The Chickens are Coming Home to Roost for Gov. Jindal

Speech in Baton Rouge

By Dayne Sherman
Speech at the Enough is Enough! Rally
Steps of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge
4/30/13
Words: 675

The Chickens are Coming Home to Roost for Gov. Jindal

See video here and clips at WAFB. Media coverage here, here, and here.

I was born in the great state of Louisiana. I dropped out of high school and took my GED, and I enrolled in one of Louisiana’s fine universities, Southeastern in Hammond. They gave me an emergency loan and then a Pell grant and I was on my way. That was almost 25 years ago.

Today, I stand before you with three college degrees all earned at Louisiana universities. I stand before you today as a writer and a professor and a librarian at one of our great Louisiana universities. I stand before you today as a family man and a productive member of society, and I thank Louisiana higher education for it.

But I am fearful today. I am fearful that our governor does not believe in educational opportunity for Louisiana citizens like me and like you. I am fearful today that he would have us turn back the clock to a time when only the elite could attend a university in Louisiana.

Today is a day when we must double down on Louisiana higher education. Today is a day when we must fully fund higher education, which has been cut $650 million under Governor Jindal. Though I am here to represent higher education, we are not alone. Colleges are not alone. We are a part of the great tapestry that makes Louisiana a great state.

But our governor has his eyes on the White House and not on the state house. He cares about Washington, DC, and not about the Bayou State.

By his actions we know it’s all about “Bobby” and not about Louisiana. But I have good news today. The chickens are coming home to roost, and Governor Jindal is about as popular as a pulled pork sandwich at a vegetarian picnic.

Many wonder how long it will be until federal indictments come down over the Medicaid contract fraud case, and how close the probe will get to the governor’s office on the fourth floor of this building.

Many wonder about BESE, that foul group that runs Louisiana education policy. Have you heard that one of its long-time members is under investigation by the FBI?

Oh, how the chickens are coming home to roost.

We’re seeing a legislative session this spring nothing like the one last spring. Legislators are starting to listen to their constituents, and old Bobby Jindal hardly has a friend anywhere in Baton Rouge.

But listen closely, we’re not out of the woods yet. I believe there are five serious issues that the legislators have to deal with during this session in order for us to survive Jindal’s assault on Louisiana.

First, we have to repeal the tax giveaways passed under Jindal. We now give away an extra $2 billion a year since Jindal took office. This is unsustainable, it’s immoral, and just plain crazy. Make no mistake, if we don’t address the corporate welfare in this state, we are toast.

Second, the federal Medicaid expansion has to begin sooner rather than later. If we don’t accept the Medicaid expansion, your local hospital will struggle or fail, and the state will be in the red for decades to come.

And shame on us if we let Jindal and Greenstein close the Charity Hospitals. Wait, Greenstein or Greenbeans, whatever his name is, the man is on a permanent vacation.

Third, we have to stop selling the state piece by piece. We have to stop giving away state assets at fire sale prices, and it needs to stop now.

Fourth, if we don’t fully fund higher education we will hamstring the Louisiana economy and harm our children and our children’s children.

My last point is this: Governor Jindal, stop waging an attack on public school teachers and college professors. We’re not the enemy of Louisiana, you are.

Please listen everyone. It’s important. We can create the change we need. The chickens are coming home to roost for this governor. It’s time to be bold and it’s time to be courageous, my friends.

Let’s take back this great state for the people of Louisiana once and for all.

Dayne Sherman lives in Ponchatoula and is the author of Welcometo the Fallen Paradise: A Novel. His website is daynesherman.com.

==========================

Dayne Sherman, Writer, Speaker, Scholar
Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/
Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/
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***This message speaks only for the writer, a citizen, not for any present or past employer.***

Enough is Enough!

How to Survive Jindal's Attack on Louisiana

 

By Dayne Sherman

Column
4/27/13 - Words: 600
Published in the Daily Star and other newspapers. 

Over the past several years, I have argued in newspaper columns, letters to the editor, and through numerous correspondences with state legislators that Louisiana was headed to disaster under Governor Bobby Jindal’s policies and plans. My contention then and now is that his actions are all about Bobby and not about Louisiana.

It is unfortunate that I feel vindicated daily. The chickens are coming home to roost, and Jindal is about as popular as a pulled pork sandwich at a vegetarian picnic.

Many wonder how long it will be until federal indictments come down over the Medicaid contract fraud case, and how close the probe will get to the governor’s office. Time will tell.

