Bobby Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal
55th Governor of Louisiana
Incumbent
Assumed office January 14, 2008
Lieutenant	Mitch Landrieu
Preceded by	Kathleen Blanco
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district
In office January 3, 2005 – January 14, 2008
Preceded by	David Vitter
Succeeded by	Steve Scalise
Personal details
Born	(1971-06-10) June 10, 1971 Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Supriya Jindal
Children	Selia Elizabeth Shaan Robert Slade Ryan
Residence	Kenner, Louisiana
Alma mater	Brown University (B.A.) Oxford University (M.Litt.)
Profession	Consultant (business)

Bobby and Supriya Jolly Jindal meet with then-President George W. Bush

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is the Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana. A Republican, before his election as governor, he was member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, to which he was elected in 2004 to succeed now U.S. Senator David Vitter. Jindal was re-elected to the House in the 2006 election with 88 percent of the vote. He was the second ever Indian American elected to Congress.

On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54.2% 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 P. B. S. Pinchback during Reconstruction; one of fewer than ten people not of mainly European ancestry elected governor of a state after Reconstruction; and the first United States governor of Indian descent.

Jindal has been mentioned as a potential candidate in the 2012 and 2016 United States presidential elections, and is considered by many to be one of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination.

Personal life

Piyush Jindal was born on June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Agarwal Indian immigrants Amar and Raj Jindal, who had recently arrived for Amar to attend graduate school at Louisiana State University. His father, Amar, left Punjab in India and his ancestral family village of Khanpura, Malerkotla in 1970. Amar has a degree in civil engineering. His mother, Raj, is an information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor. Jindal also has a younger brother named Nikesh (born 1978). Nikesh went to both Dartmouth and Yale, and is now a lawyer in Washington, D. C.. Jindal's self-adopted nickname, "Bobby", dates to his childhood and his identification with the sitcom character Bobby Brady. According to Jindal, "Every day after school, I'd come home and I'd watch The Brady Bunch. And I identified with Bobby, you know? He was about my age, and 'Bobby' stuck." He has been known by his choice of nickname ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—but his legal name remains Piyush Jindal.

Jindal was raised in a Hindu household, but converted to Christianity during high school; and during his first year at Brown University, he was baptized Roman Catholic. The Jindal family attends weekly Mass at Saint Aloysius Parish in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jindal's Catholic faith includes a solidarity with other Christian denominations; he has given speeches and offered religious testimony before Baptist and Pentecostal congregations. He attended public school at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. After high school, Jindal attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy. Although he had thought of a career in medicine or law, he went on to study at New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar and received an M.Litt. degree in political science from the University of Oxford in 1994 for a thesis on "A needs-based approach to health care". Later that year, he was reported to have been accepted at Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, and to have the option of returning to Oxford for a D.Phil. in politics. However, after Oxford, he joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he advised Fortune 500 companies.

In 1997 Jindal married Supriya Jolly (born 1972). Supriya earned a bachelor's degree at Tulane University in chemical engineering . She also has an M.B.A. degree from Tulane University, and has finished most of her Ph.D. marketing coursework at Louisiana State University, with only the dissertation project remaining. The couple have three children: Selia Elizabeth, Shaan Robert, and Slade Ryan.

Government service

In 1993 Republican U.S. Representative Jim McCrery (for whom Jindal had once worked as a summer intern) introduced Jindal to Republican Governor Mike Foster. In 1996 Foster appointed Jindal to be secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, an agency that 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. 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 share of the 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. He was later unanimously confirmed by a 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. He resigned from that post on February 21, 2003, to return to Louisiana and run for governor.

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 nonpartisan blanket 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, 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, 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 noted his defeat in typically conservative parishes in the northern portion of the state as evidence of racial prejudice against the Indian-American Jindal. 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. The Louisiana Republican Party endorsed him in the primary although 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 staunchly conservative. Jindal also had an advantage because his campaign was able to raise over $1 million 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 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.

Governor of Louisiana

See also: Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2007

On January 22, 2007, Jindal announced his candidacy for governor. 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 nonpartisan blanket 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 in the 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.

As governor-elect Jindal named a new ethics team, with Shreveport businesswoman Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee, the first woman to have served in the state senate, as the vice chairman of the panel. Jindal assumed the position of governor when he took the oath of office on January 14, 2008. At thirty-six, 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 thirty-five days during Reconstruction, and the first non-white governor to be elected (Pinchback succeeded to the position of Lieutenant Governor on the death of Oscar Dunn, then to Governor upon the impeachment of Henry Clay Warmoth).

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...."

On May 3, 2008 a special election was held to determine Jindal's replacement in the 1st Congressional District. Steve Scalise, a state legislator, was elected with 75 percent of the vote over University of New Orleans professor Dr. Gilda Reed.

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 had 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 have been 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. Jindal responded by saying that he is opposed to the pay increase but that he had pledged to let the legislature govern themselves.

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.

