Louisiana Voice

A lot of so-called political experts (ex: a has-been; spert: a drip under pressure) have pretty much conceded that the governor’s race next October is Jeff Landry’s to lose.

And there’s no question that the former ST. MARTIN PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTY has gotten his political ducks in a row by picking off one-by-one his stronger potential opponents (Rep. Garret Graves, Sen. John N. Kennedy, et al).

And we’ve already been shown that Landry is not above stooping to a little old-fashioned political bribery, for lack of a better word for it, when he gave a job to a convicted felon whose mother had finished in third place in the 2015 attorney general’s race. The mother, Geraldine Broussard Baloney of Garyville, subsequently endorsed Landry in the runoff with incumbent Buddy Caldwell. Landry, once in office, hired Baloney’s daughter, QUENDI BALONEY.

Quendi Baloney, who in 1999 had been charged with 11 felony counts of credit card fraud in Virginia, eventually pleaded guilty to three counts and sentenced to six years in prison, all of it suspended. The job she was handed? Why, as a member of the AG’s Fraud Section, of course.

One of Landry’s prominent supporters is Jefferson Parish businessman Shane Guidry, erstwhile friend of former Jefferson Parish sheriffs Harry Lee and Newell Normand. Guidry’s company, HARVEY GULF, was involved in a business arrangement with CTNN Enterprise, owned by Normand and his former Chief Deputy Craig Taffaro that attracted the attention of federal investigators in 2016.

During the time Landry was a private citizen, he served as legal counsel for Guidry and Guidry in turn poured thousands of dollars into Landry’s political campaigns later.

The close relationship between Landry and Guidry was further solidified when Landry hired Guidry as a “special agent/investigator” at a token salary of $12,000 per year and Guidry returned the favor by appointing Landry, by then Louisiana’s top legal officer, to the HARVEY GULF BOARD at a salary of between $50,000 and $100,000.

Now, fast forward to Landry’s announcement last October that he would be a candidate for governor in 2023. The words were barely out of his mouth when the State Republican Party took the unusual step of giving him its ENDORSEMENT before the full card of contenders was filled out.

It was a calculated move designed to frighten off other potential candidates, another sign that Landry was doing his homework albeit behind the scenes.

On Monday of this week, the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Party, via 2020 presidential election denier and three-time unsuccessful US Senate candidate Woody Jenkins, tendered its official endorsement of Landry, saying in part:

“As Attorney General, he has continued fighting crime. He created the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation to carry the fight against crime to a higher level and the Louisiana Solicitor General’s office to handle major litigation in cases that impact Louisiana as they made their way to the U. S. Supreme Court.”

And:

“Jeff Landry has the conservative philosophy, the character, and the courage to help Louisiana fulfill its potential, creating a prosperous, safe, moral, and compassionate place to live, work, and raise a family.” (Emphasis added)

…unless one happens to be a vulnerable woman who is powerless against his cadre of donors, as one observer noted, because Landry apparently will not hesitate to use taxpayer funds to harass these women as a favor for his donors.

Once again, the attorney general’s questionable actions swirled around one Shane Guidry.

Lacey Hooper used a Tik Tok account to “friend” Guidry’s adolescent daughter in January 2021 and to inform her that she was the girl’s biological mother. It was Hooper’s somewhat clumsy effort to reconnect with her daughter who had been adopted by Guidry.

The girl asked for proof but instead, GUIDRY RESPONDED, “this is shane, if you contact (her) again, we will have you arrested. are we clear.”

And even though no crime had been committed, Guidry called on his pal Landry and soon the Louisiana AG’s office was scouring first Louisiana and then Mississippi in an effort to track down Hooper, even going so far as to hunt down her brother.

That prompted Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission to suggest the entire episode “reeks of political favoritism.”

“There’s no justification for this.,” Goyeneche said on July 9, 2021. “This isn’t a criminal investigation. I don’t see anything in here that even identifies a criminal violation. There are no allegations of criminal wrongdoing in any of this.”

The agents who went looking for Hooper came from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, Landry’s detective division, records show. The agents enlisted local law enforcement officers in Mississippi. The Feb. 10 road trip by three of the AG’s investigators included a stop in Hancock County and another in Long Beach, where they dropped in on her brother, Blake Hooper.

Hooper recalled a gaggle of agents, including supervising special agent John “Mike” Montalbano, showing up at his doorstep.

Eight days later, on July 17, Goyeneche, in a rare EDITORIAL, released by his office, ramped up his criticism of Landry’s abuse of his powers.

“When the attorney general of Louisiana is on your company payroll, why not whistle up his investigators to help you with a family dispute?” Goyeneche asked rhetorically.

“That is what businessman Shane Guidry of Jefferson Parish did, seeking help from his friend Attorney General Jeff Landry.

“Investigators from Landry’s office went well beyond the bounds of ordinary practices when called upon by Guidry in the matter, involving unwanted contacts from the birth mother of an adopted child.

“An average person could not call on the investigative division to go spend two days tracking down the biological mother and tell her to stop calling and contacting the child,” he said. “It’s another example of a quid-pro-quo, good-old-boy network.”

“That’s how Jeff Landy rolls. And it is not a good sign that his office is ready to take up a big donor’s side, to the point of intimidation of another party by AG investigators.”

The state Republican Party’s endorsement of Landry represents a sorry continuation of the characterization placed at the feet of previous administrations who curry favor for the political class…except they would be the recipients of Landry’s graft if he becomes governor.

Yes, while the governor’s race appears to be Landry’s to lose…he could, with all the political baggage he has accumulated, pull it off.