Jindal's violation: horse not dead, some beating left to do
If Gov. Bobby Jindal thought the flap over the payment of his campaign finance violation was put to rest during last month’s special session on ethics reform, he’s sadly mistaken. Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard, an independent from Thibodaux, will be pushing legislation during the regular session that convenes today that would prohibit the use of campaign funds to pay fines, fees or penalties assessed in relation to a campaign finance or lobbying violation. While not directly aimed at the GOP governor, Richard’s House Bill 277 could certainly dredge up a few comparisons or anecdotal references.
Jindal’s campaign failed to timely report an $118,000 donation from the Louisiana Republican Party last year and Rolfe McCollister Jr., a Baton Rouge publisher and Jindal’s campaign treasurer, initially vowed to personally pay the pending fine, which could reach as high as $2,500. Such third-party payments were a focus of the special session, with many lawmakers, including Richard and others from New Orleans and elsewhere, successfully passing legislation to ban the practice. The use of campaign money to pay for fines, though, escaped the scrutiny of lawmakers earlier this year.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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