Don't cha love it when Republicans do the dirty work for ya? On March 8th, Democratic candidate Gilda Reed cruised to the party's nomination in the special primary, while presumed front-runner Rep. Steve Scalise missed avoiding a nasty run-off battle royale by a mere 577 votes.
It is wonderful to watch all the mud being slung by the two Republican campaigns, as if they are trying to show that they are "cleaner" than the other. Let's deal with the ethics allegations leveled by Scalise on Tim Burns:
It centers around the belief of the Scalise campaign that Tim Burns used legislative emails to promote his book. He also alleges that Mr. Burns is using his state legislative staff to help run his campaign. Here, I'll let the ad aired by the Scalise campaign tell the story:
Now, for the allegations that Burns is slinging at Scalise:
It deals with Scalise's creation - the Film Tax Credit - which seeks to give film production companies a tax break for filming in Louisiana. The Louisiana Institute of Film and Technology (LIFT) is currently under investigation for its use of the Film Tax Credit by the FBI. Two of the people under investigation for their roles in the scandal - Malcolm Petal, a co-founder of LIFT; and Will French, the co-founder and co-president of Louisiana Production Capital.
The issue here is not that they run those operations and are under investigation, but that they have donated substantial sums to Scalise. Mr. Petal has donated $2000 to Scalise's current Congressional campaign, and Mr. French has donated $4000 to Scalise's current Congressional campaign. Normally, money contributed by folks under investigation by the police or under indictment are donated to charitable organizations, but that does not seem to have been done in these two cases, despite Mr. Scalise's claims that he has donated the money to Crime Stoppers.
The second allegation that Mr. Burns levels at Mr. Scalise is that he lobbied for a company that employs his father, before the Jefferson Parish Council in regards to a contract for installing bus stop benches and advertising on the benches. The firm, Go-Go Graphics was the worst bid of the three companies that bidded. Mr. Scalise's defense is laughable:
"Steve Scalise said he doubts his letter helped [Ramsay] Skipper [Jr.], the President of Go-Go Graphics"
Although I am a Republican, I do not think it would be wise to elect either of these men to Congress.
Do we really need to send either of these ethically challenged men to represent LA-01? I think not. Help Gilda beat either one of these scoundrels by donating here.
