Letter: Absent Jindal should repay state

How is it that our governor can be absent from work one out of four days and has no accountability to us who pay his salary? I feel he should repay that portion of his salary back to us, the taxpayers.

Although he might be the chief executive of Louisiana, we deserve more service for the dollars he has received. Why hasn’t anybody asked these hard questions and insisted upon executive accountability? Who gets 88 days’ paid leave after five or six years at a state job? Thanks for the service, governor.

Gerard Gravois

cook

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Whatnow - 19/03/2013

Progressive hypocrisy! It's only okay when a Democrat does the same thing. Agagent is correct.

2) Comment by Bouncer - 18/03/2013

Don't read them? Not a chance! I would never miss the opportunity to get a good laugh from your squawking. You have yourself a great little day now, Polly Parrot.

3) Comment by Whatnow - 17/03/2013

Scrooge and Bouncer, if you don't like my posts, don't read them.

4) Comment by Bouncer - 16/03/2013

Well stated, Scrooge. My consistent observation has been that the self-professed "Independent" who is the object of your scrutiny is about as "independent" as a trained parrot....but not quite as lucid of speech.

5) Comment by agagent - 16/03/2013

No elected official should use taxpayer funds for personal use. Obama is the biggest abuser, by far. Obama has spent several billion dollars of taxpayer funds, mostly on campaign and fund-raising trips. Under normal economic times taxpayers might not mind his extravagant vacations for himself, his family, and their entourage; and his very costly personal events at the white house, but Obama is living large while millions of citizens are suffering.

6) Comment by Scrooge - 16/03/2013

Whatnow, this is the last time I will write this but simply, your posts don't make sense. It has nothing to do with your political persuasion. If you intent is to convince others of the validity of your views, posting incoherent babble doesn't work. If your intent is not to convince others of the validity of your views, why do you bother to post when you could accomplish the same results by shouting down your toilet bowl? Secondly, by casting questioning and skepticism as liberal and progressive, there is the risk of casting one's own self professed persuasions as dumb, mindless allegiance which again does little to persuade others of the ascendancy of one's views. Personally, I read these forums to try to better understand the cultural ethos which drives Louisiana (may be incomprehensible) but it is highly disheartening and sad to read what are presumably opinions expressed in a mangled mess of the English language. The development of the ability to think and write clearly transcends primitive politic. Read InPville's posts for an example of a conservative mind that is able to think and express itself clearly.

7) Comment by Whatnow - 15/03/2013

twinkie1cat, like when he visited all those companies that went bust like Soylandra? Obama doesn't do anything that doesn't further HIS agenda and HIS agenda is not American's agenda. Only half of America voted for him. He doesn't pay for his vacations out of his salary. And what about the unnecessary wars now? What about cutting salaries of our soldiers now and wanting them to pay for their insurance and schooling. Who did that? It wasn't Bush. You babble constantly about how wonderful Obama is doing when he is doing a lot of the same things you accuse Bush of, only worse. Bush didn't want to kill Americans that he thinks are traitors without due Process. He killed a 16 year old American boy without due process and if Bush had done that you would stroke out! Congress is the ones who spends the money and the Dems had control of it when the economy tanked. They also lied about the status of Fannie and Freddie. You remind me of the three monkeys who "Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil" when it comes to Obama. Playing with Tiger Woods was enough money to keep the White House open. Bush was no saint, but Obama just pours more gas on the fire. I am not a Republican. I am a Conservative Independent and not a hypocritical "Pavlovian' Progressive.

8) Comment by Bouncer - 15/03/2013

The worst thing about Piyush's frequent absence from the state is that he always, ALWAYS, finds his way back. Now, *that's* a shame.

9) Comment by twinkie1cat - 15/03/2013

Every business trip the POTUS or the FLOTUS takes is connected to the good of America, because he represents our entire country. The president also has a right to periodic vacations. I suspect they are in his contract and he may just be paying for them out of his salary. Plus, he is constantly in touch and just a plane ride away should he need to be back in Washington immediately. Trips are part of his job.>>>>>>>Now as for Republicans, W.Bush spent more time at his ranch than he did in the White House. He was always napping. Where was all the concern for money when the Republicans were wasting our money with unnecessary wars? Profligate? Obama? He got Osama bin Laden taken out with 8 men and a dog! Then he arranged for his brother-in-law's capture! Bush wasted the lives of thousands of soldiers trying to do that and then didn't want to pay for their medical care and destroyed our economy and now the teapartiers are trying to increase that destruction by fighting his programs----those racist hooligans. And why shouldn't he play golf with Tiger Woods? People would complain if he didn't exercise and got fat. He's the President. He can play with anyone he wants to! Y'all are such a bunch of Republicans!

10) Comment by twinkie1cat - 15/03/2013

Good point. Port Allen is all over Mayor Demetric Slaughter for taking one $2400 trip to DC for the inauguration. Why is the governor getting away spending thousands (millions?) of dollars for political trips that serve only to benefit the Republican party, not Louisiana and to nose in other states'business, like when he went to Iowa to stand against their gay marriage law. There needs to be more than a payback of the taxpayers here. The state GOP needs to cover JIndal's expenses UP FRONT whenever he travels for business that is not planned as a DIRECT benefit for Louisiana, for example, CPAC, If he has a meeting with an out of state business to see if they would like to locate here, that we can pay for with proper paperwork and a full, public record report of what the meeting was about and what decisions were made, if any. The expenses covered for political meetings must also include the cost of the state troopers, required by law to accompany him. Everything Jindal says involves spending cuts. He needs to set the example and start cutting his own expenses.

11) Comment by Whatnow - 15/03/2013

I find it hilarious when people find fault with Jindal that they don't see the President doing the same thing. They don't seem to care that he closes down our White House while we spend a fortune for him to play golf with Tiger Woods. Who pays his salary while he's not at the White House playing golf, constantly traveling and campaigning for his agenda and all those vacations? And don't even bring up all of the FLOTUS's vacations. Where's the outrage then? Mr. Gravois, I find your complaints picayune and hypocritical.

12) Comment by [e-mail] - 15/03/2013

Where was all this fiscal concern when the Democrats were running things. Just recall the hyperbole used whenever a Republican White House spent a dime, and compare it to the love and admiration expressed for the profligate Obama's, who've blown more money on frivolous nonsense for themselves than any White House in history.

13) Comment by Bighug - 15/03/2013

It's time we fired him for excessive absenteeism.