’s also important to understand that no political contribution is ever given without an ulterior motive. People don’t throw money away for high ideals; they invest in a big payoff down the road.
Whether it’s a port improvement project, a racetrack or a $350 million improvement project for a major highway that runs by its myriad businesses, a million dollars isn’t tossed around lightly.
Louisiana Voice 
[…] View Original: Did a million dollar contribution influence Jindal’s decision to upgrade LA 1 with BP settlement m… […]
Tonight on LPB, there was a lengthy story concerning the efforts to rebuild the vanishing wetlands. Mention was made–strongly–that Jindal’s removal of the $300+ million from the Coastal Restoration project was a devastating blow to that effort. The spokesperson said that finally after 10 years progress was underway and then Jindal yanked the rug out from under the project. If the wetlands disappear, the highway will be yet another Road To Nowhere. And the Jindal legacy of disaster continues.
Last month Jindal announced that he wanted to rip surplus money from the $700 million i
Tom has this already happened or is it still at the discussion stage?
It’s my understanding (someone please correct me if I am mistaken) that the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board is scheduled to take the issue up on October 21. An earlier scheduled vote was delayed when some board members expressed opposition.
Thanks for that info Tom.
I’m going to try to find an email address for the Board and strongly voice my opposition to this idea.
We’ll need all of that money plus much more if we want to try to make a go of coastal restoration.
Notwithstanding the merits of your other points, I’d much rather have seen him spend hundreds of millions on our roads than on those stupid sand berms:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/12/oil-spill-panel-calls-jindals-sand-berms-a-220m-waste/1#.Vhj9_PlViko
Those sand berms will stand (or sink) as a lasting monument to Jindal’s stupidity, his ego and his inability to listen to others who advised him they would never work. The long disappeared berms, like the vanished surplus he inherited upon taking office, are typical of his entire administration.
Amen.
The sand berms are a sad representation of the management and fiscal policies under this administration. Sinking, underwater, and built on a foundation of shifting sand that will wash away in the next storm.
Amen, again.
Strange. It just so happens that the father(who happens to own an engineering company) of the person who pushed the construction of the sand berms happens to be a part of a private entity that is involved in building a megaport at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Considering there is no land to build on down there, they have developed some engineering scheme to build it in open water. How convenient that the father’s son happens to now be a congressman. Federal permits may come faster now. The only good thing about the megaport, is that the state has decided not to put up any money on this project.
Whoever discovers the mistake Jindal has inevitably made somewhere, which will enable his prosecution, conviction, and incarceration on charges related to public corruption, will earn the gratitude of every decent person in this state.
How can the mainstream local media continue to ignore VITAL stories like this in favor of telling us about the latest I-phone product going on sale or what we missed on TV last night? JBE needs to make this robbery of coastal restoration funds a campaign issue – especially in view of the fact that Vitter has not even bothered to respond on the issue. We know what that means!