Louisiana Voice

Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

So, too, does money.

And when you combine politics and money, things can get really strange.

Take the case of Thomas “Tommy” Hayes, IV, son of retiring Federal Magistrate Karen Hayes.

Tommy-4 is running for state district court judge for the 4^th Judicial District which includes the parishes of Ouachita and Morehouse.

It’s not as though the 4^th JDC isn’t already bizarre enough, what with a clerk who doesn’t like to come to work and who coverts court filings into end tables for her office despite the fact that the filings were part of an important lawsuit pending in 4^th JDC.

And it’s not as if State Inspector General Stephen Street or Attorney General Jeff Landry were on the spot looking out for the interest of justice in the matter – they weren’t. Both punted the issue and the clerk continues on the job, protected by her benefactors, the sitting judges in the 4^th JDC.

But now, Tommy-4 has posted on his Facebook page how honored he is to be the “only candidate running for Division B to receive the official endorsement of (the) Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s NorthPAC.”

LABI, as the association is affectionately known, runs four political action committees, the reason for four distinct and separate PACs being rather vague: NorthPAC, SouthPAC, EastPAC and WestPAC.

It’s also not entirely clear why only one of LABI’s directional PACs graced Hayes with an endorsement but he went on to gush on his Facebook page that “LABI’s PACs only endorsed 34 candidates statewide, identifying those who will evenly apply the law, support transparency and make a more accountable court system for our citizens. I’m pleased to be in that number.”

He might also have said that LABI only supports those candidates who will, in whatever capacity they may be elected to serve, make decisions that coincide with the political philosophy of the corporate interests that helped put them there – never mind this silly business of the so-called rule of law.

Check those mailers you receive in your home from the various judicial candidates. They invariably boast of the candidate’s love of the Second Amendment (to the exclusion of the remaining 26 amendments), pro-life (an issue that rarely comes before state district courts anyway), maximum sentences, blah, blah, blah, but nothing about strict interpretation of the law.

So, why did LABI decide to endorse Hayes? Well, I can give you about 30,700 reasons.

You see, LABI issued a glowing PRESS RELEASE back on Feb. 28, 2018, to announce the hiring of one Marie DesOrmeaux Centanni as Director of Public Affairs. In the release, LABI President/CEO Stephen Waguespack even went so far as to say LABI was “excited” to bring her on board “in this newly-created position, to develop and implement political and communications strategies to advance several new advocacy ventures.”

Hiring Centanni “is the latest move in a series of changes at LABI designed to put free enterprise in the best position with an eye towards the 2019 election cycle,” the release said. “She will coordinate with Political Director John Diez in cultivating candidates and growing capacity for LABI’s Political Action Committees, and sharpening the organization’s general communication.”

LABI even carries a photo and bio on Centanni on its WEB PAGE.

So, the question that must be asked is this: If LABI went to the trouble of (a) endorsing Hayes and (b) paying Centanni “to develop and implement political and communications strategies,” why, then, has the Hayes campaign been paying Centanni for those same services during his current campaign for the 4^th JDC judgeship?

Centanni, it seems, founded Centanni Communications, LLC back on Jan. 6, 2009, according to corporate records on file with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, which listed Marie DesOrmeaux Centanni as the company’s agent of record and its only officer.

And while Centanni may be working for LABI “to develop and implement political and communications strategies,” she has been paid some pretty nice fees by Hayes. On Feb. 19 of this year, she was paid a $10,000 “consulting” fee, according to campaign finance reports on file with the Louisiana Board of Ethics and on June 1, she pocketed another $10,000 for “campaign management.” Then, on July 30, she was paid another $10,000 as Hayes’s “campaign manager.” Three weeks earlier, on July 7, she received $700 for “advertising/signs.”

That’s $30,700 in less than seven months – all while we were under the impression she was performing those same functions for a paycheck from LABI.