Louisiana state government watchdog C.B. Forgotston, former counsel to the House Appropriations Committee who supported Jindal's election in 2007, has expressed disappointment with the governor in regard to the legislative pay raise and other fiscal issues too. Forgotston, a Hammond lawyer, said he would grade Jindal an A in self-promotion and a D in performance in office.

Jindal negotiated giving Foster Farms, a private chicken processor, $50 million in taxpayer funds to purchase a chicken processing plant owned by bankrupt Pilgrim's_Pride allowing Foster Farms to open the plant with less than one half of the employees Pilgrim's Pride employed. Pilgrim's Pride founder Lonnie "Bo Pilgrim contributed $2500 to Jindal's campaign in 2007. Other contributors to Jindal's campaign who received economic development payments or benefited from economic development spending include Albemarle and the owners of Edison Chouest Offshore.

Hurricane Gustav

Jindal oversaw one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history in late August 2008 prior to the Louisiana landfall of Hurricane Gustav. He issued mandatory evacuation orders for the state’s coastal areas and activated 3,000 National Guardsman to aid in the exodus. Government officials vacated hospitals and nursing homes and put the poor, the ill, and the elderly on buses and trains out of town. The evacuation was credited as one reason that Gustav only resulted in 16 deaths in the U.S. Jindal had been scheduled to address the Republican National Convention, but cancelled his plans to focus on Louisiana’s needs during the storm.

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 John McCain's campaign because he has support in the conservative base of the Republican Party and his youth offsets McCain's age. If McCain had won the presidency, he would have been the oldest president ever inaugurated to a first term. Heightening the speculation, McCain invited Jindal, Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and McCain's former rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee to meet at McCain's home in Arizona on 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. The meeting may 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. Speculation was fueled by simultaneous July 21, 2008, reports that McCain was making a sudden visit to Louisiana to again meet with Jindal and that McCain was readying to name his running mate within a week. However, on July 23, 2008, Jindal said he would not be the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008. Jindal added that he "never talked to the senator [McCain] about the vice presidency or his thoughts on selecting the vice president." Ultimately, on August 29, 2008, McCain chose then-Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his running mate. While Jindal was invited to speak at the party convention, he was not offered the prominence of delivering a keynote speech.

Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress

On February 24, 2009 Jindal delivered the official Republican response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. Jindal called the president's economic stimulus plan “irresponsible” and argued against government intervention. He used Hurricane Katrina to warn against government solutions to the economic crisis. "Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us," Jindal said. "Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts." He praised the late sheriff Harry Lee for standing up to the government during Katrina. David Johnson, a Republican political strategist criticized Jindal's mention of Hurricane Katrina stating "“The one thing Republicans want to forget is Katrina.” Jindal's speech was poorly received even among some Republicans, conservative commentators were among his harshest critics, calling his speech "a disaster for the Republican Party".

Jindal's story of meeting Lee in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was questioned following the speech, as Jindal was not in New Orleans at the time. On February 27, 2009, a spokesman for Jindal clarified the timing of the meeting, stating that the story took place days after the storm. Many have questioned Jindal's inclusion of Lee in his speech; as Lee (a popular Democrat) died in 2007 and there were no possibilities of proving Jindal's one-sided account of the events.

Use of Taxpayer Funded Helicopters to Churches

In mid-2009, the Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge reviewed helicopter records obtained through public information requested and verified that from March 2, 2009 to July 20, 2009, Jindal used taxpayer funded helicopter and State Police pilots to travel to far-flung parts of the state to attend various church services. A total of 14 trips were taken with a cost of $1,200 per hour to operate, about $45,000. It is believed that there are numerous other church service related helicopter travel not accounted and the costs would greatly exceed early estimates. Jindal's decision to use taxpayer fund to attend church services has been called into question, considering the State budget shortfall. Many believe such misuse of State funding warrant a thorough investigation. To date, no investigation has been conducted.

Speculations about political future

Jindal has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election. On December 10, 2008, Jindal indicated that he would not run for president in 2012, saying he will focus on his reelection in 2011 and that this would make transitioning to a national campaign difficult, though he later attempted to leave himself the opportunity to change his mind in the future. Speculation increased when Jindal was chosen by the Republican Party to give its official response to Democratic President Barack Obama's 2009 Speech to the Joint Session of the United States Congress.

The Jindal for President Draft Council Inc., PAC has been formed to raise funds for a future presidential run. Jindal claims to have no involvement with the PAC.

In a July 2009 interview, Jindal said that he would be running for re-election as Governor in the next cycle (2011), not ruling out a possible 2012 Presidential run, but making it more unlikely.

Positions on selected social and political issues

Abortion and stem cell research

Jindal has a 100 percent pro-life voting record according to the National Right to Life Committee. He opposes abortion without exceptions; however, he does not condemn medical procedures meant to save the life of a pregnant woman that would indirectly cause the termination of the pregnancy. In 2003 Jindal was reported to have stated that he did not object to the use of emergency contraception in the case of rape if the victim requests it. He opposes embryonic stem cell research and voted against increasing federal funding to expand embryonic stem cell lines.

