Cynthia Lee Sheng and John Young
Cynthia Lee Sheng and John Young
The intensity of the race for Jefferson Parish president is starting to show in the two main candidates’ checkbooks and an escalating advertising war, according to campaign finance reports.
Former Parish President John Young and Councilwoman Cynthia Lee Sheng shelled out more than $600,000 combined during a three-week period in September, campaign filings show, as each vies for an edge ahead of the Oct. 12 primary.
Campaign finance reports for candidates in next week’s elections were due Wednesday, and some of the biggest dollar hauls in the metro area were notched in the high-profile races in Jefferson Parish. In the race for sheriff, incumbent Joe Lopinto maintained a massive financial advantage over challenger John Fortunato.
In council races, District 5 challenger Amey French is self-financing an intense attack against incumbent Jennifer Van Vrancken. And in the at-large Division B race, which pits former TV anchor Scott Walker against longtime Harahan political figure Paul Johnston, Johnston maintains a significant advantage.
In the parish president’s race, the candidates are pouring money into broadcast media. Of the $345,852 that Young spent in September, approximately $224,000 went to television and radio ad production and placement. Lee Sheng spent close to $234,000 on the same media.
Much of that money has gone to producing the attack ads that have been flying back and forth over the airwaves and on social media.
Young has attacked Lee Sheng over East Jefferson General Hospital, attempting to link her to a plan for a stand-alone emergency room that has cost millions but was never put into use. Lee Sheng has countered with attacks aimed at Young’s handling of an employee’s sexual harassment complaint when he was parish president. Young was not accused of sexual harassment himself.
Both candidates have pushed back against the attacks.
The candidates aren’t the only ones putting money into the race: Two political action committees — one created by the Avondale landfill company River Birch — produced anti-Young mailers that have gone out to Jefferson voters.
The sheriff candidates have spent far less than either of the parish president candidates. Lopinto dropped $90,481 on his campaign between Sept. 3 and Sept. 22, the records show. His biggest expenditures were for printing, polling and his campaign consultants, Teddlie Stuart Consulting, of New Orleans.
Fortunato spent just $1,117 in the same period. His biggest outlay was $1,000 for campaign signs.
Lopinto, who had about $60,000 in his campaign account during qualifying in the first week of August, reeled in another $145,650 between Sept. 3 and Sept. 22, the latest reports show. Together with the $325,638 he raised in August and early September, he had $374,039 going into the race’s final three weeks. Fortunato raised $46,063, which gave him $64,347 going into the final stretch.
Among the Parish Council races, the most expensive is in District 5, where challenger Amey French has loaned her campaign nearly $400,000 in a bid to unseat one-term incumbent Jennifer Van Vrancken.
French, a former nurse, is using her own money to flood the airwaves with advertising in recent weeks attacking Van Vrancken.
She has loaned herself $394,930 for the campaign, and in the three weeks leading up to Sept. 22 she spent $137,636 on radio and TV advertisements, $16,250 on digital media and $38,751 on yard signs and other printed campaign materials.
Van Vrancken, meanwhile, hit back with $131,092 in spending, including $98,980 on television advertising and $9,500 on digital media.
French has raised $5,560 from 11 individual donors and has $168,181 remaining.
Van Vrancken raised $42,730 from about 90 donors in the most recent period and has $98,472 remaining.
For the parishwide Division B seat, former TV news anchor Scott Walker raised $13,900 from 29 donors on top of the $32,633 he already had on hand. He spent $22,261 during the most recent reporting period and has $24,272 remaining.
Walker was being dramatically outspent by his opponent, current District 2 Councilman Paul Johnston, who spent $99,880 during the three weeks ending Sept. 22. Johnston collected $19,730 in donations during this period and has $158,694 remaining.
In District 2, Deano Bonano, who has worked in parish government for three decades, outraised and outspent his opponents, raising $35,065 and spending $54,246. Businessman Michael O’Brien raised $9,750 and spent $12,312, while former School Board member Melinda Doucet raised $11,150 and spent $16,420.
In the race for the District 1 seat, Marion Edwards, a former judge, raised $31,650 and spent $49,164. Retired postal worker Sheldon Vincent Sr. hasn’t raised any money, and the third candidate on the Oct. 12 ballot, Emmette Dumesnil III, is not campaigning because of a family illness.
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