The things you get in the mail some days...

The Louisiana State Legislature is pretty much getting turned upside down and shaken out this election cycle. Term limits are kicking in for the majority of incumbents, so the number of real races is much higher than usual. I live in LA house district 80. There are two candidates looking to represent the neighborhood in Baton Rouge next year, Glenn Lee and Joseph Lopinto.

They haven't even buried Harry Lee yet, but his legacy will continue on for at least a generation, and this race is a good example. Glenn Lee is Harry's nephew, and worked for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office for 13 years. Lopinto was also one of Harry's deputies at JPSO, his last position being that of Narcotics Detective. So, I've got the choice between someone in Lee's family or someone in Lee's extended family.

Up until yesterday, I was leaning towards Lopinto, for two reasons: First, he went to the same high school I did, and second, I didn't really trust Harry Lee, and that distrust (right or wrong) extends to his family. But that changed when I went out to get the mail, and found this piece from Lopinto:

OK, it's a fairly harmless-looking piece at this point. He says the things most Republican candidates do, and flaunts his endorsements. Then I flipped it over and looked at the back:

Here's the list of groups that Lopinto's upset got money from the state this year:

Rho Omega and Friends, Inc. $ 50,000
Delta CD program development $ 150,000
Volunteers for Youth Justice in Shreveport $ 100,000
Martin Luther King, Jr. Assoc.
Neighborhood Development Foundation, Inc. $ 150,000
North St. Antoine Service, Inc. $ 300,000
Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Council $ 15,000
Community Awareness Revitalization and Enhancement Corporation $ 130,000
Just the Right Attitude in New Orleans $ 50,000
Newcorp $ 100,000
Community Coordinating Council, Inc. $ 100,000
Men of Vision and Enlightenment, Inc. $ 50,000
Progress 63, Inc. $ 300,000
Serving People District 40 $ 300,000
Society Advancement of African American Males $ 20,000
The Elisha Foundation $ 10,000
Epsilon Psi Lambda Chapter $ 100,000
Urban Restoration Enhancement Corporation $ 75,000
Rebuilding Our Community, Inc. $ 350,000
Just Willing Foundation $ 75,000
Louisiana Ballooning Foundation $ 50,000
Purple Circle Social Club $ 50,000
Israelite Baptist Church in Crowley $ 100,000

When I read this, I handed the flyer over immediately to my 13-year old son, who attends the same high school that Lopinto attended. I asked him what he thought these groups have in common, and it didn't take more than a minute for him to respond, "with names like 'Martin Luther King,' and 'Society Advancement of African American Males,' they must be mostly black community groups."

So obvious an eighth grader figured it out.

Now, railing against pork-barrel spending is almost required for non-incumbent candidates. Complaining about budget overruns and excess spending rarely turns off voters. But if you look at a full list of these "special projects" that got money in the capital outlay budget in 2006-2007, you can see there are more programs here than just for black folks. Yet Lopinto cherry-picked the list and printed up just programs that benefit the Eebil Coloreds. This is code-word racism at its best. Lopinto lists how blacks are sucking up the tax dollars of hard-working white folks in Jefferson Parish, and he's going to keep it from happening. Does he appear to be upset that the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Cooperative got $50K, or that the parks department in the City of Kenner got $200K, or that the Jefferson Parish Sports and Scholastic Foundation got $200K? Nope. Funny thing, though, that's $450,000 of the tax dollars of hard-working Jeffersonians that went to mostly white people. What a coincidence.

What I don't get here is why Lopinto felt it necessary to send out a piece like this. It all but screams, "vote for me, I like black people less than my opponent!" And that's saying a lot when your opponent is running on his uncle's name and Harry Lee's the guy who said he would make sure that "young black men in rinky-dink cars" would be stopped and not allowed into Jefferson Parish.

So, Lopinto's not going to get my vote on 20-October. It's difficult to tell if he's an outright racist or if he's just ill-served by some pretty dumb consultants. Either way, it doesn't look like a good idea to trust this guy with any sort of authority. Even though I didn't like the politics of Lee's uncle and he's trying to play off that relationship (his campaign signs all have a star motif, a clear allusion to his association with the Sheriff and the JPSO), I ran into Lee in a coffee shop last week. He jumped at the opportunity to take over the table from where I was getting up because it was near a power outlet. I figure any guy who works on his laptop in a coffee shop like I do most mornings can't be all that bad, even for a Republican. :-)

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