When I started my quest to point out the insanity of Jindal’s policies, our governor was soaring high. His approval rating was higher than an old goat drunk on Tennessee sour mash. But now his approval rating is somewhere near cockroaches and pneumonia, and it’s a lot cooler now being a part of the opposition movement than it used to be.

Jindal not getting a break is good for Louisiana. We’re seeing a legislative session this spring nothing like the one last spring. And now, predictably, yet not ironically, most legislators are listening to their constituents, and Jindal hardly has a friend in Baton Rouge.

But we’re not out of the woods yet. I believe there are four serious issues that the legislators have to deal with in order for us to survive Jindal’s assault on Louisiana.

First, we have to repeal the tax giveaways passed under Jindal. Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard (I-Thibodaux) has a bill to do this very thing. We now give away an extra 2 billion dollars a year since Jindal took office. This is unsustainable, immoral, and just plain crazy. Make no mistake, if we don’t address the tax credits and corporate welfare, our state is toast.

Second, the federal Medicaid expansion has to begin sooner rather than later. According to the Department of Health and Hospitals, the expansion of Medicaid will grant 577,000 Louisiana citizens insurance coverage.

What if we don’t accept the Medicaid expansion? Your local hospital will struggle or fail, and the state will be in the red for decades to come.

Third, we have to stop selling the state piece by piece. We can’t keep giving away state assets at fire sale prices to plug budget holes. It’s ridiculous, downright goofy.

Fourth, higher education must be fully funded in Fiscal Year 2014. Colleges and universities have been cut $625 million since 2008. More cuts are planned for next year. It has to stop now or we will hamstring the Louisiana economy and harm our children.

What can we do to create the change we need? Rally.

On Tuesday, April 30, many different contingencies from clergy to professors to healthcare workers are going to rally at the State Capitol. It starts at 11:00 AM. If God’s willing and the creek doesn’t rise, I’m going to attend the rally. I'll be a speaker.

In fact, I’ve already planned to wear my old cowboy boots. Why? As you walk up the majestic steps of the Louisiana State Capitol staring up to the stately edifice built by Huey Long, it’s a good idea to wear boots.

Once inside the House and Senate chambers, the fertilizer is so deep, any wise country boy knows that boots are a must.

I hope I see you in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, and wear some boots.

Dayne Sherman lives in Ponchatoula and is the author of Welcometo the Fallen Paradise: A Novel. His website is daynesherman.com.

==========================

Dayne Sherman, Writer, Speaker, Scholar
Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/
Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/
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Time to Scrap Blueprint for Disaster

A Response to Blueprint Louisiana

 

By Dayne Sherman

Column
4/22/13 - Words: 600
Published in the Daily Star

Jimmy Maurin’s recent letter, “Legislators should re-enactschool reforms,” says Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education “reforms” were bold, his education plans great for Louisiana, and legislators need to redo what the courts, educators, and public opinion have labeled a failure.

Maurin is a successful Hammond businessman, the head of Stirling Properties, which owns Hammond Square Mall. He’s also the Chairman of Blueprint Louisiana, a Bayou State equivalent to the AmericanLegislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

If Blueprint members truly cared about improving Louisiana education outcomes instead of privatizing, they would scrap Jindal’s unconstitutional education reforms and start over. We have been there and done that. It’s time to move on. 

Rather than doubling down on “The Stupid Party,” Blueprint should push for several changes that would make a positive difference to Louisiana education.

First, class size is the biggest change needed. Cap class sizes at 15 for struggling schools and 20 for schools on solid footing. We’ll see major improvements overnight with this needed change.

Second, disband the so-called education reformers’ model school system, the failed Recovery School District. It’s the second worst district in Louisiana, and one of the worst school districts in the developed world. It is full of fiscal mismanagement and abuse. The RSD has lost millions of dollars, according to recent reports, and it’s doing PR spin and damage control 24/7. Because the RSD is the model for reform, nothing will be done about the scandalous fraud and lost tax dollars.

Third, there should be no waivers of credentials for unqualified superintendents. This practice has been a total flop. Let’s consider State Superintendent John White. He has been in way over his head since his first day on the job—after he left as superintendent of the RSD. He is unqualified to serve as an assistant principal in Tangipahoa Parish. How on earth can he be allowed to serve as the head of the entire state education establishment? Let him go back home to New York and drive a cab.

