Photo Illustration

An ordinance to end Lafayette Consolidated Government’s contract with red-light camera/speed van operator Redflex was shot down by a 6-3 vote Tuesday night by the City-Parish Council, but amendments to the ordinance authorizing a new four-year contract with the company mean the expansion of the program will be modest than planned and the cameras will no longer snap photos of drivers’ faces. The council also voted to move oversight of the program from the Traffic & Transportation Department to the Police Department.

Tuesday’s sequence of votes, which included a handful of amendments, ended with the council deciding the program would be expanded for the time being to only four more intersections from the current 12; backers of the program were eyeing 17 additional intersections including state-administered city streets like Johnston Street as new cites for cameras.

The ordinance to end the SafeLight/SafeSpeed program was sponsored by Councilmen Jared Bellard, Andy Naquin and William Theriot — the only three councilmen to vote for the ordinance and against the amended ordinance authorizing a four-year extension. Naquin was also unsuccessful in an amendment to increase the yellow light time at intersections and Theriot failed to push through an amendment reducing the Redflex contract to two years.

View the Redflex portion of Tuesday’s council meeting on-line here.

Joey Durel, left, and Charlie Langlinais

Citing annexation lawsuits filed by the city of Broussard against the city of Lafayette as well as Broussard’s apparent breach of its wholesale water contract with the city-owned Lafayette Utilities System, City-Parish President Joey Durel told the council Tuesday he has directed his staff to explore a termination of all contractual and inter-governmental agreements with Broussard.

“Just like the other municipalities in Lafayette Parish, Broussard is the recipient of numerous and varied services from the city of Lafayette, all of which allow Broussard to provide to its citizens a level of services that it could not currently provide by itself,” Durel told the council. “However, unlike the other municipalities in Lafayette Parish, the administration of the city of Broussard has chosen to engage in an ongoing battle with the city of Lafayette, attempting to frustrate Lafayette’s growth and development in ways that are inconsistent with a mutually beneficial relationship.

“Essentially, the administration of the city of Broussard wants to declare itself to be an adversary of the city of Lafayette, all the while expecting the city of Lafayette to ignore the fact that it provides Broussard with the very services that have allowed Broussard to grow and prosper.”

Durel is referring specifically to Broussard Mayor Charlie Langlinais, who has been a burr under Durel’s saddle virtually since the Lafayette mayor took office in 2004. Now in his third and final term, Durel has clearly had enough. “I can no longer overlook the fact that the taxpayers of Lafayette are compelled to defend and pursue lawsuits and disputes with the same municipality that willingly accepts services from Lafayette at the same time,” Durel said. “This is not wise public policy.”

Durel is brother-in-law to Youngsville Mayor Wilson Viator, who has had his own share of spats with Langlinais over annexations in south Lafayette Parish as well as water — perhaps the most important infrastructure commodity for growing small towns. If Lafayette is successful in cutting off the LUS water supply to Broussard it could have a disastrous economic impact on the city of Broussard and stymie its future growth.

“The city of Broussard is not the city of Lafayette’s responsibility; we have no jurisdiction in there,” Durel said in closing his remarks to the council. “We were glad to help, as we do with other municipalities, but with this sort of unnatural relationship, I think it’s time for that relationship to come to an end.”

To hear Durel’s full remarks on the issue click here and go to about 15:45.

Louisiana faces a $211 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year (which ends June 30). One strategy being floated by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, involves doing nothing. He’s not  joking. Budget leaders are seriously considering carrying a deficit and addressing it next fiscal year — AND taking out 20-year loans for a list of unspecified road projects. Bear in mind that state revenue forecasters have predicted a $303 million revenue shortfall for next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Fannin’s do-nothing strategy apparently has some support. Viable solutions are being ignored or panned. Last week, the Appropriations Committee passed a pair of bills to cut consulting contracts by 10 percent and reduce government positions by 15,000 over the next three years. The Advocate, the Louisiana Press Association’s “Newspaper of the Year,” dedicated 131 words to House Bills 327 and 328. The Times-Picayune, a Pulitzer Prize winner, didn’t cover them at all.

State Treasurer John Kennedy made a rare appearance before the committee to support the bills, which are authored by Rep. Dee Richard, a Thibodaux independent. Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater opposed the measures, arguing that they would stand in the way of Jindal’s future privatization plans, whatever those might be.

Next year’s budget already abolishes 6,371 state governmental positions, Rainwater said, adding that the goal of 15,000 reductions is based on outdated turnover rates. “The number of full-time employees in state government is already at their lowest levels in 20 years,” he said.

The treasurer countered with numbers from the Legislative Auditor’s Office. He also slammed several contracts, including one for $94,000 to teach students “social skills” through organized play and another for $43,000 that focuses on seatbelt use in the Hispanic communities of Rapides Parish.

Rainwater said you have to dig deeper to plumb the real value of contracts. He said there’s already a system in place for prioritizing and that the 10 percent goal wouldn’t be realized without impacting larger contracts for services like health care. As for smaller ones, Rainwater contends that if every contract under $50,000 were eliminated, it would reduce related costs by only 1 percent.

Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, practically growled at Rainwater during the hearing. He complained that other areas of government spending have had to be reduced in recent years because of budget shortfalls. “Would it not be reasonable that some of these current contracts ought to get the same kind of attention?” Schroder asked.
Good question.

The Senate stopped similar bills last year, and it may do the same again. Even if Richard’s bills both pass, Jindal will surely veto them.

No doubt the governor, ever with one eye on his national ambitions, would prefer not to have to do that. After all, it would not look good on his resume if he were to veto bills intended to rein in spending.

No, he’d much prefer the House or Senate do his dirty work for him. All that would cost him is 20 years of debt that the rest of us will have to pay.

Louisiana state departments and cabinet agencies spend more than $5 million annually on press secretaries and media relations.

Is it political overkill or worth every penny?

By Jeremy Alford

The responsibilities of a Louisiana governmental press secretary extend far beyond fielding requests from reporters. Some duties aren’t in the job description, as Marsanne Golsby learned during her stint as former Gov. Mike Foster’s top media liaison.

In March 1999, Greenpeace activists were shadowing Foster’s every move and complaining about polluted waters along the Mississippi River, where chemical plants are as iconic as Mark Twain on a steamboat. During one protest at the Governor’s Mansion, Greenpeace reps had prepared and delivered a “toxic lunch” for Foster — a meal of pan-fried catfish harvested from an allegedly tainted bayou.

With television crews in tow, the activists insisted that the meal be brought to Foster. They wanted him to eat it in front of reporters. They prodded. They pleaded. Golsby stood between them and her boss.

“Foster told me to do whatever I wanted to do,” she recalls. “So I decided to pop the B.S. balloon. I stuck a fork in it.”

Literally. Golsby woofed down two mouthfuls of supposedly toxic fish while staring down the protestors. At the end of the day, the story was about Golsby — and how she didn’t grow a third eye — rather than Foster’s environmental policies.

Golsby, a former TV reporter in Baton Rouge, had to swallow much more than that as Foster’s press secretary for eight years. On more than one occasion, she found herself walking a fine line between a duty to give the public information and affording her boss political cover. “It was never about squashing a story,” she says. “It was more about giving us time to get the answers we needed. And sometimes it was about the spin.”

To get a press secretary to speak so candidly on the record, you typically have to wait until they leave the bright lights of public service. While many public information officers and media affairs professionals are drawn to their jobs by a sense of patriotism or wanting to get “close to the action,” they learn all too quickly that tap dancing and providing cover become just as important as writing press releases.

Which brings into question their real value to citizens, not to mention the role they play in influencing the media. To be sure, flacking for politicians has become a mini-industry in the public sector, a refuge for former reporters and campaign staffers, a training ground for managing crises by managing the flow of information. (“Flack” is part of the journalist vernacular, although reporters generally refrain from using the term in the presence of press secretaries — just as media aides toss around “hacks” to describe the press pool.) A department head without a flack nowadays is like a 4-year-old on the beach without sunscreen. And for that protection, our state officials often pay top dollar.

According to responses to two dozen public records requests filed over the past two months, Louisiana state departments and cabinet agencies will spend more than $4.4 million this year on 72 positions ranging from press secretary and public information officer to communications director and outreach coordinator. This includes departments run by statewide elected officials and all of the cabinet agencies in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive branch.

While the average salary of the communications professionals weighs in at $61,646, they range from $25,000 on the low end up to six figures. The highest paid among them is Michael DiResto, assistant commissioner for policy and communications for the Division of Administration. This year he’ll make $118,792.

When contacted for comment, DiResto referred to his job description, which contains a wide range of responsibilities that, in some respects, have little to do with managing requests from reporters — things like policy and research. DiResto, whose salary mirrors those of other assistant secretaries, also has an applicable background, having formerly served as the press aide to then-U.S. Rep. Richard Baker of Baton Rouge.

Only four other communications professionals pull down six-figure salaries for similar services. They are:  

• Amy David, deputy commissioner of public affairs for the Insurance Department, $117,811

• Jason Redmond, deputy state treasurer and communications director, $112,500

• René Greer, director of public affairs for the Department of Education, $110,999

• Lori Melancon, director of marketing and communications for Louisiana Economic Development, $103,768

When it comes to total spending on flacks’ salaries, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon leads the pack. He will shell out roughly $281,423 of taxpayers’ dollars this year to support David and three other public information officers. Donelon says his department supports 271 other employees as well, adding that it has shrunk over the past five years while maintaining a monthly $1 million surplus due largely to fees paid by the insurance industry.

