Gov. Bobby Jindal uses a state helicopter to visit churches across Louisiana on Sundays as a way of attending church services each week.

Those visits are costly to state tax payers because, according to a Sunday report from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, the helicopter the governor uses the most costs $1,200 an hour to operate.

Some may consider this an extra expense, but the governor should continue this practice because it one of many ways he can connect with a voting populace that too often in the past simply saw the governor as a caretaker of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

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The Advocate reports that over five months this year, Jindal took more than three-dozen helicopter trips. Of those, 14 were to attend church services.

The newspaper reviewed Jindal’s travel by gathering helicopter records through a public information request and verifying the purpose of the trips with Jindal’s office, the Associated Press said. Records provided by State Police covered March 2 to July 20.

Trips to worship services landed in places like Springhill, Dry Creek, Monroe, Hornbeck, Many, Logansport, Angie, Elizabeth, Harrisonburg, Columbia, Winnsboro, Coushatta, Robeline and Anacoco.

These communities are not often seen as hotbeds of political action. They certainly do not garner the national headlines of New Orleans, or even Lafayette, but they are made up of hard-working Louisiana residents who do what many of their brothers and sisters in big cities do on Sunday — they go to church.

Jindal explained his reasons for the church visits by saying he tries to make them when he receives an invitation. He acknowledged his office sometimes reaches out to a church’s leadership, but only when a member of the congregation asks him to visit.

“I’m completely just humbled and honored that I’m asked to come and worship with Louisianians across the state,” he said in an Associated Press story. “It’s important for the governor to get out of Baton Rouge.”

Jindal also said he uses the trips to schedule meetings with local officials even though it is a Sunday. Considering local officials from the likes of Harrisonburg and Springhill are not often granted an audience with the governor, most are more than welcome to give up some of their Sunday to share the concerns of their constituents.

Critics of the Jindal administration question the necessity of Sunday meetings with officials.

The Associated Press reported state Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, as saying, “I’m glad he goes to church, but I don’t think we ought to be paying his way there.”

Although small compared to other states, it still costs money for Jindal to get from Baton Rouge to Springhill, which sits in northwest Louisiana near the Arkansas state line.

When traveling in official capacity, which includes the use of a helicopter and aides, Jindal does rack up a bill. That should not prevent him from sharing a time many in the state still consider special — Sunday morning in church.

Not everything has to be big city politics.

STEPHEN HEMELT is city editor of The Daily Iberian. He can be reached at stephen.hemelt@daily-iberian.com.