Louisiana Voice

First, Troy Hebert sued. Then he un-sued. Then he sued again.

Meanwhile, Julie Quinn is threatening to sue.

And the saga of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC)—and by extension, the race for U.S. Senator, rolls on ad nauseam.

It’s the kind of macabre comedy only a Louisiana politics junkie could love.

Hebert, former ATC Director, is running for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. David Vitter. He is currently polling at somewhere around 0 percent, give or take a percentage point or two. (Well, in his case, you’d have to give.)

Quinn, now a New Orleans attorney, is a former State Senator. Right now she’s justifiably steamed.

Hebert first filed a lawsuit against Southern Media and Opinion Research poll and pollster Bernie Pinsonat because he was incorrectly listed as a Republican by the polling service. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/9/senate-candidate-troy-hebert-files-suit-against-po/

He was polling 2 percent at the time and his lawsuit said the poll was flawed and that “the system is definitely rigged against independent candidates.”

Considering how his numbers have since plummeted by two points, he may be right.

He subsequently dropped that suit in favor of filing yet more litigation to block a debate between candidates for Senate after he was excluded because of his (wait for it)….low poll numbers. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/elections/article_b80928b4-899a-11e6-ac34-5befc9373f3f.html

Meanwhile, he sent LouisianaVoice an email recently in which he attached a link to a story saying that the FBI had ended its investigation of official wrongdoing. In his email, he asked that LouisianaVoice publish a story to that effect…and we did.

The story alluded to a story in CityBusiness magazine of New Orleans which indicated that LouisianaVoice relied on anonymous sources in its story about the FBI launching its investigation of Hebert. At the same time, CityBusiness, apparently citing its own anonymous sources, said that Quinn was apparently the source for the LouisianaVoice story.

Not only was CityBusiness dead wrong about our source, but it went even further in saying that Quinn, while dating former Jefferson Parish President and unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Young, was in competition with John Young’s brother Chris Young in representing clients in liquor license matters before ATC.

Chris Young, previously a lobbyist for the Louisiana Beer League, also represented clients in licensure matters before ATC. Both Youngs are attorneys and their sister was head of the New Orleans ATC office.

Chris Young was recently indicted for distributing child porn on his cell phone. The porn consisted of a video of a boy having sex with a donkey and Chris Young used the poor judgment of sending the videos to others, which was apparently the basis of the indictment.

But it didn’t end there. The FBI, it seems, rather than employing old-fashioned police work in its investigation of Hebert, tried instead to get to Chris Young to roll over on Hebert. When he refused, the FBI probe abruptly ended.

Now Quinn has her dander up and her attorney has fired off a scorching letter to CityBusiness Publisher Lisa Blossman calling its story “flat-out false” and “highly defamatory” and demanding an immediate retraction or face possible litigation.

Rather than go through the three pages picking out highlights, we decided to publish the letter-from-julie-quinn here.

After wading through all the interlocking relationships of brothers and sister, former fiancés, employees, a state agency head, legal representation, federal investigations, kiddie porn, media stories and political hacks , just one conclusion may be reached: Only in Louisiana could all this come together in a single story and still have the ring of truth.