Archive for the ‘Bobby Jindal’ Category

Georgia politics will be dominated by a trio of themes this week:

– Gov. Nathan Deal’s signing of HB 87, the illegal immigration bill;

– A tense race for the chairmanship of the state GOP, to be settled Saturday with the party convention in Macon;

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich/Associated Press

– And the arrival of the presidential campaign on our doorstep, through that partisan gathering in Macon.

A spokesman for Newt Gingrich, who is expected to announce his candidacy this week, confirmed today that reporters aren’t being directed to any brick-and-mortar location for the event.

Which leads one to suspect an Internet-based announcement that will point to Gingrich’s Friday evening speech in Macon at a Republican fund-raiser and a very friendly audience.

Updated at 10:45 a.m.: Rick Tyler, the Gingrich spokesman just sent a message saying candidacy announcement will come Wednesday, via Facebook and Twitter. An interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity will follow that …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Newt Gingrich to announce Wednesday, via Facebook and Twitter »

Backed by an endorsement this week from the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, is said to be angling for the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee.

He may have a chance. Who wants to sit in the most uncomfortable chair in Congress? From Politico.com:

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah. AP

[T]he Appropriations Committee just doesn’t seem to be the plum assignment it once was, and the line is short for new recruits to join a panel where the longtime focus on bringing home earmarks and other goodies will shift to finding $100 billion in spending cuts. Even conservative reformers who do get assigned to the committee are likely to be stymied once their appropriations bills reach the floor and get amended to death, then potentially earmarked into oblivion by a Democratic Senate.

“Anybody who’s a Republican right now, come June, is going to be accused of hating seniors, hating education, hating children, hating clean air and probably …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Georgia’s Jack Kingston as chairman of House Appropriations Committee? »

Bobby Jindal’s post-oil spill appearance at a Georgia GOP fund-raiser in downtown Atlanta last night looks more and more like one of many pre-2012 forays across the country by the Louisiana governor.

Meg Whitman, the GOP nominee for governor of California, left, with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal last week. AP/Justin Kase Conder

From Tom Baxter of InsiderAdvantage:

Jindal regaled Republicans at the annual Victory Dinner with stories of federal red tape and bureaucracy during the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.

This may have been the first gathering to bring together most of the opponents in this year’s Republican governor’s race, including Karen Handel, John Oxendine, Eric Johnson and the party’s nominee, Nathan Deal, who used the occasion to appeal for party unity in the upcoming election.

Jindal told the Georgia Republicans he has gotten used to people asking “How are you poor people doing down there,” after the series of disasters which have devastated the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: New Hampshire the next stop for Bobby Jindal »

Gary Black, the Republican nominee for agriculture commissioner, held a fundraiser at the Depot near the state Capitol on Thursday evening.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin/AJC

We were only there a few minutes, so we have no crowd count. But certainly the tallest man in the room was state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin – a Democrat who will be absent from the November ballot for the first time since most Georgians have been alive.

Why was he there?

“It’s a big job, a big department with a lot of people. He’s going to need some help,” said Irvin. And he was speaking of Black. Say what? asked a mentally sputtering reporter.

“I think he’s going to win,” said Irvin.

And somewhere in the distance, Democrat J.B. Powell of Blythe, Ga., the Democratic nominee for ag commissioner, is shaking his head and wondering why he ever agreed to leave the state Senate.

***

The Cato Institute, a Washington-based Libertarian group, has made its peace with Gov. Sonny …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Why Tommy Irvin was the tallest man at a Republican fundraiser »

Apparently a post-convention discussion of Sarah Palin’s speech got out of hand. This from the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief campaign fund-raiser is recovering from injuries she suffered in a Friday night altercation with a group of people in the French Quarter, the governor’s office said Monday.

Allee Bautsch suffered a broken leg and her boyfriend suffered a concussion and a fractured nose and jaw in the incident, which happened after a fundraising event at Brennan’s Restaurant on behalf of the Louisiana Republican Party on Friday evening.

