Update: A quick glance at Republican Lance Maxwell’s campaign finance reports reveals that, despite Maxwell’s claims about being barred from strategically communicating with the LCRM, the Maxwell campaign received an in-kind contribution from the LCRM. On September 11, 2007, the LCRM donated a campaign policy handbook, valued at $100, to Lance Maxwell’s campaign. Download the report here and flip to page 9.
Maxwell has also received $2,500 donations from out-of-towners like Joseph Canizaro and Phyllis Taylor, both of whom were instrumental in funding the LCRM.
Yesterday, a group of Democratic candidates gathered in Alexandria to denounce the smear ads that have been taken out by the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, a political action committee. A radio advertisement that targets Chris Roy, Jr., Democratic candidate for District 25, was so vicious and misleading that Roy’s Republican opponent, Lance Maxwell, issued a statement denouncing the advertisement, claiming that he has requested the LCRM “remove this ad immediately.” Maxwell wrote:
This press release is in response to an unexpected attack ad against one of my opponents. On Wednesday, October 17, I heard this radio ad for the first time. I had no prior knowledge nor did I approve such an ad. (By law, no political action committee can communicate strategically with me). This ad is not supported by nor endorsed by the Lance Maxwell Campaign. I have personally called this PAC and asked that they remove this ad immediately. Any further negative campaigning by this PAC is against my specific request. This election cycle is about the future of Louisiana. I will not allow outside PAC’s to muddy the water with negative ads that are contrary to the basic foundations on which I was raised and for which I stand. Negative ads, like the one that is currently playing, are rooted in “old school” smear tactics that have kept Louisiana stagnant. Please continue to work with me as I strive to move Louisiana forward.
Although the LCRM has been targeting this district from the beginning and although Lance Maxwell’s last job was with Senator David Vitter, who, with his wife Wendy, helped found the LCRM, Maxwell claims the ad was “unexpected.” From The Town Talk:
(Chris) Roy, late Wednesday, said, “The radio attack ad that began running against me today is funded by outside interests that have also provided funding to Lance Maxwell’s campaign.” Roy also said the PAC responsible was the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
Either way, Maxwell’s public denouncement is a clear indication that the LCRM is engaging in “old school smear tactics” with which even Republican candidates disagree.
CenLamar 