Talk to some of the hands
working on the various campaigns
for state treasurer and
they’ll agree about one thing —
that very few people in
Louisiana know there’s an election
underway and even fewer
actually care.
Then go and sit a spell with
the reporters covering the race.
They might tell you how unexciting
and bland the entire
affair has been. (So far, at least.)
None of the candidates are
political superstars. There
aren’t any red-hot issues driving
the election discourse.
Complicating matters further,
the race for treasurer is the
only statewide throw-down on
the Oct. 14 ballot, unless you
want to count three proposed
constitutional amendments.
Lonely, overlooked and a bit
of a bore, the treasurer’s race
has become the redheaded
stepchild of Louisiana politics
this year.
So much so that even donors
aren’t stroking checks like they
usually do. Fatigue is one of the
culprits. Associations, wealthy
civic activists and corporate
leaders have already suffered
through a non-stop, three-year
election cycle, from 2014
through 2016.
That extended cycle hosted
the most expensive U.S. Senate
race ever waged on Louisiana
soil and the most costly election
for governor in Louisiana history.
Wrestling dollars from contributors
in the shadow of all
that has been a challenge for
even the best fundraisers.
To put a finer point on it,
high-profile GOP donors are
noticeably holding back a bit.
They’re confident that the next
state treasurer is going to be a
Republican — either former
commissioner of administration
Angele Davis of Baton
Rouge, state Sen. Neil Riser of
Columbia or former state Rep.
John Schroder of Covington.
Some conservative donors
have had a hard time drawing
distinctions between the three
leading candidates, which is to
say they’ll be pleased no matter
which contender wins. They
don’t see a reason to spend
money needlessly.
Donors also like to pick winners,
but so do politicians, and
a nod from the latter will most
certainly bring in dollars from
the former. Had some political
heavyweights like U.S. Sen.
John Kennedy or Gov. John Bel
Edwards picked a horse in the
race, contributions would have
likely spiked.
It’s a trend, however, that
cuts both ways. No-one wants
donors to have outsized influence
in an election. But on the
other hand, without the cash to
operate effective campaigns
candidates face obstacles in getting
their ideas in front of voters.
Direct mail costs money.
Radio and television spots cost
money. Staffs and data and
signs all cost money. Especially
in a statewide election.
Maybe more donor activity
would have generated actual
interest in this race. That could
have, in turn, convinced television
stations to host a live
exchange. As of this week there
are no televised debates or
forums scheduled, but you can
still hear from the candidates in
their TV and radio
advertisements.
Schroder has more dough
than his opposition to do that
kind of outreach — about
$614,000 as of a week and a half
ago. Schroder was also his own
largest donor, injecting $186,000
of personal cash into his campaign
account.
Through mid-September, his
campaign had made only
$256,000 in expenditures. The
rest of Schroder’s money is
probably being spent as you
read this column, as part of a
last-minute TV splash aimed at
capturing the imagination of
voters. Davis had $354,000 available
for spending in her campaign
kitty, as of the latest campaign
finance reports, to Riser’s
$145,000 in cash on hand.
Meanwhile, New Orleans
attorney Derrick Edwards, the
lone Democrat in the field,
raised just $6,500 during the last
reporting period and had $666
in his coffers. If Edwards
makes the runoff, his campaign
will become the most costaffordable
statewide bid
launched in recent history. As a
novice candidate he’s on his
own, and it didn’t help that he
failed to gain the support of the
Louisiana Democratic Party.
This lack of a consolidated
front on the left has created a
strange-bedfellows landscape
where conservatives like Riser
and Schroder are spending
money with Democratic-leaning
organizations that specialize in
get-out-the-vote efforts. Without
influential donors and important
personalities from the
Democratic ranks taking a
stand, the door for such
alliances has been kicked open.
The best we can hope for
right now is that donor fatigue
doesn’t translate into voter
fatigue. But given the dismal
turnout forecasts that are floating
around — 15 percent to 20
percent statewide — that seems
to be exactly what we’re looking
at as September comes to a
close.