Jindal was at the fund-raising event at the restaurant, but was not present when the incident occurred.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Jindal fund-raiser suffers a broken leg in Big Easy fight »

So who knew the Appalachian Trail stretched that far south?

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, debarking from a plane just in from Buenos Aires in Argentina.

His staff had said he’d been on a domestic hike to clear his head, but the South Carolina governor had left a trail of clues indicating this wasn’t actually the case. The State — the newspaper of record in the state capital — summarized the breadcrumbs this morning:

[Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer] admitted staffers still did not know the governor’s location. Sanford has been out of touch with staffers and family since leaving his security detail and driving off in a State Law Enforcement Division SUV on Thursday. The vehicle was spotted late Tuesday night at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, according to CNN.

— A mobile phone tower picked up his last known location near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday, according to a …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Where Mark Sanford has been could determine where he’s going »

The Associated Press this morning dings Bobby Jindal for security expenses associated with the Louisiana governor’s extensive travels and fund-raising, including an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Writes AP:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal/Associated Press

The state has paid at least $52,000 in trooper costs for Jindal’s fundraising and political travel, which amounts to more than half of the bodyguards’ expenses on all his out-of-state trips.

It’s cost taxpayers at least $98,000 to cover troopers’ airfare, meals, car rentals and hotels for all Jindal’s travel outside Louisiana, including economic development bids and meetings with members of Congress, the president or other governors.

Jindal says he always touts Louisiana when he’s on the road. The aggressive political travel, he said, is to ensure he has enough money for a 2011 re-election bid.

Evidence that his eye remains on his re-elect — and not a presidential bid — comes with a tidbit …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Bobby Jindal and his travel entourage »

The New Orleans Times-Picayune is spilling cold water on a report that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal would run for the U.S. Senate in 2010:

New York Magazine journalist John Heilemann mentions the rumor about Jindal during an appearance as a panelist [Sunday] on The Chris Matthews Show, according to the media industry blog TVNewser, which obtained a transcript of the recorded program in advance of this morning’s broadcast.

“I was down in New Orleans, and I heard a great rumor that Bobby Jindal, who we were just talking about as a potential presidential candidate for the Republican party, is thinking about giving up the governorship and running for Senate against David Vitter, or for Vitter’s seat if Vitter doesn’t run,” Heilemann said, according to the blog site.

Vitter, also a Republican, has been raising money for his re-election campaign for a second term. Revelations about his relations with prostitutes have marred his reputation and led to speculation that he might be …

Continue reading Jindal: No run for U.S. Senate in 2010 »

This morning, the Associated Press takes a look at reactions of Republican governors toward this Texas lawsuit the U.S. Supreme Court will hear late this month, aimed at overturning the toothiest provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

Says the AP:

Republican Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Bob Riley of Alabama have asserted in court filings that the continued obligation of their states to get advance approval for all changes involving elections is unnecessary and expensive in view of significant progress they have made to overcome blatant and often brutal discrimination against blacks.

Perdue in particular singled out Section 5 of the the Voting Rights Act, which means any election law must receive federal approval before it goes into effect. See an earlier post on the topic here. To continue:

Riley said blacks in Alabama register to vote and cast ballots in proportions similar to whites and that black lawmakers make up about one-quarter of the Legislature, reflecting the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Southern GOP governors and the Voting Rights Act »

Redoubt Volcano as seen from Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday. Photo credit: Associated Press

This from McClatchy News Service:

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Monday she’ll introduce legislation this week to establish regular funding for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, just one month after fellow Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized the stimulus bill pushed by President Barack Obama for containing spending for volcano monitoring.

‘The multiple eruptions of Alaksa’s Mount Redoubt, which on Monday force the cancellation for several hours of all air service in and out of Anchorage, underscores the need for a reliable and steady budget for volcano observation at the five volcanic observatories run by the U.S. Geological Survey, Murkowski said.

She is proposing a $15 million annual budget for the USGS to run a national early warning and monitoring system.

It just never made sense for someone from Louisiana to criticize spending on a disaster warning …

Continue reading An Alaskan slap at Bobby Jindal over volcano monitoring »