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One day after it was revealed that Sen. John McCain was to hold a closed-door meeting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, Jindal said Wednesday that there is no way he will fill the bottom half of the GOP presidential ticket. "I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president," Jindal told Fox News. "I'm going to help Sen. McCain get elected as governor of Louisiana." "Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I've got the job that I want," Jindal said. It's not uncommon for those being considered for...

I just want to see who you think McCain should pick to be his running mate. This thread is not about "Juan McCain" and please spare us "he should pick Fred or Duncan and step down". I think it should be: Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he does not want to be considered as vice president on the GOP ticket, making him among a growing number of those pulling themselves out of the race. ” I look forward to continuing to be governor of Louisiana. This is a once in a lifetime chance to improve our state. We’ve cut six taxes but we’ve got a lot more work to do right here in Louisiana,” Jindal told “FOX & Friends” on Wednesday.

Drum roll. Suspense. Who will it be? In this corner, we have Stormin' Mormon Mitt Romney. In the other, we have Brain-Buster Bobby Jindal. Amid speculation that John McCain will announce his vice presidential pick soon, political nail-biters have begun placing bets. Favorites include Louisiana Gov. Jindal, with whom McCain is meeting Wednesday, and former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, whose resume is familiar. Can McCain's former foe become his new best friend? Romney would bring more than squeaky clean qualifications and youthful good looks to the ticket. New polling in Michigan by Ayres, McHenry & Associates shows that Romney gives McCain...

SPRINGHILL, LA (KSLA) - Governor Jindal will welcome republican presidential candidate senator John McCain to the Bayou State on Wednesday -- a state that political analysts expect McCain to carry without a problem. So the question of where governor Jindal ranks on McCain's list of vice presidential nominees is on the mind of many in Louisiana. The governor answered with a confident no about the possibility of accepting the nomination for the vice presidency. "I'm not going to be VP. I've already got the job that I want. I want to be Governor. I told the people when I was...

WASHINGTON -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is expected to be in New Orleans on Wednesday night amid reports that he'll sit down with Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is often mentioned as a possible running mate for the Arizona senator. Jindal said he has no meeting with McCain on his schedule, but McCain staffers told WashingtonPost.com that McCain will be talking to the governor. The New Orleans stopover raised eyebrows in political circles because it broke with McCain's schedule of appearances in battleground states -- he is well ahead in Louisiana -- and provided no details about his agenda...

The total savings will amount to over $16 million dollars. Click "full story" to see the full list of the items vetoed. Monday, July 14, 2008 (From a press release) - Today, Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he has line item vetoed 258 items in the state’s operating budget for FY 2008-2009 (HB 1), accounting for more than $16.14 million in non-governmental and governmental projects. Governor Jindal’s 258 vetoes in HB1are more than double the vetoes for all the state’s previous 12 budgets combined. Previously, Governor Kathleen Blanco had 39 line item vetoes in her house budget bills during her...

Is Gov. Bobby Jindal at odds with LSU? Better put, does Jindal have a beef with LSU system president John V. Lombardi, or vice versa? Those are fair questions to ask in light of the governor's recent appointments to the LSU Board of Supervisors, a powerful board that's responsible for setting the direction of the state's flagship university. The new men on the block, or Jindal's appointments, are R. Blake Chatelain of Alexandria and James W. Moore of Monroe. If confirmed by the state Senate, Chatelain and Moore will represent the 5th District on the LSU board, or the two...

July 08, 2008, 6:00 a.m. Louisiana Confounds the Science Thought PoliceNeo-Darwinism is no longer a protected orthodoxy in the Bayou State's pedagogy. By John G. West To the chagrin of the science thought police, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law an act to protect teachers who want to encourage critical thinking about hot-button science issues such as global warming, human cloning, and yes, evolution and the origin of life. Opponents allege that the Louisiana Science Education Act is “anti-science.� In reality, the opposition’s efforts to silence anyone who disagrees with them is the true affront to scientific...

You may have heard his name mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate, but if you don't know anything more about Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, you should. Governor Jindal is leading a revolution of conservative reform in Louisiana. He is the most transformational young governor in America today. The principles that motivate his Louisiana Revolution are the same pro-innovation, pro-competition, anti-bureaucracy and anti- big government principles that I urge each week in this newsletter - the same principles that are so desperately needed in Washington, D.C. For those of you who don't yet know him, I'd like to...

