Louisiana Gubernatorial Sitcom

Graphic by Twolf
Graphic by Twolf

I tell you what, those Republicans may not have squat for rational ideas, but they sure have some humor. Heck, it was less than two days ago we were watching Crockett and Tubbs Steele and Boner in "DC Vice". Fear not intrepid viewers, these jokers are bringin da funny all over. Our latest episode involves that wacky character Urkel Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. From Yahoo/Politico:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that he will decline stimulus money specifically targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first state executive to officially refuse any part of the federal government’s payout to states.

In a statement, Jindal, who is slated to give the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s message to Congress on Tuesday, expressed concern that expanding unemployment insurance coverage would lead to increased unemployment insurance taxes later on.

Wow, the fine folks in Louisiana must find this hilarious since most governors are constantly scrapping to get their states funding they are in dire need of. And, as you may have heard, there are needs in Louisiana, part of Katrina ground central. Too bad they no longer have Dollar Bill Jefferson around to keep that stimulus money on ice.

What the hell though, life must be a hoot in a state run by a guy named Piyush who changed his name to Bobby because he identified with a character on the Brady Bunch. Personally, I don’t get it. He looks like Urkel to me.

[Awesome graphic by Twolf!]

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105 replies
  1. macaquerman says:

    You want to make fun of a Louisiana governor who’s never been indicted for anything? Someone whose administration was able to offer enough economic concessions to attract industrialists like ThyssenKrupp AG?

    • dakine01 says:

      Yes.

      Especially when he puts his ideology ahead of his constituents in a state that has already been overly impacted by the actions of Bush and Company.

      • macaquerman says:

        This is Louisiana, a state where a serving governor was committed to a mental hospital and used his authority to obtain his release.

        • dakine01 says:

          Yes, and it’s a state where another Governor proclaimed he could get re-elected as long as he was not found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.

          And you know why these corrupt governors in Louisiana kept getting elected? They call it serving their constituents. Which Jindal is not doing in order to maintain his ideological purity.

          My guess is if you asked the folks down there which they preferred, the corrupt or the ideologically pure, they’d probably choose corrupt if it meant the services were handled properly.

          Hell, that pretty much goes across the board and the entire nation as well (think NY continuing to re-elect D’Amato)

          • macaquerman says:

            D’Amato is an excellent example of the attraction of corruption.

            I don’t know Jindal, but he raises the argument that the $32M one-time aid will, in benefitting 4,000 people, cost Louisiana $12M annually.

            • dakine01 says:

              The figure I’ve seen is the aid benefits upwards of 25k and there are provisions to back away from it when the crisis has past but Jindal wants to make sure businesses don’t have to pay anymore which is why he’s against it. It would mean the state might have to actually collect money from his buddies in business.

              Heaven forbid he actually support activities that would stimulate the economy and put cash into the state through upgrading unemployment compensation. Why obviously all those unemployed people are just using it for a free vacation.

              • macaquerman says:

                If you’re gonna talk about taking money from business and start giving to the kind of people that don’t have any, where’s that going end up?

                • dakine01 says:

                  You realize that is how Unemployment Compensation is set up? As a company lays off more workers, they pay more into the UC systems as a tax.

                  And Jindal has specifically stated that it is the Unemployment piece of the stimulus that he is willing to reject.

                  So yeah, the Unemployment System is designed to take money from businesses that lay folks off to attempt to provide a cushion for the unemployed until, with any luck (doubtful in today’s economy), they can find a new job.

                  • macaquerman says:

                    I had thought that the benefits were funded on a state-wide basis and acted as sort of a regressive tax that mainly fell on the employees.
                    If, as you say, businesses are paying more when they lay off workers, then I would think of it as a sort of severence pay.

                    • dakine01 says:

                      Different states may fund it in slightly different fashions, which also accounts for the broad disparity in weekly compensation by the various states, but the basics are probably pretty much the same nation wide, since it has some federal beginnings.

                      But it is a business tax that I think funds it for the msot part.

                    • macaquerman says:

                      It is a business tax that many people think of as being passed onto te employees.
                      If you can find anything that shows that layoffs increase a companies contribution that would be good news.

                    • dakine01 says:

                      Unfortunately, I don’t have a specific link – just recall being told that by the HR manager one time when I was being laid off; that the company really hated the lay-offs as they would wind up paying more into the fund to compensate for having had lay-offs and creating more of the burden.

