Political Analyst Stonecipher Says Vance McAllister Will Not Resign

April 13, 2014 It now seems Congressman Vance McAllister will not resign, and may well run for re-election. Revelations of notable details of his marital infidelity are likely behind us, but running late is confirmation of who, precisely, executed the political hit and how they did it. Meanwhile, Republican Party bossmen piously decry All Things McAllister as if none of the rest of us know they are, one way or the other, tied to that hit team's most likely principal, Governor Bobby Jindal.Democrats, of course, are atwitter. Their idea of pumped-up statewide turnout in the November 4th election gains credibility as they are handed the unexpected gift of a now-assumed wide-open, high interest 5th Congressional District race. While district demographics do not suggest they will actually win this seat, the re-election chances of U. S. Senator Mary Landrieu are boosted in the same way as by Edwin Edwards' entry into the 6th District Congressional race, and possible like ops in the 4th Congressional and 5th Public Service Commission districts.McAllister, now a full-fledged member of America's political club no pol seeks to join, has learned what the Jindal mafia does when their whispers and nods and handshakes are defied. As if he could not wait to learn, McAllister handed the hitters the weapon for his lesson. Whether Jindal, Inc. ultimately gets their guy elected -as they so diligently tried to rig in the first place - remains to be seen. For now, they are apparently viewed little if any better than McAllister in the damage done to the guiltless of at least two families.

 

Meanwhile, on Hypocrisy Watch ... For those of us who never had a dog in this fight, we spent last week once again sickened by the Louisiana addiction to awful politics and corrupt acting of every sort. The nation again clucks and rolls its eyes at Louisiana's disease, fully aware that while it is suffered in many other states, too, no others suffer Louisiana's degree of sick. Ironically, by the time last week ended, the news media coverage of the story blew right back on Governor Jindal, even as he stepped up to most hypocritically charge McAllister with hypocrisy. Jindal, who called for McAllister's resignation as he judged the Congressman an "embarrassment" to the state, found himself on a truly awful list, especially given his all-in lust to be an American president.

 

Jaime Fuller, a national political reporter and blogger for the Washington Post took this latest scandal as an opportunity to put McAllister in a list of Louisiana bad guys, and included Jindal, too. Listed in her piece last Wednesday were Louisiana's political worst like Huey Long, Richard Leche, Edwin Edwards, William Jefferson and Ray Nagin, included along with various relative newcomers to our hall of shame.

 

Jindal is prominent among them, and Fuller's example of how and why he belongs there is one of his loudest examples of saying one thing - "ethics gold standard" - while doing precisely the opposite:In 2011, ethics watchdogs turned their eye toward the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children, a nonprofit run by Gov. Bobby Jindal's wife that helps students access high-tech education tools. The foundation has received large donations from companies very much affected by the whims of state regulators and have things they would like from Louisiana politicians.

 

Jindal's office denied any connection between his wife's charity work and his office's political decisions, and the issue has mostly faded away.Tightening state ethics rules has been a priority of Jindal's gubernatorial career."
The good people of Louisiana may note that the original reporting of these Jindal, Inc. shakedowns ... in his wife's name no less ... warranted little mention here. At the same time Jindal was still busily, broadly and bogusly claiming that he had righted Louisiana's ship of corruption with his ethics reform hoodoo, the New York Times' story ran with about the same effect as if it hadn't.

 

We, Ms. Fuller and many others now know Jindal's centerpiece "ethics gold standard" was actually 0% reform and 100% the effective end of ethics enforcement, meticulously designed to protect Jindal's partners in the hugely consequential crime, state legislators.Those who intended to use McAllister's own behavior to politically do him in might note that outsiders do not suffer our apparent difficulty in figuring out which Louisiana officials are corrupt, and which are, to boot, the most hypocritical about it.From what I'm hearing and reading, many 5th Congressional District voters have this figured out.

'Makes me wonder if Jindal and his crew ever knew that Confucian thing about digging two graves when heading out on a journey of revenge.

Elliott Stonecipher's reports and commentaries are written strictly in the public interest, with no compensation of any kind solicited or accepted. Appropriate credit to Mr. Stonecipher in the sharing - unedited only, please - of his work is requested and appreciated.