William Short
October 12, 2010
Trial in Gulf oil spill cases postponed
October 14, 2010U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon and several other candidates for the U.S. Senate are urging several television stations and public interest groups to go ahead with plans for televised candidate debates – including all candidates – even if incumbent Republican David Vitter won’t participate.
With polls showing him in the lead, Vitter has agreed to only one televised debate in late October on WWL television in New Orleans.
Complicating the issue: although there are 12 candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot, the criteria for participation in the various debates would apparently exclude all or most of the candidates other than Vitter and Melancon. Thus, if Vitter doesn’t show, Melancon would have nobody to debate.
In a letter released Friday, Melancon is joined in calling for the debates to go on by Libertarian candidate Randall Hayes, Reform Party candidate William McShan and independents Milton Gordon and Michael Spears. The Melancon campaign added state Rep. Ernest Wooton, a Republican-turned-independent, to the list later in the day.
“You have proposed a live, televised debate with unscreened questions and choosing not to proceed simply because David Vitter will not show up effectively gives the Senator the power to deny voters the right to hear candidates debate,” the letter states.
Vitter spokesman Luke Bolar said “scheduling issues” have prevented the incumbent from agreeing to more debates.
Jean Armstrong, president of the League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge, said Friday the league would be willing to push its scheduled Oct. 26 debate up a week to accommodate Vitter. But the league’s criteria, based in part on money raised by a candidate and whether a candidate gets at least 4 percent support in an independent poll taken by Oct. 15, would disqualify the minor party and independent candidates.
Similarly, the Council for a Better Louisiana criteria for a debate on Louisiana Public Broadcasting would likely exclude all but the top two candidates, said Barry Erwin, president of CABL. “If you don’t raise and spend a certain amount of money it’s hard to say a campaign is viable,” Erwin said in a telephone interview, adding that CABL has followed the criteria for years.
Vitter and Melancon have appeared together in at least three local candidate forums. In one, they simply gave stump speeches. In two others, they took a limited number of questions from members of the sponsoring organization but weren’t allowed rebuttal time.
The candidates’ letter went to KNOE television in Monroe, CABL, LPB, the University of Louisiana Lafayette, WBRZ television in Baton Rouge and WWL.
Vitter’s campaign is touting a list of bipartisan endorsements from south Louisiana officials praising him for his actions after the BP oil spill.
“As soon as the oil disaster hit the Gulf, Senator Vitter was on the ground in our communities, personally involved. He also acted swiftly and provided important support and leadership in Washington, D.C.,” the group says in a Vitter news release.
They include Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, Lafitte Mayor Tim Kerner, Grand Isle Mayor David Carmadelle and St. Bernard Councilman-at-Large Wayne Landry, who are all Democrats, and Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, all Republicans.
In the race for a southeastern Louisiana congressional seat, Democrat Ravi Sangisetty has launched the first TV attack ad of the Democrat vs. Republican contest, calling his Republican opponent Jeff Landry disgraceful for his campaign tactics and background.
The ad, running across the 3rd District, says Landry lied about his military background and was involved in a “sketchy cocaine bust.” It also slams Landry for running “a low-down, dirty campaign against a good man like Hunt Downer,” a former state lawmaker and retired military general who Landry defeated to win the Republican nomination.
Landry has called himself a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, but he never served overseas during his 11 years in the Louisiana National Guard. He was training for deployment, however, when the war ended, and military documents reference his service in Desert Storm.
The cocaine claim references the 1993 recovery of a large amount of the drug under a house in which Landry was living in St. Martin Parish. Landry, a sheriff’s deputy at the time, signed the warrant allowing deputies to search the house. His roommate was arrested, and a local district attorney has said Landry wasn’t implicated in the case and cooperated with police.
Asked why Sangisetty chose to attack Landry, Sangisetty spokesman Bobby Pierce replied in an e-mail, “The voters now have a choice between a corrupt political insider such as Jeff Landry or someone who will stand up for the working men and women of South Louisiana such as Ravi Sangisetty.”
Landry spokesman Brent Littlefield said the ad distorted facts and was a strange spot for Sangisetty to run.
“The voters don’t even know who (Sangisetty) is, and the very first thing he does is start slinging mud in a campaign ad where he’s accusing others of slinging mud. It’s bizarre,” Littlefield said.