Governor says the court overlooked precedent in banning death penalty for those convicted of raping childrenGovernor Bobby Jindal says the U.S. Supreme Court made a factual error when it banned the death penalty as a sentence for those convicted of raping children. The court claimed there was no federal precedence in providing that type of sentence, but Jindal says the death penalty is authorized for child rape under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Governor is asking Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick to consider petitioning the court for a rehearing. The 5-4...

Outlook 1. From the standpoint of morale, enthusiasm, and confidence, the presidential election can be called no contest—Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain. The Republican candidate has not used the long period since he clinched the nomination to establish an effective campaign strategy. The level of depression among Republicans outside the McCain inner circle is worsening as Obama inches his way rightward, toward the middle of the road (at least rhetorically). 2. Actually, it still looks like a close race on a state-by-state basis. Despite the enthusiasm gap, this remains a winnable race for McCain in a terrible Republican...

Politicians in Louisiana are suddenly discovering a sudden, hitherto unnoticed, urge to retire from public life and become private citizens once again. This eureka moment for about 140 (and growing by the hour!) politicians just “happens” to coincide with the approach of the date when Louisiana’s new ethics laws will come into effect. Perhaps the politicians are nervous—and for good cause. A 1996-2007 study of all states with a population greater-than 2 million found Louisiana to be the most corrupt state, based on public official convictions. The average between the 35 states surveyed was just under 3 convictions per 100,000...

Gov. Bobby Jindal will have to repair his credibility after reneging on his promise to lawmakers not to veto a pay raise doubling their salaries, some of his key legislative leaders said Tuesday. Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, and House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, said Jindal's sudden about-face on the pay raise will make it hard for some lawmakers to believe him in the future. "He needs to rebuild trust and do a better job of articulating his position," said Chaisson, who promised he will continue to work with the governor on key issues for...

Area lawmakers who opposed raising their pay praised Gov. Bobby Jindal’s veto of the volatile increase on Monday. But two Democratic lawmakers interviewed said Jindal broke his word and others said the veto may jeopardize his proposals in the Louisiana Legislature. “When someone gives you his word and takes it back, you lose a lot of respect,” said state Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma and a supporter of the increase. The legislation, Senate Bill 672, would have raised the pay package of rank-and-file lawmakers from about $38,000 per year to nearly $60,000. It was set to take effect today. But Jindal...

Breaking News from Louisiana: BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal announced today that he has vetoed the legislative pay raise. After days of saying he would not reject the unpopular measure, Jindal said this morning that he had rejected the measure. Lawmakers in the most recent session voted to raise their annual base salary from $16,800 to $37,500. Jindal has been criticized for his inability to stop the raise before it was passed and his refusal since then to veto the pay raise bill. He pledged during his gubernatorial campaign last year to prohibit an immediate legislative pay raise. The...

Yes, Mr. Jindal did make a blunder — and a big one — an unforgettable one. And then to say he could veto it, but he will not. To the general public, this is a slap in the face! When we see all the needs out there — Department of Social Services, the group homes, nursing homes — they are understaffed and underpaid. There is no money for the nursing-home workers, and they are working for a pittance. We wonder why there is such a large number of complaints. How are you going to get trained workers for the pay...

Gov. Bobby Jindal's legislative director has resigned after serving fewer than six months with the new administration, which is embroiled in a controversy over the Legislature's large pay raise. Tommy Williams, 65, said Sunday the decision to leave was his and that he left on good terms. He did not offer reasons for his departure, but said he plans to return to his career as a professional lobbyist. "I cannot tell you how much I've learned and what a great opportunity I had," Williams said. Williams' resignation comes at a moment of intensely strained relations between Jindal and the Legislature,...

The Talk Shows Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Bob Barr, Libertarian presidential candidate.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., Dave Freudenthal, D-Wyo., and Bill Ritter, D-Colo.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; retired Gen. Wesley Clark.THIS WEEK (ABC): Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate.LATE EDITION (CNN) : U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Govs. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.; Terry McAuliffe, campaign...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this week signed into law the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows school districts to permit teachers to present evidence, analysis and critique of evolution and other prevalent scientific theories in public school classrooms. The law came to the governor's desk after overwhelming support in the legislature, including a unanimous vote in the state's Senate and a 93-4 vote in the House. The act has been criticized by some as an attempt to insert religion into science education and hailed by others as a blow for academic freedom in the face of pressure to ignore flaws...

