Bobby Jindal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Louisiana politician. Jindal was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives on November 2, 2004, from Louisiana's First Congressional District (map), based in the suburbs of New Orleans.
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Biography
Jindal, born in Baton Rouge to Indian immigrants, was a Hindu but converted to Catholicism while in high school. He graduated from Brown University with honors in biology and public policy. Afterwards, he received a master's degree in politics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He is the only Indian-American currently serving in Congress, and is only the second in Congressional history after Dalip Singh Saund, who served California's 29th District as a Democrat between 1957 and 1963.
His previous public service includes time as the Louisiana Secretary of Department of Health & Hospitals, Executive Director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, and Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was also the youngest ever president of the University of Louisiana System.
He was chosen by Scholastic Update magazine as "one of America's top 10 extraordinary young people for the next millennium."
In the Spring of 2004, fellow Louisianan, Christopher Mora, a Navy veteran and graduate student at Harvard University, proposed and coordinated an invitation for Jindal to serve as one of the Visiting Fellows for the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics. Jindal's presentations, focused on health care public policy and welfare reform, were both popular and highly attended.
2003 race for Governor
In the 2003 open primary for Governor of Louisiana Jindal came in first place with 33% of the vote. In the runoff election he faced then-Lt. Governor Kathleen Blanco in 2003, a conservative Democrat. Blanco won with 52% of the vote to Jindal's 48%. Some political analysts believe that his loss was partly due to the fact that white conservatives from northern Louisiana did not vote for Jindal because of his race. Other political analysts have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several ads, which the Jindal Campaign called "negative attack ads". Still others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remain more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican.
Despite losing the election, the run for Governor made Jindal a well known figure on the state's political scene.
House victory
A few weeks after the gubernatorial runoff, Jindal decided to run for Louisiana's 1st Congressional District . The incumbent, David Vitter, was running for the Senate seat being vacated by John Breaux. Jindal had lived in Baton Rouge for many years, but moved to Kenner to run for the congressional seat. He was endorsed by the Republican Party in Louisiana's open primary for the district despite the fact that Mike Rogers, also a Republican, was running for the same seat. The 1st District has been in Republican hands since a 1977 special election and is widely considered to be the most Republican district in Louisiana, despite having a plurality of Democrats. Jindal was considered to have an advantage in the district, which tends to vote for social conservatives. Jindal also had an advantage because his campaign was able to raise over a million dollars very early in the campaign, making it harder for other candidates to effectively raise funds to oppose him. He won with 78% of the vote.
Position on Controversial Issues
Congressman Jindal supports a policy of "no abortions, no exceptions". His definition of abortion only includes procedures that target the embryo or fetus. Procedures, such as a salpingectomy, that do not target the embryo would not be considered an abortion by Jindal (because of the double effect).
Jindal supported the "Stelly Tax plan", an idea that was supposed to reduce the tax burden on a majority of Louisiana taxpayers. Whether or not the "Stelly Plan" is giving the desired results is still hotly debated statewide. Early Republican challenger Steve Scalise challenged Jindal on his support of this tax plan before he dropped out of the Congressional race.
Jindal also supports co-payments in Medicaid.
External links
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Louisiana Congressional Delegation serving in the 109th United States Congress |
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| Senators | Mary Landrieu (D), David Vitter (R) |
| Representative(s) | Bobby Jindal (R), William J. Jefferson (D), Charles Melancon (D), Jim McCrery (R), Rodney Alexander (R), Richard H. Baker (R), Charles Boustany (R) |
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Current Delegations by State: AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY | AS DC GU PR VI |
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