Bobby Jindal

Our Views: Tough stand on new pork

"Our Views: Tough stand on new pork"
Baton Rouge Advocate Editorial
May 4, 2008

Pork-barrel spending is getting a rhetorical facelift in the early days of the Jindal administration. Instead of the slush funds of old, legislators are submitting requests for grants to “nongovernmental organizations.” While not all the requests are accounted for yet, they’ll easily get into the range of $50 million or more.

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Now, Gov. Bobby Jindal has stepped in with a strong statement that the administration does not want NGO funding to go through the roof.

In a letter to leaders of the budget-writing committees, Jindal set out several criteria for NGO appropriations, including their relevance to the mission of state agencies administering the grants, and “statewide or substantial regional impact.”

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Jindal is right to state at the beginning of the process that he will use his veto pen. We hope the public will hold him to this promise.

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This is a commendable beginning, and we hope the Legislature will take note.