We wrote recently about JP District 4 Councilman Ben Zahn using his campaign funds for “lunch with (unspecified) constituents” and spending
hundreds of dollars from his campaign account on “Wal-Mart Gift Cards for
constituents” (BTW Ben, I guess my gift card must have got lost in the mail).
Anyone with half a brain (I guess that excludes everyone on
the State Ethics Board), knows what Zahn is spending his campaign money on –
himself and his family. I mean, who picks up food from Messina’s Catering on
Christmas Eve for “constituents”?
So, while Zahn tries to deceive his way to an enhanced
lifestyle, on the other end of the spectrum we have Jefferson Parish Juvenile
Court candidate Connie Montgomery’s brutal honesty.
In her initial campaign finance report, Montgomery noted
that she paid “political consultant” Joe Berry $4,000 for “Giving bad advice”.
Montgomery alleges that Berry failed to file a campaign finance
report in a timely manner. This will result in a fine from the State Ethics
Board (funny how they give out fines for late fees but not when an elected
official actually lies and does something unethical).
Berry, who was the “campaign manager” for Larry Haas’ ill-fated
Parish Presidential campaign against John Young, typically uses the contact
information from the list of qualified candidates from the Secretary of State’s
Office to troll for clients.
Luckily for Montgomery, she fired Berry before she got in
even deeper. Haas sued Berry after he gave the “campaign manager” over $50,000
for work that Berry couldn’t account for.
Nola.com also reports that “Haas also sued Berry in
connection with Haas’ divorce. Haas said Berry, while managing his campaign,
was having an affair with his wife.”
A truly sad state of affairs (no pun intended) but, it could always have been
worse for Mr. Haas: His wife could have had an affair with Greg Buisson.
