15 July 2008
Possible Vice President Vetoes Scout Funding
Posted by admin under: funding .
I ran across an Associated Press article written by Melinda Deslatt and featured in the The News-Star of Monroe, Louisiana. The story describes line item vetoes made by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to the state budget legislation. In the budget was funding for local Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs. Bobby Jindal is on the wish-list for Republican Vice-President by several conservative commentators including former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and probably Michelle Malkin, as well.
The Boy Scouts program cut by Gov. Jindal is listed as the Top Gun Boy Scouts of Ouachita for an amount of $35,000. The program is listed in the “Non-Governmental Entity Funding Information Request” as “an inner city unit of the Boy Scouts of America that specializes in providing mentoring and leadership for urban youth”. A little digging revealed that Top Gun was started in 1985 at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Monroe with a goal of helping 50 Boy Scouts achieve Eagle rank by the year 2000. While I agree with helping inner city youth and Boy Scouts of America has several programs for doing that I’ve always understood that Boy Scouts did not receive direct funding from government sources. I called the Louisiana Purchase Council, but the Scout Executive, David Sorrell, wasn’t available to answer questions. I assume he would have told me that the program doesn’t give money to Boy Scouts of America, but probably pays for equipment and uniforms given out by the church. I tried calling the church, too, but it’s not Sunday so I wasn’t surprised there was no answer.
The Girl Scouts program cut is listed as Girl Scouts Louisiana East Inc. for an amount of $25,000 although the “Non-Governmental Entity Funding Information Request” shows an amount of $50,000 and looks to be a straightforward funding of the Girl Scout council for that area (the eastern half of the state of Louisiana). Since Girl Scouts of the USA doesn’t have the controversy regarding religion, homosexuality, or opposite-sex membership there wouldn’t be the same issues with direct government funding, but I’m sure some people might try anyway.
Gov. Jindal simply said the state had to cut funding and BSA and GSUSA were among the list. I feel a little awkward in California saying that Louisiana Scouts have to cut back because of state budget shortfalls, but we’re dealing with a multi-billion dollar shortfall ourselves and if California is funding our programs we’ll have to get cut, too. I don’t think we’re in the budget. At least a search of the current legislation didn’t turn up anything.
The only catch-22 for Gov. Jindal is that he cut a program designed to help at-risk teens in a predominately black neighborhood. That’s politically bad for a Republican I would think. Leaving it in would have been endorsing government funding of a church program for the Boy Scouts of America. Also politically bad for a Republican I would think. Overall, however, he is probably taking a lot of political arrows for the ultimate goal of keeping his state budget balanced. As a Scouter teaching part of the Boy Scout Law that says a Scout is Thrifty, I have to give a thumbs-up.
Update: The Scout Executive of the Louisiana Purchase Council, David Sorrell, just called me back and he confirmed the information I communicated above including the fact that the funding was never given directly to the Boy Scouts council. He also noted that the council encourages fundraisers to support troops and has scholarships available for the council’s camps. He similarly raised the point of the Scout Law that a Scout is Thrifty. I appreciate Mr. Sorrell taking the time to talk to me especially after coming from a luncheon with state legislators who were talking to him about the same subject. An interesting tidbit Mr. Sorrell revealed was that Governor Jindal is the youngest governor in the country and that Mr. Sorrell is the youngest Scout Executive in the country.
Possibly Related Posts:- Jindal Gets BSA Award
- Surprised Cubs Meet Governor Jindal
- Girl Scouts Lose Their House
- FDR’s Mysterious Boy Scout Fundraiser
- Cubs Hit By Car - Most Are Okay
One Comment so far...
» Jindal Gets BSA Award Says:
21 November 2008 at 5:09 pm.
[...] Council. I thought that was funny because a different council, the Louisiana Purchase council, had some of their funding cut by Governor Jindal earlier in the year. However, the governor has been nice to Scouts and it looks like they’re excited to have [...]