Of this, there can be no dispute: Gov. Bobby Jindal's honeymoon is over. The consensus at home is that Jindal lost his luster by declining to veto the Legislature's lavish pay raise. But Jindal is also playing to a national audience these days, and on that front, he's taking a different sort of hit. While Louisiana voters are up in arms over the revelation that Jindal is not above cutting political deals, the deal killer elsewhere in the country could be an unrelated bill that he signed last week, state Sen. Ben Nevers' "Louisiana Science Education Act." snip

BATON ROUGE -- In a sign that the public frustration about the legislative pay raise has spread to Gov. Bobby Jindal's base, a political novice and former Jindal supporter from Jefferson Parish has filed a recall petition against him. Ryan and Kourtney Fournier of Jefferson submitted paperwork to the secretary of state's office that allows them to attempt to collect the nearly 1 million signatures needed during the next 180 days to force a recall election of the governor. The papers were mailed Thursday and arrived Friday. Ryan Fournier, 32, said he is a registered Republican and was "a huge...

- Louisiana public school teachers can now educate their students about the theory of intelligent design and scientific criticisms of Darwinian evolutionary theory thanks to a new law signed this week by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The Louisiana Science Education Act now allows teachers to supplement the state's curricula with additional scientific materials, but groups opposed to any debate over the "origin of the species" have warned that the new law will become the origin of the lawsuits if they believe it facilitates religion. Lawmakers, however, were enthusiastically in favor of the Act signed by Jindal. The state Senate had...

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has signed a stealth creationist bill into law, and American educational standards take a huge step backward: Science law could set tone for Jindal. The creationist front group called the Discovery Institute is quietly crowing, and maintaining the fiction that the bill is not religiously-based.

Officials in the Louisiana Secretary of State's office say a recall petition has been filed for Governor Bobby Jindal, making him the fifth elected official to face a recall attempt since the state legislature voted itself a payraise earlier this month. For a recall election to be called, the signatures of one-third of all registered voters in the state must be collected. That would be a total of 960,285 voters. Ryan Fournier of Jefferson submitted the recall petition. Other lawmakers facing recall attempts include House Speaker Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown), Rep. Steve Pugh (R-Ponchatoula), Rep. Joseph Lopinto (R-Metairie) and Rep. Franklin...

Gov. Bobby Jindal was back in the New York Times this week, with a picture, but for all the wrong reasons. The toxic pay raise controversy enveloping him has gone national and his political world has changed. Within days, Jindal went from being a legitimate vice-presidential prospect to having his character questioned in his first crisis of public confidence, without his having done a thing. Meanwhile, pay raise-supporting legislators, who thought the worst was over, are now seeing recall movements popping up around them. So far, drives are directed at three freshmen represenatives and Speaker of the House Jim Tucker,...

There are election seasons in which playing it safe makes sense. For Republicans, the current cycle is not one of them. When you’re 20 points ahead in the polls, the old adage about not fixing what isn’t broken generally holds true. That’s not a position that either party has been in for a long time and is certainly not reflective of current GOP fortunes, so running a campaign as if it were doesn’t make much sense. Furthermore, when your opponent is making waves for not playing it safe, you don’t want to sit back and be reactive. And while the...

Surrounding my condo entrance is a cedar fence. When Gov. Bobby Jindal was campaigning for election in 2007, I had no need to put up a sign to show my support and hope. A bumper sticker was already attached from his campaign four years earlier. The sign remained fresh, as the fence is covered by a patio and carport awning. This sign represented a feeling of hope and trust that Louisiana would finally elect a governor “of the people.” A leader who would live up to campaign promises and when it came time ... would do the right thing. I...

On the heels of today's SCOTUS decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana barring the death penalty for sex offenders, Gov. Bobby Jindal released a statement calling the ruling an "affront to the people of Louisiana" - and what's more, vowing to do whatever possible to amend the state’s laws in order to maintain the death penalty for child rape. But that's not all he did. Today, Gov. Jindal signed the "Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill," authorizing the castration of convicted sex offenders. They get a choice: physical or chemical. Oh, and they don't just get castrated and leave - they still...

