Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is a Republican politician and the current governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana.[1] Before his election as governor, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, to which he was elected in 2004 to succeed current U.S. Senator David Vitter. Jindal was re-elected to Congress in the 2006 election with 88 percent of the vote.
On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54% of the vote. At age 36, Jindal became the youngest current governor in the United States. He also became the first non-white to serve as governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, the first elected Indian American governor in U.S. history, as well as the second Asian American governor to serve in the continental United States after Gary Locke of Washington.
Personal life
Piyush Jindal (pronounced /ˈdʒɪndəl/) was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to recently arrived Punjabi Indian immigrants Amar and Raj Jindal, who were attending graduate school. His father left India and his ancestral family village of Khanpura in 1970.[2] His mother, Raj Jindal, is an information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor.[3] According to family lore, Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" from the character Bobby Brady after watching The Brady Bunch television series at age four. He has been known by that name ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal.[4]
Jindal was a Hindu, but converted to Catholicism in high school.[5] He has also offered his religious testimony before Baptist and Pentecostal congregations.[6] He attended public school at Baton Rouge Magnet High School and graduated when he was 17. Following high school, Jindal enrolled, and eventually graduated, from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with honors in biology and public policy. Afterwards, he received a master's degree in political science from New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.
After Oxford, he joined McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he advised Fortune 500 companies. Most notable was his work for Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal.citation needed
In 1997 Jindal married Supriya Jolly (born 1972). The couple have three children: Selia Elizabeth, Shaan Robert, and Slade Ryan. On August 15, 2006, Bobby Jindal assisted in delivering his third child when his wife awoke from sleep in labor.[7]
Government service
In 1995 Republican U.S. Representative Jim McCrery (for whom Jindal had once worked as a summer intern) introduced Jindal to Republican Governor Mike Foster[8] In 1996 Foster appointed Jindal to be secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, an agency which then represented about 40 percent of the state budget. During his tenure as secretary, Louisiana's Medicaid program went from bankruptcy with a $400 million deficit into three years of surpluses totaling $220 million. Jindal was criticized during the 2007 campaign by the Louisiana AFL-CIO for having closed some local clinics to balance the budget.[9] In 1998 Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare.
In 1999, at the request of the Louisiana Governor's Office and the Louisiana State Legislature, Jindal volunteered his time to study how Louisiana might use its $4.4 billion tobacco settlement. In that same year Jindal was appointed to become the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana System. In March 2001 he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation.[10] He was later unanimously confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the United States Senate and began serving on July 9, 2001. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.[11] He resigned from that post on February 21, 2003, to return to Louisiana and run for governor.[12]
2003 campaign for Governor
Jindal came to national prominence during the 2003 election for Louisiana governor.
In what Louisianans call an "open primary" (but which is technically a jungle primary), Jindal finished first with 33 percent of the vote. He received endorsements from the largest paper in Louisiana, the New Orleans Times-Picayune; the newly-elected Democratic mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin; and the outgoing Republican governor, Mike Foster. In the second balloting, Jindal faced the outgoing lieutenant governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette, a Democrat. Despite winning in Blanco's hometown, he lost many normally conservative parishes in north Louisiana, and Blanco prevailed with 52 percent of the popular vote.
Political analysts have speculated on myriad explanations for his loss. Some have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several advertisements,[13] which the Jindal Campaign called "negative attack ads"; others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remain more comfortable voting for a Democrat, especially a conservative one, than for a Republican. Still others have mentioned the race factor, arguing that some voters were uncomfortable voting for a non-white person or that, in having to choose between color and gender as discriminators, enough white male voters preferred a white female over a dark male to tip the balance to Blanco, while women voters would favor Blanco.
Despite his losing the election in 2003, the run for governor made Jindal a well-known figure on the state's political scene.
Congressman of the first district
- See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2006
A few weeks after the 2003 gubernatorial runoff, Jindal decided to run for Louisiana's 1st congressional district. The incumbent, David Vitter, was running for the Senate seat being vacated by John Breaux. Jindal moved to Kenner, to run for the congressional seat. The Louisiana Republican Party endorsed him in the primary despite the fact that Mike Rogers, also a Republican, was running for the same seat. The 1st District has been in Republican hands since a 1977 special election and is widely considered to be the most conservative district in Louisianacitation needed. Although Democrats have a plurality in voter registrationcitation needed, the district tends to vote for socially conservative candidates. Jindal also had an advantage because his campaign was able to raise over $1 million dollars very early in the campaign, making it harder for other candidates to effectively raise funds to oppose him. He won the 2004 Election with 78 percent of the vote.
He was elected freshman class president and was appointed to the House Committee on Homeland Security, the House Committee on Resources, and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He was made vice-chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks.