                    • dakine01 says:

                      Found this in der google which offers some pertinent info:

                      Employers are assessed a tax on each worker’s earnings, up to an annual earnings cap that has not kept up with inflation.

                      The tax rate depends on an employer’s past experience with layoffs — a process known as experience rating — subject to a minimum and maximum rate. Largely because of these limits, the experience rating is imperfect. The extra tax revenue generated by additional layoffs covers only about two-thirds of the additional cost of providing benefits. In high-layoff sectors like construction, companies pay, on average, less than a third of the extra costs generated by layoffs.

                    • sojourner says:

                      I have to say that dakine01 may be correct… It may depend upon the state, but I believe Louisiana does require higher contributions from those employers who have a record of higher numbers of layoffs or reductions. If you think about it, that would have to be correct. If you look at it as “unemployment insurance” which is how it is often referred to, then those employers who cause a higher number of unemployed would have to pay more.

                    • Teddy Partridge says:

                      It’s also why companies are fighting unemployment benefits for their terminated workers at a record level now, making work for “unemployment consultants” and making life doubly tough for the laid-off workers everywhere. Companies usually lose these fights in front of an employment commission law judge, but if they can stretch out the fight, the likelihood increases that their former employee will find work and drop the claim.

                      Once a claim is dropped, and no money paid, the unemployment insurance rate (it’s how UI is funded, mac, look it up) for the employer remains the same. It’s also why employers much prefer an employee sign a resignation letter, which is employer GOLD in an unemployment insurance fight, that be fired.

                    • macaquerman says:

                      I did look it up and what I got was, while varied by state, the overall funding was usually and mainly from an uniform tax rate with a supplimental levy on industries with a traditionally higher turnover rate.

                    • oldgold says:

                      In most states, if not all, the worker receives the unemployment while the matter is being contested.
                      The workers win anything that is close. It can be dangerous to contest, because you can stumble into wrongful discharge suits. In most cases the employer is money ahead not to contest the claim.

                • nonplussed says:

                  If you’re gonna talk about taking money from business and start giving to the kind of people that don’t have any, where’s that going end up?

                  “The kind of people that don’t have any”! And just what kind of people would they be? Obviously they’re secopnd class in some manner, tell me more.

                • millerdunwoody says:

                  You know what, macaquerdipshit, you can kiss my dying ass. “…giving to the kind of people that don’t have any.” What the fuck is that supposed to mean? After working for two construction companies over the past 11 years, I got laid off last August and have been on unemployment ever since. I’ve sent out 100 resumes and am now working temp when I can get it. My savings may be almost gone, but now I’ve got to put up with cracker fucks like you talking about some “kind of people” who evidently don’t deserve unemployment compensation. I’d tell you to fuck off and die, but I think it would be better if you just came over to my house and told my wife what you think that “kind of people” may or may not deserve. Asshole.

                  • lokywoky says:

                    I think that you missed the snark in this post. Unfortunately macaquerman failed to include a snark tag or a *g*.

                    Also, we try to be civil here – and do not call each other names – even when we disagree. Because we can disagree – and still be civil.

                    Thanks.

                  • macaquerman says:

                    If i had been serious, I probably would owe you and your wife that apology.
                    Read through all of the comments,and then if you still want me to apologize, repeat yourself.
                    Otherwise, maybe you might say something different, if you don’t mind showing some class.

                  • bmaz says:

                    Yeah, hey there yourself. Let me be crystal clear here, you do not get to talk to people like that here; and, yes, I do get to determine that. Now I know both macaquerman and dakine01 that mac was responding to. Both were clearly being facetious. I sympathize with your plight, but before you take after people as viciously as you did, you ought to read and think a little. Things always work out better that way. Let’s not ever have this discussion again, because that would be the last time.

    • cinnamonape says:

      I thought Alabama won the ThyssenKrupp AG project? I guess Louisiana just couldn’t compete with a State that was willing to excuse a company from paying corporate taxes for 30 years….while offering $811 million in land development and other perks.

      http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/…..__3690.asp

      • macaquerman says:

        Thanks for the correction. I had a different report in a Chicago paper.
        Well, If Jindal wasn’t willing to beat that measly offer, how pro-business can he be?
        I remember when Louisiana would do the right thing for business, and offer free llabor from their convict population.

