Skip to content

Archive for November 4th, 2007

Nov 4

17 Comments

A Note to Online Slocum Supporters: Please Stop Mocking the Physically Disabled (And Let’s Tell the Truth About Slocum’s Education)

Update: Maybe I am being a little combative and sanctimonious about the comments left by rogue supporters of Major Slocum. It is important to recognize these comments may have been left by people on the fringes. They are a part of nearly every heated campaign, and I recognize their statements do not necessarily reflect the views held by Slocum. However, I hope he will distance himself from those comments, and I hope that he will finally, once and for all, set the record straight about his education. By now, he must realize these allegations have been made repeatedly and publicly, and unfortunately, a mere speech act is not an adequate substitute for written, official documentation.

Although I do not contribute to The Town Talk‘s woefully unmoderated forums, I have been reading them throughout the past few days, primarily because of the threads concerning the sheriff’s race (which have garnered literally tens of thousands of views). Yesterday, I saw candidate Mike Slocum’s most recent television commercial (which is quite good), and I noticed that the commercial included a physically-disabled deputy. Several contributors to The Town Talk forums have implied that this deputy may be engaging in campaigning activities while on-duty, which is both unethical and potentially illegal, and others have suggested this person is being targeted in a request, which apparently seeks to uncover the public records of a handful of individuals accused of politicking on duty.

Read more

Nov 4

1 Comment

Jack Causey (R-Leesville): The Special Interests’ Favorite Candidate

Jack Causey (R-Special Interests and the LCRM) has received a total of 52 donations for his campaign for state House Representative of District 30. 52 donations at first appears to be an unremarkable number. But when one investigates the amount and the sources of these 52 donations, a disturbing picture of a venal candidate beholden to special interests from out of state and out of the district emerges. According to Jack Causey’s campaign website, “he [Jack] is a team player who isn’t satisfied just sitting on the sidelines.” Jack has been anywhere but on the sidelines when special interests’ money is the game of the day. He is not a member of the home team, however, and this, I believe, is a sign that he has no intention of representing his constituents if he is elected to serve them in Baton Rouge.

House District 30 is comprised of the following incorporated places: DeRidder, Fort Polk South, Leesville, New Llano, Rosepine and Simpson. Although the district has an odd serpentine shape, it only includes precincts in two parishes, Beauregard and Vernon.

A highly localized and compact jurisdiction, House District 30 was drawn with the intent of granting a political voice to the citizens of the population centers of DeRidder and Leesville, the two cities whose names one would expect to encounter on the campaign finance reports of any candidate running for this district’s state House seat.

But this is not the case with Jack Causey (R-Special Interests and the LCRM). According to his campaign finance reports, 14 of the 52 contributions he has received are from House District 30. And if we are to include the $3,000 loan he made to his campaign, only 15 of 52 donations, a mere 28.85%, were submitted by residents of the district he desires to represent.

28.85% is already an egregiously low figure for donations made from the district in which Causey is running as a candidate for the state House. But it gets worse. Yes, believe it or not, there are numbers even more damaging than the 28.85% figure I have already cited. Jack Causey (R-Special Interests and the LCRM) has raised a total of $68,431.25, only $3,800, or 5.55%, of which was netted from donors within House District 30.  And most of these donations are from individuals or businesses representing the medical industry. 5.55%: has he even engaged with the people he desires to represent, or is he solely concerned with the money and the opinions of the special interests who have bankrolled his campaign?

Lest one criticize me for not giving Causey the benefit of the doubt, I will add the $3,000 he loaned his campaign to the amount he has raised within District 30. After all, he is a resident of District 30, even if his campaign is sustained by operatives, PACs and other questionable subjects from without and not from within House District 30. $6,800 out of $68,431.25: it is still an alarming quotient, especially as the $6,800 he raised within District 30 only accounts for 9.94% of his campaign warchest. One wonders if anyone in District 30 even knows this man given his anemic fundraising on a local level. But at least special interests outside of the district and across the nation know Jack Causey: their donations account for a whopping 90.06% of his campaign’s net earnings. No, Jack Causey does not stand on the sidelines of his district; he and his campaign fundraising apparatus are literally off of the district map.

