Recently, The Town Talk uploaded a couple of campaign finance reports from the two candidates for Rapides Parish Sheriff, Mike Slocum and Chuck Wagner. The paper encouraged readers to view the reports for themselves, implying that these reports represented an accurate reflection of the money raised by both candidates. But there is one glaring problem: Both reports were issued nearly a year ago, in December of 2006. Then, yesterday, the paper editorialized about the fundraising, arguing that Mike Slocum is “well ahead” of Chuck Wagner.
Had the paper actually taken the time to review the most recent reports (and then offer those reports to the public, instead of reports from last year), they would have known that this claim is simply patently false. In fact, according to the most recent comprehensive reports, Chuck Wagner has $171,554 more “funds on hand” than Mike Slocum. (And even if one were to deduct the money Wagner has personally staked on the election, he still has at least $83,000 more than Slocum).
The Town Talk‘s misrepresentation of campaign finance reports is yet another symptom of its inability to accurately cover and address this important election. After the primary election, The Town Talk‘s online forums have been invaded by a handful of people who ostensibly “support” Mike Slocum (though, based on their statements, I find it hard to believe that anyone would want these individuals actively working for their campaign), and throughout the past two weeks, these individuals have repeatedly leveled scurrilous and potentially defamatory accusations against Chuck Wagner, Mayor Roy, the Alexandria Police Department, and practically everyone who vocalizes their support for Wagner’s candidacy. (H/t to blogger “RepublicanForWagner,” who sent me a compelling e-mail documenting these egregious statements).
To be sure, after browsing the online forums, I recognize that a small group of people who ostensibly “support” Chuck Wagner have also made ridiculous statements, but I have yet to find anything that compares to the level of egregious dishonesty demonstrated by so-called “supporters” of Major Mike Slocum. To bonafide Slocum supporters like Nora, I hope you will pass this information along to Mr. Slocum, and I hope he will officially distance himself from the comments made by these “supporters.”
On October 30, 2007, a Slocum supporter named “tomcat” wrote:
Your comparison of Chuckie (Chuck Wagner) to Mayor Roy brings this to mind. Wonder if Chuckie would have handled the Giordano murders like your Mayor Roy. Just leave the innocent and dying people in the office – whatever you do, DO NOT go in and shoot a black man! To hell with the dead, dying and the families. Politics first, innocent lives when we get around to it. Your Mayor Roy, along with his spineless police chief, should have resigned the morning after that horrific embarrassment.
I also believe that your mayor would not allow RPSO to intervene because it might have looked good for the candidate whom your mayor does not want in office. How’s that for honor??? Let two people die and another one lay for 2 hours critically wounded beside his dead son because calling in the RPSO SWAT immediately might have given the sheriff’s office a little pat on the back. That’s who you want in your mayor’s office and in your sheriff’s office? Not me… Major Slocum would have had that murdering coward out of that office instantly. He is trained in SWAT and is not afraid of what the black city councilmen might think.
Shame, shame, shame on your mayor and his police chief. I don’t know how they sleep at night.
Although the investigation into this terrible event is not yet complete, I am extremely confident, based on my personal knowledge, that the claims made by “tomcat” will be proven to be scabrous, dishonest, and purposely misleading. (RepublicanForWagner says he “know(s) who tomcat is,” but I will not reveal his assumption until it is confirmed). On a personal note, even though I caution against hyperbole, I consider tomcat’s statement both hateful and evil.
During the aftermath of this tragedy, I attempted to deflect my personal feelings, because I understood that we all grieved as a community. There was no reason for me to claim my own personal reaction. I purposely attempted to minimize it (though I did talk about a Southern Breeze concert I attended at Tunks).
But the truth is: I live only a few houses down from Joey Giordano’s family. (I regret being evasive about whether or not I knew Joey, because the truth is that I did know him. I was just shocked, and I felt it was important to maintain privacy).
The night after the tragedy, I was at Mayor Roy’s house (who is another one of my neighbors) with the Mayor, his wife, their daughter, and Joey Giordano’s 3-year-old son Jacob. The Roy family was babysitting while Jacob’s mother attended to her father-in-law in the hospital. The Mayor wasn’t just Joey’s neighbor; the Mayor considered Joey to be one of his best friends.
The notion that Mayor Roy (who never gave any orders that night) would have allowed Joey Giordano and Marty Thiels to die for “political reasons” (sadly, the truth is that both men had lost their lives before the stand-off even began) is one of the most hateful distortions of the truth I have ever encountered in any political campaign. According to RepublicanForWagner, the woman he believes who leveled this charge, “tomcat,” was not at work yesterday, and coincidentally, tomcat alerted everyone at The Town Talk about what they were up to:
While I hate to leave this fun and games, I’m out to walk for my candidate. We’re taking the next two weeks off to focus on doing something that might actually make a difference! You waggie folks have fun petting each other here.
