Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal was born on June 10, 1971 to Agarwal Indian immigrants. Jindal’s self-adopted nickname, “Bobby”, dates to his childhood. Jindal attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy, then Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving a degree in political science in 1994. Upon graduation, he joined a consulting firm advising Fortune 500 companies.

In 1996, then Governor Mike Foster appointed Jindal to be secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, during which time he took Louisianna s Medicaid program from bankruptcy to three years of surpluses. In 1998, Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare. In 1999, at age 28, Jindal was appointed to become the president of the University of Louisiana System. In 2001 he became Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation, the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In 2003, Jindal ran for Louisiana governor, losing to Democrat Kathleen Blanco. A few weeks later, Jindal decided to run for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district, beating incumbent David Vitter with 78 percent of the vote.

During his time in Congress, Jindal voted in favor of making the PATRIOT Act permanent, on the 2006 Military Commissions Act, and voted for the Real ID Act of 2005. In 2006, Jindal sponsored the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761), a bill to eliminate the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling over the U.S. outer continental shelf.

After two terms in Congress, Jindal announced his candidacy for governor in 2007, winning with 54 percent of the vote. During his campaign, Jindal had pledged to prevent legislative pay raises that would take effect during the current term. He refused to veto a pay raise once in office, causing opponents to issue a recall challenge petition. Jindal responded that he was opposed to the pay increase but that he had pledged to let the legislature govern themselves. He then reversed this position by vetoing the pay raise legislation, stating that he made a mistake. In response, the petitioners dropped their recall effort.

As Governor, Jindal signed the Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill authorizing the chemical castration of those convicted a second time of certain sex offenses. He has opposed the 2009 Stimulus Plan, but despite his public stance, intends to accept at least $2.4 billion in package funds. Jindal oversaw one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history in late August 2008 for Hurricane Gustav. The evacuation was credited as one reason that Gustav only resulted in 16 deaths in the U.S.

Going into the 2008 presidential race, Jindal s name was mentioned as a possible vice-presidential candidate. After two meetings with McCain, in July 2008 Jindal said he would not be the Republican vice presidential nominee that fall.

In February 2009, Jindal delivered the official Republican response to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress, calling the president’s economic stimulus plan ‘irresponsible’ and arguing against government intervention. His speech was poorly received, with conservative commentators among his harshest critics, calling his speech “a disaster for the Republican Party”.

Jindal has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election. In December 2008, Jindal indicated that he would not run for president in 2012, saying he will focus on his gubernatorial reelection in 2011. In a July 2009 interview, Jindal repeated his intention to focus on reelection in 2011.

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