On May 3, 2008 a special election was held to determine Jindal's replacement. Steve Scalise, a state legislator, was elected with 75 percent of the vote over University of New Orleans professor Dr. Gilda Reed. [14]
Governor of Louisiana
- See also: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2007
On January 22, 2007, Jindal announced his candidacy for governor.[15]
Polling data showed him with an early lead in the race, and he remained the favorite throughout the campaign. He defeated eleven opponents in the jungle primary held on October 20, including two prominent Democrats, State Senator Walter Boasso of Chalmette and Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier City, and an independent, New Orleans businessman John Georges.
Jindal finished with 699,672 votes (54 percent). Boasso ran second with 226,364 votes (17 percent). Georges finished with 186,800 (14 percent), and Campbell, who is also a former state senator, ran fourth with 161,425 (12 percent). The remaining candidates collectively polled three percent of the vote. Jindal polled pluralities or majorities in 60 of the state's 64 parishes (equivalent to counties in other states). He lost narrowly to Georges in Orleans Parish, to Boasso in St. Bernard Parish (which Boasso represented the in Legislature), and in the two neighboring north Louisiana parishes of Red River and Bienville located south of Shreveport, both of which are historically Democratic and supported Campbell. In the 2003 contest with Blanco, Jindal had lost most of the northern parishes.[16]
Jindal assumed the position of governor when he took the oath of office on January 14, 2008. At 36, he became the youngest sitting governor in the United States. He is also Louisiana's first non-white governor since P. B. S. Pinchback served for 35 days during Reconstruction.[17]
In a salute to the 2007 LSU Tigers football national championship team during his January 14, 2008 inauguration speech, Jindal stated in part "...They revere our athletes. Go Tigers...."[18]
Recall Petition
On June 27, 2008, Louisiana's Secretary of State confirmed that a recall petition had been filed against Governor Jindal. Ryan and Kourtney Fournier filed the petition in response to Jindal's refusal to veto a bill that would more than double the current state legislative pay. The petitioners have 180 days to collect the signatures of over 900,000 registered voters to force a recall election on the ballot. If accomplished, a simple majority would be needed to remove the Governor. During his campaign for Governor, Jindal had pledged to prevent legislative pay raises that would take effect during the current term. [19] [20] Jindal responded by saying that he is opposed to the pay increase but that he had pledged to let the legislature govern themselves. [21]
On June 30, 2008, Governor Jindal reversed his earlier position by vetoing the pay raise legislation, stating that he made a mistake by staying out of the pay raise issue. In response, the petitioners dropped their recall effort. [22]
Speculation over vice presidential nomination
Jindal at a John McCain campaign event in Kenner, Louisiana, June 2008
On February 8, 2008, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh mentioned on his syndicated show that Jindal could be a possible choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2008. He said that Jindal might be perceived as an asset to McCain's campaign because he has support in the conservative base of the Republican Party and his youth offsets Sen. McCain's age. If McCain were to win the presidency, he would be the oldest president ever inaugurated to a first term.[23] Heightening the speculation, McCain invited Jindal, Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and McCain's former rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee to meet with at McCain's home in Arizona on Friday, May 23, 2008, according to a Republican familiar with the decision; Romney, Huckabee, and Pawlenty, all of whom were already well acquainted with McCain, declined because of prior commitments.[24] The meeting, however, may actually have served a different purpose, such as consideration of Jindal for the opportunity to speak at the 2008 Republican National Convention, in a similar fashion to Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, cementing a place for him in the party and opening the gate for a future run for the presidency.[25] On May 28, 2008, a Google Hot Trends report[26] for internet searches originating in the United States indicated a higher ranking and interest in Gov. Bobby Jindal. The report compared the search term 'Jindal' Vs. other leading GOP VP contenders including Gov. Huckabee as well as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a favorite for the Democratic VP post.
Speculation was further fueled by simultaneous July 21, 2008, reports that Sen. McCain was making a sudden visit to Louisiana to again meet with Gov. Jindal and that Sen. McCain was readying to name his running mate within a week.