VOTE FOR MAJOR MIKE SLOCUM
#62 – RAPIDES SHERIFF
MAINTAIN RPSO’s HONOR, INTEGRITY AND EFFECTIVENESS!!!GOOD LUCK MIKE!!!!!!
Speaking of honor and integrity, Major Mike Slocum needs to publicly rebuke tomcat, her/his support, and her/his hateful, racist, and insensitive comments about the courageous work performed by the Alexandria Police Department during one of the darkest moments in our city’s history.
And our friends at The Town Talk need to learn how to moderate the conversation occurring on their own website.
CenLamar 
Wow, I’ll confess to viewing the reports yesterday, and actually being astounded at how far ahead Slocum was in the money raised category than Chuck. I never thought to look at the dates. Good reporting here Lamar, and another example of how blogs affect the news these days. The other thing the reports show is the astounding amount of money it takes to win an election these days, which is ridiculous.
Actually, Lamar, the town talk stated “Slocum is well ahead of Wagner on the FUNDRAISING side of the contest.”
That is a true statement. Mr. Slocum has APPROXIMATELY raised $389,645 (account for my personal mathematical errors). Chuck Wagner has raised APPROXIMATELY $179,532.
Mr. Slocum has also taken out a personal loan for $35,000, while Wagner has taken out approximately $160,000 worth of loans. A reasonable person would deduct from this information that Mr. Slocum is WELL ahead of Mr. Wagner on the FUNDRAISING side of the contest.
On a side note, if you choose to hold Mr .Slocum accountable for what his supporters have posted, you need to do so regarding Wagner’s supporters as well. They began the threads, they instigated the hurtful tone, and if you choose to look at those posts with an open mind (which I’m sure is difficult for you to do, given your biased opinion of Wagner), you will see that they successfully bait Slocum’s supporters into negativity. They have defamed and named private citizens who support Slocum, they have attacked Mr. Slocum and his family’s character, and they have named private citizens places of employment. So, I think it is very one-sided of you to single this one incident out, instead of looking at the entire picture. Regarding honor and integrity, Chuck Wagner needs to publicly apologize for lying to the voters and media regarding Mr. Slocum’s education, and his involvement in the SWAT team. I am working on getting that info to you, Lamar.
Nora, I have looked at almost every thread and nearly every post on the Town Talk’s forums, and I definitely agree that a handful of people who ostensibly support Wagner have made some stupid and shameless remarks. However, I have not seen a Wagner supporter make the type of egregious claims leveled by the above blogger. It is truly beyond the pale.
And I don’t think it’s legitimate to argue that this person was baited into making this claim. I hope Slocum does not share this person’s opinion. If you have his ear, please ask him whether or not he believes in this claim, and let me know. If Major Slocum tells you that he does not agree and is appalled by those statements, I will certainly clarify that the claims made by this person ARE NOT shared by Slocum. I think it is very important our next sheriff has respect for the other law enforcement agencies and leaders in our parish– and respect and understanding for the courageous work performed on that tragic day.
I thank you for working to get the information to me. I am still waiting, and as soon as I receive the information, I will post it. I suppose you received my e-mail. I appreciate your efforts.
I’m curious first off…Nora said the other day that she had already received the verification from the education board and just needed your email to send it to you. Now she says that she’s working to get it for you. I guess we know what that means.
Slocum will not apologize for the non-diploma nor for the SWAT team. He does not have a diploma. We know for a fact that he dropped out because his gf was pregnant and he had to get a job. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just wrong to lie about it. Besides the fact that he tells the black community that he graduated from Pineville..knows they think everyone from Buckeye are racists.
He was never on SWAT…that’s a flat out lie. Nora is like the rest of his supporters. Grasping for straws.
Ask Nora why Slocum was physically pushed out of Ms. Goddard’s office after his interview was complete. He wouldn’t leave because he was trying to get her to not run the story. He even called Sheriff Hilton and tried to get him to come back from his birdcamp to make the story go away. Funny…he talked to Michelle and then he hung up. Michelle had to physically take him by the arm and push him out of her office…this was after he got in her face and threatened her several times.
Mark Wood has been carrying the request for public records around to people basically saying, “Look what they’re trying to do to me. They’re picking on deputies. Don’t vote for Wagner.” I really think he doesn’t understand that people look at that and think that if you didn’t do anything illegal, then you have nothing to worry about. If I was presented with a public information request, I wouldn’t care because I haven’t done anything illegal. I haven’t been campaigning on duty or making calls for Slocum or sending email and texts on his behalf.
Lamar you say that Slocum doesn’t feel the way that his online supporters do. I’m sorry to tell you but this man is straight up evil. Ask yourself why the Wagner and Robinson camps have always been friends from the beginning and yet the Slocum camp has been nothing being pure mean. He has set this behavior in motion from the beginning. He has threatened and pressured them from the beginning and kept this air of paranoia over them. His online supporters are the same as all his other supporters.