LouisianaVoice continues its fall fund drive and we are appealing to our readers to chip in to help us keep good, solid investigative reporting coming.
We’re not asking an arm and a leg, but if only a third of our readers would contribute $5, $10, or $20, it would go a long way in covering the cost of gasoline, time, public records, and legal action against public agencies reluctant to provide public records.
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to come on to you like some televangelist but as distasteful as it is for me to do that, I prefer appealing to your generosity than being forced to initiate a subscription fee.
Should I go to a $5 per month ($50 per year) subscription fee and subsequently lost two-thirds of my readers, I would still generate far more income than through our two fund drives per year combined. In fact, such a move, provided I kept one-third of my readers, would bring more income than I made as a full time employee of the state.
But I don’t want to do that.
So, please do what you feel you can either by clicking on the yellow “DONATE” button to the right and giving via credit card, or by mailing a check to:
LouisianaVoice
P.O. Box 922
Denham Springs, LA. 70727
As always, my deepest appreciation.
Tom Aswell, publisher
Tom’s televangelist reference reminds me of a radio evangelist I listened to regularly during the early 1970s, Reverend Ike. He became wealthy with the same prosperity theology used by Joel Osteen today, but in a much more entertaining and transparent way. His slogan was, “You can’t lose with the stuff I use.” He lived in New York City and would say things like, “When I walk into Tiffany’s the diamond rings jump out of the cases and onto my fingers.” He never pretended his wealth did not come directly from his contributors. He was famous for his “Blessing Plans” – installment plan giving to his cause.
Reverend Ike would read and respond to letters from his listeners on air. One lady wrote in: “Dear Reverend Ike, I am on my 4th Blessing Plan and am wondering when may I stop with the Blessing Plans?” The reverend responded, “Sister, you may stop with the Blessing Plans when you wish to stop being blessed.”
So, I guess if I asked Tom, “Tom, when may I stop contributing to LouisianaVoice?”, he might well answer, “Brother, you may stop contributing to LouisianaVoice when you wish it to go away.”
I have personally encouraged Tom to go to a subscription plan like he mentions here. He could also simply become an op/ed site, but he is a professional investigative reporter and investigation and documentation cost money. We are losing sources of reliable independent information at an alarming rate and Tom does a real service. So, to paraphrase the late John J. McKeithen:
“Won’t you hep him?”