Gov. Bobby Jindal should reimburse taxpayers for church trips, pastor says

[Joanne98]

Source: AP


A Monroe pastor who heads a national interfaith organization says Gov. Bobby Jindal should pay his own way, rather than use taxpayer dollars when he travels to church services around the state.
A recent review by The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge showed Jindal's use of state helicopters for church trips cost taxpayers at least $45,000 over five months this year.


The Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the liberal Interfaith Alliance, sent a letter to the governor this week, saying Jindal should reimburse the state for the trips.

Jindal has said he visits a church when he receives an invitation by the church leader or a member of the congregation. He says the visits help him meet Louisianians around the state, and he says he schedules meetings with local officials when he flies to church services


Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/09/gov_bobby_jindal_should_reimbu.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Well, at least I wasn't having diaper sex with hookers. Smirk." - Bobby J. (R)

"I think my Republicon Family Values around graft and grift are, like, um, way better than other Louisiana Republicon Family Values guys, like, say, Sen. Diaper Dave Vitter and his Holy Crusade for the Sanctity of Marriage, and shit like that. Smirk."

Bobby J. (Family Values Republicon Homelander)

[saigon68]

15. Hmmm

He looks like he just smoked some Crack

Look at his eyes

[indepat]

2. What a f-head!

:P

[Magleetis]

3. Piyush

Is flying around he state going to various churches. He is loved in rural Louisiana where the population is predominately bible thumping southern baptists. He is basically campaigning at rural churches. This one is a real snake in the grass. He is slashing education budgets at the same time he is giving millions to corporations. He wants to create a population of christian obedient workers.

[Zorra]

4. The Reverend Dr. Welton Gaddy has long been an advocate for the separation

of church and state. His radio program "State of Belief" has had some really informative exposés on conservative churches using their pulpits for political purposes.

He knows his stuff, so I suspect Jindal is going to have to pony up the cash to pay back the constituents he has been defrauding.

[xxqqqzme]

6. He will pay nothing.

He is governor so he is chosen. Separation of church & state do not apply to him!

To paraphrase Rachel - IOCWDDI (It Only Counts When Democrats Do It)

[vinylsolution]

5. Anyone seen Jindal's birth certificate?

.... just wonderin'....

[ScottLand]

9. Good point!

[No Elephants]

17. Does Louisiana law require the Gov to have been born in the US?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. He's a 2012 Rethug hopeful.

We need to vet him early to make sure we don't get some sort of muslin terrorist mole.

[No Elephants]

20. He's not a hopeful after his pathetic response to Obama's speech. Stick a fork in that

crawdaddy.

[customerserviceguy]

7. Just to look at the other side of this for a moment

Would we really be upset if these trips were to other parts of his state, and he went to restaurants? Also, he is Catholic, these were visits to non-Catholic churches, as I understand it. Is it the fundie thing that's the problem, or the travel?

If we are in unison on this, will we object as loudly if President Obama attends a church while he's visiting around the country? Or do we examine the politics of the church in question before we pronounce that it's OK or not?

I'm an atheist, and to me, all churches are equally invalid. But I know that many of my fellow citizens disagree with me, and if I were their representative, I would attempt to honor their freedom of religion and their choice of what to believe.

[bluedigger]

8. You make some good points.

I would like to know where Bobby has been invited, and which invitations he has accepted. If he can nominally demonstrate that his visits are nondenominational, he may be able to make a case. If he is visiting only his own faith, he needs to pony up. Otherwise, it will be difficult to make a case. Particularly if the believers who disagree with him haven't asked him to visit.

[No Elephants]

22. Meh. He's campagning and should be using campaign funds, not state funds.

[PSzymeczek]

11. Meals are a necessity of life.

Campaign appearances at churches (fundie or not), on the other hand, are not a necessity of life. So the restaurant comparison doesn't really apply.

[customerserviceguy]

12. Meals are a necessity of life

Restaurant meals aren't.

Bobby Jindal lives in a state where his constituents go to church. If he had visited a Jewish congregation, would you feel more kindly towards it?

Any time a politician goes where his or her constituents are, that is part of the job. Especially when the religious tradition of the place where the pol visits are different from his/her own.

[No Elephants]

23. Taking a state helicopter to a restaurant is not a necessity of life, though. No one is objecting

to his eating or to his worshipping, only to his use of the state helicopter.

[No Elephants]

19. Of course, he should not use the state helicopter to go to a restaurant, either.

[customerserviceguy]

25. That's where I wish this discussion had focused

Helicopters are dandy for getting to places that have no landing strips, where the alternative is a long arduous auto ride. They're also good for surveying disaster sites, if you buy into the theory that shaking one's head in sorrow for a TV camera is managing a disaster.

[ScottLand]

10. I can't look at (or listen to) Bobby Jindal

without thinking of Kenneth from 30 Rock. This just make him seem even more like him.

[dballance]

13. What a Sucker "Issue" It had to be planted by GOP strategists.

I can't express how angry I am so many people took the bait on this. The GOP is laughing their big, fat, corporate asses off right now.

Piyush Jindal (aka "Bobby" - not part of the Bradys - despite the fact that's where he got his new name) is the governor of his state. Bitching about the expense of Piyush's flying around that state to meet with his constituents is so ridiculous I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed so many people were dumb enough to let themselves be manipulated by Piyush Jindal and the GOP into bitching about it.

Piyush Jindal is the governor of LA. Piyush has an obligation to reach out and visit his constituents. So I can't muster the anger to feel Piyush is doing something wrong if he uses state funds to fly around the state. Contact with "the people" is part of Piyush's job

The HUGE FLIPPING ISSUE I HAVE is that Piyush seems to only fly to Christian services. We have a Constitution and Bill of Rights that dictate Piyush has a responsibility to ensure he's giving the Zoroastrians, the Wiccans, the Hindus, the Shinto, the the Jewish, the Muslims, the atheists and any other religious group the same face-time he gives Christians.

His trips to any Christian congregation clearly demonstrate how unfit

It doesn't seem to me he's respecting the First Amendment.

Stop focusing on money it costs for this little prick to travel to churches. Focus on how his trips to Christian churches compare to his trips to Temples, Mosques, Synagogues and his whether or not he engages agnostics and atheists. Then pressure the little shit to live up to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Make him stop discriminating against the people who don't share his Christian faith. Make him give equal time to those religions and people who don't follow the same faith he follows. In other words, make him be fair.

This is where you find Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is violating his trust of the people of his state.

[subcomhd]

14. Zoroastrians. Bossier City Zoroastrians!

nt

[Louisiana1976]

16. It could be worse--he could be going overseas

to have an affair the way Gov. Sanford did....

[Deja Q]

21. Gee Jingo, what happened to 'pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps'?

What a pathetic leech he is on society.

Never mind the separation between church and state...

[and-justice-for-all]

24. Saw this in Democracy Now...what a fucker..nt