Can Louisiana's Newly Elected Governor Rid The State Of Its' Ghost?

By promising an overhaul of Louisiana's ethics laws as his first act as governor, Bobby Jindal is joining a recent national trend that experts attribute to public revulsion at political scandals and a declining overall trust in government.

From Alaska to Ohio and points in between, states have been revising their ethics laws in recent years to improve transparency and put new restrictions on interactions between legislators and lobbyists.

Overall, 47 states have introduced bills or passed laws in the past two years making revisions to their ethics laws, according to the Center for Ethics in Government at the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least seven states have approved major overhauls, and reviews are under way in three others.

Jindal takes over a state government that has been relatively scandal-free in the past 12 years. Nevertheless, civic leaders say the state still suffers from the battering its image took during the Edwin Edwards years, and the guilt by association that occurs any time a New Orleans politician is brought down by legal problems.

Although Jindal often criticized the "old corrupt crowd" in Baton Rouge as a candidate, he has said that stronger ethics laws are a key to making Louisiana more attractive to outside companies and investors, who have said in recent surveys that the state's reputation for political corruption is a factor in deciding where to invest.