Jindal vetoes pay raise

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 1, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:10 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed a legislative pay raise Monday in an abrupt reversal of his week-long stance that he would allow the salary increase to become law.

The governor acknowledged that the veto of the raise — a more than doubling of legislators’ pay that was supposed to kick in today — means he is breaking his word to legislators. He said he expects them to be angry with him.

“I clearly made a mistake by telling the Legislature that I would allow them to handle their own internal affairs. … I am correcting my mistake,” Jindal said during a news conference at the State Capitol.

The veto prompted organizers of a recall drive against Jindal to drop their efforts.

The pay raise legislation’s author, state Sen. Ann Duplessis, said she plans to let the issue die with the veto.

Duplessis, D-New Orleans, said the people behind the public outcry are not in favor of any kind of raise.

“I will not continue to create this circus,” Duplessis said. “There was outrage, but I think it was orchestrated outrage.”

The pay raise was easily the most controversial measure to emerge from the legislative session that recently wrapped.

There was a tremendous public outcry against the raise, leading to recall efforts against Jindal as well as five legislators, including the House speaker and two Baton Rouge lawmakers. Protesters greeted Jindal in Shreveport last week.

From the moment the controversial measure hit his desk, Jindal blasted the raise as excessive. But he also was steadfast in his refusal to veto the measure.

He appeared to have a change of heart over the weekend, if not sooner, when the raise became interview fodder on national television.

Jindal told CNN Sunday that there was still time to stop the raise. He had until July 8 to veto the measure that generated the harshest criticism the governor has experienced in his six-month term.

Duplessis said the media confused people into thinking all legislators are wealthy.