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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's prayer rally held at LSU in January ended up costing Louisiana taxpayers $10,289 in overtime paid to state police officers.
Jindal's rally, officially called The Response, was held Jan. 24 inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) on LSU's Baton Rouge campus. NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/1E11JIB) state troopers racked up a total of 256 hours of overtime for the rally. That's according to documents the newspaper received through a public records request.
Col. Mike Edmonson, head of the state police, said he ended up using a large number of officers because it wasn't clear what type of public safety issues might arise at the rally. He did not specify the number of troopers used to secure the event, citing security concerns.
"We did some things that were probably a little bit more than normal," Edmonson said, "I wanted to make sure we were prepared."
Jindal's office said the governor was not involved in state police staffing decisions for the event.
"We appreciate the work that State Police does for the governor and his family every day. We leave all security determinations up to LSP and we trust them to do their job. We wouldn't want anyone else interfering with their security determinations," Shannon Bates Dirmann, spokeswomen for the governor, said in a written statement.
The Response — and the governor's involvement with the event — drew criticism and attracted protesters. The conservative Christian group who organized it, American Family Association, holds controversial views. It has linked abortion and the rise of same-sex marriage to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.
The costs of security provided by LSU police and private contractors and other expenses associated with the event have not been released by the university. But before The Response, the AFA signed a contract with LSU agreeing to pay them $18,500 to rent the PMAC. That agreement typically covers the cost of staffing the arena, including security inside the building.
LSU has said any additional expenses the university incurred, including protection provided by LSU police, will be covered by the AFA. Taxpayers, however, will pay for the related state police overtime.
Jindal's personal protection is provided by state police on a full-time basis. Jindal was the host of the event, which lasted several hours, and made three appearances in front of a crowd of thousands of people.
Still, Edmonson said most of the extra officers and overtime associated with the event didn't have anything to do with the governor's personal protection. It was more concerns with general crowd safety.
"I was told there could be a lot more people," Edmonson said, "If we do that again, the numbers won't be that much."
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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com
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