Gustav reveals Jindal’s style

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Sep 7, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Hurricane Gustav stormed ashore less than a week ago and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s frustration with the federal government already is evident.

Meals, water, tarps and ice are promised but not here yet.

“Forgive me for being skeptical,” Jindal said Saturday. “We’ll believe it when we see it.”

Rather than wait for federal dollars, the governor is buying supplies and revving up kitchens. He spent nearly $14 million in less than a week on generators to power up gas stations, pharmacies grocery stores. He sent the National Guard to pick up tarps in Texas.
Universities shuttered by the storm are cooking for hurricane victims. None of this was planned. The Jindal administration is making decisions on the fly as problems unfold.

Gustav gives a glimpse into the governor’s management style and is triggering talk of a White House run in 2012.

“Everybody knows that the hurricanes are the supreme test of a state leader, and I think Bobby Jindal is prepared for this role,” said Pearson Cross, a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Former Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown said Jindal is clearly the one in charge at press conferences even when he is in the company of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other high-ranking officials.

In those press conferences, Jindal spouts a stream of information without seeming to take a breath. He rattles off wind speed, shelter populations, commodity numbers, power outage estimates, phone numbers, websites, damage descriptions and problem areas.

“I’d give Jindal some very high marks because he micromanaged the whole thing,” Brown said.

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s political career withered under the brunt force of Hurricane Katrina three years ago. The federal levee system in New Orleans collapsed. More than a thousand people died. The response failed at all levels of government.

High pressure zone
Jindal appears to be prospering under the pressure. However, even fellow Republicans concede that he is benefiting from the lessons learned from Katrina.

The skirmishes over commodities aside, the fights between the White House and the governor’s office about leadership are largely absent from this storm. Communication systems held up better. The levees held after being bolstered in the aftermath of Katrina.

The state developed a better game plan after Katrina, said state Rep. Bodi White, R-Central.