Politician listens to people.
Last fall we elected Bobby Jindal, an American of Hindi descent, as governor of Louisiana. We figured that after a long series of crooks and boobs, we finally got a bright, honest guy to lead this state instead of treating it as a personal bank account for his cronies.
We were happy. we thought a new era had dawned in this beautiful but badly led state.
Then along came the legislature. Remember all those crooks and boobs? Well, folks, our legislature has a much higher ratio of crooks to boobs. Among such pressing legislative matters as a resolution naming the official state cocktail, they decided that despite a line in the state constitution declaring that our legislators are PART-TIME at their job, they were indeed full-time, and as such they deserved a pay raise.
So they voted themselves one. In a state still recovering from two massive storms, our imperial legislature tried to pass a 300% pay raise for themselves. In a state where a teacher with ten years experience and a college degree gets $40K a year, the legislature passed itself a pay raise. Well, to be quite honest, after all the hoopla in the press, they dropped back to a mere DOUBLING of their pay, in addition to paid expenses, etc.
And our shiny new governor balked. When he first was asked about the pay raise, he said “They’re an independent body. They know where we stand,” and said he wasn’t going to sign it, but he wasn’t going to veto it.
The state went wild. People were up in arms. This guy was elected in the PRIMARY, an extremely rare feat, and his constituents had heard him promise that he would not let them do such a thing, and here he was, faced with the thing he’d said he’d stop, and he was taking a pass.
We have talk radio here, and the most listened to tlak radio show in the state, one of his biggest supporters in his election, came unglued over this. Local fora, newspapers and television stations ran polls and over 90% of the respondents were against the pay raise, and some of them were REALLY mad at Governor Bobby. A recall effort was initiated.Folks were making serious noises.
In a state that couldn’t manage to recall Governess Blank-Oh, an internationally recognized bozo after her performance in the aftermath of our two hurricanes, people were trying to recall Governor Bobby.
I emailed him. apparently just about everybody in the state emailed or called. Newspapers wrote editorials denouncing the legislature.
And today he vetoed the pay raise.
I’m proud of him. I hope he’s learned his lesson, that the people who elected HIM did so because they paid attention to what he promised to do.
