Ethics investigation focuses on Louisiana governor

Ethics investigation focuses on Louisiana governor

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Ethics investigation focuses on Louisiana governor
Posted: Mar 03, 2011 5:13 PM
Updated: Mar 04, 2011 8:44 AM

By David Spunt - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, (WAFB) - Troubling accusations are being seen across the country against Gov. Bobby Jindal. At issue is large donations made to a charity run by First Lady Supriya Jindal.

One non-profit group wants to know whether corporations donated to that charity out of the goodness of their hearts or as a way to earn the governor's backing for their own business ventures.

The New York Times broke the story on the front page of Thursday morning's paper. It's a scathing article calling foul at not only the governor, but his wife. The newspaper reports several multi-million dollar corporations appear to have donated big bucks in exchange for influence.

The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana's Children passes out free whiteboards and other equipment to schools in the state. She spoke candidly about the allegations, arguing everything with the foundation is above the board and ethical.

"I'm proud of the work of the foundation and what we need to do for the future," she said.

The New York Times and the non-profit group "Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington" (CREW) examined numerous financial records tied to the first lady's charity. They report AT&T, who needed the governor to sign off on legislation to sell cable television in the state pledged $250,000 to his wife's foundation.

Marathon Oil, the report alleged, won approval from the Jindal administration to increase the amount of oil it can refine in Louisiana, also committed $250,000. Alon USA, an Israeli oil company, has also pledged $250,000. Last year, it got approval from the state to lessen the number of times it must check for pollutants being released into waterways. The paper also cited several other examples with other companies. Jindal was clearly frustrated at the Governor's Mansion Thursday morning, as reporters peppered him with questions about the article.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," he said. "Only the New York Times and folks like that could be worried about the fact that folks are trying to provide better technology and more support for kids across the state of Louisiana."

The non-profit group, CREW, which teamed up with the newspaper on the research, begged to differ.

"It is certainly troubling when Mr. Jindal and other politicians use their positions to raise money for certain charities and raise that money from corporations with interests before them," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW.

The article also points out there is a picture of the governor on the donation page for the foundation, something Sloan's organization calls too close for comfort.

"All of our donors are listed on the website, so we've been very transparent about that and we encourage everyone to come out and witness the children's faces when they see the technology in action," Supriya Jindal added