From The New York Times, this is a must-read.
Louisiana’s biggest corporate players, many with long agendas before the state government, are restricted in making campaign contributions to Gov. Bobby Jindal. But they can give whatever they like to the foundation set up by his wife months after he took office.
AT&T, which needed Mr. Jindal, a Republican, to sign off on legislation allowing the company to sell cable television services without having to negotiate with individual parishes, has pledged at least $250,000 to theSupriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children.
Marathon Oil, which last year won approval from the Jindal administration to increase the amount of oil it can refine at its Louisiana plant, also committed to a $250,000 donation. And the military contractor Northrop Grumman, which got state officials to help set up an airplane maintenance facility at a former Air Force base, promised $10,000 to the charity.
The foundation has collected nearly $1 million in previously unreported pledges from major oil companies, insurers and other corporations in Louisiana with high-stakes regulatory issues, according to a review by The New York Times.
…
While the charity is named and led by Mrs. Jindal, the governor has not entirely distanced himself from it: a photo of him standing alongside his wife appears on a corporate solicitation page on the foundation Web site, and his chief fund-raiser is listed as the charity’s treasurer on its most recent tax return. A state employee from the governor’s office who serves as an aide to Mrs. Jindal manages the foundation’s books.
Kyle Plotkin, the Governor’s spokesman, believes that anyone who thinks this may be cause for concern or, at the very least, a little suspicious is just “living in a fantasy land,” that the entire thing is being “dreamed up by partisan hacks.” To me, when you push back with this type of hyperbole, you’re just drawing inadvertent attention to the story. But then again, no matter what the Governor’s spokesman said, it’s still an interesting story: hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporations with direct, financial interests in state government given to a foundation whose books are managed by a member of the Governor’s staff.
Without a doubt, Mrs. Jindal’s foundation does good work. According to reports, almost all of the money the foundation collects is spent on purchasing whiteboards for public school classrooms, but the report raises several red flags:
Why would a employee of the Governor’s office be responsible for managing the “books” of a foundation that has already raised at least $1 million, particularly a foundation that belongs to the First Lady? Even if this employee is not directly compensated for this work, it certainly suggests a conflation between the Governor’s Office and the fundraising conducted for the First Lady’s foundation.
What was the exact timing of AT&T’s enormous donation? AT&T is one of the largest corporations on the planet; if they wanted to donate $250,000 for whiteboards in Louisiana public schools, they could have done so directly, not through the Governor’s wife’s foundation.
I ask because in late June of 2008, Governor Jindal signed the Orwellian-named Consumer Choice for Television Act, a pernicious piece of legislation that stripped local and parish governments of their power and responsibility to negotiate cable franchise agreements with companies that relied, in large part, on locally-owned public infrastructure. Despite the outspoken opposition of the Louisiana Municipal Association and the State Police Jury Association, Jindal signed the act into law. And then, presumably later, AT&T gave the Supriya Jindal Foundation its single largest corporate donation.
So, it may seem like a pithy punch for the Governor’s spokesman to merely reject the narrative as “fantasy.” As a friend of mine likes to say, “Fine. I won’t let your opinions get in the way of the facts.” In this case, partisan name-calling may seem effective, but it’d be far more effective if the Governor and his office simply discussed the facts: Who? What? Where? When? And most importantly, why?
CenLamar 
Ahhh, but we’re all living in a fantasy world, Lamar. That’s the line from the Jindalistas. They’ll never answer any questions and just point to the statement from Plotkin from here on out.
Lamar – I know there is a major campaign against Jindal (and let’s not play games and pretend it’s anything but that – the Democratic Party of Louisiana, dear friends of mine like Jay Luneau and Brian Cespiva et al, against Bobby Jindal) for the Governor’s seat, so I understand how timely this is.
“Appearance” he is being bribed? Really? What about all of the politicians that ARE actually being bribed? Can we focus on those? While the First Lady’s involvement in the charity work causes me very little concern, I am slightly concerned about the connection between a paid employee of the GO and the charity – not because of the appearance of impropriety, but because I don’t want our tax money to pay for work done on behalf of a charity.
As far as the rest of it – this is all being done out in the open, not in back rooms and alleys, like it would be if everybody involved was named, or related to, “Long”, “Edwards” or “Foster”. A healthy dose of perspective on our “colorful” political figures of the past might be in order here.
Ace …
While a healthy dose of perspective on our political past might be in order here, I don’t recall any of Jindal’s predecessors going all out to give the appearance of being squeaky-clean like he has, what with his “gold standard” line.
On top of that, much of his Administration’s work has been for the betterment of corporate Louisiana, not working-class Louisiana.
That’s why this is article is important, not because of the political aspect, though it is a factor in why it’s getting put out there.
Right. Is that kinda like big labor and AFLCIO and the Teamsters collecting dues and sending it to the Democratic party to “bribe” them for their special agendas?
Tim:
Can you please point out the donations that the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and “big” labor have given the Louisiana Democratic Party? And then please point out the legislation that the money has gotten the Governor to sign? Thanks!