Gov. Bobby Jindal admitted Tuesday that he blundered in allowing legislators to pass a bill that would more than double their base pay. “I’ve learned my lesson,” he said during a news conference outside the Governor’s Mansion. However, Jindal said he still plans to allow the pay raise to become law. Vetoing the bill would give legislators a reason to reverse his initiatives, including changes to the state’s ethics laws, he said. “Everybody knows it would be in my own self-interest politically to veto this bill,” he said. “I’d probably be the most popular governor in modern polling history if...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, in Shreveport for a ceremonial signing of a tax cut bill passed by the Legislature, was met today by protesters upset over state lawmakers doubling their pay and the governor's decision not to veto it. Residents around the state want the governor to veto the pay raise bill. Jindal said he thinks the raise is a bad idea but he won't veto it, saying the Legislature should deal with the consequences of its actions. Jindal went to Chamber of Commerce Plaza in downtown Shreveport at noon today for a ceremonial signing of a bill sponsored by...

The reformist image of Gov. Bobby Jindal, considered by Republicans a top potential vice-presidential choice, has recently taken a beating after Mr. Jindal refused to veto a sizable pay increase that Louisiana legislators voted for themselves this month. The increase would more than double the salary of the part-time legislators effective July 8, to $37,500 from $16,800, with considerably more money available once expenses are added in. It has touched a nerve in this impoverished state. Conservative talk-radio show hosts and bloggers have denounced it, newspaper editorials have inveighed against it — The Times-Picayune of New Orleans called the increase...

The Louisiana Legislature adjourns today. Gov. Bobby Jindal should mark the occasion by vetoing the session's most offensive and self-centered legislation: the 123-percent pay raise lawmakers gave themselves. It won't be easy for him. He's said repeatedly that he won't veto the measure, and if he does now, he will have misled lawmakers. But if he doesn't veto it, he will have misled voters, breaking an unambiguous promise he made on the campaign trail to "prohibit" raises such as this. Perhaps Gov. Jindal will do right by voters if a few more call him with their objections to the pay...

The Legislature completed its work Saturday on the nearly $30 billion state operating budget, sending Gov. Bobby Jindal a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that maintains most state programs at current levels and plows new money into education, health care and legislators' pet projects. The House agreed unanimously to adopt the Senate's changes to House Bill 1 by Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, marking the third year in a row that lawmakers have adopted the budget without a House-Senate compromise committee. State general-fund spending will grow by more than $1 billion, or 12.4 percent, in the fiscal year that...

Weak. Spineless. Cowardly. Politically expedient. You pick the word and surely you can pin it on your governor. Even as he has admitted this week that the pay raises our legislators passed for themselves are excessive, Gov. Bobby Jindal has shrunk from his obligation to veto the terrible bill.

Pay increases part of government trend The Legislature's newly approved salary increase is but the highly visible tip of an iceberg of substantial pay raises for Louisiana public employees in the past year, building pressure on the state budget. Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has shown some results in stemming government job growth, but he also has set an example of substantial salary increases for a few elite members of his team while refusing to stop the lawmakers' raise. When he took office in January, Jindal inherited a bulge in personnel costs for state workers as well as for a long...

Veto Heat on Jindal Pay raise becomes character issue The governor is trying to keep intense public opposition to the legislative pay raise directed at legislators, but, more and more, the volcanic controversy is turning into a test of character: his own. Speaker Jim Tucker dismissed the governor's latest demand that lawmakers suspend the pay raise they voted for themselves. With no further action expected from lawmakers before Monday's final adjournment, the issue, like the bill, lies with the governor. With editorial and public pressure mounting for a gubernatorial veto before the July 8 deadline, some Fourth Floor staffers, with...

Gov. Bobby Jindal faces a politically prickly decision regarding a possible veto on the pay raise lawmakers voted for themselves. But candidate Bobby Jindal left behind some resolute guidance that the governor should now consult. In his "Action Plan" for government reform, candidate Jindal last fall vowed to "prohibit legislators from giving themselves pay raises that take effect before the subsequent election . . . so the public can decide who deserves that compensation." Senate Bill 672 would more than double lawmakers' salaries effective July 1. Even worse, lawmakers' pay would automatically rise every year to adjust for inflation. Without...

Is our Governor--Jindal the Spineless, the Bonehead or the Deceiver? It pains me to express such since two weeks ago I praised him effusively after a press conference. Now, the question is whether Dorothy should help him find a noggin, starch for his courage shirt or a light beam to honesty. Something is now sorely lacking in our Governor. Meanwhile, the honeymoon clock is screeching. The love affair with Bobby Jindal is officially dead. More importantly, the public needs answers, now, for Jindal to be effective in the future. It appears that certain legislators put a legislative gun to Jindal’s...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is “far and away the best candidate” for John McCain’s running mate on the Republican ticket. Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Gingrich said former congressman Jindal has been a “spectacular” governor and predicted he would be a presidential candidate in the future. Asked if Jindal, 37, would be ready to take over the presidency if he had to replace McCain, Gingrich said Jindal’s “experience in the executive branch and in the legislative branch is greater than” that of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Gingrich opined: “It strikes...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, an up-and-coming Republican sometimes touted as a potential presidential running mate, said his party has taken a beating at the polls lately because it "started defending corruption and spending and other things they would have rightfully condemned in the other party." Jindal, the first Indian American governor and a former House member, said he has talked to presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) several times, but that they have never talked about his possibly serving on McCain's ticket. "I'm certainly supporting Senator McCain, will do whatever I can to help him get elected, but I'm...

