• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 7, 2009 - Page: 1A

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

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

A Baton Rouge lawmaker claimed Monday that Gov. Bobby Jindal retaliated against her by slashing funding for the Louisiana Art and Science Museum downtown.

“It’s all about the fact that there were certain bills that I didn’t follow for the governor,” said state Rep. Pat Smith, the Baton Rouge Democrat who was handling the funding request.

Jindal flatly rejected Smith’s accusation.

Jindal said he purged the funding two years in a row because lawmakers failed to make the argument the museum has a regional impact.

“That’s absolutely ridiculous. This is consistent with our decisions last year,” Jindal said Monday.

Baton Rouge lawmakers questioned why a Shreveport science museum received state funding when the Baton Rouge museum did not.

Smith noted she opposed Senate Bill 278, a Jindal-backed measure that would shield documents the governor uses in the deliberative process from public record as well as communications among his top staff.

SB278 exploded into a contentious issue over how the legislation affects the public’s window into the Governor’s Office.

Critics charge that the bill shields more records from public view. The Jindal administration contends it opens previously nonpublic records. The bill is on the governor’s desk.

Smith was one of 41 members in the House who voted against the bill’s final passage.

She said the governor purged funding for the museum last year as well after she failed to go along with everything he wanted.

“He uses this as an ability to let folks know that he still holds the power of the pen,” she said.

Other lawmakers expressed confusion that the governor took aim at the $150,000 in funding for the downtown Baton Rouge museum on River Road.