Mayoral Candidate Violates Voters' Trust

Sometimes one can learn a lot from a newspaper ad.  A recent ad in the Ponchatoula Times claimed that one of the candidates running for mayor of Ponchatoula was the subject of Lee Zurik, Fox News, investigative reporting.  I had forgotten about this investigation, but this ad reignited my interest.

The news cast broke about the same time that our illustrious former governor, Bobby Jindal, was in the middle of presenting one of his “smoke and mirrors” state budgets.

Basically, Jindal was proposing raiding dedicated state funds earmarked by Louisiana voters for use for specific purposes.  He wanted to use these funds for a different purpose, namely, to help balance the state budget and avoid a deficit.  These money raids included the following:

1)      The Medicaid Elderly Trust Fund that totaled over $830 million.   The money was dedicated for providing supportive home health services for the elderly and disabled.  The intent of these funds was to never touch the principal amount and use only the accrued investment dividends, but Jindal depleted the principal amount with a vote of approval by state legislators in the Louisiana House and Senate.

2)      The retirement funds for probation and parole officers totaling over $3.7 million. Funds were instead used by Jindal and our legislators to offset state general budget expenses.

3)      The Blind Vendors’ Trust Fund, totaling $1.6 million. This fund was established to set aside money from vending operations in courthouses and other state or federal properties and use it to help the legally blind run snack stands, cafeterias and vending machines. By allowing the raiding of this fund, our esteemed legislators were literally assisting Jindal in taking money from the blind.

4)      The State Employees Health Insurance Plan, Office of Group Benefits.  The plan had $500 million before Jindal, with our state legislators’ approval, spent $472 million of it to plug a hole in the state budget.

All of these actions were a clear violation of the voters’ trust, namely, that these monies would be used for their intended purposes.

However, another blatant violation of the voter’s trust was the subject of the Lee Zurik investigation of Ponchatoula mayoral candidate Steve Pugh. It reported that some of the money, donated by loyal supporters to his campaign fund with the expectation that it would be used to finance his re-election bid, was used instead, by him, to wine and dine some of his favorite constituents.

This action not only smacked of behavior similar to Jindal’s, but also provided insight into Pugh’s voting record as a legislator in the Louisiana House of Representatives.

He voted in support of, and never publically voiced opposition to any of Jindal’s budget proposals draconically impacting education and health care in our state, and eventually leading to a $2 billion state deficit.

Furthermore, as evidenced by his legislative votes, he, along with most of his legislative buddies, assisted Bobby Jindal in the previously cited questionable, unethical spending of taxpayers’ money for purposes contrary to the mandates of the voting public.

I always wondered why Steve Pugh, our state representative, supported these actions, but now I think I understand thanks to the power of a newspaper ad.