Jindal’s choices may lose validity

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 7, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Every appointment that Gov. Bobby Jindal has made since he took office in January is in jeopardy because he has not forwarded their names for Senate confirmation.

The appointments by Jindal for 437 jobs — including his top aides — will no longer be valid and they will have to stop working as of June 23, when the legislative session adjourns, according to the state law governing the confirmation process.

Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, asked Jimmy Faircloth, the governor’s executive counsel, Wednesday to send the official list.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, the list still had not arrived.

The Senate cannot confirm Jindal’s appointees until the list arrives, Kostelka said.

“It’s kind of urgent because we don’t want to leave with all these holes. We need a formal submission before we can act,” Kostelka said. “We only have two more meetings.”

Jindal’s top staff, his Cabinet secretaries and other top state agency officials, as well as members of state boards and commissions are among those needing to be confirmed by the state Senate.

In addition, another 117 appointments made by former Gov. Kathleen Blanco in the waning months of her term are also in question. Those appointees have not been confirmed yet.

Jindal must forward those names to the Senate as well for action or those appointments are no longer in effect.

Among the Blanco appointments about to expire are at least nine members of state college boards: four on the Southern University Board of Supervisors, four on the Louisiana Community and Technical College Board, and one on the University of Louisiana System Board.

The Senate gets copies of commissions issued when appointments are made that are filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. But the law requires governors and other statewide officials, who make appointments, to submit lists of their picks to the Senate.

Other statewide officials have complied, according to Senate records.

Kostelka’s committee is charged with conducting confirmation hearings on the governor’s appointees as well as those of other statewide elected officials.