On July 23, 2008, Jindal said he will not be the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008.[27] Jindall added that he "never talked to the senator [McCain] about the vice presidency or his thoughts on selecting the vice president."[27]
Electoral history
Governor of Louisiana, 2003
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 4, 2003
| Candidate |
Affiliation |
Support |
Outcome |
| Bobby Jindal |
Republican |
443,389 (33%) |
Runoff |
| Kathleen Blanco |
Democratic |
250,136 (18%) |
Runoff |
| Richard Ieyoub |
Democratic |
223,513 (16%) |
Defeated |
| Claude "Buddy" Leach |
Democratic |
187,872 (14%) |
Defeated |
| Others |
n.a. |
257,614 (19%) |
Defeated |
Second Ballot, November 15, 2003
| Candidate |
Affiliation |
Support |
Outcome |
| Kathleen Blanco |
Democratic |
731,358 (52%) |
Elected |
| Bobby Jindal |
Republican |
676,484 (48%) |
Defeated |
U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District, 2004
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, November 2, 2004
| Candidate |
Affiliation |
Support |
Outcome |
| Bobby Jindal |
Republican |
225,708 (78%) |
Elected |
| Roy Armstrong |
Democratic |
19,266 (7%) |
Defeated |
| Others |
n.a. |
42,923 (15%) |
Defeated |
U. S. Representative, 1st Congressional District, 2006
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, November 7, 2006
| Candidate |
Affiliation |
Support |
Outcome |
| Bobby Jindal |
Republican |
130,508 (88%) |
Elected |
| David Gereighty |
Democratic |
10,919 (7%) |
Defeated |
| Others |
n.a. |
6,701 (5%) |
Defeated |
Governor of Louisiana, 2007
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, October 20, 2007
| Candidate |
Affiliation |
Support |
Outcome |
| Bobby Jindal |
Republican |
699,672 (54%) |
Elected |
| Walter Boasso |
Democratic |
226,364 (17%) |
Defeated |
| John Georges |
Independent |
186,800 (14%) |
Defeated |
| Foster Campbell |
Democratic |
161,425 (12%) |
Defeated |
| Others |
n.a. |
23,682 (3%) |
Defeated |
References
- ^ Nossiter, Adam. “In a Southern U.S. state, immigrants' son takes over”, International Herald Tribune (2007-10-22).
- ^ Jindal's ancestral village celebrates his victory-Chandigarh-Cities-The Times of India
- ^ 2theadvocate.com | News | Jindal’s mother still with state — Baton Rouge, LA
- ^ [1] "He is Piyush, not Bobby," Rediff India Abroad, 16 November 2003
- ^ Whoriskey, Peter (2007-10-21). "Jindal Wins Louisiana Race, Becomes First Indian American Governor", Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
- ^ [2]"Jindal Throttles Back His High-Energy Style," Times Picayune, 13 June 2007
- ^ Rep. Jindal Delivers Son After Wife Wakes Up in Labor Fox News, August 15, 2006
- ^ "The Louisiana wunderkind: beholding Rep. Bobby Jindal", National Review
- ^ "Governor's race becomes a labor vs. business battle", The Town Talk
- ^ Biography of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, US Department of Health and Human Services. c. 2001. Accessed 25 Oct 2007.
- ^ Bobby's Experience
- ^ BOBBY JINDAL ANNOUNCES HE IS STEPPING DOWN AS HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PLANNING AND EVALUATION, US Department of Health and Human Services. February 13, 2003. Accessed 25 Oct 2007. "Jindal's resignation is effective Feb. 21."
- ^ Jindal counters Demo attacks http://www.nola.com
- ^ | Louisiana Secretary of State. For further information see the English Wikipedia article on Steve Scalise.
- ^ Jindal quietly begins his run The Times-Picayne, January 23, 2007
- ^ Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry
- ^ Whoriskey, Peter (2007-10-21). "Jindal Wins Louisiana Race, Becomes First Indian American Governor", The Washington Post, Washington Post Company, p. A8. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
- ^ Video of Gov. Jindal Inauguration speech
- ^ Recall petition filed against Jindal Times Picayune, June 27, 2008 Ryan and Kourtney Fournier of Jefferson submitted paperwork to the Secretary of State's office that allows them to attempt to collect the nearly 1 million signatures needed over the next 180 days to force a recall election of the governor... He had pledged during his campaign last year to prohibit an immediate legislative pay raise
- ^ Jindal Action Plan (pdf) via WJBO-AM.
- ^ Gov. Jindal's veto refusal contradicts candidate Jindal's campaign pledge. The Daily Advertiser. 2008-06-18. "I am very sorry to see the Legislature do this," he said. "More than doubling legislative pay is not reasonable and the public has been clear on that... I will keep my pledge to let [the legislature] govern themselves and make their own decisions as a separate branch of government. I will not let anything, even this clearly excessive pay raise, stop us from moving forward with a clear plan of reform."
- ^ Anderson, Ed. Jindal vetoes legislative raise. The Times Picayune. 2008-06-30. Gov. Bobby Jindal announced today that he has vetoed the legislative pay raise. After days of saying he would not reject the unpopular measure, Jindal said this morning that he had changed his mind. "I thank the people for their voice and their attention," Jindal said of the public outcry against the raise. "I am going to need your help to move this state forward. ... The voters have demanded change. . . . I made a mistake by staying out if it"
- ^ Curl, Joseph (2008-02-12). "Running mate guessing game begins". Washington Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-03.
- ^ Nagourney, Adam (2008-05-21). "McCain to meet possible running mates". New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
- ^ Dvorak, Blake (2008-05-22). "What About Jindal?". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ Google Trends: Bobby Jindal, Kathleen Sebelius
- ^ a b Jindal Says He's Not Interested in No. 2 Spot With McCain. Fox News. 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
External links
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Governors of Louisiana |
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| Reconstruction Era (1865-1868) |
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