"Today, the LA House of Representatives just spit in the face of the citizens of LA and approved an obscene pay increase (which goes up auto-magically annually without further action) for themselves starting in two week."

The Louisiana House of Representatives this afternoon approved higher pay for legislators. Prior to the final vote, the House unanimously approved an amendment that would lower the amount of a pay raise they seek and removed the language that would increase their wages in the future without having to vote again. Speaker of the House Jim Tucker proposed a salary increase to $37,500 from $16,800 with unvouchered expenses at $6,000 a year.

House pay bill vote due Friday Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he would let a bill that would triple legislators’ pay become law rather than use his veto pen. House Speaker Jim Tucker told the state House of Representatives on Wednesday that the pay raise bill would be scheduled for a vote on Friday. Jindal said he did not want to give legislators a reason to sidetrack the bills he wants passed. “I don’t want to give anybody any excuse for slowing down any of the important reform going through the legislature (that are) important to the people of Louisiana,”...

BATON ROUGE -- An income-tax break that could be worth up to $1,000 a year for married couples is on its way to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk for a signature after receiving final, unanimous passage in the Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 87 by Sen. B.L. "Buddy" Shaw, R-Shreveport, would roll back income-tax rates to 2002 levels starting Jan. 1 by repealing the Stelly Plan increase that voters approved that year as part of a swap that also removed the sales tax on food and residential utilities. The upper chamber voted 38-0 to accept changes made by the House that...

Governor Bobby Jindal has been threatened with a government shutdown over the proposed legislative pay increase, sources tell THE DEAD PELICAN. Sources tell THE DEAD PELICAN that House Speaker Jim Tucker recently received a "heads up" from Jindal Chief of Staff Timmy Teepel that Jindal was going to veto the pay increase. Sources tell THE DEAD PELICAN that Tucker responded by telling Teepel that if the pay increase is vetoed, "Everything the governor wants will be dead on arrival in the house."

BATON ROUGE, La. - The red T-shirts worn by Bobby Jindal's supporters during last year's gubernatorial campaign may be the closest thing any Republican has come to inspiring Obama-style iconography. They declared "Louisiana Revolution," with the candidate's features imposed on the famous two-tone visage of Che Guevara. That unusual profile - a 36-year-old Indian-American religious conservative - has launched a prospective vice presidential candidacy. Jindal is imagined as a possible counterpart to Barack Obama's novelty, the Republicans' own jarringly fresh front man for a party looking to redefine itself.

The head of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department has officially admitted for the first time that there will be no global epidemic of the disease among the heterosexual population outside Africa, The Independent reported.Kevin de Cock said global prevention strategies to address AIDS as a risk to all populations, among the WHO and major AIDS organizations, may have been misdirected. It is now recognized that, with the exception of sub-Saharan African, it is confined to high-risk groups.These groups include men who have sex with other men, drug users who inject with needles, and sex workers and their clients,...

Every appointment that Gov. Bobby Jindal has made since he took office in January is in jeopardy because he has not forwarded their names for Senate confirmation. The appointments by Jindal for 437 jobs — including his top aides — will no longer be valid and they will have to stop working as of June 23, when the legislative session adjourns, according to the state law governing the confirmation process. Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, asked Jimmy Faircloth, the governor’s executive counsel, Wednesday to send the official list. As of 5 p.m. Friday, the...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Before Sen. John McCain could begin speaking at a town-hall meeting here Wednesday, he first had to quiet a crowd gone wild for Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal -- a politician who not long ago would have been inconceivable in Louisiana. ***** The similarities between the 36-year-old Gov. Jindal and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are tantalizing to many in the Grand Old Party. After only 143 days as the nation's youngest sitting governor, Gov. Jindal's name is being bandied about as a potential running mate for likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. McCain. ***** Gov. Jindal has done...