Did Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal convince Rick Perry to shed Dave Carney?

Yes, according to the Daily Caller‘s Matt Lewis: “A well-placed source who worked on Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign tells the Caller that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and his staff helped convince the one-time GOP front-runner to oust his trusted strategist Dave Carney,” he wrote. 

“You cannot question Governor Jindal’s influence with Governor Perry. He definitely played a big part,” the anonymous source told Lewis.

Carney, who had worked for Perry since 1998, was let go in October 2011, and divining the reason for his abrupt departure has been “quite a parlor game in Austin” ever since, according to the Houston Chronicle‘s Richard Dunham*. Carney’s ouster as chief strategist came after several lackluster debate performances, but before November’s infamous “oops” moment. 

Long-time Jindal adviser Timmy Teepell denied the story in a tweet.

If it wasn’t Jindal, who was it? “Perhaps it was Colonel Mustard in the parlor with a wrench,” quipped Dunham.

Jindal endorsed Perry in September and hit the campaign trail to stump for him in Iowa in December and January after the Texas governor’s star had fallen.

“I’m not a fair-weather friend. It doesn’t matter to me where he is in the polls,” Jindal told reporters after Perry’s Iowa drubbing. “Every week it seems like there’s somebody else in first place or last place. I mean this is probably one of the most unpredictable nominating processes I’ve ever seen.”

Lewis noted that Jindal adviser Curt Anderson was among those tapped to join the Perry campaign in October.

**Correction: In an earlier version, we said Joe Holley wrote the Houston Chronicle‘s post about Carney. The author was actually Richard Dunham. We regret the error.