Roemers Challenge Jindal to Lead

JUNE 15, 2009 POLITICS / JOHN MAGINNIS



By now, Gov. Bobby Jindal has about had his fill of the Roemer clan. The governor's past week started and ended with members of that political family challenging his leadership on education, high school and higher.

The big event, of course, was the extraordinary news conference at which Buddy Roemer and three other former governors--Dave Treen, Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco--urged the sitting governor to restore funding cuts to higher education. It was an awkward if not excruciating moment for Jindal, but it beat the alternative. According to a source knowledgeable with the events, the governor's predecessors almost went public without him, which would have been a very serious rebuke.

Roemer, distressed by Jindal's proposed budget cuts, had enlisted his three colleagues in making a joint statement of concern. Jindal got wind of the cabal and quickly arranged a meeting, and also invited the Fosters for dinner at the Mansion the night before.

After the five met Thursday morning, Jindal opened the press conference by stressing their points of agreement. He committed to reducing state support for higher education by no more than 10 percent, not the 15 percent in his original budget.

The governor then introduced Roemer, who grasped the lectern and promptly took over the tour de force. He related how the former governors "got anxious over this past year about the priority given to higher education" and began trading ideas for a joint statement. "It was so much fun," he said.

Not for Jindal, standing by and politely enduring Roemer's remarks, now rolling off that silver tongue. "Scrub, not slash," he admonished Jindal. "What we need is leadership."

Roemer then introduced his colleagues, noting their singular contributions to higher ed, especially Foster's: "When Mike Foster talks about education, I listen." Hint.

Foster acknowledged that spending cuts must come, but that the governors counseled "slowing down the train a bit."

Lone Democrat Blanco was not as conciliatory. "You can't do more with less," she lectured, "You do less with less," warning against a "drive to mediocrity."

This may have been a Buddy Roemer production, but Foster's presence made the foursome and also forced Jindal's hand. Their new relationship got off to a bad start at the inauguration when Jindal, with his former boss seated behind him, lamented "decades of failure in government" and "leaders who were unconcerned with the future."

Now it was Jindal being taken to task by his elders for his stewardship of higher education, the state's future. In the end, though, Foster gave Jindal cover when he spoke up to say they were "all on the same page" backing Jindal's commitment to only cut higher ed by 10 percent.

Actually, Jindal conceded nothing more than his recently expressed willingness to restore about $70 million to university budgets, amounting to a 10 percent reduction.

Yet, the past governors' broader concerns seemed to be for Jindal's leadership. His idea for a long-term plan has been to badger university leaders to come up with one. After a week of that, Jindal should have put forward his own proposal. Instead, Speaker of the House Jim Tucker did, getting the Legislature to form a commission, including out-of-state experts, to report back next year on how to reorganize the university system.

But back to the show. Roemer, relishing his gubernatorial moment, concluded by honoring the better half of his tag team.

"I want to thank my son Chas," he said, recalling how the young man recently challenged him to "spend less time making money and to give something back."

Jindal must have curdled inside, reminded that a few days earlier Chas Roemer, a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, released a blistering statement that criticized the governor for supporting the alternative high school diploma legislation, which he said would give false hope to struggling students.

Young Roemer charged that politics is keeping Jindal from tackling fundamental education problems that are holding the state back. "To take on issues that matter would mean to risk some political capital--something this administration seems unwilling to do," he said.

Old governors will tell you that the chief executive who fails to demonstrate strong leadership on an issue will be challenged for it. A brash young Buddy Roemer thrived on calling out the political leadership of his day, a course the next generation seems destined to follow.