  2. MarkAdams says:

    He’s counting on a miracle NOLA renaissance, couresy of all the FOBs (Friends of Bush). Not a bad bet if he can pull it off.

    BTW … Best JingleShop EVAR!

  3. BlueStateRedHead says:

    I had read that there was a provision that a refusal by the governor sends the decision to the state legislature after xx days. IIRC introduced by Mikulski. Source was a diary on dkos. Before passage.

    • bmaz says:

      Well, even if true, you would deny the chance to laugh wildly at Urkdal?? Anyway, once I saw twolf’s kickass graphic, I had to do something…..

      • BlueStateRedHead says:

        Reason to laugh doubled. It’s theatrics, unless of course he has the legislature in his pocket.

  4. cinnamonape says:

    That $32M would work out to $8000/person. That assumes that the individuals actually are unemployed for the complete extension. It actually could serve tens of thousand more who need one more week, or month?

    But what happens to them if they can’t find employment after LA’s Unemployment dries up? Welfare? Starvation?

    And what does a $12M annual increase in the Unemployment Insurance contribution mean per worker in Louisiana? Is that about $2 a year?

  5. hrholmes says:

    Piyush Urkel to this and all liberal blogs, ‘Hey, at least we are not Mississippi and I heard the word from on high and he said ew ee ew ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang’.

  6. sojourner says:

    I grew up in Louisiana, and was steeped in the lore of Huey Long. I actually had the opportunity to work with his son, the late Senator Russell Long, who often quoted his father’s philosophies, such as “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the man behind the tree!” And, dakine01 correctly quoted former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards in #5 above. Edwin was an honest crook. He more or less told people that he would steal from them, but that he would also give a lot back — and he did, which was why he served four terms before the feds indicted and convicted him on various charges.

    People in Louisiana (including members of my family) think that Jindal walks on water. He is certainly a smart man. Unfortunately, like so many Repugs in today’s world, he is ignorant of the needs of the common man. If I were still living in Louisiana, and was unemployed, and my governor began turning down federal money that could make a difference in whether my family starved or not, I would be royally pissed off both with him AND the Republican brand.

    They are just doing it to themselves, and will be so shocked when they continue to lose seats and power in the next election… You almost have to feel sorry for them — such smart people, and yet, such idiots!

  7. der1 says:

    Another POV: Fresh off a grueling budget battle in his state, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Saturday that if fellow Republican governors threatening to turn down stimulus funds follow through on their pledge, he’d be happy to have their share.

    “Everyone has their own way of thinking,” Schwarzenegger said of those governors in an interview with POLITICO at the National Governors Association’s annual meeting. “I just hope they give me their funding.”

    Schwarzenegger supports President Barack Obama’s $778 billion stimulus, but four Republican governors have said they may reject some of the stimulus funds.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politi…..tico/19121

    Bobby the Exorcist http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..06716.html will turn it all into pea soup and then…..miracles do happen, so maybe he knows a better way then using cash.

    • Teddy Partridge says:

      Arnold plays into the GOP game by acting as if he could get ahold of Piyush’s share.

      It will go to the Louisiana legislature to be doled out, thanks to an amendment placed by Congressman and Majority Whip Clyburn for the express purpose of getting around a similar threat from his state’s Governor Sanford. All states will get their share, it just won’t be up to the governor to allocate and spend it.

    • cinnamonape says:

      Ahhhh…Ahhhnold is always coming up with the glib comment. Actually the State budget just passed cut 10% from CSU and UC budgets contingent on getting the stimulus. I’m sure the State Republicans (and I’m watching them drive away from the State Conference in their expensive SUV’s and Mercedes coupes as I write) would be more than happy to block that if they could.

      “”Bobby the Exorcist” will turn it all into pea soup and then…..miracles do happen, so maybe he knows a better way then using cash.”

      Well that’s one way of getting the “green”, I guess. Does the stimulus have to turn it’s head around four times for that to work? My sense is that he’s going to boot it to the legislature ( a bare Democratic majority in both Houses) and that will give he and his group ideological cover without the consequences. Of course, IF that bill requires a Supermajority (as some states require for a budget measure) or if he can veto it…it’ll be placing a lot of Republicans on the chopping block.

