Breaking: Bobby Jindal Spent Hundreds Of Thousands Of Tax Dollars To Fight Gay Marriage (Exclusive)

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight same-sex marriage – and not all the bills have been paid yet.

As we are well aware, many attorneys general across the United States spent copious amounts of taxpayer money to defend state marriage bans. John Boehner spent millions at the federal level to defend DOMA. Louisiana AG Buddy Caldwell and Governor Bobby Jindal are no different.

Jindal, running for president, likes to claim he has “balanced our budget eight years in a row without raising taxes.” It’s not true.

In a time when Louisiana is fiscally broke, having to slash some higher education and hospital services, the amount of taxpayer money Bobby Jindal paid to the attorney fighting same-sex marriage rights could have been much better spent. 

According to his bio, “Kyle Duncan was formerly general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where he was lead counsel representing Hobby Lobby Stores in its challenge to the HHS mandate. He is now a lawyer in private practice for the firm of Duncan PLLC in Washington, D.C. Kyle was also previously solicitor general of Louisiana from 2008 to 2011, where he argued numerous appeals in state and federal courts, including the US Supreme Court. From 2004 to 2008 Duncan was an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he taught courses on constitutional law, church-state relations, and free speech. He was assistant solicitor general in the Texas Attorney General’s Office from 1999 to 2002.”

In other words, Kyle Duncan is a high-powered and expensive lawyer charging Louisiana taxpayers at the rate of $385 an hour.

Along with colleagues, a public records request was made, and we now have contract details and the documents that break down the expenses Kyle Duncan charged Louisiana to defend the state’s unconstitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Gov. Jindal wants to run for the highest office in the country, oblivious to the mess he’s created in his own state. How can he expect the American people to put any validity to his concern for all citizens of this country, when it’s obvious that he couldn’t even serve the people of Louisiana with dignity? He knowingly spent money that the state did not have, in defense of a ban that disenfranchises his own citizens. It’s not only a blatant disregard for all taxpayers across Louisiana, including the ones he was fighting against, but also for the state fiscal crisis as a whole. Yes, I know, the expenses aren’t into the million-dollar crisis range that faces this state, but they would have been better served if put to a better use.

My husband and I were some of those taxpayers that Jindal disenfranchised. Having filed the federal lawsuit, Robicheaux et. al., challenging Louisiana’s marriage ban in July 2013, we’ve been fighting the governor and his officers for the last 24 months. We’ve been forced to file our taxes separately due to the ban that was in place and have those tax dollars used against us.

Even when the Supreme Court ruled for same-sex marriage Governor Jindal chose to go the route of grand standing for his failing political aspirations, rather than step aside and let the law of the land stand. It was not until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded to the District Court to reverse its original ruling and instruct the state officers to comply with issuing and recognizing marriage licenses that same-sex couples were able to marry.

In my opinion, this man is not fit to continue his duties as Louisiana Governor, much less have a chance at the Oval Office.

The dust has settled in Louisiana on this matter, but the taxpayers will continue to suffer for the fiscal crisis that Jindal will leave behind. Even those of us that had our tax money spent in the fight against us.

So, how much money did Governor Jindal blow on fighting cases he had to have known he would lose, just to prop up his conservative bonafides when running for president?

$371,548.63

And that’s only through March of this year.

Below are the documents received from our the records request that show all the money Gov. Jindal spent, through March. 

Attorney Hourly Fees – $360,456.25

Total Fees Billed – $371,548.63

See records request here or below.

Image at top by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

 

Derek Penton-Robicheaux is a native of Mississippi and a longtime resident of New Orleans.  He holds degrees in computer information systems and paramedicine.  After more than five years together, Derek and his husband, Jonathan Penton-Robicheaux, were legally married in Iowa on Sept. 23, 2012. The two were the first plaintiffs involved in the federal marriage Lawsuit in Louisiana, Robicheaux et al. v Caldwell.