Donelon said it takes a large public information team to prepare residents for hurricane season, publish information on laws as they change and to update his department’s website with relevant data. “What we regulate is very challenging, expensive and complicated,” he says. “It’s a part of everyone’s life.”

The State Police probably can lay claim to being unique among the state agencies with big public information needs. The agency requires a 13-person communications staff to cover every corner of the state, including most of the 12 troops. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has the next-largest team around. It includes seven public information officers and one marketing specialist. DWF Secretary Robert Barham says all of the positions are funded through self-generated revenues, such as hunting and fishing licenses, and that he couldn’t do his job without them.

Barham notes that each PIO specializes in a certain area — like fisheries, marketing, enforcement — and that all have been kept “extremely busy” in the wake of the BP oil spill, international trade fights, record flooding and devastating hurricanes. “There’s no department that has been more at the forefront of these historic events than we have,” he says.

Barham fiercely defended the positions when asked if he could maintain services with fewer hands. “I’m very comfortable that it’s a great value,” he says. “Could we cut some? Sure. But we wouldn’t have the expertise that we have now... That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

Author and LSU Professor Bob Mann is all too familiar with this landscape, as his résumé attests. He currently chairs LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication and directs the Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs. Before that, he served as communications director for Gov. Kathleen Blanco and press secretary for then-U.S. Sen. John Breaux.

When he worked for Blanco, Mann says he would hold regular meetings with all of the communications professionals from the various cabinet agencies. “What was kind of frustrating to me was Wildlife and Fisheries and [the Department of Transportation and Development],” he recalls. “They had five, six, seven, eight people doing media relations and we had two people. We were drowning trying to deal with media requests coming in for the chief executive of the state and there they were. It seemed like a crazy allocation of resources for dealing with the press.”

Today, Jindal’s office spends $262,000 a year on four positions, including a communications director (Kyle Plotkin, $90,000), deputy communications director (Aaron Baer, $72,000), press secretary (Frank Collins, $65,000) and press assistant (Greg Dupuis, $35,000).

In many ways, Jindal’s team has rewritten the book on gubernatorial press relations. Jindal is tightly guarded, and one-on-one interviews are rarely granted — and never to reporters who might ask probing questions. Responses to press inquiries are terse and sometimes vague, and almost always reflect Team Jindal talking points.

Press conferences are oftentimes announced with only a hour or two to prepare and arrive. Press releases are often issued for the sole purpose of critiquing published reports. It’s akin to a D.C. management style that, at least at first, shook the Capitol press corps to its foundation. A few stories were written about this approach when Jindal took office in 2008, but now it’s just accepted as the status quo, while still drawing the quiet ire of reporters on the Capitol beat.

Plotkin provided information in a timely manner for this story and agreed to be interviewed, but he said he would only discuss the governor’s policies — not internal management.

Jindal’s setup stands in stark contrast to the media operation of Treasurer John Kennedy’s office. His press coverage is stuff of legend, largely because he and his team are skilled — and unapologetic — opportunists. They also respond quickly to reporters’ requests — and, unlike Jindal, their boss is almost always available either in person of via phone, and he is always quotable. If reporters need a unique angle on a story or a critical voice on just about anything, they know they can bring a herd of sacred cows to Kennedy, who is only too willing to slaughter them.

No doubt those two styles reflect the preferences (and perhaps the relative strengths and weaknesses) of the two men. Jindal avoids the press as much as possible and seems loath to face a pack of reporters. Kennedy welcomes the challenge — and the spotlight.

Jason Redmond, deputy state treasurer and communications director for Kennedy, serves as a gatekeeper and is a favorite among the press corps. He and his boss have a knack for inserting themselves in the debates of the day. As the budget debate heated up this legislative session and lawmakers complained about fund sweeps and possible cuts, Kennedy grabbed headlines by pointing out an increase in overall salary costs.

Redmond says the strategy echoes Kennedy’s willingness to work with reporters. “We often are described as an aggressive press operation, and I won’t dispute that a bit,” he says. “This is the information age, and information is power. But the speed and ease of access to that information by the public and the press is just as important as the information itself, and that’s what we strive to provide. At the end of the day, however, any degree of message crafting or execution is pointless without a good message and especially a good messenger with vision. And all the credit there has to go to one guy and one guy only: Treasurer John Kennedy.”

Obviously, every department and agency is different. That much was evident in the responses to the 24 public records requests filed in advance of this story. The lieutenant governor’s office provided all information over the phone within minutes of being asked. Flacks for the Department of Revenue demanded that a request be mailed or faxed, and then requested that all information be put in a certain context. The Department of Environmental Quality requested that a form be filled out on its website. Most all responded within two weeks time. Sooner in many cases.

Mann, a former print reporter before venturing into politics, says it’s understandable that reporters sometimes become frustrated with press secretaries. He says he can see it clearly in terms of the governor’s operations. “I think the problem is a lot of these people have never been journalists. They’ve never been on the other side,” Mann says.

Roy Fletcher, a Louisiana consultant who managed part of John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign, suggests that hard-nosed flacks, the kind Jindal and others employ, are simply doing their job. And a good job at that. “When I hire a press secretary, I’m looking for someone with a unique skill. That would be the ability to get along with the press,” Fletcher says. “But when it comes to game time, they need to be able to push back and fight.”

Fletcher says veteran hacks and flacks share a relationship that’s best defined as, “You know what I’m doing and I know what you’re doing; you know what I’m flacking, so let’s do it.”   

As for the often-uneasy working relationships, reporters aren’t alone in their vexation, says Jacques Berry, the press secretary for Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne. After following Dardenne through the state Senate and the secretary of state’s office, Berry says it’s still difficult to figure out what will grab the media’s attention. Notably, he says he’s tired of seeing solid policy stories overlooked for sexier accounts of Capitol politics. “It’s a constant source of frustration seeing what’s not being covered out of this office,” Berry says.

Fletcher adds that some reporters arrive for an interview with their story already written. When the press secretary doesn’t respond as predicted in such cases, it creates an element in the story that helps no one. “They’ll go around the beanie pole to get me to say what I don’t want to say,” he says. “It ends up being a ‘gotcha’ game.”

That’s among the reasons many government press teams are finding ways to circumvent the mainstream media to get information out to their stakeholders. Our public records requests revealed that statewide departments and cabinet agencies will spend more than $640,000 this year on such operations.

The Treasury Department, for example, will spend $15,000 on video productions. The Department of Agriculture will put up roughly $100,000 publishing what it calls “Market Bulletins.” Outside players factor into this equation as well. Louisiana Economic Development has contracted with companies like Peter Mayer Advertising to help carry the load.

Despite having more than $5 million invested in press operations, flack teams seldom catch the watchful eye of legislative budget committees — despite a $211 million shortfall in the current budget year and a $303 million projected deficit for the next. Maybe that’s because leges have flacks, too, both for the campaigns and for their respective legislative bodies. The campaign aides are paid by individual candidates’ campaign war chests; the legislative media liaisons are paid by taxpayers.

The state Senate has communications officer Brenda Hodge, a former Baton Rouge TV reporter who earns $92,813 a year, plus two other employees who pull down a combined $68,000. The House has Public Information Officer Sheila McCant, who reaps an annual salary of $122,285 (more than any other press official reviewed for this story). Four other House communications employees collectively earn $156,872. Together, the House and Senate will spend $439,970 this year on salaries for media liaisons.

Hodge notes that legislative public information staffers do not fill the same role as their executive branch counterparts. “We do not promote any agenda,” she says. “We are non-partisan and serve individual [House and Senate] members with different philosophies and different priorities. … In the Senate my office is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of our audio-visual systems that allow for the Internet broadcast of our proceedings.”

One way or another, a lot of public information gets spun before it reaches the public.

Golsby, who was Foster’s press secretary, agrees with Mann that it’s an innocent part of the game — a game that has been played for centuries and will probably continue for generations.

“I’m sure Hamilton did the same thing for George Washington,” Mann says. “It’s a little naive to expect it to be any other way.”     

Jeremy Alford can be reached at jeremy@jeremyalford.com.

Who’s Flacking Whom?

Here’s a list of the press and communications aides for Louisiana’s executive branch — and the total spent on salaries within each agency or department.