Same-sex marriage

Jindal opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage. He has voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment to restrict marriage to a union between one man and one woman. In December 2008, Jindal announced the formation of the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family, including individuals representing organizations that oppose same-sex marriage (such as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Gene Mills, the executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum; and Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund).

Tax policy

As a private citizen, Jindal voted for the "Stelly Tax plan", a referendum named for former state Representative Vic Stelly of Lake Charles, which swapped some sales taxes for higher income taxes. Whether or not the "Stelly Plan" is giving the desired results is still hotly debated statewide. Early Republican challenger Steve Scalise challenged Jindal on his vote for this tax plan before Scalise dropped out of the congressional race in 2004. As Governor, Jindal initially opposed reforms to the Stelly plan that would result in over $300 million in tax cuts. He later agreed to the tax cut after the legislature appeared headed to eliminating the entire personal income tax, which Jindal also opposed.

Civil liberties

Jindal voted yes on making the PATRIOT Act permanent, voted in favor of the 2006 Military Commissions Act, supported a constitutional amendment banning flag burning, and voted for the Real ID Act of 2005. Jindal has an A rating from Gun Owners of America.

In the 2009 legislative session, Jindal supported a bill by State Representative James H. "Jim" Morris of Oil City, which would permit motorcyclists to choose whether or not to wear a helmet. Morris' bill easily passed the House but was blocked in the Senate Health Committee, which likened the measure to the tough seat-belt law in Louisiana. Jindal said he personally would use a helmet if motorcycling, but he supports the "freedom of choice" concept in Morris' intended legislation.

Health care

Jindal supports co-payments in Medicaid.

Offshore drilling

In 2006, Jindal sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761), a bill to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling over the U.S. outer continental shelf, which prompted the watchdog group Republicans for Environmental Protection to issue him "an environmental harm demerit". Jindal's 2006 rating from that organization was -4, among the lowest in Congress. The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters also criticized Jindal for securing passage of H.R. 4761 in the House of Representatives; the group rated his environmental performance that year at seven percent, condemning votes on 11 out of 12 issues the group deemed critical. Jindal's lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters is seven percent. Despite claims that Jindal's bill was successful, H.R. 4761 was replaced by S 3711 (known as the Domenici-Landrieu Fair Share Plan). The original Senate version was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President George W. Bush.

Earmarks

In 2007, Jindal led the Louisiana delegation in Congressional earmark funding. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, in 2007, Jindal's earmark funding was 14th among all Congressmen. As Governor in 2008, Jindal used his line item veto to strike $16 million in earmarks from the state budget while allowing $30 million in legislator added spending.

Intelligent design

Jindal supports the teaching of intelligent design, a form of creationism, in public schools. Despite calls for a veto from groups such as the ACLU, National Review, and Jindal's own biology professors at Brown University, Jindal signed the Louisiana Academic Freedom Act in 2008. As a direct result of this, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology rejected New Orleans as a site for their 2010 meeting. The president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has also said that, while the group has already committed to their upcoming meeting in New Orleans, "No future meeting of our society will take place in Louisiana as long as that law stands."

Crime and punishment

On June 25, 2008, Jindal signed the Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill authorizing the chemical castration of those convicted for a second time of certain sex offenses.

Jindal has also voted against giving the federal government jurisdiction to help local law enforcement with hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability.

Opposition to 2009 stimulus money

Jindal has been an opponent to the 2009 Stimulus Plan. Citing concerns that the augmentation of unemployment insurance may obligate the state to raise taxes on businesses, Jindal had indicated his intention to forgo federal stimulus plan funds ($98 million) aimed at increasing unemployment insurance for Louisiana. Louisiana was set to receive about $3.8 billion overall. Jindal intends to accept at least $2.4 billion from the stimulus package. He called the plan "irresponsible", saying that "the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians." Yet, as indicated by David Schuster on the July 23, 2009 broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Jindal has been publicly issuing funds from the governor's office for "jobs, jobs, and jobs" in Louisiana, half of which is from the stimulus package.

Writings

A list of Jindal’s published writings up to 2001 can be found in the hearing report for his 2001 U.S. Senate confirmation. They include newspaper columns, law review articles, and an article co-authored for the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Additionally, Jindal’s pre-2001 writings include several articles in the New Oxford Review, one of which later made news during Jindal’s 2003 gubernatorial race. In that 1994 article, "Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare" in the New Oxford Review, Jindal described witnessing a friend seemingly being possessed by a demon, but concluded "Did I witness spiritual warfare? I do not have the answers."

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

External links

Governor

• Official state site
  • biography

• Collected reports on Jindal from SAJAforum.org
  • Hurricane Gustav: Jindal's first big test from SAJAforum.org
• Complete text, audio, video of Bobby Jindal's gubernatorial election victory address
• Complete text, audio, video of Bobby Jindal's gubernatorial inaugural address
• Jindal, Bobby Fiscal Conservatism Helped Louisiana Beat Katrina Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2008
• Jindal, Bobby Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare New Oxford Review, December 1994

Congress

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission