BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Washington fundraising heavyweight set up federal and state super PACs on Monday to support U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a move that heightens speculation that Vitter is eyeing a bid for governor.
Charlie Spies told The Associated Press that Vitter supporters filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and the state ethics office creating The Fund for Louisiana's Future, a pro-Vitter political action committee.
"The purpose of the super PAC is to support Sen. David Vitter and his conservative agenda for Louisiana," said Spies, chief lawyer for prior Vitter campaigns and co-founder of the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future.
The federal super PAC could support a Vitter re-election bid in 2016, while a state political action committee could aid him if he decides to launch a gubernatorial campaign in 2015.
Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal can't by law run for a third consecutive term. Vitter has sidestepped questions about his interest in the governor's race, but hasn't squelched the speculation.
"The senator is 100 percent focused and energized by his work in the U.S. Senate. Future campaigns are not on his radar right now," Vitter spokesman Joel DiGrado said in an email.
Spies wouldn't say if he expects Vitter to run for governor.
"By filing with the Federal Election Commission and the state of Louisiana, we have the flexibility to support Sen. Vitter and his agenda in any scenario," he said.
Spies' pro-Romney super PAC raised more than $150 million to support the GOP presidential candidate. He wouldn't say who else was involved in the super PAC or describe plans for any fundraising.
A statement of organization was not immediately available Monday from the FEC. The document filed with the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program creating the New Orleans-based PAC lists Spies as chairman and treasurer and estimates 25 members of the committee.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited funds to help candidates at the federal level. Louisiana has caps that limit individual contributions to PACs to $100,000 for each election cycle.
"It's my understanding that this effort is in support of my conservative reform agenda. That's very flattering, and it's certainly important and helpful," Vitter said in a statement.
A website for the PAC was created, but details on the site were said to be "coming soon."
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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