06 May 2008

a fellow rethuglican is pissed at piyush

UPDATE: video: rep. ernest wooton hams it up on the house floor immediately after passage of sb672

house passage vote for sb672
louisiana rethuglican ernest d. wooton finds piyush "bobby" jindal "offensive"
in a letter dated 30 april 2008, louisiana governor piyush "bobby" jindal issued his list of criteria regarding the use of state tax dollars to fund non-governmental organizations (ngos). [download letter here]

in louisiana non-governmental organizations are usually non-profit corporations set up by legislators cronies to appear to legitimize the receipt of what used to be called slush funds or earmarks. in reality its just a way for legislators to launder tax money back to the politically connected.

on monday 05 may 2008 district 105 state representative ernest d. wooton republican from belle chasse, la. used a personal privilege to address the house. representative wooton took exception to governor piyush's 30 april letter and called it "a threat" because as rep. wooton maintains that the letter was sent out without the input of anyone -- including any house committee. rep. wooton pointed out that the state budget and the appropriations process is a function of the legislative branch and not the executive branch.

however, the most revealing statement given by rep. wooton was right after he quoted the final line in the 30 april letter in which gov. piyush states that "i look forward to working with you as the legislature continues its work on the budget." rep. wooton said that in his opinion and his opinion only -- governor piyush "bobby" jindal has not been working with the legislature "at all -- then dictating to us what we can and cant do or hes going to veto it. these are his stipulations, if we dont follow his stipulations then we pay the price or our districts pay the price, our constituents pay the price and i find that offensive."

video clip courtesy central la politics blog
curiously, a search of non-governmental funding requests from the state legislature website shows that rep. wooton has not requested any ngo funding as of the date and time of this post.