Louisiana's Youngest Governor

Louisiana's wonder boy, the youngest person ever elected governor of our state, and the question of presidential aspirations.

State Senate Votes to Eliminate Income Tax: Bill goes to House

The Louisiana Senate, to their own surprise, voted to abolish the state income tax. Senator Nick Gautreaux added an amendment to Buddy Shaw's SB 87 which proposed to cut tax rates. Gautreaux proposed going all the way by just eliminating the income tax.
Unbelievably, the amendment passed.

My Bad
Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, apologized to Shaw and fellow senators, saying the amendment would never have been adopted if he hadn't been "playing one of my cutesy games." He said he thought the amendment was going to fail, so he voted for it because, "I didn't want to go on record voting against repealing income taxes."
Gautreaux said his move was "sincere. I sincerely want to repeal income taxes" and he has tried twice before to do it but his bills were killed in committee. "It's taxpayers' money and Louisianans have been overtaxed too many years,."
Gautreaux said the governor's proposed budget has $400 million in new spending in it and "if it goes into the bill, it's there forever. For them to say there's not money to afford this is absolutely not true."
Sen. Robert Adley of Benton told the Senate "the governor will veto the bill with $4 billion (in budget reductions) and he ought to."

H/T The Reduct Box

More Jindal on Tonight Show

Liberty and Justice for All has posted a great entry on the Jindal Tonight Show appearance. Just click the link to read the entire article.

Excerpt:
Finally, the interview came down to the big question of the day. Would Bobby Jindal say yes if asked to be Vice President. He didn’t say no. He didn’t even use his precognition and suggest that McCain would not ask him (perhaps that was out of respect to Carnac the Magnificent*). What he did do was compare saying no to McCain right now to saying no to the pretty girl who hasn’t yet asked you to the prom. Guess what? You don’t say no if the pretty girl asks you to go to the prom! So again, I have no reason to believe Bobby Jindal will refuse McCain if asked to be V.P..

Jindal on Tonight Show: Part Two

wesawthat has the video of the Tonight Show appearance. You will notice that the governor will not absolutely say 'No, I won't accept it', just more of the same old song and dance.

Jindal on Tonight Show

Governor Jindal, who is not running for Vice-President, is scheduled on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

Apparently, someone forgot to tell the NBC publicity machine that he wasn't interested. The non-interested Jindal will be in Washington Friday to address the National Press Club. These appearances should open other venues in which he can assure the American public of his non-interest.

NBC Press Release:

POSSIBLE REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND THE NATION’S YOUNGEST GOVERNOR, LOUISIANA’S BOBBY JINDAL, MAKES HIS FIRST APPEARANCE ON NBC’S ‘THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO’ ON MONDAY, APRIL 28

BURBANK – April 22, 2008 – Amidst the growing buzz about possibly being the Vice Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal makes his first appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (Monday - Friday, 11:35 p.m.-12:37 a.m. ET on NBC). Known to his constituents as simply Governor Bobby, Jindal is the Nation's youngest Governor sat the age of 36 and in his first term in office the political pundits have already labeled him the future of the GOP and the next Ronald Reagan. Jindal is the first elected Indian American Governor in U.S. history.

Candidates for Congress 4th District: Gerard Bowen, Jr

Gerard Bowen, Jr of Bossier City has announced as a Republican candidate for the 4th District House seat.

Bowen, a native of Metairie, was displaced by Katrina in 2005 and relocated to the Shreveport-Bossier area. He graduated from East Jefferson High School in 1989, served in the Navy and holds a B.S. in Kinesiology from Washington State University as well as a Masters of Health Administration from Tulane University. Bowen is married and the father of two children.

A fair tax advocate, Bowen is the populist candidate on the Republican side. "I don’t have political connections, I don’t have deep pockets, and I don’t have political 'experience'. Some people will have you believe that these things make me a poor choice as your congressman, however, to you and I, it means that I owe no one any favors and that my loyalties are to my convictions and my only obligation is to the people of Louisiana.

I feel a Representative should be accessible to the people he represents, not just to deep-pocket contributors. Not only will I run a grassroots campaign, but I will run a grassroots office. I will be approachable and available to concerned citizens. I will continue to visit neighborhoods as much as Congressman as I do as a candidate and I will return phone calls."

The Bowen for Congress website is complete and includes personal information and his views on some of the issues.

He is definitely in an underdog position and may not recieve a lot of support from the entrenched Republican establishment. It will be interesting to see if he can resonate with the people and gain some traction.

Candidates for Congress 4th District: Paul Carmouche

Paul Carmouche, Democratic District Attorney for the 1st Judicial District (Caddo Parish) since 1978, has announced for the 4th District Seat. This is sure to make the Republican establishment nervous, as Carmouche is a very popular proven voter-getter in Northwest Louisiana.
Carmouche received his undergraduate degree from Nicholls State University and his law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, where he was elected President of the Law School.
Carmouche also served as an Assistant District Attorney and as Chief Counsel for the Caddo Indigent Defender’s Office.
He was elected District Attorney for Caddo Parish 1978 and has served as Caddo Parish’s Chief Prosecutor for five terms.
Carmouche has a website up, but it is new and the issues section isn't complete yet.