Bobby Jindal

From Sunshine Review

Bobby Jindal
June 10, 1971
55th Governor of Louisiana
Incumbent
Assumed office January 14, 2008
U.S. House of Representatives, Louisiana's 1st District
In office January 3, 2005 — January 14, 2008
Preceded by	David Vitter
Succeeded by	Steve Scalise
Political party	Republican
Profession	Politician
Website	Bobby Jindal.com
Transparency
Sunshine pledge	2008

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is a Republican politician, and the current governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana.^[1] Before his election as governor, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, where he was elected in 2004 to succeed current U.S. Senator David Vitter. Jindal was re-elected to Congress in the 2006 election with 88 percent of the vote. Jindal was the second Indian-American to serve in Congress.

On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54% of the vote. At age 36, Jindal became the youngest current governor in the United States. He also became the first non-white governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, the first elected Indian-American governor in U.S. history, as well as the second Asian-American governor to serve in the continental United States after Gary Locke of Washington.

He was chosen by Scholastic Update magazine as "one of America's top 10 extraordinary young people for the next millennium."^[2] He was India Abroad Person of the Year in 2005.^[3] Popular conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has described Jindal as "the next Ronald Reagan."^[4]

[edit] Personal life

Jindal was born in Baton Rouge to recently arrived Punjabi Indian immigrants Amar and Raj Jindal, who were attending graduate school. His family is of Punjabi ancestry; his father left India and his ancestral family village of Khanpura in the 1970s.^[5] Raj Jindal is a retiring information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor.^[6] According to family lore, Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" after watching The Brady Bunch television program at age four. He has been known by that name ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal.^[7]

Jindal was a Hindu but converted to Catholicism in high school.^[8] He has also offered testimony before Baptist and Pentecostal congregations since the beginning of the 2007 campaign season.^[9] He attended high school at Baton Rouge Magnet High School and graduated at sixteen. In 1991, he graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with honors in biology and public policy. Afterwards, he received a master's degree in political science from New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. While at Oxford, he wrote an article for the New Oxford Review in which he described witnessing a friend being possessed by a demon.^[10] After Oxford, he joined McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he advised Fortune 500 companies.

In 1997, Jindal married Supriya Jolly (born 1972). The couple has three children: Selia Elizabeth, Shaan Robert, and Slade Ryan. On August 15, 2006, he assisted in delivering his third child when his wife awoke from sleep in labor.^[11]

[edit] Government service

In 1995, Republican U.S. Representative Jim McCrery introduced Jindal to Republican Governor Murphy J. Foster, Jr.^[12] In 1996, Foster appointed Jindal to be secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, an agency which then represented about 40 percent of the state budget. During his tenure as secretary, Louisiana's Medicaid program went from bankruptcy with a $400 million deficit into three years of surpluses totaling $220 million. Jindal was criticized during the 2007 campaign by the Louisiana AFL-CIO for having closed some local clinics to balance the budget.^[13]. In 1998, Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare.

In 1999, at the request of the Louisiana Governor's Office and the Louisiana State Legislature, Jindal volunteered his time to study how Louisiana might use its $4.4 billion tobacco settlement. That same year, Jindal was appointed to become the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana System. In March 2001, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation.^[14] He was later unanimously confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the United States Senate and began serving on July 9, 2001. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.^[15] He resigned from that post on February 21, 2003, to return to Louisiana and run for governor.^[16]

[edit] 2003 campaign for Governor

Jindal came to national prominence during the 2003 election for Louisiana governor.

In the jungle primary, Jindal finished in first place with 33 percent of the vote. He received endorsements from the largest paper in Louisiana, the New Orleans Times-Picayune; the newly-elected Democratic mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin; and the outgoing Republican governor, Mike Foster. In the second balloting, Jindal faced the outgoing lieutenant governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette, a Democrat. Despite winning in Blanco's hometown, he lost many normally conservative parishes in north Louisiana, and Blanco prevailed with 52 percent of the popular vote.

Political analysts have speculated on myriad explanations for his loss. Some have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several advertisements,^[17] which the Jindal Campaign called "negative attack ads". Others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remain more comfortable voting for a Democrat, especially a conservative one, than for a Republican. Still others have mentioned the race factor, arguing that many voters are uncomfortable voting for a non-white person; this theory has lost some support in light of the 2007 election results. Finally, favorite-daughter voting for Blanco in southwestern Louisiana, a swing region of the state, may have contributed to the outcome in 2003.

Despite his losing the election, the run for governor made Jindal a well-known figure on the state's political scene.

[edit] Congressman of the first district

A few weeks after the 2003 gubernatorial runoff, Jindal decided to run for Louisiana's 1st congressional district. The incumbent, David Vitter, was running for the Senate seat being vacated by John Breaux. Jindal moved to Kenner to run for the congressional seat. The Louisiana Republican Party endorsed him in the primary despite the fact that Mike Rogers, also a Republican, was running for the same seat. The 1st District has been in Republican hands since a 1977 special election and is widely considered to be the most Republican district in Louisiana. Although Democrats have a plurality in registration, the 1st tends to vote for socially conservative candidates. Jindal also had an advantage because his campaign was able to raise over $1 million dollars very early in the campaign, making it harder for other candidates to effectively raise funds to oppose him. He won with 78 percent of the vote.

He was elected freshman class president and was appointed to the House Committee on Homeland Security, the House Committee on Resources, and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He was made vice-chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks.

On May 3 a special election was held to determine Jindal's replacement. Steve Scalise was elected with 75% of the vote. ^[18]

[edit] Governor of Louisiana

On January 22, 2007, Jindal announced his candidacy for governor.^[19]

Polling data showed him with an early lead in the race, and he remained the favorite throughout the campaign. He defeated eleven opponents in the jungle primary held on October 20, including two prominent Democrats, State Senator Walter Boasso of Chalmette and Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier City, and an independent, New Orleans businessman John Georges.

Jindal finished with 699,672 votes (54 percent). Boasso ran second with 226,364 votes (17 percent). Georges finished with 186,800 (14 percent), and Campbell, who is also a former state senator, ran fourth with 161,425 (12 percent). The remaining candidates collectively polled three percent of the vote. Jindal polled pluralities or majorities in sixty of the state's sixty-four parishes. He lost narrowly to Georges in Orleans Parish, to Boasso in St. Bernard Parish, and in the two neighboring north Louisiana parishes of Red River and Bienville located south of Shreveport, both of which are historically Democratic and supported Campbell. In the 2003 contest with Blanco, Jindal had lost most of the northern parishes.^[20]

Jindal assumed the position of governor when he took the oath of office on January 14, 2008. At 36, he is the youngest sitting governor in the United States. He is also Louisiana's first non-white governor since P. B. S. Pinchback served for 35 days during Reconstruction.^[21]

In a salute to the 2007 LSU Tigers football national championship team during his January 14, 2008 inauguration speech, Jindal stated in part "...They revere our athletes. Go Tigers...."^[22]

[edit] Speculation over vice presidential nomination

On February 8, 2008, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh mentioned on his syndicated show that Jindal could be a possible choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2008. He said that Jindal might be perceived as an asset to McCain's campaign because he has support in the conservative base of the Republican Party and his youth offsets McCain's maturity. If McCain were to win the presidency, he would be the oldest president ever inaugurated.^[23] When asked if he would accept an offer of the vice presidential nomination from McCain, Jindal stated "Only if he speaks at my high school reunion in August".^[24]

[edit] Positions on selected issues

As a private citizen, Jindal voted for the "Stelly Tax plan",^[25] a referendum named for former state Representative Vic Stelly of Lake Charles, which swapped some sales taxes for higher income taxes. Whether or not the "Stelly Plan" is giving the desired results is still hotly debated statewide. Early Republican challenger Steve Scalise challenged Jindal on his vote for this tax plan before Scalise dropped out of the congressional race in 2004.

Jindal supported a constitutional amendment banning flag burning,^[26] and the Real ID Act of 2005.^[27] Jindal has an A rating from Gun Owners of America.

He is a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee.^[28] In 2006, Jindal voted with the Republican Caucus 97 percent of the time during the 109th Congress.^[29]

Jindal also supports co-payments in Medicaid.^[30]

In 2006, Jindal sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761), a bill to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling over the U.S. outer continental shelf, which prompted the watchdog group Republicans for Environmental Protection to issue him an environmental harm demerit.^[31] Jindal's 2006 rating from that organization was -4, among the lowest in Congress. The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters also censured Jindal for securing passage of H.R. 4761 in the House of Representatives; the group rated his environmental performance that year at seven percent, citing anti-environment votes on 11 out of 12 critical issues. Jindal's lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters is seven percent.^[32] Despite claims that Jindal's bill was successful,^[33] H.R. 4761 was actually replaced by S 3711 (known as the Domenici-Landrieu Fair Share Plan). The Senate version was the actual legislation that was passed by both houses of Congress, word for word, and signed by President Bush.^[34]

In 2005, Jindal led other freshman Republican House members in dipping their fingers in purple dye to celebrate the 2005 Iraqi national elections.

[edit] Electoral history

Governor of Louisiana, 2003

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 4, 2003

Second Ballot, November 15, 2003

U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District, 2004

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, November 2, 2004

U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District, 2006

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, November 7, 2006

Governor of Louisiana, 2007

Threshold > 50%

First Ballot, October 20, 2007

[edit] References

[edit] Other Sunshine Review articles about Jindal

• May 30, 2008 Governor's office under fire for lack of transparency
• Jun 04, 2009 Jindal administration scuttles one public records bill, says it backs another

[edit] External links

• Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal official state site
  • biography
• Gubernatorial campaign contributions at Follow the Money
• Complete text, audio, video of Bobby Jindal's gubernatorial election victory address from AmericanRhetoric.com

Media coverage

• Collected news stories and commentary from The New York Times
• Collected reports about the gubernatorial race from SAJAforum.org
  • Collection of newspaper front pages about gubernatorial victory, SAJAforum.org, October 21, 2007
• The Medicine Man Suz Redfearn, Little India, June 1996
• SIFY — Newsmakers: The People Behind Today's Headlines, 2003 SIFY, 2003, brief profile
• Little India Interview Lavina Melwani, Little India, December 2004
• Bobby Jindal Saves Louisiana Ben Domenech, redstate.com, 2007

This article was taken and modified from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under the GNU license.

The Louisiana Project on Sunshine Review

Statewide Parishes & Cities School districts

Louisiana Public Records Act Transparency Advocates Accountability Reports