Jindal asks Bush for levee cash

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: May 3, 2008 - Page: 13A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — Making his second national television appearance of the week, Gov. Bobby Jindal used a speech to The National Press Club on Friday to call on the Bush administration to free up pledged levee money.

In an address carried live on C-SPAN, Jindal said the $5.6 billion promised by Bush for New Orleans-area levees should be inserted into the upcoming $108 billion emergency war supplemental funding bill to be presented soon to Congress. Bush has said he will veto any war-funding bill that includes domestic spending.

Bush promised to include the levee money in his 2009 budget. But spending bills have been delayed and won’t likely be passed until the end of the year, noted Jindal, a former Metairie congressman. Louisiana needs the money immediately if it is to shore up levees for 100-year storm protection by the target goal of 2011, Jindal said.

“We’d like that money to be approved sooner than later,” Jindal said before about 150 luncheon guests.

Fresh from his appearance Monday on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Jindal was again prodded to answer questions about whether he would consider being the running mate of presidential contender and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Jindal again deflected the questions, asked by several guests during the club’s question-and-answer period after the speech. Thinking that he would even be considered for the job would be presumptuous, Jindal said.

“I think the lieutenant governor is spreading these rumors,” Jindal quipped, getting laughs. “I’ve got the job I want. This is a historic time for the people of Louisiana.”

Jindal received an inauspicious welcome from luncheon host and club member Mark Hamrick, who joked that Louisiana governors get two terms: “one in office and one in prison.”

Jindal, as he did on “The Tonight Show,” repeated the longstanding joke that Louisiana is “half under water and half under indictment.”

That gave the governor an opening to talk about his favorite topic: ethics reform.

Jindal called a special session after being inaugurated in January to strengthen Louisiana’s ethics laws by requiring more financial disclosure, banning junkets and setting a cap on the cost of meals that elected officials can accept.

Jindal also made a reference to the oft-quoted south Louisiana slogan “laissez les bon temps rouler” (let the good times roll).

“The problem with all those jokes is that the good times didn’t roll for everybody,” he said. “We’ve worked to restore the people’s trust.”