U.S. Senate candidate John Kennedy's official fundraising figures were lower than the figure announced by his campaign, meaning his opponent, incumbent Mary Landrieu, reported raising slightly more than Kennedy over the past three months.
Both campaigns announced they had raised the same amount: $1.54 million in the three-month reporting period that ended Wednesday.
But Kennedy's Federal Elections Commission report sets the three-month total at $1.45 million, according to forms submitted to the Senate and reviewed Thursday by The Associated Press.
Lenny Alcivar, a Kennedy spokesman, said the $89,000 discrepancy stemmed from reporting rules that require the campaign to deduct certain expenses from its fundraising total. The $1.54 million total announced by the campaign was based on the total money raised, without the expenses deducted, Alcivar said.
Democrat Landrieu's campaign reports $5.5 million cash on hand. Kennedy, the Republican state treasurer, has $2.7 million for his campaign to try to unseat the two-term incumbent, according to campaign reports.
Kennedy will face a little-known Republican, J. Jacques Boudreaux of Baton Rouge, in the Sept. 6 party primary. Landrieu has no Democratic opponent.
The general election is Nov. 4. The ballot will also include Baton Rouge Libertarian Richard Fontanesi and independents Jay Patel of Hammond and Robert Stewart of New Orleans.
However, John Kennedy’s Communication Director has another take.In a statement to Bayoubuzz, Leonardo Alcivar “the only pattern here is that the Democratic Senator with a clear history of FEC misreporting and violations lost another fundraising quarter to John Kennedy.”
Along with the statement, the Kennedy campaign offers this statement:
Background:
The [Baton Rouge, LA] Advocate: “In papers released Thursday by Landrieu's attorney, Tony Gelderman, the Mary Landrieu for Senate Committee and the FEC signed off on a ‘conciliation agreement.’ The agreement followed an FEC audit of the Landrieu campaign committee. The audit found that: Landrieu's committee failed to make timely reports - and on occasion filed inaccurate reports - on some donations during the late stages of the 1996 campaign.” (Joan McKinney, “Landrieu Panel Fined For Violations,” The [Baton Rouge, LA] Advocate, 10/8/99)
Scalise On Energy
Last week I introduced HR 6428, the Grow American Supply (GAS) Act.The GAS Act will lift the exploration and drilling moratorium that exists on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), increase exploration of alternative sources of energy such as oil share and tar sands.The bill will also increase the amount of OCS revenues each state would get from oil and gas activities off their coasts.For Louisiana this would mean hundreds of millions of dollars per year to restore our coast.One additional component to my bill would take the billions of new federal dollars that would be generated by OCS drilling and dedicate that money to paying down the national debt and shoring up the Social Security Trust Fund, rather than being used to increase out-of-control federal spending.
The GAS Act is a common-sense approach to bring down the price of gas at the pump and reducing out dependence on Middle Eastern oil by using both short-term and long-term solutions to our national energy crisis.It will also help Louisiana’s economyby creating more good jobs and providing us an increased and more immediate share of OCS revenues to fund coastal restoration and flood control projects.The time for Congress to act is now.
Bayoubuzz Note:Do you agree that the US should engage in more drilling?Do you agree with this legislation by Congressman Scalise?Talk about it on our buzzboards.
Non-Re-lection by Jay Blossman
Here is the statement by Jay Blossman that he would not seek re-election although he qualified for the position last week:
“For the last twelve years I have had the honor of serving the people of Southeast Louisiana on the Public Service Commission. As the state’s first full-time commissioner I’ve enacted a number of significant reforms and given the people of this great state some of the lowest and most stable utility rates in the country.
While on the commission I held utility companies responsible to the people and forced rate reductions and rebates totaling billions of dollars. The creation of Louisiana’s “Do Not Call” program gave the people the ability to end annoying telemarketing calls.
I am proudest of our success after Hurricane Katrina. Even in the face of the nation’s worst natural disaster the return of electricity, phone service and other utilities was swift and impressive.
I have decided that now is the time for me to return the focus of my life to my family and our family business. Therefore, I have decided that I will not seek re-election to the Public Service Commission. I want to thank my constituents for their trust and for allowing me to serve them and I look forward to serving our community in other capacities in the years ahead.”
