A governor, the clergy, and a corrupt scheme
By
Dayne Sherman
Talk
About the South ColumnMar. 22, 2013 – 660 words
I am deeply disturbed by many of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s recent
actions—his callousness toward the Bayou Corne sinkhole evacuees, his funding
of state services by a “garage sale” of assets, his unwillingness to accept
constitutional restraints on his pension and K-12 education policies, his
ongoing assault on colleges and universities, and his rejection of the Medicaid
expansion for 400,000 of Louisiana’s citizens.
As if that were not enough, he currently is pushing a sales
tax plan that will wreck retail businesses within a 50 mile radius of the state
line and will tax groups such as the Council on Aging and the Habitat for Humanity. The actual bill has not been filed yet out of deceit far more than
building good policy and consensus.
I believe this is a reckless tax plan. It will lead to
massive state deficits, harm small businesses, hurt 80 % of Louisiana citizens, further destroy
colleges, and only serve to help our governor’s national image.
But I am heartened by a recent development, the 250 ministers
who signed “An Open Letter from Louisiana Clergy to Governor Bobby Jindal” on March 18th. Their letter goes to the heart
of what’s wrong with Jindal’s immoral tax plan.
The signees are a diverse group, the president of the
conservative Southern Baptist Convention Rev. Fred Luter of New
Orleans and nearly every variety of Louisiana clergy, including the bishops of
the Methodist and Episcopal churches.
It is sad that Gov. Jindal, a man who has preached in
evangelical congregations statewide (before his reelection, none afterward),
cares nothing about the Christianity he professes.
As Charles Pierce wrote for “Esquire” online, “By his works
shall you know him and, by his works, ‘Bobby’ Jindal is no more a Christian
than the average wolverine is. He’s a Pharisaical monster who’d have sold Mardi
Gras beads on Golgotha.”
Though he claims to be a Catholic convert, Jindal obviously
did not get the memo that the new pope has emphasized advocating for the weak
and the poor, and the pontiff has taken the name Francis after the great Saint
Francis of Assisi.
Jindal’s “faith,” however, appears more like the selfishness of Ayn Rand and
the corruption of Al Capone than the religion of Saint Francis.
Thank God citizens are waking up, and his popularity is
falling like a lead sinker dropped in a bayou.
To cite only one recent example, the governor was the joke
of the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he gave a bungled speech
and was tied for 9th place in the presidential straw poll. His trampling of Louisiana people and institutions has neither helped Louisiana nor his
national profile. The sales tax scheme is simply a way to further his amazingly
delusional quest to be President of the United States at our expense. Even many
Jindal supporters are scratching their heads, wondering what happened to their
Rhodes Scholar.
The only message that Jindal respects is strong public pushback
that costs him politically. Remember the huge raises for legislators in 2008
and his planned cuts to hospice in early 2013? He backed off. After environmental
activist Erin Brockovich showed up at the Bayou Corne sinkhole, Jindal followed
suit and headed there for the first time a week and a half later. When the heat
is poured on Jindal, he folds up like a cheap accordion.
We all have a responsibility to fight Jindal’s tax swindle. On
March 17, I wrote three local legislators about the tax debacle, but I did not receive word back from any of
them. Perhaps other citizens will have better luck.
It’s time for all of us to stop Jindal’s wrongheaded sales
tax scheme. But it’s going to take every one of us speaking up before it is too
late.
Dayne Sherman lives in
Ponchatoula, Louisiana, and he is the author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel. Website at daynesherman.com.
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