Call him a conservative spendthrift

The benefits of conservative government cannot easily be measured.

Promises of small government and fiscal restraint, hallmarks of the conservative ethos, provide the governed with a certain warm fuzzy feeling. However, my efforts to actually quantify the impact of conservatism on state government have left me scratching my head.

We need look no further to make the point than the Governor's Mansion. Since Bobby Jindal took over from that wanton liberal Kathleen Blanco, he has instituted not one, but two hiring freezes.

--- A light freeze ---

Jindal's hiring freezes thawed pretty quickly, however. The first one, instituted on Jindal's first full day as governor, fizzled when it became clear that the state's need for doctors and nurses was so acute that we had to do some hiring.

In November, Jindal announced another hiring freeze, which was supposed to save about $25 million.

But figures provided by the state Department of Civil Service indicate that both the number of state employees and the amount of money expended on state salaries have actually increased under Jindal's leadership.

The total employee count as of Dec. 31, 2008, was 103,086 employees, an increase of 2,437 employees over the 100,649 figure for January 31, 2008, Jindal's first month as governor.

In December 2008, the state spent roughly $4.45 billion on salaries, compared with roughly $4.18 billion spent in January 2008.

In fairness, it must be pointed out that the December figure does includes the 4 percent automatic annual raise for civil service employees that the governor does not control.

But the figures do not include the additional cost to taxpayers of fringe benefits for employees hired since Jindal took office.

It should also be noted that Jindal's efforts to save the state money didn't apply to the top executives he hired for his own staff....