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.

People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. And yet we keep him. Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster.”

—Donald Trump, on Dr. Anthony Fauci. [Okay, how many of us couldn’t see that coming?]

I do not and nor will I ever publicly endorse any political candidate. They’re sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad, which I thought was outrageous.”

—Dr. Fauci, in an interview on ’60 minutes’ last Sunday. [And yet, Trump turns right around and publicly trashes Fauci. Something seriously ain’t right about this boy Trump.]

My wife has the gift of premonition. Last night she dreamed that Federal squads were in our home seizing guns, knives, ‘unauthorized foods’ and stored water. They said we had been ‘reported.’ Becca awoke crying. What happened to our freedom? she asked. What indeed.”

—Tweet by U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District. [Words fail me.]

This is what we are up against. Help us out. We are in the middle of filming three tv ads as we speak, to push in the final days.”

—Tweet by Rob Anderson, who is opposing idiot Higgins, in response to that Higgins tweet.]

NOT A TRUMP QUOTE, but it should be (with apologies to Cavin & Hobbes):

Trump: “I’m a genius. I can’t believe how smart I am. I’ve got more brains than I know what to do with.”

Nancy Pelosi: “So I’ve noticed.”

President Trump and his advisers have repeatedly discussed whether to fire FBI Director Christopher A. Wray after Election Day — a scenario that also could imperil the tenure of Attorney General William P. Barr as the president grows increasingly frustrated that federal law enforcement has not delivered his campaign the kind of last-minute boost that the FBI provided in 2016, according to people familiar with the matter.”

—The Washington Post, Oct. 21, 2020. [Anyone surprised by this? Anyone?]

I’m not just running against Biden, I’m running against the left-wing media, the big tech giants, and the Washington swamp, and I’ve been running against it from the beginning. And here I am, all by myself.”

—Donald Trump, during a rally in Arizona this week. [Is there a more pathetic, self-pitying titty-baby anywhere?]

“The great thing about President Trump is you always know where you stand with him, and it is him continuing to be the most transparent president in U.S. history.”

—Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller. [Uh…you may wish to ask Comey, Mattis, Tillerson, Scaramucci, McGahn, Sessions, Fiona Hill, Dan Coats, Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen, H.R. McMaster, John Bolton, Alexander Vindman, Peter Navarro, Andrew McCabe, Christopher Wray, William Barr, et al, about that “knowing where you stand” B.S.

Donald Trump has told us openly that he is planning to steal the election. In recent months he has explicitly declared that any election in which he does not win will have been rigged and illegitimate. He has claimed repeatedly and against all evidence that mail-in ballots are invalid. There has been remarkably little discussion of how to stop Trump. In the face of open declarations of plans to overthrow the tattered remnants of democracy in this country, American exceptionalism seems to have lulled many people into a false sense of complacency that a coup cannot happen in the US. But a coup will have taken place if all votes are not counted and honored, and Trump’s attacks on mail-in ballots suggests this is exactly the strategy he intends to pursue.”

—Ashley Dawson, professor of postcolonial studies at City University of New York. [There can be little doubt left that Trump is both deranged and dangerous. To justify his reelection on a single issue such as his being pro-life (he really isn’t) or a robust economy (which he inherited but squandered) is to embark on a suicide mission and to take the country with you.]

Governor Gretchen Whitmer displayed an “86 45” sign during her TV appearance. 86 can be shorthand for killing someone. Whitmer is encouraging assassination attempts against President Trump just weeks after someone sent a ricin-laced package to the White House.”

—Tweet by the Trump War Room. [Good God, these people have truly lost their freakin’ minds! Never knew 86 meant killing someone. I did know that it’s a code for bartenders to say “no more” to those who have had too much to drink. So, “no more” to Trump makes perfect sense in this context. Reading something into that that’s just not there doesn’t (but we do know the connotations associated with “war room.”)]

NOT A TRUMP QUOTE, but it should be (with apologies to Cavin & Hobbes):

Trump: “Do you think our morality is defined by our actions, or by what’s in our hearts?”

Lindsey Graham: “I think our actions show what’s in our hearts.”

I was nominated for three Nobel Peace Prizes, different subjects. I told our first lady, ‘Darling, we’re going to have the greatest publicity we’ve ever had tonight. I got nominated for the Nobel (sic) Prize. Do you know what that is, darling? Let’s go home.’ So, I leave for the first time in a long time early. I get home, I turn on the television and they talked about your floods in Iowa. How is Iowa doing? The crops. How is this happening. How are they doing in Florida? Three or four stories, one after another. Where is my Nobel Peace Prize?! They don’t talk about it. I said, ‘You know, darling. This news is a little tough to crack.’”

—Trump, at a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 14, 2020. [Yeah, that’s it. Nothing like downplaying the impact of floods to flood victims while whining about your own insignificant problems. Everything’s about you, isn’t it? That should get you votes.]

They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be. President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial.”

—Trump, standing beside Putin at Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018, defending Russia against U.S. intelligence briefings that Russians had interfered in the 2016 presidential elections.

It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected – immediately.”

—Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican and a Trump supporter, in response to Trump’s blanket defense of Putin and Russia, July 2018.

We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”

—Then-Director of National Intelligence (before being fired by Trump), in response to Trump’s apologetic defense of Putin and Russia, July 2018. [So, here we are, two years down the road and it’s still going on and now Russia is being joined by China and Iran. Meanwhile, Trump golfs.]

No one’s going to brief anything on Russia to the president. They’re terrified of doing that. I know that from the briefers. Because he’ll explode and the whole thing will get derailed, because he has this weird affinity for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

—Former CIA official Marc Polymerepoules.

“An ‘army’ doesn’t sound like people just there to observe. An ‘army’ sounds like people there to engage in war with the enemy.”

—Sean Morales-Doyle, of the Brennan Center for Justice, on Trump’s call for an “Army” in recruiting poll watchers for the Nov. 3 election.

“The same people who decline to extend the presumption of fairness to members of the commission rightly assert that Amy Coney Barrett will put aside her personal beliefs on the Supreme Court.”

—Former Republican Senator John Danforth, a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates, in a Washington Post op-ed.

“Speaking again for myself, had I wanted to help the Biden campaign, the last thing on my mind would have been to restrain the technique President Trump exhibited in the first debate.”

—Danforth.

“The president’s apparent strategy is to challenge the validity of the election should he lose. We saw this strategy initially in his claims that mail-in ballots are the tools for massive election fraud. Now we see it as well in his assertion that the debates have been rigged by the commission to favor former vice president Joe Biden.”

—Danforth, in the same op-ed column.

NOT A TRUMP QUOTE, but it should be (with apologies to Cavin & Hobbes):

“Meeting called to order. Dictator For Life Trump proposes resolution condemning the existence of Reporters.”