“This New Louisiana will not come easily…but it will come…it can happen…it can change…it must change…it WILL change.” So it started, on January 14, 2008. Louisiana was still suffering from Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. Louisiana’s was still known for its richly earned reputation as the most corrupt state government in the nation.
On February 10, Governor Jindal called for an Ethics Reform Special Session of the Louisiana legislature. Jindal declared that Louisiana was embarking “on the single most important endeavor for the future of Louisiana – bringing comprehensive ethics reform and transparency to our state.”
“Today, we take the first step towards building a better Louisiana where our ethics laws are the gold standard – letting the rest of the world know that corruption will no longer find a home here.” Jindal also promised, “The actions that we will take over the coming days will have a lasting impact on generations to come and help erase Louisiana’s image created by generations past.”
Governor Jindal’s bold reforms were praised by the local media so accustomed to New Orleans’ style politics. The Lafayette Daily Advertise called said that the reforms “may be the strictest, most extensive effort to reform ethics laws anywhere” and that they were “certainly the most comprehensive approach Louisiana has seen.” The Council for a Better Louisiana described the ethics reform as “clearly the most comprehensive single package of reforms proposed by any governor since the creation of the ethics code itself.”
But those were just words from the young, brilliant, well-spoken Bayeux Brutarian. At age 36, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal became the youngest person to be elected Governor in the history of the United States, the first non-white Governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction and the nation’s first Indian-American Governor. While only 36, Jindal had already built quite a resume as a reformer. In 1996, Jindal was appointed Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals. During his tenure as Secretary, Jindal turned a projected $1 billion Medicaid deficit into a $48 million surplus while improving access and patient care. Jindal said that the “fundamental lesson in Louisiana’s tumultuous health care experience is that the system must be designed with the right incentives to produce better outcomes at a lower cost.”
After turning around Louisiana’s Medicaid crisis, Jindal assembled an impressive resume of executive roles. In 1998 Jindal was appointed the Executive Director of the 17-member National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. In 1999, Jindal was selected to study how Louisiana should spend its $4.4 billion settlement victory against the tobacco industry and was also appointed as the youngest ever head of the University of Louisiana system. In 2001, Jindal was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. In 2003, Jindal resigned as his position at HHS to run for Governor. Narrowly losing to Democrat Kathleen Blanco, Jindal turned his attention to Congress where he won a landslide victory to represent Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.
Now Jindal focused his experience to turning around Louisiana. After two focused special sessions and months of hard work, Jindal has already achieved much of what he sought out to accomplish. On the economy, Louisiana enacted the single largest tax cut in Louisiana history, returning over $1.1 billion to Louisianans over the next five years while cutting the operating budget by $4.6 billion — a 13 percent reduction. To balance the budget, Jindal eliminated 984 vacant state government positions, saving $58 million and enacted a hiring freeze that saved $39 million. In addition, Jindal improved accountability and fiscal responsibility in the budget process by requiring that all capital outlay projects be transparent.
“Louisiana ethics” stopped being an oxymoron. As Governor Jindal reported during his speech at the National Press Club in May, “our legislative disclosure form skyrocketed from being ranked in the bottom in the country – NUMBER 43 – to NUMBER ONE – knocking Washington State out of first place, virtually overnight.” Those improved ethics codes and new fiscal transparency laws allowed Louisiana to improve its credit grades to an A+ from Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s Ratings System, and Moody’s Investors Service. As Governor Jindal said, “We got three turns at the plate, three chances to show the financial world that Louisiana is making wise fiscal decisions and is very much open for business, and we came away with three solid hits.”
In addition, Governor Jindal used his experience and interest in health care reform to pass the Health Care Consumers Right to Know Act. Governor Jindal said that the act would empower “Louisianans with information and analysis about their health care options and providers”, and was “a tremendous step forward in enhancing the quality of care patients receive in our state.” The bill also invested $18 million in electronic health records to improve health care efficiency and reduce errors.
In addition, Louisiana passed Nicola’s Law which provided $89 million to reform its mental health care services; expanded Medicaid to provide health care coverage for foster children until they are 21 years old; enrolled 12,000 more children in LaCHIP, with the goal of enrolling 28,000 more in 2009; and provided health insurance for all children with autism.
Education was also a priority. Jindal supported bills raising teacher pay by more than $1,000, providing $10 million in Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence and $10 million in flexible pay for rural schools, passing a Teachers Bill of Rights, increasing charter schools from 42 to 70, and investing $37.4 million in full formula funding for every state college and university.
While managing this unparalleled turnaround in Louisiana history, Governor Jindal also became a leading voice in two national issues this year.
In June, the Supreme Court, in one of the worst decisions in the history of the Court, decided in Kennedy v. Louisiana that it was unconstitutional to sentence child rapists to death. Governor Jindal released a statement saying, “I am outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision. It is an affront to the people of Louisiana and the jury’s unanimous decision in this case.” Governor Jindal added, “The opinion reflects a clear abuse of judicial authority, trampling the constitutional authority of states to act through the legislative process,” and that “One thing is clear: the five members of the Court who issued the opinion do not share the same ‘standards of decency’ as the people of Louisiana.”
On the same day, Jindal signed the Chemical Castration Bill, which allowed for the castration of convicted child rapists. After signing the bill, Governor Jindal declared, “Not only as the Governor of this great state, but as a father of three children, I believe that sexually assaulting a child is one of the very worst crimes and I am glad we have taken such strong measures in Louisiana to put a stop to these monsters’ brutal acts. I want to send the message loud and clear – to the Supreme Court of the United States and beyond – make no mistake about it, if anyone wants to molest children and commit sexual assaults on kids they should not do so here in Louisiana. Here, we will do everything in our power to protect our children and we will not rest until justice is won and we have fully punished those who harm them.”
Jindal also became a leading proponent of expanding offshore drilling in the middle of this summer’s fuel crisis, when the cost of gasoline had risen above $4 a gallon. Jindal applauded the President’s removal of the Executive Order forbidding new offshore drilling and argued for a “comprehensive, balanced energy policy from the federal government that pursues everything simultaneously, from more offshore drilling to exploring nuclear, solar and wind alternative energy sources, and increasing conservation efforts.”
Welcome to the New Louisiana and perhaps and early glimpse at the man who could come to lead the Republican Party to national victory in 2012 or 2016. Although he denies any interest in seeking the Presidency, Governor Jindal will be the keynote speaker at the Iowa Family Policy Center’s “Celebrating the Family” banquet on November 22. Given the Iowa Family Policy Center’s championing of Governor Mike Huckabee on his path to victory in the Iowa caucuses in 2008, many are beginning to speculate that Governor Jindal may well be beginning the Republican Presidential Primary race for 2012 even before President-elect Barack Obama takes the Oath of Office.
