An interesting column by the State's leading political columnist - Governor Bobby Jindal takes redistricting map and goes home: John Maginnis . I noted this part:
........It was five Republican congressmen who wrote him asking that redistricting be put off this year, but one senses Jindal invited the letter. Even as the Legislature plows ahead, both houses maneuvering and squabbling and reaching for an elusive consensus, the governor, having decamped to West Monroe to give medals to veterans, restated his preference for lawmakers to quit and go home.
He didn't quite wash his hands of the proceedings, restating he would veto any bill the Legislature might pass that did not have two north Louisiana-based districts.
The governor wants it his way or no way because any plan that does not have two districts running south from Shreveport and Monroe would imperil the re-election prospects of the region's two Republican congressmen, and, worse, would degrade Jindal's national standing in the GOP.
That was the reason, more than his affinity for north Louisiana, why Jindal early-on committed to the congressional delegation's plan to preserve the northern districts and protect all incumbents, except for rookie GOP Congressman Jeff Landry of New Iberia, the lone dissenter...
Now his column is pretty good in many ways and I am not here to bash Maginnis. However it is difficult to gauge if John Maginnis truly thinks Jindal has an "affinity" for North Louisiana or is being sarcastic. John Maginnis was one of many that ran uncritically with the theory that Bobby Jindal lost his first race against Blanco because North Louisiana folks didn't like the fact he was not white.
This theory was proposed ,and which was never really seriously critiqued, by a LSU Political Science Professor. I spent a lot of time on this blog looking at the actual numbers of that race and the dynamics to show why that theorywas silly. Blanco won North Louisiana because for 8 years she was the only State wide offical to practically make another home here. That was appreciated. Just like Jindal appreciates the need to understand the diversity of North Louisiana today.
Sadly much of the of the South Louisiana media took it seriously as well as the political powers that be. Thus we saw the Democrat party in Louisiana think they could get away with a sophisticated anti Catholic media campaign against Bobby in JUST NORTH LOUISIANA when Bobby ran again. Why not if we were so intolerant?
I was pretty outraged at the time. The Diocese of Shreveport where these ads were running was at that time was Sede Vacante . That is we were without a Bishop as Bishop Duca had not been appointed yet to replace Bishop Friend. I marched to the Diocese office and wanted to know WHO, WHEN, and HOW the Diocese was going to respond to this outrage. If I and other Catholics were outraged it was nothing compared to the Protesants, Pentecostals, and Evangelicals reaction. They could not believe anyone thought they would have such attitudes.
I mention that because it seems the same brainless lazy South Louisiana based understanding is at play here in redistricting. That is the same ignorance of North Louisiana ,that was the basis of the "racist Jindal/Blanco election theory" seems to be at play again. There seems to be an undercurrent of thought that two vertical North Louisiana Louisiana is just a silly idea and it's ONLY national politics. Jindal knows different. Jindal respects and knows the diversity of North Louisiana. He has been to towns and hamlets in North Louisiana that rarely saw a Governor ,or any Statewide elected politico, for decades . He has done this multiple times!! I bet he has seen more of "North Louisiana" than statewide political pundit John Maginnis and others like him have seen in their entire reporting career.
I have no doubt that some "politics"is at play here no doubt. However Jindal knows this area because he has taken the time to get to know it. He knows the interest of lets say Shreveport and Monroe differ a great bit. That affinity is not only real but based on something
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