[StBernard] Thoughts on GOP Email

[Westley Annis]

Here are my thoughts on the email sent out by the state GOP regarding the
consulting firm hired by Sen. Boasso.

http://tinyurl.com/28eszx

Today, James Quinn, Executive Director of the Louisiana Republican Party,
send out an email with this headline:

    Embezzlement Alleged at Hildebrand Tewes - Key Boasso Advisor & National
Abortion Advocate

The email states that a consulting firm being utilized by Gubernatorial
candidate Sen. Walter Boasso, Hildebrand Tewes, is caught up in the middle
of a $100,000 embezzlement scandal. The embezzlement scandal is nothing more
than an employee trying to steal money from the firm. Happens all the time,
unfortunately.

A quick Google search shows embezzlement charges happening at Duke
University, University of Michigan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Independence
Seaport Museum, Detroit Public Radio, Red Cross, a lawn maintenance company,
and an insurance agency. Heck, I know of a small company in Arabi that
caught an employee stealing funds and a lawyer in New Orleans that caught
his secretary stealing. It is a reflection of the crook, not the firm, or
should we all avoid the Red Cross now?

This is a desperate attempt by the state GOP to insinuate that Sen. Boasso
is involved in any manner with the embezzlement.

The email sent by Quinn is also quick to point out that Hildebrand Tewes is
also working for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, worked for former
Vice-President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, and Emily's List, an
abortion rights advocacy group.

Sen. Boasso is a Democrat and will utilize democrat campaign advisors. It
should be no surprise that they may also be working for, or have worked for,
a democratic presidential candidate.

It is also no surprise that this consulting firm has worked for an abortion
rights advocacy group. Abortion is a plank for the national Democrat party
and doesn't necessarily play well here in Louisiana. Most Louisianans, I
believe, are against abortion, having twice passed a state-wide
anti-abortion law (the first one was ruled unconstitutional by a federal
judge). However, abortion is not the litmus test that Quinn and company want
to portray it as.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Archbishop Phillip Hannan, speaking
on his own and not for the Roman Catholic Church, declared that it would be
a sin for anyone to vote for Bill Clinton. Turns out Clinton was more
popular in that election than Bishop Hannan.

This email sent out by Quinn was simply an attempt to fling mud at Sen.
Boasso hoping some of it would stick. What Quinn didn't realize was that the
barrel wasn't empty but full of clean water and it just rolled off of Sen.
Boasso like water on a duck's back.

The only question that remains is who was calling the shots, Quinn or Rep.
Bobby Jindal?