So outside interests have contributed $61,631.25 out of the $68,431.25 Jack Causey’s campaign has raised thus far this election cycle. These numbers are nothing but signs of how warped the notion of representational government has become. Candidates and their candidacies are no longer sustained by local supporters; they are bankrolled by outside interests whose funds enable the candidate to create the appearance of local support with slick television advertisements and glossy mailers. But allow me to be more polemical: Jack Causey’s fundraising numbers are cynical and venal politics at its worst. And Causey, as evinced by his campaign finance reports, views this as entirely acceptable. In fact, he arrogantly embraces this shameless attempt of outside interests and corporations to purchase a legislative district that winds through two rural Louisiana parishes. For if he objected to this cynical politics of which he is a willing participant, he would return all these outside donations. But no, the donations remain in the coffers, and the concerns of the citizens of Beauregard and Vernon parishes will be bracketed and shelved. There is an election to win, after all, and the outside interests who will shape and determine his voting record have already lured him with all their insidious blandishments.

None of this is surprising, for Causey has also received lavish funding through the bundling scheme coordinated by all the major donors to David Vitter’s LCRM. You recall how Causey has received $25,000 from David Vitter’s campaign finance racket. These donations are rendered in red in the table that enumerates all of the special interest donations Causey has received. Notice how these donations and all the other donations Causey has received are not from District 30, and notice how many of these donations are from organizations not even located in the state of Louisiana. One wonders if the LCRM put Causey in contact with all the other special interests who are bankrolling his cynical campaign. Was this the subject of one of the chapters of the policy book the LCRM donated to each of their candidates?

Before I enumerate every donation from outside House District 30 Jack Causey has received, I must list the 15 donations Causey has received from District 30. For not only would it be unfair not to acknowledge the exiguous support he has received from the people he desires to represent; the differences of size and of amount between the local and the special interest donations Causey has received are quite instructive. In fact, the differences are so instructive, I imagine they will convince voters in House District 30 to question the fiction that Jack Causey enjoys local support. I also hope the differences these tables elucidate will compel voters to reject Causey’s candidacy on the grounds that he and his campaign are nothing but artificial products manufactured by the special interests’ money and influence. For how could he serve as an advocate for the residents of District 30 in Baton Rouge when his campaign finance reports are those of a marionette whose strings have been and will continue to be pulled by organizations whose lobbyists are more concerned with events that take place in Baton Rouge and Washington, DC, than with the concerns of the residents of Leesville and DeRidder? How can Jack Causey possibly represent the residents of House District 30 after he has accepted all this special interest money? How can Causey represent the residents of District 30 now that he has placed them on the auction block?

15 Donations from within District 30 to Jack Causey (R-Leesville)
Total: $6,800 (9.94% of Causey’s $68,431.25 campaign warchest)

Jack Causey, Leesville, LA 07 MARCH 2007 $3,000
Catherine A. Lord, Leesville, LA 24 SEPT 2007 $500
Leroy & Rachael Titman, DeRidder, LA 25 SEPT 2007 $200
Rev. E.J. Bradshaw, Leesville, LA 03 JULY 2007 $50
DeRidder Retirement, DeRidder, LA 18 APR 2007 $250
DeRidder Surgical Clinic, DeRidder, LA 07 MAY 2007 $50
Gene Haymon, Leesville, LA 31 MAY 2007 $250
Gene Haymon, Leesville, LA 27 AUG 2007 $250
Dr. Chuen Kwok, DeRidder, LA 08 MAY 2007 $500
Lord Clinic, Inc., Leesville, LA 10 MAY 2007 $500
Donald Perkins, Leesville, LA 10 MAY 2007 $200
Rosepine Retirement, Rosepine, LA 18 APR 2007 $250
Speciality Healthcare Management, LLC, Rosepine, LA 26 JUNE 2007 $200
Thomas Vision Clinic, Leesville, LA 07 SEPT 2007 $500
Eddie Wise, Leesville, LA 19 JULY 2007 $100

