It’s just plain fun to see how far some candidates for political office are willing to go to get elected.
It’s also pretty disgusting.
It’s not disgusting because of any personal feelings I have for either candidate for 21st Judicial District Court Judge; I don’t know either candidate, Colt Fore or his opponent, William Scott Dykes. In fact, I never even heard of them before this election.
When I saw their signs start popping up out here in Livingston Parish yards, I just wondered why so many homes were suddenly on the market and being listed with those particular realtors. (That’s a joke, son. You’ll get it later.)
And I’m not trying to defend Fore. He is an attorney, after all, with a firm with whom I had a brief difference a few years back over the right of a Baton Rouge television station to tape proceedings of a controversial city council meeting (the city’s legal counsel, a member of that firm, said since the law did not specifically mention television cameras in allowing the photographing of meetings, it was within the city council’s authority to ban them, which was a patently abusive overreach on his part).
But today, I received in my mailbox a flyer, a political cheap shot, really, that proudly pointed out that Fore “gave thousands of dollars to Democrat Hillary Clinton for President.”
And while it’s true that federal campaign finance reports reflect that Fore, in fact, CONTRIBUTED $2,700 to Clinton in 2016, it conveniently neglects to add that he contributed $850 to Trump this year.
God knows, I’m no fan of Hillary Clinton, but when it came down to making a choice between her and Trump four years ago, it was a no-brainer for me: I voted for Hillary because I simply could not stomach the idea of Donald Trump as leader of the free world.
It turns out my instincts then were correct. The man has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, an embarrassment. I don’t know what kind of president Hillary would have made – probably a bad one – but nothing she could have done could ever have approached the train wreck this country has witnessed for the past four years.
But I digress. This rant is not about Trump or Hillary or Biden. It’s about electing judges.
And my question is this: why the hell should a judge’s election revolve around candidates’ personal political philosophies? And why do political parties even enter into the equation?
Judges’ races should be about the letter of the law, not about the 2nd Amendment, stricter sentences for offenses, abortion or who a particular candidate supports for president.
No candidate for a judgeship should enter a race or be considered for nomination to a judicial appointment on the basis of his or her preconceived notion on any ideology whatsoever. A judge’s job is to hear arguments on cases coming before the court without personal feelings entering into the discussion and to render a ruling based on the law, not some hackneyed political viewpoint or on the basis of which attorney contributed to the judge’s campaign.
The flyer I received said, “Colt Fore says he is a Republican now…but when he is not running for office, Colt Fore knows he’s with her (Hillary).”
The flyer’s disclaimer said it was paid for by Louisiana Law, Order and Justice of 7350 Jefferson Highway, Suite 485, Baton Rouge.
Corporate records on file with the Louisiana Secretary of State indicate that one Chadwick Melder is the agent and only officer listed for Louisiana Law, Order and Justice.
Melder is also the agent and only officer of CAMCO CONSULTING, a political communications and public affairs concern which has the same mailing address as Louisiana Law, Order and Justice but which is domiciled in Woodworth, in Rapides Parish.
What confuses me about the flyer, however, is the rest of that disclaimer that says Louisiana Law, Order and Justice is “not affiliated with any candidate or committee.”
If that’s the case, why does it claim to be the one that paid for the flyer when it’s obvious it was paid for either by or on behalf of Dykes.
But if you take a peek at Dykes’ campaign expenditures of $1,000 or more, you see payments to such entities as Capital Business Services ($11,425.50 and $2,500), Tangi Graphics ($4,828.70, $3,685.88, and $1,570), Lamar Advertising ($4,075 and $1,800), and a few lesser expenditures in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany parishes.
The only ones in Baton Rouge are Capital Business Services and Lamar Advertising and since the $11,425.50 payment to Capital Business Services was on Sept. 22, it’s quite likely that was the check written to pay for the flyer with Louisiana Law, Order and Justice’s payment coming out of that payment.
So, even though the Louisiana Ethics Commission requires the reporting of campaign contributions and expenses, there are clever ways to conceal the sources of both.
All in the name of democracy and maintaining the integrity of our courts, of course.
