Louisiana Voice

Bobby Jindal’s approach to his re-election campaign has about as much finesse as swatting a mosquito with a baseball bat.

First he spends three years visiting north Louisiana Protestant churches to hand out federal money he said he opposed. When he wasn’t garnering face time on television during hurricanes and oil spills, he spent so much time fundraising and book signing in other states that an LSU student found it necessary to travel to New Hampshire in an effort to get the governor to return and address budget issues at home.

He vastly embellished the number of jobs he claims his administration has created during his first term and then he attempted to take full credit for the cleanup of the BP spill. Of course those slick ads about his heroic actions to save the world from BP conveniently overlook his Monty Python-inspired plan to construct those $350 million berms to hold back the oil spill. Remember the aerial photos of the berms eroding away practically overnight (not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of earth-moving equipment that sank along with the berms)?

(Just as an aside, consider how that $350 million might have been better spent.)

He even managed to politicize what should have been a magnanimous gesture—the awarding of medals to Louisiana military veterans.

It’s enough to evoke that wonderful quote by an exasperated Joseph Welch who in 1954 asked Sen. Joe McCarthy during the volatile Army-McCarthy hearings, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

But for all his trumpeting about job creation, it’s interesting to note—again, for we visited this subject back in June—that Jindal has a propensity to go after out-of-state talent when trolling for votes.

In June, we reported that since his first run for governor back in 2003, Jindal had spent about $16.5 million on polling, political advertising, printing, direct mail, telephone banks, office rent, automated telephone calls, fundraising expenses, and campaign staff.

Of that amount, $6.2 million, or 37.6 percent of the total, went to pay out-of-state companies for those services.

This time, we decided to narrow expenditures down to a single 12-month period, Oct. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2011.

The results were no less interesting–or disturbing–for this “Let’s keep jobs in Louisiana” governor. In just the past 12 months, he has lavished more than $1.1 million to some 20 out-of-state companies. Some examples:

• Prosper Group of Greenwood, Indiana—six payments totaling $57,100 for telecommunication services;

• Majority Strategies of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida—16 payments totaling $113,500 for political consulting and sign printing;

• Gopshoppe.com of Glen Burnie, Maryland—eight payments totaling $53,300 for sign painting;

• Cold Harbor Films of Alexandria, Virginia—11 payments totaling $68,900 for advertising production;

• Onmessage, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia—14 payments totaling $167,200 for political consulting, focus groups and travel expenses;

• Southwest Publishing and Mailing Corp. of Topeka, Kansas—four payments totaling $31,400 for design and printing for campaign mailer and mailing expenses;

• Illuminati Research of Englewood, Colorado—one payment of $9,000;

• Praxis List Co. of Austin, Texas—four payments totaling $22,600 for list rental for campaign mailers;

• Grassroots Targeting of Alexandria, Virginia–$46,300 in nine payments for web development and maintenance;

• RL Carriers of Wilmington, Ohio—one payment of $7,900 for shipping;

• MDI Imaging and Mailing of Dulles, Virginia–$19,300 in two payments for data processing for campaign mailer;

• Olsen and Shuvalov of Austin, Texas—twelve payments totaling $66,100 for design and printing for campaign mailers, mailing expenses, and printing expenses;

• Comcast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–$24,300 in six payments for advertising;

• Response America of Arlington, Virginia–$15,400 in three payments for design and printing for campaign mailers and for mailing expenses;

• Sage Payment Solutions of McLean, Virginia–$8,600 in five payments for fundraising expenses and processing fees;

• SBR Enterprises of Culpepper, Virginia—one payment of $4,300 for fundraising consulting;

• Capitol Hill Lists of Athens, Georgia—three payments totaling $11,100 for list rental for campaign mailers and for consulting expenses;

• National Media of Alexandria, Virginia—a single payment of $3,600 advertising fee;

Jindal did provide a number of temporary jobs for campaign workers. His campaign made 30 payments over the past 12 months totaling $229,100 in payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

And then there’s Matt Hutson. Hutson, one of those campaign employees for whom Jindal’s campaign paid those payroll taxes. His campaign made 12 payroll payments totaling $25,400 to Hutson.

But Hutson resides in Coweta, Oklahoma.

Could it be no one in Louisiana was qualified to do whatever it was that he did for Jindal’s campaign? But we digress. The point here is not Matt Hutson of Coweta, Oklahoma, though an Oklahoma campaign worker for a Louisiana governor does cause some head-scratching.

The real issue is that while there are numerous direct mail companies, production companies, polling services, telephone banks, advertising agencies, etc., in Louisiana, Jindal seems more than content to go elsewhere to spend all that campaign money.

Still, he continues to drone on ad nauseam with his tired “Louisiana jobs for Louisiana residents” incantation.

Has he no sense of decency at long last? Has he left no sense of decency?

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