Only Dr. Charles Boustany, Jr.’s campaign spokesman has responded to Ethan Brown’s book, ‘Murder in the Bayou,’ and Chapter 13 titled Coda: Boustany and the Boudreaux Inn. Brown, a seasoned writer and private investigator, provides a motive that eight sex workers were murdered because they knew too much involving the 2005 police shooting of unarmed Leonard Crochet at the home of Harvey Burleigh, a suspected prescription drugdealer, as well as police connections to the area’s drug trade.Brown writes, ‘Burleigh dangerously boasted to his street associates that his drug suppliers were troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop D.’ Troopers allegedly routinely pulled over vehicles travelling along Interstate 10 to illegally confiscate drugs, reselling them through local citizens.
The Boudreaux Inn was a second location for drug trade. Brown describes the inn as a 14-room motel where sex and drugs were traded and that ‘Those who ran the business were well connected in Louisiana politics.’ Brown adds that two of the sex workers said ‘Boustany was a good trick...He has money and he had dope.’
Brown connects Boustany to Martin Guillory, also known as “Big G,” an owner in a partnership called Tri-Tech LLC which leased the Boudreaux Inn from 1999 to 2008. Boustany became a Congressman in 2004, with Guillory as his field representative until September 2016, when the book was released. Brown writes that he asked Guillory if Boustany had visited the Boudreaux Inn in any capacity and that Guillory responded: ‘he may have.’
Louisiana State Treasurer issues weaponizing denial of promoting sex worker story
Treasurer John Neely Kennedy, one of Boustany’s opponents in the Senate race, issued a strange press release denying he advanced the story, yet he provided three hyperlinks stating, ‘If you want to know more, click here.’ Kennedy has donated over $2 million to ESAFund to run attacks ads on Boustany.
The Advocateand political blog CenLamar raised questions regarding Kennedy’s campaigning actions, as he possibly illegally converted funds raised during his state campaign in 2015 to his federal campaign through ESA. The reports mention that: Kennedy is running for Senate for the third time while being paid to be state treasurer; Kennedy’s staff recruited and funded a token opponent to run against him at the state level to provide a means to raise funds and start advertising on a federal level in 2015; and Kennedy’s conversion of those funds to the ESA Super PAC might be illegal.James Hartman, Kennedy’s campaign spokesman wrote in an email, ‘The Treasurer is not prepared to discuss these issues at this time.’
Kennedy was also criticized by Governor John Bel Edwards’ Budget Financial Advisor, Jay Dardenne, for renting office space from a campaign donor for $370,000 annually instead of using state offices for his staff, savingthe state $294,000 per year.
Ironically, Kennedy issues a weekly waste report on government spending.
The Pelican Post, Truth in Accounting, and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy have reported that Louisiana ranks 33rd in Fiscal Health with $74 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and that Kennedy has hidden over $12 billion of the debt in the balance sheet, perhaps violating reporting standards.
Déjà vu in Louisiana elections
A famous line stated 25 years ago by former Governor Edwin Edwards, who was long dogged by a history of corruption, when running against neo-Nazi David Duke, ‘The only way I can lose this election is to be caught in bed with either a dead woman or live boy.’ Fearful that Duke might be elected, bumper stickers were created stating: “Vote for the crook. It’s important.” Adding to the intrigue of the Senate election is that David Duke has returned to Louisiana to run in this election. Louisianans have already responded with bumper stickers that cross out the word “crook” and read: “Vote for the serial whore murder. It’s important.”
The 2016 U.S. Senate race is already a Louisiana legend.
