Part 6: The Freshman
After the levee broke following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and New Orleans, as well as surrounding parishes like Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, were filled with water, elected leaders knew the efforts to save lives and get people back into their homes would be great.
The most challenging time in their careers.
“I’m Bobby Jindal, I was a freshman congressman when Hurricane Katrina hit,” Jindal said.
Only 34 years old at the time, and in office for less than nine months, in 2005, Jindal represented Louisiana’s 1st congressional district.
It is a seat now held by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and a district devastated by the storm — neighborhoods like Lakeview in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish.
“So we jump in a car and drove into the worst hit areas,” said Jindal.
And once there, one story sticks out involving former Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee.
“So people are on the rooftops, people are clinging to whatever they can as the water is rising and Harry is in this make shift command center and harry is larger then life, he’s a big guy and he is furious and yelling into his phone here — and I say, ‘Sheriff, what’s going on here?’ And he says, ‘There are not enough first responders.’ So when the word goes out, people from all over Louisiana start coming with boats. These are regular people, this is the origins of the Cajun navy, just regular people in boats tying to help, and some idiot, some federal bureaucratic is trying to stop them looking for proof of insurance and registration and looking for paperwork — and Harry can’t stand this — so he tells people to go around the corner and avoid the bureaucratic. And I say, ‘I agree with that, that sounds like good common sense.’ And Harry yells into the radio, ‘I got Congressman Bobby Jindal here and he says if you don’t like it, you can come arrest us.’ And I’m like, ‘Whoa, who did we just volunteer to get arrested to?’ But what I like about that story, if you watch national news, you hear about the looters, you hear about the incompetence and fraud, you don’t hear enough about brave Louisianans who watched the news, saw what was going on and get into their trucks with their boats and went and did something about it,” Jindal said.
Hundreds of billions of dollars eventually flowed into the state, but getting the money was an uphill battle.
“It was tough, not only with politicians, but with others who had never been here who were opining on us, saying, ‘It’s your fault, why do you want to live down here?’ Not realizing that it was the federal levees and floodwalls that broke, not realizing that we produce most of America’s seafood and energy and the Mississippi River is a power entity, and on top of that, we’re American citizens, we weren’t asking for charity, we were just asking to rebuild our homes,” Jindal said.
Jindal’s political star rose in the storm’s aftermath.
So much so, he was easily elected governor in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.
“I think after Katrina, people looked around and said, we rank 49th and 50th on so many lists — maybe it is time for a change,” Jindal said.
Hhis time as the state’s leader was controversial.
While he points to positives, like University Medical Center being built in the city, the NBA franchise staying and giving families vouchers for private schools.
Critics contend budget issues consistently plagued his administration and cuts to some healthcare needs and pushing national partisan party politics were problems.
“The real metric, the real metric is for eight years, we had more people coming into the state — we actually grew the population. That didn’t happen before or after I was gone,” Jindal said.
Now 54 and still living in Baton Rouge, his three kids are all in college or recently graduated.
Jindal does financial consulting for large corporations and works as a health care advisor to government groups.
But his ties to this state run deep.
“Do you think we’re in a better spot 20 years after Katrina?” asked WDSU’s Travers Mackel.
“Absolutely, our future is bright, but there are things we have to work on — but yes, absolutely,” Jindal said
“After Katrina, from probably 2005-2015, there was a push around the world to help Louisiana and New Orleans, but some feel that’s faded. Do you think that’s perception or reality?” Mackel asked.
“Well, look I think we harassed that attention for coastal restoration and flood protection, but we Americans — we have short attention spans — and there have been other challenges and disasters, look you have the wildfires in California, so I think there is some truth to that, and Americans are a generous people and they’ll help but as important as Katrina is to us, it has faded a little bit off the national spotlight,” Jindal said.
Bobby Jindal, the freshman congressman who became governor, is one of the many faces of Hurricane Katrina.
“The big takeaway for me — the people were strong, the people were resilient,” Jindal said.
In 2005, Louisiana’s congressional delegation worked to get money and resources for people impacted by Katrina.
Our senators were Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, who was in his first year in the Senate.
Landrieu remained in office until she lost a re-election bid in 2014.
She now splits her time between Washington, D.C., and New Orleans.
Vitter lost a bid for governor in 2015 and didn’t seek re-election in 2016 to the Senate.
He works as a lobbyist and lives in New Orleans.
Louisiana’s second congressional district, which covers much of New Orleans, was represented by Bill Jefferson when Katrina hit.
Jefferson was convicted of bribery-related crimes in 2009 and jailed.
He lives in New Orleans and declined an interview for our “Faces of Katrina” stories.
Louisiana’s third congressional district — which in 2005 covered hard-hit areas like St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes — was represented by Democrat Charlie Melancon.
He remained in Congress through 2010 and is living in Napoleonville.
READ MORE:Bobby Jindal reflects on Hurricane Katrina and aftermath of storm