Governor’s Office
• Kyle Plotkin, communications director, $90,000
• Aaron Baer, deputy communications director, $72,000
• Frank Collins, press secretary, $65,000
• Greg Dupuis, press assistant, $35,000
• Total $262,000

Lieutenant Governor’s Office
• Jacques Berry, communications director, $64,400
• Cami Geisman, deputy communications director, $52,000
• Total $116,400

Insurance Department
• Amy David, deputy commissioner of public affairs, $117,811
• Judy Wright, public information director, $76,752
• Laura Nola, public information officer, $45,531
• Lindsay Ruiz de Chavez, public information officer, $41,329
• Total $281,423

Secretary of State
• Sailor Jackson, press secretary, $84,999
• Brandee Patrick, public information officer, $48,422
• Total $133,421

Treasury
• Jason Redmond, deputy state treasurer and communications director, $112,500
• Amber King, press secretary, $65,000
• Total $177,500

Attorney General’s Office
• Amanda Larkins, director of communications, $80,000
• Laura Gerdes, public outreach coordinator, $50,000
• Total $130,000

Department of Agriculture
• Sam Irwin, press secretary, $60,000
• Laura Lindsay, public information director, $44,532
• Marilyn Mayeux, administrative coordinator, $45,401
• Total $149,933

Department of Revenue
• Byron Henderson, press secretary, $93,288
• Jeff Duhé, public information officer, $47,455
• Total $140,743

Department of Natural Resources
• Phyllis Darensbourg, public information director, $53,560
• Total $53,560

Division of Administration
• Michael DiResto, assistant commissioner for policy and communications, $118,792
• Christina Stephens, Disaster Recovery Unit/Office of Community Development press secretary, $94,370 (primarily funded by federal money)
• Angela Vanveckhoven, Disaster Recovery Unit/Office of Community Development deputy press secretary, $55,120 (primarily funded by federal money)
• Janice Lovett, Disaster Recovery Unit/Office of Community Development public information officer, $45,760 (primarily funded by federal money)
• Total $314,042

Department of Health and Hospitals
• Ken Pastorick, public information officer, $57,387
• Meghan Speakes, public information officer, $43,097
• Total $100,484

Department of Education
• René Greer, director of public affairs, $110,999
• Barry Landry, press secretary, $70,000
• Sarah Mulhearn, public information officer, $59,889
• Ileana Ledet, public information officer, $66,478
• Total $307,366

Department of Environmental Quality
• Rodney Mallett, press secretary, $74,526
• Jean Kelly, public information officer, $43,721
• Timothy Beckstrom, public information officer, $38,043
• Total $156,290

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
• Chuck Perrodin, CPRA public information officer, $66,999 (small amount underwritten by federal government)
• Jenny Pettis, NRDA public information officer, $50,596 (related to oil spill, primarily funded by BP money)
• Olivia Watkins, NRDA public information officer, $48,999 (related to oil spill, primarily funded by BP money)
• Total $116,594

Department of Transportation and Development
• John Annison, public information officer, $49,712
• Amber Leach, public information officer, $38,521
• Lauren Lee, public information officer, $41,600
• Jodi Conachen, public information officer, $86,999
• Total $216,832

Wildlife and Fisheries
• Laura Wooderson, Office of Fisheries public information officer, $46,800 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Ashley Wethey, Office of Fisheries marketing representative, $44,900 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Bo Boehringer, Office of Wildlife public information officer, $70,900 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Adam Einck, Enforcement Division public information officer, $43,400 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Ashley Roth, Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board public information officer, $50,800 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Marianne Burke, public information officer, $78,700 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Joel Courtney, public information officer, $52,300 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Gabe Giffin, public information officer, $25,300 (from self-generated department revenues)
• Total $413,100

Louisiana Economic Development
• Lori Melancon, director of marketing and communications, $103,768
• Gary Perilloux, press secretary, $72,508
• Total $176,276

Louisiana Workforce Commission
• Tiffany Dickerson, writer, $49,836
• Tom Guarisco, director of communications, $80,019
• Total $129,855

Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
• Veronica Mosgrove, executive management officer, $87,420
• Total $87,420

Corrections
• Pam Laborde, communications director, $77,677
• Total $77,677

Department of Children and Family Services  
• Trey Williams, director of communications and governmental affairs, $99,500
• Rene Repp, public information officer, $59,633
• Total $159,133

Department of Veterans Affairs
• Robin T. Keller, press secretary, $65,000
• Total $65,000

State Police  
• Capt. Doug Cain, public affairs commander, $70,706
• Lt. Julie Lewis, public affairs executive officer, $72,160
• Sgt. James Anderson, Region 2 public affairs supervisor, $65,264
• Sgt. Lenias Marie, Region 1 public affairs supervisor, $53,871
• Troop A TFC Russell Graham, public information officer, $45,500
• Troop B TFC Melissa Matey, public information officer, $43,135
• Troop C Tpr. Evan Harrell, public information officer, $42,004
• Troop E S/T Scott Moreau, public information officer, $56,200
• Troop I TFC Stephen Hammons, public information officer, $42,004
• Troop L TFC Nicholas Manale, public information officer, $45,500
• Troop F public information officer vacancy, $45,723 (based on average salary of existing public information officers by troop)
• Troop G public information officer vacancy, $45,723 (based on average salary of existing public information officers by troop)
• Troop D public information officer vacancy, $45,723 (based on average salary of existing public information officers by troop)
• Total $673,513

Inspector General
• No positions or salaries reported

House of Representatives
• Sheila McCant, public information officer, $122,285
• Nancy Johnson, public information specialist, $52,657
• Cory Stewart, public information specialist, $36,036
• Adraine Conrad, administrative assistant, $35,679
• Lauren Russell, public information specialist, $32,500
• Total $279,157

State Senate  
• Brenda Hodge, communication officer, $92,813
• Morgan Blanchard, communication specialist, $33,000
• Damien Heard, communication technician, $35,000
• Total $160,813

Rep. Jeff Landry’s Monday announcement — long expected — sets the stage for a classic mudslinger.

By Walter Pierce

The wait is over: U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, announced Monday in Youngsville that he will challenge Congressman Charles Boustany this fall. And if recent history is a guide — recent history being Landry’s ugly primary election against Hunt Downer for his current seat nearly two years ago — this race will get nasty long before it’s decided.

The freshman congressman and Tea Party favorite took several swipes at the mainline Boustany during Monday’s announcement, linking him with the bogey-woman of the right: “[L]adies and gentlemen, Charles voted with Nancy Pelosi to increase his own pay,” Landry told a group of supporters, hanging the “career politician” albatross around Boustany’s neck.

Landry’s announcement at Sugar Mill Pond in Youngsville was one of the most anticlimactic events of the 2012 political season: Signs have been abundant for weeks that he would take on the moderate, establishment Boustany.

A reception scheduled for May 23 in River Ranch bills itself as “a reception benefitting the re-election of Congressman Jeff Landry, Louisiana, 3rd District.” Couples will pay $250 to attend, $1,000 to host and the handsome sum of $2,500 to serve as sponsors. Twenty-seven individuals and/or couples are signed on as sponsors while 18 are listed as hosts, meaning the fête has already netted Landry more than $85,000.

Landry’s announcement is born of necessity: After 2012 there will be no 3rd Congressional District to which Landry could be re-elected; the district was effectively eliminated during the 2011 redistricting session in the Legislature — absorbed into districts to the east and west including Boustany’s 7th Congressional District, which will expand eastward to take in New Iberia where Landry lives.

The new district for which Boustany will essentially be the incumbent will be called the 3rd Congressional District effective Jan. 1, 2013. But don’t tell the Landry camp that. On the congressman’s website, LandryForLouisiana.com, there is a page devoted to the 3rd Congressional District, but the congressman uses a map of the new 3rd, which doesn’t yet exist. The combined effect of the May 23 fundraiser in Lafayette and the deceptive image on Landry’s website is that Landry is seeking re-election to Boustany’s district. Weird, we know. Landry seems to be inventing a new reality: He’s the incumbent in southwest Louisiana and he wants another term representing the good people of Lafayette, Jennings and Lake Charles.

And there is growing evidence that he’s been campaigning inappropriately on Boustany’s turf for some time. Just this week, a non-partisan congressional watchdog group called out the rep for another apparent abuse of his federal franking privilege — a month after this newspaper published an exposé of Landry and a less egregious waste — but a waste nonetheless — of taxpayer money.

In a May 14 article posted by the Beltway political newspaper Roll Call, Craig Holman of Public Citizen accuses Landry of abusing the franking privilege by spending more than $30,000 in taxpayer funds in the third quarter of 2011 to finance a series of radio ads in Lafayette and Lake Charles alerting listeners to town hall meetings he attended with U.S. Sen. David Vitter. Lafayette and Lake Charles anchor the east and west ends of Boustany’s 7th Congressional District.

The congressional franking privilege allows members of the U.S. House of Representatives to be reimbursed for communications such as direct mail, radio and TV ads and newspaper inserts so long as those communications are not for re-election purposes and only if said communications are directed at that member of Congress’ constituents. In the “if it walks like a duck” department, Landry appears to have been skirting federal law to build name recognition in Boustany’s district: His communications in Boustany’s district are for “re-election” purposes and they’re not directed at his constituents.

Public Citizen contends that because the radio ads targeted voters in Boustany’s district, they constitute a franking violation. The Landry camp, of course, disputes the allegation — just as it did in our April 11 cover story, “Frankly Speaking,” which makes the case that a “Year End Report” Landry paid to insert into The Independent and The Daily Advertiser, which reach virtually none of Landry’s constituents, at the end of 2011 also constitutes a franking violation.

Boustany, who serves on the powerful Ways and Means Committee and is close to House Speaker John Boehner, says he will definitely seek a fifth term this fall, and he and Landry have already begun sniping at each other in press releases. Political junkies, yonder comes your fix.

C'est Bon

Each year the Louisiana State Bar Association selects an attorney and judge in each region of the state to receive its prestigious Crystal Gavel Award, which recognizes community service and volunteer work. This year the honor was bestowed on Lafayette attorney Glenn Armentor — in large part for his decades of work helping at-risk youths — in a ceremony Friday. One of 10 children, Armentor grew up poor and paid his way through law school by working offshore. He credits many adult mentors for helping him stay on the right path so that he could earn his law degree. In 2009 he introduced the Glenn Armentor $10,000 “Pay it Forward” Scholarship Program of Excellence, which awards hardworking underprivileged youths with $10,000 scholarships to UL Lafayette. Since that time, seven worthy students have received one of the scholarships, with a goal of increasing the offering to six or eight scholarships per year.

