Give Me an 'I'!
In
recent weeks, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign office has
been furiously combating the hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads
leveled from the Republican Party -- by launching Landrieu's own TV and radio
spots. Yet in the heat of the final days of the campaign, nobody apparently
had time to spell-check the text on Landrieu's latest TV commercial, "Closer."
In the ad -- which announces various newspaper
endorsements, including one by Gambit Weekly -- Landrieu is seated in
what appears to be a comfortable living room, addressing "the issues that matter
most to the people of Louisiana." As Landrieu is saying "Improving our schools,"
the phrase "Improving Louisiana Educaton" appears on the screen. (Italics
added by Gambit Weekly.)
Landrieu spokeswoman Maria Purdy reacted
to the news that the word "education" was misspelled by saying, "Oh, Jesus."
Landrieu's campaign called back later that day to say that the typo was being
fixed.
Vote-Smart Seeks Answers
Project
Vote-Smart, a national bipartisan organization whose founding board members
include former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, reports
having a hard time getting answers from Louisiana congressional incumbents seeking
reelection Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Praised by The New York Times for providing
voters with detailed research on political candidates, the nonprofit group posts
candidate responses to its questionnaires at its Web site, www.project-votesmart.org.
Among the Louisiana incumbents who have not filled out the survey are U.S. Sen.
Mary Landrieu, D-La.; U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-Metairie; and
U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, D-New Orleans.
Justin Staples, a research administrator
for Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test, says that the nonprofit
unsuccessfully contacted Landrieu's aides seven times last month seeking her
position on issues ranging from abortion to terrorism. "We never did get it,"
Staples says.
On Oct. 22, a Landrieu campaign aide told
Gambit Weekly that the senator had filled out and returned the questionnaire.
With the senator present, the aide said he would follow up on the matter. By
late last week, however, Landrieu's positions on the issues had not found its
way to the Vote Smart Web site. U.S. Rep. John Cooksey, R-Monroe, a candidate
for Landrieu's seat, also did not fill out the survey. Landrieu's other two
Republican opponents -- state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell
of New Orleans and state Rep. Tony Perkins of Baton Rouge -- both responded
to the Vote Smart 2002 survey.
In the First Congressional District, Vitter
-- who filled out the Vote Smart survey as a candidate for the open seat he
won in 2000 -- has declined to do so as an incumbent in the 2002 elections.
In a Sept. 23 letter to Vote Smart president Richard Kimball, Vitter
wrote: "I feel the best way to evaluate a candidate's position on the issues
is to take a look at his or her complete record." In Vitter's case, that would
be more than 1,900 congressional votes cast. Vitter adds that interested persons
can visit his Web site at www.house.gov/vitter.
All three of Vitter's opponents -- Libertarian Party candidate Ian Hawxhurst
and Republicans Monica Monica and Robert Namer -- filled out the
Vote Smart survey.
In the Second Congressional District, U.S.
Rep. William Jefferson offered no explanation when asked why he had not
filled out the survey. Vote Smart received responses from all four of his opponents:
state Public Service Commissioner Irma Muse Dixon and businessman Clarence
A. Hunt, both Democrats; Republican Silky Sullivan; and Libertarian
Wayne A. Clement.
Cashing Out
Two
candidates in Tuesday's congressional elections are explaining their respective
responses to a candidate survey in which both took positions to eliminate federal
spending for projects that benefit Louisiana.
Responding to a survey by Project Vote Smart,
U.S. Senate candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell said she would "eliminate"
funding for the arts. "We have to make a decision about what our priorities
are in Congress if we are going to continue to ask people to pay more taxes
and choose between educating children and growing their businesses -- or funding
arts that many people find offensive to their sensibilities," Terrell told Gambit
Weekly.
Terrell, a lawyer and self-described art historian,
continued: "When you have to make a tough decision that would be a decision
that [the arts] would have to be looked at. If we continue to fund art there
has to be some sort of criteria."
Louisiana received $1.2 million in federal
funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in fiscal year 2001,
which ended Oct. 1, according to an NEA spokesperson in Washington D.C. The
federal grants are administered statewide by the Louisiana Department of Cultural
Recreation and Tourism, currently overseen by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco,
a Democratic candidate for governor in 2003.
The arts were the only one of 15 spending
categories that Terrell voted to expel from federal funds, according to the
Vote Smart survey (www.vote-smart.org).
Terrell said she would "greatly increase funding" for defense, education, medical
research and terrorism prevention. Terrell is seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent
Mary Landrieu, who failed to respond to the survey.
In his bid to upset fellow Democrat and incumbent
New Orleans U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, businessman Clarence Hunt
at first denied saying he would eliminate funding for NASA -- as reported by
Vote Smart. Hunt then said that before he would vote to reduce funding for the
space agency as a member of Congress, he would make sure that any spending cuts
do not affect the NASA/Michoud facility in eastern New Orleans. The facility
builds external fuel tanks for NASA space shuttle missions -- a project that
accounts for most of the 2,500 local jobs at Martin-Marietta Aerospace, a private
contractor whose principal client in New Orleans is NASA, says a spokesperson
for Martin-Marietta/Manned Space Systems.
NASA was the only area listed on Hunt's budgetary
chopping block, out of 15 federal spending categories. He would "greatly increase
funding" for education, law enforcement, medical research, public health services
and terrorism prevention.
Finn's Wall
A
prominent national journalism magazine is praising Kathy Finn, the fired
editor of New Orleans City Business, for refusing the business weekly's
initiatives to carrying advertiser-sponsored news pages and declining to re-assign
two reporters whose work had irked advertisers ("Finn's Firing," April 9, 2002).
Widely read by the media industry for its "darts and laurels" column, Columbia
Journalism Review (www.cjr.org)
awarded a laurel to Finn in its September/October editions for her refusal to
"lower the wall between editorial and advertising."
Finn, a free-lance business writer since her
dismissal, still lives in New Orleans. All but two of the nine staffers have
since left the paper. Former managing editor Peter Reichard and former
reporter Stephen Stuart are both now research analysts for the Bureau
of Governmental Research, a private nonpartisan think tank. Former reporter
Chris Bonura last month started his new job as head writer for Mayor
Ray Nagin. Former reporter Brett Clanton moved to Alabama and
joined the staff of the Montgomery Advertiser, former reporter Ian
McNulty is now writing internal communications for Hibernia National Bank,
and ex-associate editor Kaija Wilkinson is now an editor with the Sun
Herald in Biloxi, Miss.
Back to Harvard Yard
With less than two weeks to go in his re-election campaign for Congress,
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, apparently felt comfortable
enough to return to Harvard Law School. Jefferson (Class of '72) delivered the
alumni keynote address Oct. 25 at Harvard Law School Reunions Weekend.