Louisiana Voice 
Everyone I know believes Hillary should be in jail. But you’re still talking about that vote. Wow. Wait until the Clinton Foundation crimes against children (that was discussed in the OIG report) comes out. And wait for the Weiner laptop release. You read liberal news so I’m sure you just missed the complete release of un-redacted classified documents detailing that the Russian collusion narrative you still keep bringing up (a year after the facts have completely shattered the narrative) was a Hillary made up distraction to turn the story from her 33k emails that detail crimes against kids, pay-for-play, drug running, etc. ^^^See the Weiner laptop. The CIA knew. The FBI knew. And the Obama White House knew. Soon you’ll be hearing the words KNOWINGLY, SEDITION, and TREASON. You won’t ever retract your stories because you’ve gone too far off the deep in for too long, but we’ll all know. Your credibility will never recover.
L, your tin hat needs adjusting.
I think you meant “deep end,” but I’ll just chalk that up to your lack of education, your general ignorance and your inability to read the English language. For instance, go back and read where I clearly said I didn’t care for Hillary, didn’t like her. Did that even register with your Cro-Magnon brain?
I’m not sure where you’re coming from in saying I’m “still talking about that vote.” What vote? I don’t believe I’ve mentioned the election results or the Mueller report for quite some time – not that I accept for one nanosecond Trump’s assertion that he was “completely exonerated” by Mueller. He wasn’t.
And you’re clinging to that child-abuse conspiracy theory that has been debunked thoroughly? Talk about going “too far off the deep end.” Shot up any pizza parlors lately?
And finally, you’re referring (I think) to the report commissioned by William Barr, a man completely devoid of any credibility.
Oh well, you do make for amusing reading by giving us insight into how small minds should not be left unattended by an adult.
Talking about credibility!!!! Whoever the writer is???? You have to be a democrat. On a scale of 1-
Gee, Will, you say that like it’s a bad thing;
Yes to me being a Democrat is a bad thing. I lived out of state for a long time, including many years in liberal areas before returning home to Louisiana. And when I vote for any office, I will vote for the candidate that not only represents him or herself as the most conservative but has the most conservative record. If Livingston Parish becomes more Democrat, it will become a mess like EBR or New Orleans or even worse like Baltimore and Chicago.
its very telling that he donated more to Hillary than to Trump.
Just to set the record straight, the $11,425.50 payment to Capital Business Services was for a “positive” flyer which detailed William Dykes’ 18 years of experience practicing both civil and criminal law. Before you make assumptions about a campaign expenditure, you should take a little bit of time to investigate. If you would like to hear William speak about his experience and how it has prepared him to be a good judge, please take the time to listen to this podcast: https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/podcast/podcast-a-balanced-approach/video_5198af5a-0e4d-11eb-bbe5-f3830c605a3e.html
I have zero knowledge of the child abuse issue as such, but it is fairly well documented that many well known people visited Epstein’s “Fantasy Island”, foremost among them Mr. Clinton. That most certainly involved presence of underage girls. Bill Clinton is without a doubt the most disgusting President I know of. And why did Hillary go to the Arizona “breeding” farm of Epsteins ?(we know she and Bill were guests). And that Congressman Anthony Weiner is a real prize as well.
It is not a conspiracy to say that the Intelligence Agencies (NSA,FBI,CIA) were not operating as intended by the end of the Obama Administration. They clearly abused their power (it remains to be seen how far up the totem pole this criminality went). Barr found no criminality on some aspects of this, and I hope that former President Obama had the good sense to not be involved in any of this. I do not want to see any President involved in criminal behavior. That is likely going to be the downfall of Joe Biden (is starting to surface right now).
Eric Holder, Obama’s “wingman”, a man who ran the “Fast an Furious” program is in no position to criticize Barr (who was very well respected until he went to work for Trump). And Ms, Rice was not a very good A.G. either (gotta love that last minute cover your tracks episode).So, we have many who we may consider to be less than credible, both past and present. Kitty, there are a lot of tin hats out there.
This article has helped convince me to vote for William Scott Dykes over Fore. First of all, Fore donated more to Hillary than he did to Trump. One can assume when he started running for office, he didn’t want to alienate the clear conservative and Christian majority here.
On his Facebook page, Fore also claims he felt pressured to donate because he was only a junior partner at the time and his boss hosted the event, or something along those lines. So he couldn’t have attended without donating? Also, so he says he gave in to pressure, if heaven forbid Biden wins and JBE stays in office, how is he going to stay strong and stand his ground against liberal pressure from JBE or from the deep state in DC?
You should do us all a favor and quit your writing career, purchase a firearm and one bullet, find a secluded area in front of your family and put said bullet in the nasal cavity.
Wow, now that’s what I call an intelligent response. I suppose the First Amendment means little to you. In a single sentence, you have validated everything I’ve written.