      If the Democrats bring up the Supplementary Unemployment bill repeatedly in the next Session, and the jobs situation gets worse, the Republicans will be facing a hogs wallow full of pain.

  8. hackworth says:

    According to family lore, Jindal chose to re-name himself “Bobby” inspired by the sitcom character Bobby Brady after watching The Brady Bunch television series at age four. He has been known by his adopted nickname ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal.[4]

    Jindal was born and raised a Hindu, but converted to Catholicism in high school.[5]

  9. pjwertz says:

    “In a statement, Jindal, who is slated to give the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s message to Congress on Tuesday…”

    So, no matter what Obama says, the repukes will do a “response,” right? What if they agree with him? Still gotta do a response? Yes, especially given all the time Fox will spend writing it.

  10. ratfood says:

    As long as there is a Dem in the White House, can we assume Jindal will also decline federal assistance the next time a hurricane comes roaring up his backside?

    Will the last Louisiana expatriate please turn out the light?

    • sadlyyes says:

      mebbe,it could wash him and his SMIRK away
      gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww i thougt we were done with smirking chimps

  11. JohnLopresti says:

    Although there is some discussion of smorgasbording ARRA in a conservative site (Volokh), which I scanned and did not find the reference in my decidedly unlibertarian haste, there is a dry review from JBalkin which explains based on two caselaw records the states rights view employed to justify not spending likely is attackable by state legislatures so inclined and if the individual state spending authority is shared between executive and legislative branches. JB’s coverage takes pleasure in applying some of Rehnquist’s isolationist logic against the Republican governors who decry pound foolish Democrats, loc.cit.

  12. SanderO says:

    Rebelllion is happening:

    I have seen those Updates from the minister of Tourism and they are definitely something from Walt Disney World. If you look at the British Newspapers and European tourist agent news sites you will see that there have been over 10,000 cancellations of vacationers this month and now more cancellations stretching all the way to June.
    The British newspaper sites report that in Guadeloupe all tourists have been advised to not leave their hotels and the French police at busing tourists from their hotels in armored trucks with battering rams to get them to the airport so they can leave. The situation yesterday was charactized as virtual civil war based on race with white tourist being targeted.
    In Martinique the situation seems to be much calmer according to the new reports but with most stores, facilities and governmental agencies shut down.

  13. ThingsComeUndone says:

    A we should call him Piyush every chance we get and ask him if he is ashamed of his name. That reinforces to the Racist voter who he is a Dark Person.
    And to the darker voters that Bobby does not want to be one of them and is trying to sell out his roots for acceptance.
    I wonder which community will turn against Bobby more the Dark folks he denies or the racists?

  14. cinnamonape says:

    John, are you saying that a State can’t partition the allocation? I do know that accepting the Unemployment component is contingent on increasing the State contribution down the road (in about a 2 to 3 allocation). That would require an expenditure bill, which presumably could be vetoed and (under Louisiana law) require a 2/3rds vote of both of the State houses to overturn.

    Just a bit of historical reference here. In all it’s history LA has NEVER overturned a Governor’s veto.

  15. lobster says:

    Jindahl is playing this game well. He is accepting $7.9B in stimulus (!!!!), turning down $0.09B, and very effectively positioning himself as conservative by talking about the $0.09B.

    Watch out for this guy.

  16. SanderO says:

    The government cannot let these shares fall much further, since a bank run becomes more imminent with every penny lost. We already have the insane situation that Citi has received some $50 billion in public funds, but has a market cap of only slightly above $10 billion. It should be obvious by now that the issue should have been dealt with much sooner, and in a totally different fashion.

  17. SanderO says:

    And that constitutes a very big threat to US banking as a whole. It will take years if not decades to unravel the rotting corpses of all the banks that will fail in the next few years. The FDIC doesn’t have the funds, the people nor the expertise to handle most of it. And there’s no Plan B either. More funding for the FDIC would mean more debt issued by the government, on top of the $2 trillion or so that lies waiting on the shelves to be thrown into the bond markets. Allowing banks to grow bigger than governments is a death threat to entire nations and societies. To figure that one out, all you need to do is ask Iceland. And, going by population numbers, multiply that country’s misery a thousand times to get to what the US is in for.

