BATON ROUGE – As Gov. Bobby Jindal and his handlers begin their doomed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, they are already making it clear that neither the demands of Jindal’s day job nor Louisiana state law will stand in the way of his vanity and his ambition. By using the state governor’s office to begin his intra-party mudslinging, Jindal flagrantly violated Article XI, 4 of the Louisiana Constitution, which prohibits the use of public funds to urge “any elector to vote for or against any candidate”.
Ignoring the ongoing struggles in the state legislature to wrestle with the impact of his $1.6 billion budget disaster, Jindal instead used the resources of his office to attack Sen. Rand Paul on foreign policy. Setting aside the staggering hypocrisy of a failed governor like Jindal calling anyone else “unsuited to be Commander-In-Chief,” his illegal use of Louisiana public funds to do his dirty work disqualifies him for higher office right out of the gate.
“Just last week, the Jindal machine was flirting with illegality by blurring the line between fundraisers for his campaign and invited receptions at the governor’s mansion. With this attack on Paul, they blatantly crossed the line into breaking the law,” said Stephen Handwerk, executive director for the Louisiana Democratic Party. “We’re calling on the state attorney general to begin an immediate investigation into this flagrant abuse of power and violation of the law. The state constitution is crystal clear on this point: Jindal broke the law. And he hasn’t even officially started his campaign yet!”
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