Pas Bon

Only in Louisiana will you find prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes wasting away in jail cells for upwards of 10 years with almost nonexistent rehabilitation services, while murderers, rapists and other prison lifers receive job skills training and even the chance for an undergraduate degree. More than half of the state’s prison population is housed in local prisons, as state-run prisons are reserved for “the worst of the worst,” according to The Times-Picayune’s must-read Sunday and Monday coverage on the state of Louisiana’s prison system. Whether those local prisons are owned by local law enforcement agencies or north Louisiana businessmen who have private prisons to thank for their vast wealth, 11,000 of the 15,000 prisoners unleashed from local prisons in Louisiana every year have had no form of educational or transitional training. Roughly 50 percent of them will be back within five years.

Couillon

Former N.P. Moss Middle School Principal Ken Douet is seeking more than $500,000 from the school system for what he claims is school board favoritism that prevented him from taking over as principal of the Early College Academy following Moss’s closure, but the erstwhile school administrator’s monetary demands have more than doubled since October of last year when Douet calculated that he was owed $195,422, according to a letter sent by Douet’s attorney to the school board and obtained by The Ind. Douet was principal of N.P. Moss when the north Lafayette middle school closed in 2011 due to consistently poor performance scores. A majority on the school board twice blocked Douet’s appointment last summer as principal of the Early College Academy, a promotion being pushed by former Superintendent Burnell Lemoine. Board members say they had no idea at the time of the votes that Douet and Lemoine were close friends. The board’s actions, according to board member Mark Cockerham, were to “stop rewarding principals of failing schools.”

A pair of Louisiana congressmen, both Republicans, are near the top of the heap among members of the U.S. House of Representatives for dispensing year-end bonuses to staff, according to a report by New Orleans television station WDSU.

Based on an investigation by congressional watchdog group LegiStorm, the station is reporting that Reps. Jeff Landry of New Iberia and Rodney Alexander of Monroe doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to staff members at the end of 2011. While year-end bonuses to congressional staff are commonplace and all seven of Louisiana’s congressmen handed out cash, both Landry and Alexander, LegiStorm contends, lavished staffers in their respective offices with more than $100,000, placing them in the top 10 among all members of the House.

Landry, who on Monday announced he will run against Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, in the new 3rd Congressional District, declined an interview with the station although he did release a statement touting other acts of fiscal frugality during his first term in office. Because he is a deficit hawk. Because he says so.

Read the full story here.

If you happen to be downtown Saturday, here's a heads-up: You're not seeing ghosts of Confederate soldiers, you are not being shot at by them, and nor is your car being shelled by cannon fire.

It's Living History Days and it's all part of the Louisiana Bicentennial Celebration at the Alexandre Mouton House/Lafayette Museum, 1122 Lafayette St. Living History Days is free and open to the public and will take place Saturday and Sunday.

The Mouton Camp 778, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Pelican Battery Living History of Opelousas will literally set up camp on the grounds Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"They'll fire the guns and do all the stuff they do at encampments," says Phyllis Goff, curator of the Lafayette Museum. "It's very interesting. They put tents up and the guys that are dressed in their uniforms do their normal things like some will be outside of their tents cleaning their guns and others will be marching around."

Goff says the public is invited to ask questions of the soldiers about gear, lifestyle, etc., pertaining to the Civil War.

A lecture by Dr. William Arceneaux, "The Role of Governor Mouton and his son General Alfred Mouton, Hero of the Battle of Mansfield" is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

Alexandre Mouton House/Lafayette Museum and the Lafayette Public Library are presenters of the Living History Days. Call 234-2208 for more information.

[Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Mike Stagg made two bids for city-parish president. The story has been modified to reflect the correction. We regret the error.]

An attorney for the Louisiana Board of Ethics is recommending the agency decline to waive fines levied against a pair of local candidates in last fall’s elections who failed to file campaign finance reports on time.

Mike Stagg, the newly minted co-communications director for the Louisiana Democratic Party who made an unsuccessful bid for Lafayette city-parish president in 2011 and for governor in 2003, is on the hook for the biggest fine — $4,840. Kelly J. Scott, an unsuccessful candidate in the state Senate District 24 election last October, is facing a $720 fine. Both men appealed the penalties, but board attorney Aneatra Boykin is recommending the board decline to waive them.

Another board attorney, Tracy Barker, is recommending the board decline to waive a $2,500 late fee against Opelousas Mayor Don Cravins, who in an unrelated case is facing a ethics charge by the board for allegedly failing to disclose income he received from the Louisiana Teachers’ Retirement System.

The board is expected to make final determinations on the fines against Stagg, Scott and Cravins Friday in Baton Rouge.

Along with creating 106 jobs with an average starting salary of about $45,000, plus benefits, the project will retain 75 existing jobs and result in an estimated 164 indirect jobs in Iberia Parish and across Acadiana.  

According to a press release announcing the project, Metal Shark will produce the second generation of a 29-foot-long vessel that has a top speed in excess of 50 mph. The boats will be used for port, waterway and coastal security; for search and rescue missions; for drug interdiction cases; for immigration-related operations; for fisheries enforcement; and for defense readiness and law enforcement missions.

Metal Shark won a $192 million U.S. Coast Guard contract in November to build the Response Boat–Small, a type of watercraft adopted by the Coast Guard in response to its broader homeland security mission after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks.

Metal Shark says once the expansion is completed and full production is achieved, its facility will produce one boat every four or five days. The company also is building other boat classes for the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, local law enforcement agencies and foreign militaries.  

The state began working with Metal Shark on the project in early 2011 and will provide the company with the services of LED FastStart, the nation’s top-rated state workforce development program. Metal Shark also is expected to utilize Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption and Quality Jobs incentive programs.

Anyone interested in working for Metal Shark Boats should attend a job fair conducted by the company and LED FastStart this Friday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The job fair will take place at the New Iberia campus of South Louisiana Community College, 908 Ember Drive, in New Iberia. The company is hiring welders and fitters, marine mechanics, marine electricians, general shop hands, CNC operators and press brake operators.

Metal Shark is a subsidiary of Gravois Aluminum Boats. Its all-aluminum construction boats withstand extreme conditions, harsh environments and years of abuse. Metal Shark sells directly to qualified government and commercial organizations, and the company custom-builds all boats.

Part of the fed's School Improvement Grant program, the money will be directed toward an overhaul of campuses whose academic performance places them in the bottom 5 percent of schools in any given state.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the T-P Tuesday. “It’s so important to the country that we continue to focus on that bottom 5 percent of schools, where it’s simply not working for children and their families and the broader community.”

The T-P reports that Louisiana has received $89 million in total since Congress injected the grant program with stimulus funding in 2009.

Local school systems can apply for the extra cash, the T-P notes, but strings are attached. Districts have only a few options for a low performing school: replace the principal and in some cases most of the staff, convert it into a charter school or close the school altogether and make room for students at high performing schools.

If so, American Craft Beer Week, now under way, can take care of that for you and educate you at the same time.

Robert J. Guercio, co-owner/manager of Jefferson Street Greenroom says the week "is the only significant recurring craft beer event in the United States that I know of,"  and because of the inroads craft beers are making in the classic domestic market "you'll find craft beer is eating away at it in big chunks."

The Greenroom carries craft beer brewery products of La 31, Parish Brewery, Covington, Abita, NOLA Brewery.

"It's a really, really fast growing area of our particular industry - that being the pub industry," Guercio says. "And so we thought we would be remiss if we didn't even celebrate the impetus to the creation of our own business."

Guercio says the growth of craft beer breweries is similar to other local movements going on around the country.

"From my perspective, as shipping costs become more considerable and as people begin to recognize the advantage of buying products made locally - farm to table, go local, buy local - all of these movements are kind of coming together and it's driving start-up businesses in local, regional areas," he says, drolly adding, "and beer is a very heavy object to ship and so it makes a lot of sense for all of these regional breweries to pop up."

Tonight at the Greenroom is Growler Night, Wednesday is Flight Night, a Tapping Party Extraordinaire, featuring Amarillo Hopped Restoration Ale is Thursday night, Friday's Pint Night is sponsored by NOLA Brewery.

After all of the thirst-quenching, the education portion comes in Saturday with Brew Day, sponsored by home brewers including members of the Dead Yeast Society. It begins at 1 p.m.

"There's a lot of mystery behind how does it go from grain and the other ingredients to this great product that everybody enjoys," Guercio says "We open early so people can come and watch beer being made, how to do it. They can ask questions, talk to the other home brewer members and find out information on where to get their own kits.

"And five weeks from this Saturday [June 16], they can come back and sample the beers that they watched being made for free," he says.

Guercio says food will be served and he also encourages people to exercise common sense by having a designated driver or to make arrangements to get home.

By the way, locally produced beer isn't the only alcoholic beverage being crafted in Louisiana. Louisiana Spirits is currently in the process of building a new state-of-the-art distillery in Lacassine.

For more information on American Craft Beer Week, go here.

AT&T recovered this year, with a three-point increase to 69. It shares that score with T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 carrier by size. Verizon and Sprint are at 70 and 71, respectively.

Developed by the University of Michigan, the survey is now run by privately held ACSI, which surveyed some 6,000 households in the first quarter.

