Bobby Jindal: "Kissing congressman" McAllister is "an embarrassment"
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal "won't be endorsing" embattled Rep. Vance McAllister's reelection bid, he assured CQ Roll Call over the weekend, calling it an "embarrassment" that his fellow Republican continues to serve despite surveillance footage that surfaced in April exposing him in a lengthy liplock with a married staffer.
Amid calls for him to step down from political heavyweights like Jindal and then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., McAllister in the wake of the scandal said he would not seek reelection. After a period of "much thought and prayer," though, as well as poll numbers showing him leading a potential field in November, the Pelican State lawmaker who ran multiple campaign ads last fall trumpeting his faith and family turned an about-face, announcing he'd forge ahead after all.
"Look, he originally made the right decision when he decided not to run for reelection," Jindal said Saturday while campaigning for congressional candidates in Iowa. "I said he should have stepped down at the time. I think he's making a mistake... I think he should've stuck to his original decision and not go back inside to try to run again. I think it'd be better for him - he said he wanted some time for privacy and to spend that time with his family. I think that'd be a good thing for him to do."
Jindal added the ordeal "has been an embarrassment to him, the district and the state."
McAllister, meanwhile, has said he doesn't anticipate broaching the controversy in the coming months: "I've publicly apologized to the people in the 5th District and more importantly worked through it with my family," he said. "I've said all I'm going to say about it. Now it's up to the voters."
