[StBernard] Bobby Jindal - Above the Law, Below the table.

[Westley Annis]

Thank you, John, for taking the time to offer up this information...what a
pleasure amid the ugly campaign rhetoric.  Although we are supporting
different candidates, I truly appreciate you stepping up...that's a quality
that matters to me.
Cindy Meyers

	-----------------------------------------------------
	WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!! This is the biggest bunch of b.s. Look, I'm
for
	Walter, but I can't stand by and watch this "nobody who appears out
of left
	field" get away with this. Having run several campaigns and filled
out
	countless campaign compliance reports for clients, let me set the
record
	straight on this.
	
	The ONLY way Jindal is required to report the mail out expenditure
by the
	State GOP is IF Jindal was involved in the planning, development
and/or
	mailing of the "mail out." If a third party organization on its own
does
	any activity on behalf of a candidate without any knowledge of or by
the
	candidate, it is categorized as an "independent expenditure" by the
third
	party organization and the candidate does not need to report it as
an "in
	kind" contribution - which is what this guy is getting at.
	
	Let me give you a real life example from personnel experience. When
I was
	helping Mr. Dean in his re-election bid for State Senate back in
1999, he
	refused to spend money on a mail out (gee, what a surprise - Lynn
Dean not
	wanting to spend money?) nor would he accept contributions. So, I
	approached several business people, the late Mr. Billy Nungesser
among them
	and leaders from some state-wide business groups, to quickly form a
	political/NPO group where they could pool their donations and send
mail outs
	and buy TV time for Senator Dean. (I should note that I had no
official
	title or position in Mr. Dean's campaign, so I was not officially
	intervening for him.) - he did not know about this.
	
	This group of business people did exactly what I suggested, in
record time I
	might add, and we met in Belle Chasse to start planning what we
would do for
	Mr. Dean, independent of his knowledge of this activity. And to keep
things
	even more kosher, it was suggested I leave just prior to the meeting
	beginning so no one could even vaguely accuse me, thus Mr. Dean's
campaign,
	of being part of whatever activity the "group" was going to do for
him.
	This way, Mr. Dean would not have to claim their efforts as an
in-kind
	contribution. I should note this group was comprised of a couple of
	Plaquemines parish lawyers who were extrememly knowledgeable of
campaign
	compliance laws and ethics. They both gave the green light to what
was
	taking place.
	
	Sure, the Jindal campaign can admit that they "presume" the State
GOP will
	do mail outs or other activities on behalf of Bobby Jindal (since
he's the
	GOP official candidate), but so long as they have no direct
participation in
	those activities, reporting them as an in-kind contribution is NOT
required
	by law or ethics.
	
	So, this guy Stow-Serge is dead wrong and his letter to the
Campaign/Ethics
	committee is nothing more than hype - IF it was ever "really" sent
to the
	Ethics committee?
	
	Also, on a side note, a few years later I did eventually tell Mr.
Dean what
	Billy Nungesser and several others did for him.
	
	John Scurich