The satisfaction index does not typically translate to actual customer loyalty. For instance, the AP story points out that T-Mobile customers are far more likely to leave the carrier than AT&T’s are, despite that they have the same score. That may be due to the fact that T-Mobile is the only company among the Big 4 that doesn’t sell the iPhone.

The ACSI for the first time published a score for Apple Inc. as a phone manufacturer. At 83 points, it easily surpassed other manufacturers like Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

Landry’s announcement is born of political necessity: His current 3^rd Congressional District is being eliminated due to Louisiana’s loss of one of its seven districts, and his hometown in Iberia Parish is being absorbed into Boustany’s 7^th CD. The new district in southwest Louisiana, which largely mirrors Boustany’s current district, will be called the 3^rd CD effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Boustany is serving his fourth term in Congress and has already announced his re-election bid. This should get interesting – and ugly – very soon.

Following is Landry's full announcement, a transcript of which was provided by his office:

I want to thank you all for being here tonight. I also want to thank my wife, Sharon, and our son, J.T., for being here.

We originally planned this event as just a simple meet and greet. However, I have come to a decision and I want to share it with all of you.

Two years ago I announced I would run for Congress – not because I needed a job, but because I felt we needed to return the government back to the people.

I have been a successful oil and gas small business owner.

It was not my lifelong dream to be a Congressman.

I ran when no one said I could win; but we won! Because we ran on principle. To fight for our jobs. To fight for a balanced budget amendment and stop uncontrollable spending. And to fight for our conservative family values.

If you think the way Washington runs is bad – I am here to tell you it is even worse than you thought.

Because there are some Republicans who claim they are conservative but vote like liberals. It happens – because they’re more interested in keeping their jobs than fighting for your jobs.

The only way to fix that is to send real Conservatives to Congress and not re-elect career politicians.

And it is why I am announcing right here tonight – right now – that I am running for re-election to the United States Congress.

Now let me tell you this – I am not your typical Congressman. If that is what you are looking for, that’s not me; that’s the other guy.

Now look, a lot people are going to try to tell you that there are no differences between me and the DC establishment candidate.

But there are big differences – big differences.

For one, I keep my promises. I promised I would decline Congressional healthcare and retirement benefits. And that is exactly what I did during my first week in office.

It is called leadership by example.

Another difference is that I am working to pass a law to strip pension from Members of Congress.

Why because it’s the right thing to do.

But Charles? Every single day, even while we are here tonight, he is racking up his special Congressional retirement which will be paid for on your backs. Oh and don’t forget that you are paying for his Congressional healthcare too.

I am also working to enact into law the elimination of pay for Members of Congress if we don’t get the federal budget under control.

Why – because as a oil and gas small business owner – I know if someone is not doing their job, they should not get paid.

Again leadership by example.

Again Charles won’t help!

Finally – and most importantly – this is where the rubber meets the road.

With our nation in debt, burdening our children and grandchildren with huge deficits and uncontrollable spending, I do not believe Congress should have gotten a pay raise.

But, ladies and gentlemen – Charles voted with Nancy Pelosi to increase his own pay.

That is right. When Democrats controlled Congress, under Nancy Pelosi, Charles voted with her allowing his pay to increase. Now, do you believe that was a Conservative vote?

I am proud to have led the fight our oil and gas jobs.

While others sent out press releases – I took action, holding a DRILLING=JOBS sign up at the President’s jobs speech.

I have worked to protect our fisheries industry, and I support our agricultural industries along with our other small businesses here in South Louisiana.

I will not back down in the fighting for our jobs – I will not compromise your principles for my job.

When other Congressman marched down to the White House to have the President lecture them on spending – I said no. And when the Debt Ceiling Deal came up, a Washington deal loaded with trillions of more debt onto the backs of our children without any end in sight and the disastrous Super Committee – I voted no.

Senator Vitter joined me in voting no and requested me to join him at his forums in Lake Charles and Lafayette explaining why this vote was, in and of itself, a disaster for our nation.

As a veteran, I believe in ensuring that those who have sacrificed for our country get the respect and support of a grateful nation. I have fought for our veterans, including for the clinics here – not with press releases or press stunts – but through real work to get the job done.

I support our troops who are in harm’s way. When the President attempted to threaten the pay of our military members as a negotiating tactic on the budget – I made it clear that I would reject and refuse my own pay if the President tried to touch theirs.

I have also stood up for pro-life and pro- family values. I have a perfect score with the Family Research Council.

It is only because of these issues that I would give up more precious time away from my home here in South Louisiana to battle the politicians in Washington.

I think people are tired of politicians who say one thing at home and do another thing in Washington.

People are tired of politicians who are more worried about their own future than the future of our jobs and our families here in South Louisiana.

People are tired of politics as usual.

If that is what you are looking for – I am not your guy.

But if you are looking for a consistent, common-sense, Cajun conservative – I need your vote, I need your help, and I need your support in this campaign.

I ask you to join me in this fight. Together, we can restore this nation.

God bless you all, God bless Louisiana, and God bless America.

Thank you

Interview by Scott Jordan

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Talk about boss: Bruce Springsteen has always been one of Graham Parker’s biggest fans, and contributed vocals to Parker’s 1980 album The Up Escalator. The two artists’ symmetry crossed oceans, as Parker and his backing band The Rumour lit up England like a boozier E Street Band with a string of mid-70s album classics like Heat Treatment and Squeezing out Sparks. With fellow Brit peers Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, Parker ignited an enduring musical movement that forged raucous roots music with incisive and intense songwriting.

Parker’s never achieved his American compatriot Springsteen’s commercial success — but similarly remains a vital artist who relentlessly pursues his craft. Lafayette gets a rare opportunity to witness Parker in action this Sunday, May 20, as he reunites with Rumour bandmate and pianist Bob Andrews for an intimate show at Vermilionville.

Parker graciously fielded The Ind’s e-mailed interview questions — “always the way to get things across more effectively that blathering on the phone,” he writes — and offered insights into his creative process, lengthy career and his recent unlikely collaboration with the mastermind of iconic slacker movie Knocked Up.

Can you tell me a bit about the Rumour reunion? It sounds like there’s a lot happening: a film part, new record … maybe even a tour? Was this an instance of serendipity? How does it feel to be reunited with the whole band after all these years?
For reasons still not entirely clear to me, I found myself contacting the Rumour members around April or May last year and asked them if they’d like to do an album. They all agreed to it. Then, about a week later, Judd Apatow got hold of me and the next thing I know, I’ve got a GP/Rumour album in the bag and we’re all being flown to Hollywood to do a two-day shoot in a theater full of extras, and I’m also flying back and forth to do a few acting parts. Very strange, but very nice to give the band members such an exciting reunion after a gap of over 30 years.
There’s also a documentary in the can, ready to come out some time this year.

Your Lafayette gig features Rumour bandmate Bob Andrews on piano. How do you approach these duo shows? And your touring configurations range from solo shows to full-band affairs — what’s your general philosophy and approach to your live shows?
I recently did four shows in three days with Bob in the Midwest then dashed off to Boston right after that to rehearse a completely different set with my sometime backing band the Figgs. Very hectic but rewarding musically. Later in the year I will no doubt be mulling over ideas for a Rumour set and then rehearsing with those guys. I don’t over-think it. If I did, I wouldn’t pile on such challenges!

Bob’s been settled in New Orleans for a long time and the city’s been a perfect musical match for him. I’m curious about your Louisiana experiences, impressions, and whether Louisiana music provided any inspiration in your formative years.
I’ve played in New Orleans only about three or four times in my career, and visited once to just go eat. In the ’90s I was booked at Tipitina’s where they billed me as Gram Parker. I think they had me confused with the late country singer Gram Parsons, which is not uncommon. Bob Andrews actually joined me for a bunch of songs on that show. Other than that, New Orleans and its music is not a place I can claim to know that much about.  

Has your writing process changed over the years, or are there certain techniques, prompts or routines that you still find fruitful? I know it’s hard to put a number on it, but if push came to shove, what would you say is the percentage in your songwriting of nitty-gritty craftsmanship and lightning-strike inspiration? And did your writing-for-TV-episodes project make you rethink the process in any way?
My writing process hasn’t changed much since I first began. I collect notes for about a year: a few lines here and there, song title ideas, a few chord structures. Then eventually when I realize it’s been a year since my last album came out, I get busy, which means I thump around on an acoustic guitar and make moaning sounds, which in time, with luck, morph into lyrics. Then I look at all the notes I’ve been making over the course of a year and finally understand that they are all rubbish but, hey, at least they got me to pick the guitar up and start working. It’s just a hard grind, really, but during the hard grind that creates the basis of most of the songs, a few gems jump out in minutes, fully formed. It’s about accessing higher levels of brain activity that I’m normally not accessing. The approach I used on Imaginary Television worked once but had nothing to do with the next batch of songs, which have become the new GP/Rumour album, which will be released later this year, by the way.  

Do your feelings about the songs in your catalog keep evolving? Does a classic like “Mercury Poisoning,” for example, feel enshrined a bit in time, or does its message and lessons still speak to you in today’s Internet-fueled music world? And are there certain albums or periods (I’m a big fan of the Mona Lisa’s Sister album) that you feel have held up especially well?
I play plenty of songs from my early period, and, to me, they hold up very well. My solo act has made them keep growing. The recordings, however, are definitely of their time, so to speak. I hate the way I sang on the early stuff — more yelling with the throat than singing — and some of the approaches we took to arrangements and production seem a bit creaky now, but this is to be expected. I think I hit my stride again from Mona Lisa’s Sister on, having gone through the usual trough that was the ’80s, and Deepcut To Nowhere, Struck By Lightning and Don’t Tell Columbus are up there in song quality with any of my early albums.