37 Donations from special interests located outside of District 30 to Jack CAUSEY (R-Leesville)
Total: $61,631.25 (90.06% of Causey’s $68,431.25 campaign warchest)

Francis Drilling Fluids, Ltd., Crowley, LA 29 OCT 2007 $1,000
Gray & Company, Inc., Metairie, LA
 29 OCT 2007
 $2,500
Republican Legislative Delegation Campaign, Baton Rouge, LA 29 OCT 2007 $10,000
MAPP Construction, LLC, Baton Rouge, LA
 06 OCT 2007
 $2,500
LCRM, Metairie, LA
 06 OCT 2007
 $3,400
All Children Matter – Louisiana State PAC, Alexandria, VA 08 OCT 2007 $1,000
LASFAA PAC, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA 16 OCT 2007 $1,000
Thomas Turner, Baton Rouge, LA
 18 OCT 2007 $2,500
CJ & Bobbie Stracner, Anacoco, LA 16 AUG 2007 $500
188 Claremont LLC, New York, NY 15 AUG 2007 $2,500
Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, LA
 25 JUNE 2007
 $2,500
Cajun Constructors, Baton Rouge, LA 04 MAY 2007 $2,500
Joseph Canizaro, New Orleans, LA
 16 JULY 2007
 $2,500
LCRM, Policy Book & Software, Metairie, LA
 06 SEPT 2007
 $1,600
Joseph Donchess, Baton Rouge, LA 13 APR 2007 $200
Emp. Natchitoches Paris Assessors Office, Natchitoches, LA 10 SEPT 2007 $200
Gerinomics Management Systems, LLC, Hammond, LA 03 APR 2007 $250
Grisby Properties, Baton Rouge, LA 02 AUG 2007 $2,500
John Jones, Falls Church, VA 26 MAY 2007 $250
Magnolia Management, Ridgeland, MS 29 AUG 2007 $1,000
Magnolia Management, Ridgeland, MS 11 APR 2007 $500
Magnolia Pharmacy, Baton Rouge, LA 06 AUG 2007 $500
William Mills, Lafayette, LA 25 JULY 2007 $1,000
Prestige Consulting, Bossier City, LA 03 APR 2007 $500
Priority Management, Shreveport, LA 25 JUNE 2007 $2,500
Republican Party of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA 08 MAY 2007 $5,000
Joseph Spinosa, Baton Rouge, LA
 17 JULY 2007
 $2,500
T-PAC, Terrytown, LA 25 MAY 2007 $1,000
The Management Company, Alexandria, LA 10 APR 2007 $100
Climate Control, Inc., Lake Charles, LA 25 SEPT 2007 $250
Its My Party – Federal PAC, Colonia, NJ 21 SEPT 2007 $500
Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent & Carrere, Baton Rouge, LA 28 SEPT 2007 $250
LaBruzzo Campaign Fund, Metairie, LA 17 SEPT 2007 $500
Louisiana Nursing Home PAC, Baton Rouge, LA 18 SEPT 2007 $500
Louisianans in Action, Baton Rouge, LA 14 SEPT 2005 $731.25
Morris & Dickson, LLC, Shreveport, LA
 17 SEPT 2007
 $2,500
Phyllis Taylor, New Orleans, LA
 17 SEPT 2007
 $2,500

Jack Causey is certainly a team player, but the team on which he plays is not located in Leesville or in DeRidder; the team he represents is located in some backroom where lobbyists and special interests literally “pay to play” on the legislative field that is located in Baton Rouge. Let us hope that the voters of House District 30 will reject this machine politics by pushing Causey back to the sidelines where he and people of his ilk belong.