A recall petition was filed Friday against Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has come under blistering criticism around the state for his refusal to veto a bill doubling state legislators' base pay.

Four lawmakers, including House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, are also objects of recall petitions filed in recent days.

Forcing a recall election against Jindal will be a tough task. It would require verifiable signatures from well over 900,000 registered Louisiana voters. Still, the publicity attending a recall effort illustrates an abrupt change in public attitude toward the young conservative Republican. Jindal, who easily defeated 11 opponents last fall, has been mentioned as a possible running mate for presidential candidate John McCain.

A recall election has never been called against a statewide or multi-parish official, according to Secretary of State Jay Dardenne's office.

Jindal has repeatedly criticized the pay raise as excessive but said he would not veto it for fear of jeopardizing his legislative agenda. That led to criticism statewide in newspaper editorials, Web sites and on conservative radio talk shows. Critics pointed to campaign literature in which he had said he would prohibit lawmakers from raising their own pay unless the raise was delayed until their next term.

"The voters of our state are angry that the legislature more than doubled their own pay and I agree with them," Jindal said in a news release Friday. "It was excessive and they should reverse it. I'm sure more voters will take extraordinary steps to show their anger over the pay raise before this is all said and done -- that's how a democracy works."

Ryan Fournier of the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson is listed on the petition as chairman of the effort to recall Jindal. A telephone message was left for him Friday afternoon.

Dardenne's office has received more than 30 requests for recall forms since lawmakers gave final approval to a bill increasing their annual base pay from $16,800 to $37,500.

The legislative session ended Monday and Jindal has until July 8 to veto the bill, which he has said he will allow to become law without his signature.

To force a recall election, a petition needs at least a third of a district's registered voters, gathered within 180 days of the filing of the petition. In Jindal's case, a petition would have to have a third of the state's more than 2.8 million voters, meaning more than 933,000 signatures would be needed.

Recall petitions also have been filed against Reps. Steve Pugh of Ponchatoula, Franklin Foil of Baton Rouge and Joseph Lopinto of Metairie. All the recall subjects so far are Republicans.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)