This may be a personal question more than a musical one, but do you feel your early press descriptions as the “angry young man” were accurate? Maybe it’s just me, but I always thought songs from White Honey to your Arthur Alexander cover of “Everyday I Have to Cry” showed a much more introspective and groove-oriented artist than your reputation. Along the same lines, if you do feel that you started off with a lot of in-your-face energy, do you find that you’ve mellowed a bit over the years?
It’s true that in 1976 there wasn’t any competition in the “angry young man” department — not till ’77 when the punk thing kicked in — so I fit the bill, but they ignored the breadth of the song writing. Tunes like “Between You And Me” and “Gypsy Blood” on my first album showed that it wasn’t all ranting, but they’ve got to stick you with an image. I was definitely “in your face” in the early days, but now, without such overt aggression, finally the words and melodies have a chance to get across.  

Finally, and this is a question you’ve been asked a million times, but I’ll try and phrase it a bit differently: Who are the musical artists you still return to for inspiration? Not necessarily the ones who influenced you, but the ones you still listen to today and consider as necessary a part of living as oxygen and water? And why do you think they still resonate with you?
Although my knowledge is not encyclopedic, the range of music that’s been important to me over the years is fairly wide. Otis Redding and Levi Stubbs might well be the people who moved me the most and who I still owe a lot to in the vocal delivery department, but just recently I got back into two of my favorite Captain Beefheart albums and finally bought In The Court Of The Crimson King on CD after not hearing it since about 1972 when there was always a copy on the turntable in someone’s “pad.”
Good records are good records, and even though some of them creak a bit, the effect they had at the time on a much younger man is still there somewhere in the musical memory. And let’s not forget the Beatles and the Stones. They got all of us to pick up guitars and have a go!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Party Girl dropped by the Yarn Nook to check out its Community Projects Group, which knits helmet liners and gaiters for the military and chemo caps for cancer victims. This project started three years ago when a member’s son was deployed to Iraq and asked for 41 liners/gaiters for his fellow troops. Soon after, the generous ladies knitted 150 warmers for the brave soldiers. The group meets every Wednesday night from 6-8 p.m. alternating between the Yarn Nook in the Oil Center and Indulge in Parc Lafayette. New knitters are welcome. For more information, visit the website at yarnnook.com or call (337) 593-8558.
(1) Diane Gallagher (2) Diane Venable and Ami Peyton-Kleiner (3) Heather Long and Yarn Nook co-owner Suzette Bienvenu (4) Heather Long (5) Kathy Rea (6) Lisa Mayeux, Casey Albritton and Gail Zarosinski

Gourmands gathered at Cochon for its first boucherie of the restaurant’s exclusive Berkshire-Blue Butt hog. While sipping on Vermilion Sunset cocktails on the terrace and watching the actual sun set over the river, guests enjoyed appetizers made from the pig, including boudin, sausage and head cheese, followed by a family-style feast featuring the succulent roasted meat, home-style veggies and decadent chocolate chip bread pudding with whiskey sauce.
(7) Lee Anne and Robert Daigle, and Dr. Jennifer Hanby (8) Luke Tullos and Denny Culbert (9) chef Stephen Stryjewski plates the pork while chef Donald Link carves the pig (10) Susan and Louis Simon (11) guests get a lesson in carving (12) Cochon goes whole hog (13) chef Pat Mould (14) Link with roasting Berkshire-Blue Butt hog

Reach freelance documentary and food photographer Denny Culbert at dcphoto@dennyculbert.com. View more images from the boucherie on his blog, shooteatrepeat.com.

The qualified entries in the My Lafayette Video Contest are in and up and await your vote here until May 31.

A joint project of the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission and AOC Community Media, My Lafayette was designed to showcase Lafayette/Acadiana as a prime tourist destination and its residents as creative storytellers.

"It's been pretty fantastic. We had 25 entries," says Ed Bowie, executive director at AOC, adding that four or five were disqualified for language or content. "We had a wide variety, it was pretty cool. I'm pretty jazzed about the variety and the number of entries."

You have until May 31 to vote for your favorites. The winners will be announced at LCVC's membership luncheon June 13.

The free show is set for 9 p.m. at Artmosphere, 902 Johnston St., and features ImagineIAM, The Pits and Christine Pierce.

"It's a matter of health safety for themselves as well as equality in the workplace between somebody who works in a restaurant versus someone who works in a bar playing music for a living. Everyone should have the right," says Rachel Nederveld, manager of the foundation's Lafayette Music Office Co-Op. "And Tipitina's, as part of our mission to help musicians and help cultural economy workers, it's definitely important to us to help with the help concerns of those we're working with."

Alexandria is the state's first city to go smoke-free across the board, while Lafayette's nightclubs voluntarily abide by the idea.

"It's really just a matter of making the decision that's right for that population," Nederveld says.

Nederveld, who also tracks as a band manager, musician, and live music lover speaks from experience where smoke-free venues are concerned.

"For my own sake," she says, "I'd love for bars and venues to be smoke free for my own health, for my own enjoyment of being there, for the right to stand where I want without having to breath in harmful chemicals from other people's mouths."

Nederveld says she understands the situation bars owners are in and their fear losing customers if they were to go smoke-free.

"There is that argument," says Nederveld, speaking as a musician. "But at the same time, if everyone is smoke-free - I understand smokers, I think if you want to smoke and do that to yourself, that's fine - but I don't see how that is at all your right to put that upon anyone else."

Presented by Tipitina's Foundation, Lafayette Economic Healthcare Initiative & Lets Be Totally Clear and the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation.

A non-partisan congressional watchdog group is calling out U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, for another apparent abuse of his federal franking privilege — a month after this newspaper published an exposé of the freshman congressman and a similar waste of taxpayer money.

In a May 14 article posted by the Beltway political newspaper Roll Call, Craig Holman of Public Citizen accuses Landry of abusing the franking privilege by spending more than $30,000 in taxpayer funds in the third quarter of 2011 to finance a series of radio ads in Lafayette and Lake Charles alerting listeners to town hall meetings he attended with U.S. Sen. David Vitter. Lafayette and Lake Charles anchor the east and west ends of the 7th Congressional District of U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, against whom Landry is expected to run this fall since his current 3rd Congressional District was absorbed into neighboring districts when the Legislature eliminated a congressional district last year due to federal redistricting. If Landry wants a second term in Congress he’ll have to challenge Boustany this fall.

The congressional franking privilege allows members of the U.S. House of Representatives to be reimbursed for communications such as direct mail, radio and TV ads and newspaper inserts so long as those communications are not for re-election purposes and only if said communications are directed at that member of Congress’ constituents. In the “if it walks like a duck” department, Landry appears to be skirting federal law to build name recognition in Boustany’s district: His communications in Boustany’s district are for re-election purposes and they’re not directed at his constituents.

Public Citizen contends that because the radio ads targeted voters in Boustany’s district they constitute a franking violation. The Landry camp, of course, disputes the allegation — just as it did in our April 11 cover story, “Frankly Speaking,” which makes the case that a “Year End Report” Landry paid to insert into The Independent and The Daily Advertiser, which reach virtually none of Landry’s constituents, at the end of 2011 also constitutes a franking violation.

From the Roll Call article:

Landry’s office characterized the events as forums on the debt ceiling that the lawmaker attended but did not co-host. A representative said the radio spots informed constituents of his schedule, which happened to include events outside his district.

“As detailed in the radio ad, Congressman Landry was Sen. Vitter’s guest at the debt forum. Congressman Landry is proud to have represented his constituents and, like Sen. Vitter, vote against the Washington debt deal and disastrous Super Committee,” Communications Director Millard Mulé said in an email.

The House Administration Committee, the franking commission and the House Ethics Committee all provide guidance about when and where Members can use official funds.

The Members’ Congressional Handbook, for example, states that a lawmaker can be reimbursed for the costs associated with joint town hall meetings they co-host with a home-state Senator, but “the meeting must take place within the House Members’ district.” Vitter’s office at the time of the forums described Landry’s role as co-host — a characterization that Landry’s office now disputes.

The hidden engine behind the state’s well-oiled prison machine is cold, hard cash. A majority of Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit facilities, which must be supplied with a constant influx of human beings or a $182 million industry will go bankrupt.

Several homegrown private prison companies command a slice of the market. But in a uniquely Louisiana twist, most prison entrepreneurs are rural sheriffs, who hold tremendous sway in remote parishes like Madison, Avoyelles, East Carroll and Concordia. A good portion of Louisiana law enforcement is financed with dollars legally skimmed off the top of prison operations.

If the inmate count dips, sheriffs bleed money. Their constituents lose jobs. The prison lobby ensures this does not happen by thwarting nearly every reform that could result in fewer people behind bars.

“You have people who are so invested in maintaining the present system -- not just the sheriffs, but judges, prosecutors, other people who have links to it,” said Burk Foster, a former professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and an expert on Louisiana prisons. “They don’t want to see the prison system get smaller or the number of people in custody reduced, even though the crime rate is down, because the good old boys are all linked together in the punishment network, which is good for them financially and politically.”

The more empty beds, the more an operation sinks into the red. With maximum occupancy and a thrifty touch with expenses, a sheriff can divert the profits to his law enforcement arm, outfitting his deputies with new squad cars, guns and laptops. Inmates spend months or years in 80-man dormitories with nothing to do and few educational opportunities before being released into society with $10 and a bus ticket.

