Conservative Republicans such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal love to tell their constituents both in state and across the nation that they believe in smaller government. They capitalize and concentrate on people’s natural fears of Big Brother watching their every move, ready to pounce on the first resister of the radical right’s way of doing things. They do it with a straight face and a believable backdrop.

By most accounts, the ploy works. Those who profess to being ultra conservative or members of the tea party rebellion are easily duped into the notion that a government that is active or out to help those in positions of vulnerability is inherently bad. There is no quid pro quo. These people despise and hate anything that can be labeled liberal, progressive or even independent.

But there is a rub. While Jindal claims to be against big government, he is extremely comfortable with those of higher economic means who are in positions to capitalize financially off of that same big government. These are individuals who eat at the best restaurants, socialize at the most exclusionary clubs and usually vote for Republicans such as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, David Vitter, Steve Scalise and, when given the chance, John McCain and Sarah Palin. They listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Dr.Laura Schlessinger, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly and in New Orleans, the FM radio station that carries the moniker of the hateful man from Cape Girardeau, Mo., El Rushbo himself.

For them and their ilk, Obama hatred is a cottage industry.

To be sure, taxpayers are the government. It is their money that fuels the engine of government. It’s an ever-flowing money stream that those with the right political ties can readily and regularly tap into.

Now compound that with a political hatchet man such as Bobby Jindal. Augment that by the fact that the president of the United States is African-American. Then further complicate the matter by the fact that New Orleans is undergoing a seismic shift in its political, racial, social and economic makeup. Such a confluence of circumstances makes for the perfect formula for the very kind of titular triumvirate of a single individual backed by big money interests and cheered on by social and political conservatives who are still fighting the Civil War in terms of holding African-Americans in shackles.

Shades of Haze

The late Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long kept no secrets about his populist message that every man was a king, even as he was known as the Kingfish. Long’s populist message of government helping those unable to help themselves resonated among those who saw the wealthy ruling class as obstacles to their own progress. After all, it was that same wealth and class that fought Huey P. Long every step of the way, and which likely culminated their battles after Hurricane Katrina forced the closing of Charity Hospital in New Orleans, despite calls to reopen it.

With Katrina and the Charity closing, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay off his political contributors, friends and social associates presented itself to Jindal, and he has grabbed it like a saber-tooth tiger snatching an unknowing giselle.

John McGinnis, on the surface one of the more balanced and fair commentators in the local daily press, was succinct in his observations. Here’s what McGinnis wrote:

“Ever since this governor gained a majority of appointments to the LSU Board of Supervisors in June, observers speculated how he would show who’s boss there.

“When it came, his was not a subtle behind-the-scenes move, but a public putdown of university President John Lombardi, who was a very powerful administrator and influencer of board action, until the hammer fell.”

Unlike other local columnists, at least McGinnis displays a journalistic independence and fearlessness toward power rarely seen on the local daily’s op-ed page, with the exception of a few nationally syndicated columnists.

If Jindal is successful in pulling his power play off, he will go down as the governor who wreaked the most havoc on the very same Charity Hospital system that was designed to help those in the greatest need. The only difference is he will have given an incredible boost to those with the greatest greed.

One appointee to the hospital board, Anthony Falterman, labeled Jindal’s power play as “interference,” essentially someone who wants to micromanage the board’s every action, from meetings to money being doled out.

By controlling the makeup of the hospital board, Jindal has basically anointed himself dictatorial leader of what goes on in New Orleans medical health care community. They will determine who gets appointed, who gets hired, who gets fired and who gets to benefit from the hard-earned tax dollars of New Orleanians, the overwhelming majority of them African-Americans.

Jindal and other supporters of the medical center are counting on state and federal tax dollars to make it all a reality. Even with their deep pockets, the people who support Jindal financially are more inclined to toss their inheritances on Mardi Gras floats than on practical, basic humanitarian matters such as health care and a major hospital serving citizens of New Orleans.

Interesting to note is that Xavier University of Louisiana, which only happens to send more African-Americans to medical school and graduates more pharmacy majors than any other institution in Louisiana and maybe the United States, has been silently but effectively shut out of any meaningful dialogue concerning the governing structure of this billion dollar potential boondoggle.

As for the big mid-city medical project, attempts to halt it while reopening Charity have essentially fallen on deaf ears, as the money grubbing special interests whom Jindal is politically indebted to have seized the window of opportunity Katrina afforded them.

What Jindal is seeking - full, unquestioned and unmitigated authority and control of the University Medical Center - is the sort of power play that could saddle the state and the city of New Orleans with something taxpayers never bargained for. Once it is done, it is done.

That’s why every New Orleans state legislator needs to finally standup for the people they so often beg for votes. These elected officials have a moral imperative and a political responsibility to do everything in their power to block Bobby Jindal’s attempt to take control of the health care apparatus in New Orleans. They need to cease with the television sound bites that the project is a “public” one and should be treated as such. Of course it’s a public project. The late Ray Charles could see that.

If you really believe that Jindal’s motives are pure, you need only look at the company he keeps.

Lovell Beaulieu is an award-winning journalist who writes about New Orleans and national issues. He can be reached at onewritesnow@yahoo.com