In 2008, when Gov. Bobby Jindal took office, he proclaimed his goal for Louisiana to be the “gold standard” for government ethics.
A decade later, lawmakers are still cashing in as lobbyists once they leave office, their paychecks fattened because they can now leverage their government contacts.
It’s true of Democrats and Republicans. It’s in the legislative process, where legislators become lobbyists, but also in the rush of lawmakers into full-time jobs in the executive branch.
The system erodes the belief of the people in their government.
“There’s a whole flock of them,” said state Sen. Conrad Appel, a Metairie Republican who has often battled with the influential nursing home industry, but his comments fully apply to representatives of other well-heeled industries.
“Do they have any extra authority because they were a legislator? I’d say no,” Appel said. “But they do have a leg up because they’re friends with people there, and they know how the system works, and they have contacts.”
That is almost a…