Louisiana taxpayers should not be forced to fund a state exchange. Louisiana could expect to pay approximately $40 million per year to run the exchange. This money would come from the pockets of Louisiana taxpayers. If legislators elect not to establish an exchange, the federal government can create one, but Louisianans would not be forced to pick up the tab. Legislators should not stick their constituents with a $40 million annual bill to help implement an unpopular federal law. If Washington insists on an exchange, let them pay for it.

State legislators should not create a new bureaucracy that will be controlled from Washington. The federal government already prevents states from establishing sensible health care policies. President Obama’s health care law continues this unfortunate trend. Establishing an exchange will do nothing to address this problem. If anything, it will serve as a fig leaf for the federal bureaucrats who dominate health care policy. Legislators should look for opportunities to expand state autonomy over health care policy rather than participating in another exercise in central planning.

A state exchange will make it easier for the Obama administration to enforce troubling aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For example, creating an exchange would make it easier for the Obama administration to collect taxes that fund efforts to force religious employers to provide coverage for services they find immoral. Legislators who oppose this attack on religious freedom should not facilitate it by creating an exchange.

Firing back not long after was the Louisiana Budget Project, a nonprofit policy research organization that’s been largely critical of Jindal’s privatization efforts, with its own "fact sheet" on health-insurance exchanges:

A Louisiana health insurance exchange would be locally designed and run and financially self-sufficient. It will help an estimated 350,000 Louisianans get affordable health insurance and federal premium tax credits beginning in 2014.

In reality, the federal government will cover the cost of setting up a health insurance exchange and pay for its first year of operation. After that, the exchange can sustain itself without any state general funds through strategies that all other states are considering—like a modest fee on the new insurance company revenue generated by the sale of plans in the exchange or selling advertising on the exchange website.

The Pelican Institute derived its flawed estimate from the budget of the Massachusetts Connector, an exchange-like entity set up in that state in 2006. But the Massachusetts model isn’t a valid comparison for Louisiana. First, Massachusetts didn’t get any of the help with set up and operating costs that Louisiana would receive from the federal government. Second, the Connector’s costs include tax subsidies to help people afford their health insurance premiums because Massachusetts paid those costs under its reform. But the federal government will pay the full cost of these subsidies for Louisiana residents.

Unfortunately, Louisiana has declined all federal financial support so far — that’s the real bad budget decision.

The Pelican Institute claims that creating a state-based health insurance exchange will increase federal control.

The opposite is true. The federal health care law allows each state to set up its own exchange. States have broad flexibility to design and run their exchanges as they see fit. In fact, the exchange concept was originally developed by conservative think tanks, and for years enjoyed bipartisan support precisely because it provides a state-based solution and uses the private market to address the problem of unaffordable health insurance.

"Blues, rock and roll, 50's and 60's, brand new stuff - everything," Sinegal says. "We're going out there to have fun and satisfy the people. We're going to play what they want."

Touted as the best guitar slinger South Louisiana has to offer, Sinegal honed his chops as an Excello session man and Clifton Chenier's longtime guitarist. Revered for his work with Lil' Bob, Rockin' Dopsie, and Fernest Arcenaux, Lil' Buck also recorded his own killer instrumentals in the late '60s.

When Sinegal's band takes the stage, he'll joined by Bobby Allen, vocals; Lloyd Richard, keyboard; Greg Gordon, drums; and Lee Allen Zeno, bass.

"We're going to knock 'em out if we get a chance to play," he says, who recalled a couple of years ago when he was slated to play DTA!

"Last time we were all on the porch about two years ago ready to go when they called and cancelled it," Sinegal says. "We were ready to go and when the phone rang and I was scared to pick it up.

"But I think we might pull it through tonight," he says. "I don't know."

If rain washes out the show tonight, you'll still have a chance to see Sinegal as he says he plans to take a break from the road and play more around Lafayette.

"I'm going to try to play more around here for a while, you know," he says. "I've been on the road for so much, so long and all that," he says. "I'm going to try to do more playing around here."

Sinegal was on the latest Corey "Pop" Ledet and His Zydeco Band release.

"We didn’t change nothing, but he wanted me to play to put that old time stuff in with what he's doing, you see," he says. "It came out good. Came out real good."

Sinegal co-founded the Lafayette-based all-star aggregation Cowboy Stew Blues Revue. In 1999, Lil' Buck was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.

DTA! begins at 5:30 p.m. with food and beverage concessions. The music plays from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Concession sales help keep DTA! free, so please leave your ice chests at home with your pets. For more information, visit here.

School Superintendent Richard Lavergne says the property is actually on dry land; he  maintains that the purpose of the Section 16 land is to produce revenue to help run St. Martin Parish schools.

“It’s not state bottom water land,” says Blanchard. “That’s one of the questions that our attorney researched for us. He answered every question that they had [at the meeting], and none of what they presented was a problem. We followed everything as required by law.”

Dean Wilson of the nonprofit Atchafalaya Basinkeeper organization disagrees. Wilson says he met with Lavergne and Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette in February, just before the papers for the sale were signed in an effort to convince the two that the trees should be preserved. Wison says Collette and Lavergne agreed not to sign the documents until they could all meet with the school board.

“When Mr. Blanchard found out we did that, he went around and signed the documents the same day that we met with the superintendent to stop him from getting the school board members to back out of the sale,” says Wilson.

Blanchard says he stands behind the board's decision. “This board may make a lot of decisions that a lot of the public is not in agreement with,” he says, "but we make our decisions based on facts and what is in the best interest for the St. Martin Parish School Board.”

Wilson and the rest in league with the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper aren’t swayed. In addition to exploring legal action against both the Good Hope timber company and the St. Martin Parish School Board, they are also challenging Good Hope’s permit for the landing area to be built in the basin for the logging.

To find out how you can help Atchafalaya Basinkeeper protect the basin, visit BasinKeeper.org or find them on Facebook.

Don’t get Tommy Cvitanovich started about Lafayette. He absolutely loves this place. And while he’s tabled plans to expand his famous Drago’s Seafood Restaurant from the New Orleans area to the Hub City, he’s hinting that he’ll likely be back scouting later this summer. “We were looking at a couple of places in the River Ranch area. I love that neighborhood,” Cvitanovich told The Independent Friday morning, noting that expansion is definitely in his future. “If you look at the demographics of the River Ranch area, it is very, very impressive. Although I’m not an expert on demographics, I would bet that there are not many places in Louisiana that have as influential and high-end demographics as River Ranch. The business opportunity is there for us," he says. "Are we going to look again in Lafayette this summer? Very possibly. My goal is to have another restaurant one day, either Baton Rouge, Lafayette and/or Houston.”

Cvitanovich, who runs the two Drago’s locations — the original in Metairie and the now 5-year-old location in the Hilton on Poydras — says the main reason he backed away is to devote more time to the Hilton restaurant. “My customers ... I want to make sure everything is handled properly. The Hilton is kind of growing a little too fast for us," he says. "I want to make sure we stay on top of our game.”

There's a personal reason as well. The father of four, Cvitanovich says quality of life with his family is high on his list of priorities, and he does not want to spread himself too thin. He also wants to be sure he makes the right move at the right time.

Clearly, however, Lafayette appears to have the edge. “We didn’t pick another area over [Lafayette],” Cvitanovich stresses. “When we do start looking again, that region will be a priority for us.

“It doesn’t matter if you go into a Burger King, a fast food restaurant or a fine dining restaurant in Lafayette, everybody is nice. I just like Lafayette. In being one of the people in the [Louisiana] restaurant association, one of the higher ups in the association in the last few years, we’ve gone to Lafayette, and every single time I’ve gone there I’ve had a great experience."

Cvitanovich says he has a lot of Lafayette customers and some really good friends here as well. “What really spurred my interest, too, was when I was in Washington, D.C. I was king of the Washington Mardi Gras Ball this year, and I met your mayor and I met some of your chamber people. They’re the ones that really got me to go and look and touch and feel and taste that area,” he continues.

Drago’s was founded in 1969 by Cvitanovich’s parents, Drago and Klara Cvitanovich. Drago is now retired and Klara is still helping run the restaurants.

Though Drago's offers a full seafood menu, charbroiled oysters are what it's most famous for. But those didn’t hit the menu until 1993 when Tommy, a chef, decided to experiment with a sauce of garlic, butter and herbs. He brushed the sauce on a fresh batch of oysters, dusted them with a blend of Parmesan and Romano cheese and cooked them in their shell on a hot grill. Simply delicious.

A pre-release concert for the launch of pianist Fabian "Isadar" Thibodeaux's CD Reconstruction is 7 p.m., today, at the Grand Opera House of the South, 505 N. Parkerson Ave., Crowley. Tickets are $10-$25 and can be reserved by calling 337-785-0440 or going here.

If you're out San Diego way this weekend, check out the Gator by the Bay Festival and you'll find Cajun and zydeco music with local groups Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Bonsoir Catin and Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band.

A host of West Coast Cajun and zydeco bands, some with a Louisiana connection will also perform.

Louisiana music will be complemented by Louisiana food as Mitch Olivier of Crawfish Corner in Opelousas plans to boil some 10,000 pounds of crawfish. The festival has the blessings of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission and the Louisiana Office of Tourism.

