CenLamar | Est. 2006

In 2003, 32-year-old Bobby Jindal launched an ambitious campaign for Governor of Louisiana. How ambitious? It is the biggest and more powerful position in the state, and this was the first campaign in Jindal’s entire life. Jindal spent most of his twenties working in a series of high-profile appointed jobs. He was Louisiana’s youngest-ever Cabinet-level appointment, Secretary of Health and Hospitals; shortly after that, Jindal became the President of the University of Louisiana system, and less than two years later, Jindal was appointed as the executive assistant for Tommy Thompson, the United States Secretary of Health and Hospitals. Despite his stellar…

A few hours before he walked into the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court Office, my friend and former colleague called me and dropped a bombshell. “I’d  been thinking about this for a long time. I was up until 4AM last night,” he said. “I know who I am, and I know that I want to become a public servant, that I will likely be a public servant for the rest of my life. I’ve decided to run for the Louisiana House of Representatives.” “I’m proud of you, but you know, you’ll be taking a big pay-cut,” I warned. “I’m not doing…

(The featured photo credit: © 2015 Julie Dermansky) “That belt buckle!” Robin exclaimed. “Did you see that belt buckle?” We had spent the last several hours inside of LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center observing Gov. Bobby Jindal’s controversial prayer rally, four of us huddled behind a fold-out table reserved for members of the press. “It said, ‘Governor Bobby Jindal, State of Louisiana,’ and it had a fleur-de-lis in the middle.” Robin is a professional photographer, and when Gov. Jindal finally took the stage that afternoon, she made her way to the front and began snapping pictures. His belt buckle that day was, indeed,…