  18. SanderO says:

    Eastern Europe will muddle on through, albeit with violent protests and political upheaval, in a world that its citizens are familiar with. The Anglo-Saxon part of the planet will wake up to a whole new day, and do so tragically unprepared. The chaos that must ensue makes predictions hard to deliver, but one thing is clear: the next decade will see preciously few quiet days.

  19. ThingsComeUndone says:

    I think we should target Bobby because we all think the economy will get worse so it follows that a moron who rejects Stimulus money during a Depression should be real easy to take out on election day.
    I would rather the Netroots get the Credit for the easiest out so far on the GOP side than Rahm. We should announce he is our target now.

  20. SanderO says:

    If it’s Friday, there must be a bank failing somewhere across the country. For six consecutive weeks, industry regulators have seized control of a bank after the market closed on Friday, bringing the total number of failed banks so far this year to 14. To put that into perspective, 25 banks failed in 2008, suggesting that the rate of failures is quickening as the economic crisis deepens. “We’ll have a banner year [of failures] this year,” said Stuart Greenbaum, retired dean and professor emeritus at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. At the current rate, nearly 100 institutions — with a combined $50 billion in assets — will collapse by year’s end.

  21. lobster says:

    Can’t find a link for my $7.9B number, but here is an (oldish) link for $3.8B.

    My basic point stands: he is taking the vast majority of the money coming his way and grandstanding on a relative pittance.

  22. Loo Hoo. says:

    YAAAY TWolf! Erkel Jindal it is!

    As eCAHNomics said on Friday when the news came out, Erkel just committed political suicide.

      • RevBev says:

        I heard it was all related to the confused response to Katrina; the LA dim bulbs finally said they wanted someone Smart…so they chose the smart guy.

        • bmaz says:

          I’ll give Jindal this much, he IS very smart, and thinks and speaks well on his feet. Do not underestimate the guy, he is scary competent for a wingnut.

            • bmaz says:

              Heh, yeah I know that probably came off as a Joe Biden malaprop, but it was not meant that way. I saw the guy make a couple of speeches extemporaneously during and after some hurricane a while back. He as governor was walking neighborhoods and he worked off of the top of his head, not notes and came across really well and sincere too. It was impressive.

    • ThingsComeUndone says:

      The worker in other states Thank Bobby for the jobs….Sucker!
      No one ever got to the White House turning down jobs in a Depression. I wonder if some GOPer put him up to this to take him out of the running for President?

      • lobster says:

        TCU: Don’t fall for this ploy! He is accepting $7.7B and turning down $0.09B. He is a hypocrite, taking practically all the stimulus money coming his way and pretending not to.

  23. SanderO says:

    Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis. Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union. He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system. “We witnessed the collapse of the financial system,” Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. “It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”

  24. lobster says:

    Via TPM, I found a $7.7B estimate for what Jindal is acccepting from the stimulus here. (Click on the state of Louisiana.)

    Sadlyyes, I don’t remember how he got elected. He’s a nutcase, but smart. Unfortunately, I think bmaz fell for his grandstanding on this one. He is a hypocrite, through and through.

  25. Synoia says:

    “was able to offer enough economic concessions to attract industrialists like ThyssenKrupp AG?”

    Oh, a bribe?

  26. iremember54 says:

    Laugh all You want at Jindal but we lost all the convienence stores. And the Govornor of Louisiana is a stepping stone. President Jindal might be next. Still might be better than Palin. Lets hope then he doesn’t change his name back.

    • freepatriot says:

      And the Govornor of Louisiana is a stepping stone

      this yutz couldn’t hold Huey’s bribe sack

      Earl’s either

      if ya wanna appeal to the hicks, ya gotta help the hick

      this guy don’t look like no hick …

  27. MsAnnaNOLA says:

    I am so late to this thread…but…

    Jindal is no doubt positioning for a national run, probably for Pres. He is an ideologue through and through. Bush lackey is what I call him. So this little kabuki dance is right up his alley.

    He has probably arranged for the Legislature to over ride him so we get the money but he stays ideologically pure and enhances his “true fiscal conservative” chops. Our turn coat dem representative from these parts helped elect a republican speaker of the house so he probably has the leg tied up.

    He probably is counting on the fact that the Fed is saying Louisiana is not in a recession yet. He better hope LA doesn’t go down the tubes super fast. That could make re-election hard. Of course this guy has never held any job for more than two years so maybe he is not planning to run for re-election….

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