10 council members submit campaign disclosure reports
East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council members filed their campaign finance disclosure forms with the state Ethics Board last week and the documents showed a disparity in fundraising and spending among the 10 who filed on time.
With the exception of term-limited Councilman Mike Walker, who is running for mayor-president, Joel Boé led the pack with $53,972 in his campaign war chest at the end of 2011.
Boé’s campaign funds were nearly twice that of the next highest fundraiser, Scott Wilson, who ended the year with $27,434.
Much of Boé’s money, $33,896, was rolled over from before 2011. He raised about $25,000 in 2011 and spent more than $5,000 dollars.
Boé said he plans to run for Metro Council and is not pursuing another office this fall.
“I spent almost $60,000 on my last council campaign, which was a little scaled back,” Boé said. “I don’t want to be naive and think I’m going to be unopposed. I’d like to raise a sizeable war chest and squash my competition.”
He said when he files his next finance disclosure report in April, “you’ll probably see a number even greater than what I have now.”
Council elections generally don’t involve as much fundraising as some higher offices, particularly state level seats.
But Boé’s ending balance in 2011 is only a few thousand dollars shy of Mayor-President Kip Holden’s ending balance of $57,077, and Holden is gearing up for a re-election campaign.
The first-term councilman said he has been approached by political watchers who asked him to run for Baton Rouge’s top office.
Boé, however, said he has no desire to run for mayor-president this fall, because he wants to be able to spend time with his young children and continue his career at Performance Contractors, an industrial construction company.
When asked if he would consider another office at a later date, Boé said, “I never say never.”
“Will I end up doing something more than the council at some point? Probably,” he said.
The rest of the council members who submitted reports said they ended the year with bank balances ranging from $100 to $5,000.
Councilman Chandler Loupe, whose son was critically wounded during a shooting in recent weeks, missed the Feb. 15 deadline.
C. Denise Marcelle also failed to file. Marcelle still owes $160 in fines to the Louisiana Ethics Board for submitting her financial disclosure forms late in 2011 and 2008.
“I probably forgot,” Marcelle said about her latest past due report. “Someone else is preparing it for me.”
Marcelle said she intends to pay her fines.
Councilwoman Tara Wicker leads the pack in campaign finance expenditures, spending $25,637 last year.
Wicker also raised $12,325. Her report showed she ended the year with a negative balance of $4,300, but Wicker said she made a mistake in filing by forgetting to roll over all of her money from previous years.
She said she did not know the exact amount of money she had at the end of 2011.
Wicker used her campaign funds to buy gas 140 times in 2011, spending $8,231.80, meaning Wicker was filling up her minivan more than twice a week.
The dates on her reports show she sometimes expensed gas twice in one day or several days in a row.
Wicker said she never filled her gas tank twice in one day, and blamed the occasional overlap on the delay in credit card charges showing up on her statements.
Wicker was one of two council members to use campaign funds for fuel. Walker also used campaign finances to buy about $1,500 worth of gasoline last year.
“I don’t think anyone can doubt the fact that I’m all over the place. I go a lot of places,” Wicker said, adding that she does not use campaign finances for her personal travel.
Council members also receive an $800 travel allowance from the city-parish.
“This office is my every day life. I don’t go anywhere else unless it’s going to meetings and stuff. That’s what I do, I don’t have another job,” she said.
The use of campaign funds, according to state law, “must be related to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position. However campaign funds may be used to reimburse a candidate for expenses related to his campaign or office.”
Using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited, the law says.
Wicker said she called the Ethics Board for guidance ahead of filing her report and was advised that gas was an allowable expenditure because it was related to her political office.
Donna Collins-Lewis came in second for spending with $14,753, but Collins-Lewis also campaigned in 2011 for a state representative seat, which she lost.
The remaining council members who filed, except Walker, spent between zero and $6,300 dollars on such goods and services as website domains, restaurant tabs for constituent meetings, charitable donations, fundraising events, advertisements and cellphones.