Mr. Jindal AWOL

Dear Editor:

To Mr. Shexnayder, Ph.D. (The NewsStar, December 5) instead of the wunderkind you defend, what you see is definitely not what we get.

Instead of doing his job in Louisiana when all the paper mills are closing, he's in Iowa campaigning for president. He arrives in his helicopter after the International Paper company announces the loss of 540 jobs in Bastrop to offer his “condolences”. He announces a "secret meeting" of his handlers with "officials" at Smurfit-Stone in Hodge after they have already closed the plant.

He goes to Philadelphia to meet the president-elect, but won't answer phone calls from the press asking how he traveled there in the face of the stink about the three car companies privately flying to D.C. for a bailout.

He goes to Florida for the republic governor’s conference and the Beacon Hill Institute’s Competitiveness Report announces that Louisiana is next to last in attracting and retaining businesses that contribute to economic growth He ran the state health department and the American Public Health Association announces Louisiana is the unhealthiest state in the United States.

Mr. Jindal was AWOL when he ran the health department, AWOL when he ran higher education, and he's AWOL now as governor.