The Atlantic has a piece on En Francis, the CD a compliation of 14 rock music classics played by Cajun and Creole bands and performed entirely in Cajun French. New Orleans' Ben Sandmel wrote the story which you can read here.

Corey Ledet at Festival International as part of the Bayou Teche's LA 31 set Sunday on Scene Malibu Fais Do Do.                                  Dominick Cross

For the record, En Francis features Corey Ledet: Hey Joe and Roadhouse Blues; Bonsoir Catin: You're No Good and Oh Darling; The Les Malfecteurs: Money (That's what I Want) and Wooly Bully; Feufollet: Four Tops' Reach Out (I'll be There) and Big Star's In the Street. Cedric Watson:The Beatles Revolution; Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys: Neil Young's Down by the River. Isle Derniere: Iron Man and Lost Bayou Ramblers:My Generation and I Love Rock and Roll. Brother Dege: a slide guitar version of The Star-Spangled Banner - which we were all dazzled by just last month during opening ceremonies of Festival International de Louisiane.

Arnaudville's Bayou Teche Brewing with Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers, the LCVC and Louisiana Folk Roots released the CD. 

Tipitina's Foundation & Let's Be Totally Clear's Smoke-Free Air Series comes to Lafayette Friday, May 18, with ImagineIAM, The Pits and Christine Pierce at Artmosphere. The free show is also supported by the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation, who will give away several $100 loaded credit cards to make the night even more free for several lucky attendees. The concert series highlights the importance of smoke-free workplaces in each city where there is a Tipitina's Music Office Co-Op. They will feature giveaways and music by internationally known artists, Grammy winners, and local supporters of the cause. For more information visit go here.

In honor of Labels for Education, Safeway and the Grammy Foundation®, Hunter Hayes made a special guest appearance on Monday to perform with seventh and eighth grade students at Corpus Christi School in Piedmont, Calif. The goal is to help nourish the potential of children and support the social value of music education in schools and communities across the country. Hayes performed a special set for students, and shared his experiences in the music industry, in hopes to teach students the importance of music in their lives.

Supporters of a bill designed to prohibit employment discrimination against gay and lesbian state workers were disappointed — but, frankly, not surprised — by the state Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee’s 4-1 vote Thursday to kill Senate Bill 100. Known as the Public Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the bill by Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, was diverted to the dust bin of enlightened ideas following an attempt to gut it of any language delineating sexual orientation/gender identity as protected characteristics.

According to Forum For Equality, an LGBT advocacy group that testified in favor of the bill along with members of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Community Church, 90 percent of transgender people report having experienced discrimination in the workplace, are twice as likely to be unemployed and four times more likely to be living in poverty.

“All hard-working people in our state should have the chance to earn a living and provide for themselves and their families,” says Colin Miller of Lafayette, FFF’s southern field director. “Nobody should have to live in fear that they can be legally fired for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance.”

Supporters of the legalization of marijuana use for both medicinal and recreational purposes will hold rallies across Louisiana Saturday afternoon. Organized by Legalize Louisiana, the statewide Rally for Cannabis Rights will hold events in Lafayette and four other cities. Locally, the rally begins at 3 p.m. at Girard Park. According to a press release by the group:

[Legalize Louisiana] demands policies creating safe and free access to cannabis medicine for the promotion of human health in Louisiana; industrial hemp should be utilized to boost our state’s economy and the health of her ecosystems; personal use should be decriminalized, and commercial sales should be taxed and regulated, which will create justice where there is now abuse and, simultaneously, reduce Louisiana’s world-record incarceration rates. Religious use of cannabis is an inalienable right protected by our State and Federal Constitutions, by the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act, and our justice system professionals are all oath-bound to realize the letter and spirit of these most high and sacred laws.

“Today the world is harder and more brutal,” Armentor said in his keynote speech to the Greater Southwest Louisiana Black Chamber of Commerce in March of last year. “There are many at-risk kids in need of care and guidance. If you know of one who is troubled, send them to me.”

Can there can be any question now that U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, intends to challenge Congressman Charles Boustany this fall? A reception scheduled for May 23 at the garish, nouveau-riche River Ranch home of oil patch magnate Mike Moreno bills itself as “a reception benefitting the re-election of Congressman Jeff Landry, Louisiana, 3rd District.” Couples will pay $250 to attend, $1,000 to host and the handsome sum of $2,500 to serve as sponsors. Twenty-seven individuals and/or couples are signed on as sponsors while 18 are listed as hosts, meaning the fête has already netted Landry more than $85,000. (See an image of the invitation below.)

Problem is, after 2012 there will be no 3rd Congressional District to which Landry could be re-elected; the district was effectively eliminated during the 2011 redistricting session in the Legislature — absorbed into districts to the east and west including Republican Boustany’s 7th Congressional District, which will expand eastward to take in New Iberia where Landry lives.

The new district for which Boustany will essentially be the incumbent will be called the 3rd Congressional District effective Jan. 1, 2013. But don’t tell the Landry camp that. On the congressman’s website, LandryForLouisiana.com, there is a page devoted to the 3rd Congressional District but the congressman uses an image of the new 3rd, which doesn’t yet exist (see the screen grab below). The combined effect of the May 23 fundraiser in Lafayette and the deceptive image on Landry’s website is that Landry is seeking re-election to Rep. Boustany’s district. Weird, we know. Landry seems to be inventing a new reality: He's the incumbent in southwest Louisiana and he's seeking re-election.

Landry hasn’t yet announced his intention to run against Boustany this fall, but if he doesn’t he’ll be out of a job in elected politics, at least for the time being.

He and Boustany have already begun sniping at each other in press releases. There will be a contest between the two. It will get ugly.

Read more on Landry and his attempts to generate name recognition in Boustany’s turf here.

The Landry campaign has already netted more than $85,000 for its campaign coffer with the May 23 reception, based on the invitation above. Meanwhile, on his LandryForLouisiana website (detail below), Landry is using an image of the 3rd Congressional District that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013, suggesting he is already the incumbent for southwest Louisiana.

Three men from Acadiana, two of them Lafayette residents, have been appointed to interim management positions with the Louisiana Democratic Party. State party Chairwoman Karen Carter Peterson, a state senator from New Orleans, announced this week.

Stephen Handwerk of Lafayette has been named executive director while Mike Stagg, also a Lafayette resident, will share communications duties with Johnny Anderson, a Eunice native. Stagg and Handwerk serve on the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee. The former made un unsuccessful bid to unseat City-Parish President Joey Durel last fall.

The state party’s most recent chairman, Buddy Leach, was ousted in elections in late April.

You can view an exact digital replica of the print edition — delivered to your email every day by 5 a.m. Flip the pages, scan the headlines and read the stories! No matter where you are, The Daily Advertiser is right there with you, keeping you connected to what’s happening at home.  

And the paper will be offering live feeds and alerts for your tablet and smartphone (see details below).

OK, so that’s new (presumably) and sounds kind of cool. But what’s it going to cost? Good luck on that one.

The letter does state that this “privilege” of full access to theadvertiser.com will be exclusively for subscribers.

That’s why they call it a paywall. You'll soon have to pay for what you want to read online, and the cost of the print edition is going up, too.

Good luck just getting through via the 1-800 number on the letter or the paper's direct local line. Since the automated answering system does not have an option to reach the publisher, who we hoped to interview for this story, The Independent waited while being “transferred to an attendant,” only to twice hear: “Your call cannot be completed at this time. Please try again later. Good-bye.”

So we gave up.

One Daily Advertiser subscriber, however, did not give up. Below is a partial note we received from said daily reader:

Called the 1-800 number; after several minutes I spoke to a human.

Ok, back and forth with the Daily Ad. rep and the word “CANCEL” constantly coming out my mouth and also explaining to Melanie (the Daily Ad woman) that THE LETTER I received is not clear as to what my monthly fee will be after the promotional period, whatever the hell date that is. Melanie asked to put me on hold, that was for about 2 minutes. I think she was with her supervisor reading THE LETTER.

Melanie then came back on the line and stated that she will keep my subscription at the $13.29 per month for an additional 6 months, “until you can find out what the NEW monthly charge will be.” Melanie said that “until you can find out what the NEW monthly rate will be,” she, Melanie, couldn’t tell me what my new monthly rate will be?

You know, I am not surprised she said that and couldn’t tell me the new rate. Remember this, my friend, is the Daily Advertiser. I think no one knows.

I asked for a confirmation number and Melanie told me she would email it to me.

The confirmation email did come, though it was not a confirmation of the six-month promo price and the "new" amount referenced is the reader's old amount:

Thank you for being a subscriber to The Daily Advertiser.

Your subscription fee has been changed for your Monday Sunday delivery. Your new amount of $13.29, less any applicable credits, will automatically be deducted from your designated EZ Pay account every month on the 1st of the month. If at any time you wish to make a change to your account, simply contact us at 800-259-8852.

For your convenience, you can always access your subscription account online at MyNewspaperService.com.

At MyNewspaperService.com you can put your delivery of the print edition on hold while out of town, you can register a delivery concern or make a subscription payment.

The reader is still trying to cancel but can't find an option for doing so.

Lincoln’s letter does note that the current full access subscription most people are paying, $17 per month, “is an extremely great value” and that the rate will be honored for the duration of the promotional period. That promo period, as the Daily Advertiser reader pointed out, is not defined.

Read more about The Advertiser’s paywall and the one that’s coming soon to The Advocate, too, here.

The Independent, as you know, is free. All access. All the time.