Fourth, the Louisiana Department of Education has scrubbed key data from its new website. When White and LDOE claim graduation rates have improved, it is impossible to verify. This should lead to the termination of decision-makers. 

Last, repeal Jindal’s 2008 creationist education law, the Louisiana Science Education Act. Seventy-eight Nobel Prize-winning scientists have signed on asking for its repeal. The LSEA makes Louisiana education a 19th century model instead of a 21st century learning environment. Bottom line, the LSEA kills jobs. Let’s get rid of it.

Much of so-called education reform is nothing but a ruse intended to steal local, state, and federal dollars. Jindalesque reform is unconstitutional, and legislation passed in 2012 fixed none of the real problems Louisiana schools face. 

As business leaders, Maurin and Blueprint know it is disastrous to make decisions based on bad information. A real fix for what ails Louisiana is possible, but Jindal’s reforms were little more than a con job designed to help his delusional presidential bid.

Blueprint and its cadre of businessmen have hitched their wagon to our governor’s self-serving vision for Louisiana. Bobby Jindal’s heart is the size of a butterbean. He’s no one to follow.

It’s about time to unhitch the wagon. Jindal has steered the state into a deep ditch.

And I have news for Blueprint Louisiana: The common people of this state have wised up. The country club set should do the same.

Dayne Sherman lives in Ponchatoula and is the author of Welcometo the Fallen Paradise: A Novel. His website is daynesherman.com.

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Dayne Sherman, Writer, Speaker, Scholar
Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/
Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/
Tweet the South - Twitter: http://twitter.com/TweettheSouth/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/daynesherman
***This message speaks only for the writer, a citizen, not for any present or past employer.***

Enough is Enough!

For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Mike Stagg, Forward Louisiana
Phone: 337-962-1680
email: mstagg@forwardla.org

Enough Is Enough!

Louisianans to Rally For the Common Good on April 30th

BATON ROUGE — Thousands of Louisianans will gather on the steps of the state Capitol April 30th calling on the Legislature to reject Governor Bobby Jindal’s distorted and discredited policies and adopt a pro-common good agenda.

Rallying under the banner of Enough Is Enough, people from across Louisiana will gather on the steps of the state Capitol at 11 am on April 30th to reclaim our history, our culture, our infrastructure and our government. Our governor has conducted reckless social experiments on the people of Louisiana in a desperate attempt to position himself for a run for the Presidency of the United States. The human toll has been staggering. In rejecting these policies, the people of Louisiana have said “Enough Is Enough!”

The Jindal record is one of coddling corporations with tax exemptions, tax cuts for the rich, shifting the burden of government onto working families, attacking the job and retirement security of state workers, turning public education into a casino for private school operators, and dismantling essential public health infrastructure for the benefit of private interests.

The Governor's arbitrary decision deny more than 500,000 Louisiana citizens access to health coverage under the Medicaid expansion undermines the health security of every Louisiana citizen by denying essential federal funding to healthcare providers across the state.

The refusal to participate in Medicaid expansion, combined with the privatization of the LSU Charity hospitals without provisions being made to care for the uninsured sets the stage for a fiscal, medical and human catastrophe in Louisiana.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to come to the Capitol in Baton Rouge at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 to declare that “Enough Is Enough.”

Angelina Iles of Pineville, the founder of Enough Is Enough, said that after months of battling Bayou Health on behalf of her disabled brother, the proposed closure of Huey P. Long Medical Center was the final straw.

“What I learned through Bayou Health was that this was a system set up to benefit the companies that run it, but not the patients in need nor their families,” Ms. Iles said. “If I’d have let them have their way, my brother would be dead now. I would not let that happen. I can’t sit idly by and let this Governor destroy the public hospital system that belongs to us all.”

The Coalition has come together around these ideas:

• We The People have rejected this Governor and his policies.
• We appreciate the value of public education.
• We know that we are one paycheck away from needing the services of a public hospital, or one illness away from bankruptcy.
• We want public employees treated fairly.
• We want higher education to remain affordable for all Louisiana families so that pathways to prosperity are not locked off behind gated communities.
• We want a Louisiana where everyone has access to the basic resources and tools we will need to build successful lives here.
• We want families with children with disabilities to have access to services, not waiting lists.
• We want children with behavioral health issues to get the treatments and care we need to grow up to be productive citizens.
• We want those with mental health issues to have access to care, regardless of our income.
• We want environmental protection that safeguards the health of our communities and the natural treasures of our state, not the interests of corporate polluters.

