Show Your Support for Ethics Reform

February 12th, 2008 | Posted by bobbyjindal

Show Your Support for Ethics Reform

Yesterday we embarked on the single most important endeavor for the future of Louisiana - bringing comprehensive ethics reform and transparency to our state. I called the State Legislature into session solely to tackle these issues, and I am looking forward to working with the Legislature to ensure that our ethics laws become the gold standard in the nation.

The actions that will be taken over the coming days will have a lasting impact on generations to come and help erase Louisiana’s image created by generations past.

In recent months, LSU and Forbes, in separate studies, found that the most important issue Louisiana must address to attract investment and jobs is a dramatic strengthening of our ethics laws at the state and local levels.

There will be those who want to see this fail, but failure is not an option. I need your help to ensure that no attempt to derail our movement for lasting change is successful. I’m sure we will hear many arguments against reform. There will be those who say it is too burdensome, too transparent, and too restrictive, but it is the right thing to do.

You made your voice for change heard last fall, and now it is time to let your Legislators know that your support for reform is stronger than ever. I urge you to call or email your State Representatives and Senators today and let your voice be heard.  I also encourage you to attend one of the upcoming hearings at the State Capitol this week in Baton Rouge.  You can visit House Committee Room 6 and the John J. Hankel, Jr. Room in the Senate today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

What They Are Saying

Newspapers, media outlets and organizations from around the state agree that we must pass real ethics reform, sending a strong message to the rest of the nation.  I thought I would share some of the comments with you below.

New Orleans City Business says that, “Jindal is striking while the iron is hot. Those interested in molding a more effective state will allow him to do so and encourage him as he rebrands our dubious national reputation into one of progressive integrity.”

The Alexandria Town Talk says “Citizens want this — all of this. They said so when they elected Bobby Jindal to lead the state through fundamental change… (Governor Jindal) knows that long-entrenched special interests will fight him, tooth and nail.”

The New Orleans Times Picayune said that our ethics reform proposals “are the most ambitious ethics reform package the Legislature has seen in decades.  Approving it would not only help repair Louisiana’s battered image but also would go a long way in improving our state’s business and civic climate.”  They concluded that “The Legislature has an opportunity to make a dramatic shift away from the so-called Louisiana Way. They should do it.”

The Monroe News-Star cautioned against amending the agenda we submitted to the Legislature. They said, “If the governor’s plan must be amended, it should be amended with the goal of making it stronger.  That’s because Louisiana’s political reputation has sunk so low in some corners of the country that only a total triumph in ethics reform will cause the country to take notice.”

Good government groups have also expressed the importance of passing comprehensive ethics reform. Council For a Better Louisiana (CABL), in supporting ethics reform, wrote that “Governor Jindal has set the stage for something Louisiana has never really had in recent years – an intensely focused public debate on a wide range of ethics reforms that are ambitious and, in many cases, have never been seriously discussed at the Legislature before.”

As I have said before, the war on corruption will be tough.  There will be those who will resist change and reform, and I cannot fight this battle alone. I need your help. Let your voice be heard today. Get involved. Together, we can pass real ethics reform and bring lasting change. We are better than our state’s national reputation of corruption and incompetence and we deserve nothing less than the national gold standard for ethics reform.

Sincerely,
Bobby Jindal
Governor Bobby Jindal

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