Bobby Jindal’s policies have undermined all of the above and more. WE ARE COMING TO BATON ROUGE TO BEGIN RESTORING OUR STATE.

“The Legislature needs to catch up with the people,” said Mike Stagg, Baton Rouge coordinator of the rally. “If Legislators don’t restore balance by bringing in more revenue in a fair and responsible way, these legislators will own these cuts and they will have the same kind of unpopularity the Governor is experiencing today.”

The coalition organizing the event includes religious leaders, civic and social leaders, teachers, students, public employees, retirees, mental health, public health and social services advocates, and supporters of Medicaid expansion, from every geographic region of Louisiana.

Louisiana has had enough of Bobby Jindal and his policies of comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted.

We will make that message loud and clear on April 30th and we will offer Louisiana a clear path forward. Please come and join us.

For additional information on the rally, visit Enough Is Enough on Facebook. The event website can be found at www.louisianashadenough.org

The Myths Professors Live By

A Challenge to Louisiana Faculty

By Dayne Sherman

Column
4/14/13 - Words: 800
Published in several newspapers.

I am a tenured associate professor at an unnamed Louisiana university. I do not speak for the institution now or in the hundreds of published stories, articles, essays, op-eds, and letters that I have written.

Though I love universities, I am often saddened by the apathy and lack of civic engagement by faculty in Louisiana. It seems quite clear that the average professor is uninformed, apathetically unengaged, or fear-bound.

Some critics of Louisiana education say our students are equally lethargic. I do not believe this. But one thing is certain: Louisiana’s college degree attainment is abysmal, 21 percent as compared to 28 percent nationally. The ranking does not bode well for the future of the state.

Perhaps the answer to Louisiana’s low college graduation rate and alleged student lethargy is a more engaged faculty. I think students will be inspired and strive for excellence when their professors become examples of authentic leadership—community members willing to defend their institutions from debilitating budget cuts that threaten the viability of higher education across the state. 

However, four commonly held myths hamper faculty engagement. These false assumptions strengthen Governor Jindal’s malevolent stranglehold on college funding.

Myth No.1: Nothing can be done to stop the governor from gutting higher education. This is a foundational myth in Louisiana. If nothing can be done, then there is no reason to risk rocking the boat with an op-ed or letter to the editor, a visit to a local legislator’s office, or publicly criticizing Jindal’s insane and backward status quo policies.

The legislative session began on April 8. Legislators will protect higher education if and when they understand that they will not be reelected if they fail to do so. They will act only after we act. But fatalism prevents faculty from fighting, and with Jindal’s 38 percent approval rate, now is the time to speak out. Make no mistake, the governor “parked” his tax swap swindle because citizens pushed back en masse.

Myth No. 2: It is all going to get better soon. We have already witnessed Louisiana higher education budgets falling by $625 million, mass layoffs, student tuition and fees being raised by 50 percent or more since 2008, and no end in sight for the destruction of colleges and universities. Louisiana is facing a budget abyss of 1-2 billion dollars next fiscal year, and higher education will be Jindal’s whipping boy if he is not stopped. 

It is not going to get better until we demand that things change.

Myth No. 3: A new state constitution will solve higher education funding problems. Some legislators would have you believe that holding a constitutional convention to rewrite the 1974 document will somehow magically protect universities. 

No, this will not fix the problem. On the contrary, what we need are legislators willing to set priorities within the framework of our current revenue stream and current constitution. Blaming the constitution is nothing more than a parlor game played by Jindal and the legislators to claim their hands are tied.

Myth No. 4: Raising tuition and giving universities control over tuition increases will solve the funding crisis. This is like putting a Band-Aid on severed arm. Do not believe legislators or college “leaders” when they call for increasing tuition on the backs of Louisiana students and their families. Remember the LA GRAD Act scam? It raised tuition but did nothing to stop the funding calamity.

Each time tuition is raised, Jindal cuts state college funding by an equal or greater amount, a phenomenon I like to call “The Forgotston Equilibrium,” an economic principle brought to my attention by Hammond civic activist C.B. Forgotston.

Professors must fight for higher education funding and for justice. Their students deserve as much. Many are doing this already. Several examples of great courage are LSU’s Bob Mann, Kevin Cope, Mike Russo, Southern University’s Sudhir Trivedi, and Southeastern’s Barbara Forrest, Stephen Rushing, and James Kirylo. 

As Professor Mann opined, we only have “Louisiana tenure.” In other words, tenure means just so much in this fallen paradise of ours. 

But I believe a tenured professor has far more responsibility to speak out than an untenured or part-time instructor. Jesus said, “To whom much was given, of him much will be required.”

I do not lose any sleep worrying about being terminated or retaliated against for speaking out about the governor and his malicious policies. Instead, I worry about waking up one, two, or three years from now and realizing I slept through the destruction of my native state by a delusional politician with his eyes fixed on the White House. 

Too much is at stake for professors to nap through the destruction of higher education in Louisiana.

Dayne Sherman lives in Ponchatoula and is the author of Welcometo the Fallen Paradise: A Novel. His website is daynesherman.com.

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Dayne Sherman, Writer, Speaker, Scholar
Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/
Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/
Tweet the South - Twitter: http://twitter.com/TweettheSouth/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/daynesherman
***This message speaks only for the writer, a citizen, not for any present or past employer.***

Guide for Communicators

Tips for Louisiana Citizens During the Legislative Jungle

 

By Dayne Sherman
Revised Apr. 7, 2013 – 600 words

The legislative session begins on April 8. When I communicate with elected officials, I remind them that Gov. Bobby Jindal has a 38 % approval rate and falling. It’s time to listen to citizens.

Remember, a bill is not dead until it is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, as the old saying goes. It has to be thrice dead to be done with and gone.

Here are some summaries of important legislation (I will post more later.):

Gov. Jindal’s tax swap proposal

PAR Examines Key Components of the Governor's Tax Reform Plan for Louisiana - 03/21/2013 http://www.parlouisiana.com/explore.cfm/parpublications/commentaries/100097

State Retirement

Retired State Employees Association of Louisiana Legislative Report - http://www.rseala.org/images/stories/PDFs/2013legislativereport.pdf

LASERS - http://www.lasersonline.org/site.php?pageID=327

TRSL- http://trsl.org/main/general.php?section=general&tables=y&page=legislation

A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Communicate

1.) Write a letter to a newspaper ASAP. Better yet, write a letter to 40 Louisiana papers. Write about 300 words and send to your closest newspapers first. Be sure to give your address and phone number. “Dear Editor…” http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-send-letter-to-only-one-louisiana.html

 

2.) Send an email to all representatives and senators. Use your home email address and PC. Cut and paste into the BCC line on your email account. All email addresses can be found here—this needs to be updated for 2013, and I’ll get to it ASAP: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/2012/05/emails-for-all-louisiana-senators.html

3.) Drop off a handwritten letter to your senator and representative at their district offices. http://www.legis.la.gov - Go to the bottom of the web page. Click on the question and type in your address.

4.) Contact your senator and representative, as well as any other legislators that you know personally.

Contact information for Louisiana Senators: http://senate.la.gov/senators/Offices.asp

Contact information for Louisiana Representatives (House): 

http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/H_Reps_FullInfo.asp

5.) Post an open letter on Facebook and your weblog or personal website. Start a blog and send all legislators the link with an email. You’ll be regarded as an activist, which is good. Get a blog free at Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/

6.) Consider joining the Retired State Employees Association - RSEA. It’s important. http://www.rseala.org

7.) If you have some time, go to the Capitol. Send notes to your senator and representative. The sergeant at arms can help, but you need to get the legislators’ seat numbers. Write on the appropriate House/Senate communication slip and give your cell phone number. Say that you want to talk. Be creative with your message.

If you can't go to Baton Rouge, ask to meet the legislator at his or her office. If they can't see you next, tell the assistant your position and set an appointment.

8.) Send this email/post to everyone you know on Facebook and your personal email contact list.

9.) Contact all friends and retired state employees you know and tell them what's at stake.

10.) Download an app. PAR has a Legislative Guide as an iPhone or android app for $2.99. I downloaded it, and it works like a charm. You can contact anyone in the legislature in seconds. Calls, emails, addresses, see member photos. http://www.parlouisiana.com/guidetolaleg.cfm

While you are at it, download the FREE phone app for civic engagement: GPO Guide for the 112th Congress. It works great on my iPhone. All you need to contact all of the U.S. Senators and Reps (You can even get the federal budget) - http://www.gpo.gov/mobile/

You may only have time to do 2 or 3 of the steps above. Every little bit counts. Let’s exercise our rights afforded to us by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It matters more now than ever.

Dayne

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Dayne Sherman, Writer, Speaker, Scholar

Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/

Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/

Tweet the South - Twitter: http://twitter.com/TweettheSouth/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/daynesherman

***This message speaks only for the writer, a citizen, not for any present or past employer.***

The Fall of Bobby Jindal

A Chronology and Analysis

By Dayne Sherman

Talk About the South Column
Apr. 5, 2013 – 800 words

 

The drama started with a wreck on March 17. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s entourage of black, presidential SUVs was in a fender-bender. The governor was not injured, but it appeared to be a bad omen for the next two weeks. It is difficult to keep up with the bad news for Jindal and his cronies. Here is a rough outline of the ongoing spectacle:

 

March 18: Clergy members deliver a letter to Jindal with 250 signatures of prominent ministers condemning his new tax swap plan, which will hurt lower- and middle-income citizens.

 

March 19: Jindal goes to the Bayou Corne sinkhole (“Lake Jindal”) after environmental activist Erin Brockovich shames him in the press for never visiting the evacuees or seeing the Superdome-sized hole in the ground. Simultaneously, his two central legislative accomplishments of 2012, K-12 education reform and state retirement reform, both previously ruled unconstitutional, go before the state Supreme Court.

 

March 20: The LSU Faculty Senate passes a no-confidence vote on the LSU Board of Supervisors as it hires a new system president. The LSU Daily Reveille student newspaper threatens to sue the BoS over refusing to release the names of the job candidates. (Both the Reveille and The Advocate have since filed suit.) Intense meddling in the affairs of LSU by Jindal threatens the school’s accreditation and national standing.

 

March 21: News breaks that the feds have set up a grand jury to investigate alleged Medicaid contract fraud in the Department of Health and Hospitals, an arm of the Jindal administration, a department Jindal once led. In short, CNSI of Rockville, Md., received a contract, and the feds believe that there may have been shenanigans in rewarding the $200 million deal.

 

Worse, the contract was controversial from the start. DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein used to serve as a vice president of CNSI. As the story went viral, the Jindal administration scrambled to crawfish out of the contract.

 

March 27: The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, a major Jindal cheerleader, joins the chorus of anti-tax swap voices, giving a clear indication that the tax swindle is dead, dead, dead.

 

March 29: On Good Friday, Greenstein “resigns.”

 

April 2: Southern Media Opinion Research releases a scientific poll paid for by Lane Grigsby, a conservative Baton Rouge businessman. The survey shows that Jindal has an approval rating of 38 percent, a rating below that of President Obama. This poll was run before the grand jury probe and much of the tax swap pushback hit the news. I suspect Jindal is now closer to a 30 or 35 percent rate.

 

I have offered only a brief overview of two weeks that mark the downfall of Bobby Jindal. What is missing is an array of damage control, even television ads trying to resurrect the tax swap corpse and propaganda coming out of every crack and crevice of the administration.

On April 8, the new legislative session begins, and this year’s signature tax swap legislation has already imploded while uniting the state’s disparate constituencies in an almost unbelievable way: Fiscal conservatives in the Legislature, higher education leaders, clergy of different traditions, the Black Caucus, the Democratic Party, LABI, the state’s public school teachers and others are uniting against Jindal and his savage attack on the state.

 

The last time I saw a collective movement in Louisiana anything like it was against David Duke, the former Klansman. And it was not as broad-based or as quickly mounted as what we are witnessing with the downfall of Jindal.

 

What does all of this mean?

 

It means Jindal is finished. The Medicaid scandal alone may end his political career. Indeed, canceling the contract will not stop the federal investigation. Furthermore, I predict that the governor’s approval rate will be at 25 percent by the end of the summer.

 

No matter if it takes a criminal indictment or a fall worthy of Greek hubris, Louisiana will be better off once Jindal leaves the mansion.

 

Louisiana does not need to recall Bobby Jindal. Instead, we must demand that he resign from office immediately.

 

Perhaps Jindal should be run out of Baton Rouge atop a wooden rail like the Klansman and “reform” candidate Homer Stokes in the comic film O Brother, Where Art Thou.

 

Likewise, I believe state legislators unable to comprehend the change in political climate will find themselves unpleasantly surprised. During the next election cycle, I can see many leaving office riding an oak beam just like the disgraced movie politician named Homer Stokes.

 

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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Web & Social Media: http://daynesherman.com/

Talk About the South Blog: http://daynesherman.blogspot.com/
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***This message speaks only for the writer, a citizen, not for any present or past employer.***