Judge Michele Morel and attorney Tim Marcel have combined to raise more than $200,000 in their race for the Division E judgeship of the 29th Judicial District Court.
Though both have gathered a lot of money in their respective war chests, Morel has raised nearly twice as much as Marcel. According to campaign documents, Morel has accumulated $144,075 while Marcel has $73,713 to use in his campaign.
This is the second time in two years that Morel and Marcel have faced off for the judgeship. In 2012, Morel defeated Marcel by just 168 votes.
Analysis of the data by the Herald-Guide shows Morel raised almost twice as much cash from outside of St. Charles Parish as she has from within in 2014. Marcel has raised slightly more from out-of-parish donors than from donors within the parish.
A large chunk of Morel’s cash came from fundraisers that generated $38,400. She also took out a $40,000 loan.
Morel’s most prolific donors this year have been John and Pamela Fitzgerald of Houma, who combined to give $5,000. A company out of Amelia named Fitzgerald Inspection Inc. gave an additional $500. The Plumbers and Steamfitters local 60 in Metairie gave Morel $1,500, while both St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre and AFL-CIO of Greater New Orleans donated money to Morel’s campaign.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of Morel’s fundraising efforts has been consulting firm Buisson Creative Strategies, a company out of Metairie which advertises “vast experience in shaping public opinion.” Of the more than $12,000 dollars spent with the company through July, August and September of 2014, over a third of that was used for “opposition research.”
Marcel received two of his highest donations this year, the legal maximum of $2,500 for a district race, from companies named Bayou Fleet and Bayou Fleet Partnership for a combined total of $5,000. However, Bayou Fleet Partnership later received a $1,000 payment from the Marcel campaign labeled “repayment of excess contribution.”
James E. Cloutier, of Thibodaux, was Marcel’s only other $2,500 donor in 2014. St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne and his wife, Alice, donated $1,000 to Marcel’s campaign.
Meanwhile, the only clear strategy spending from Marcel has come from a $5,000 charge hiring Wilma Wheaton as a campaign consultant. A company called Pailet, Meunier and LeBlanc LLP, however, has billed Marcel more than $6,800 for their services, but those are largely categorized as accounting.
Printers seemed to have been the next biggest beneficiaries of the judicial candidates’ campaign coffers. Fast Signs of St. Charles has received thousands of dollars from Marcel’s campaign, including more than $3,300 for bumper magnets and stickers.
Morel’s campaign, meanwhile, spent roughly $6,000 on custom-printed t-shirts throughout the summer and into fall from Boutte company All Custom Graphics.
The two candidates are in the final stretch of a hotly-contested Nov. 4 judicial election.
View Marcel’s campaign finance reports by clicking these three links:
View Morel’s campaign finance reports by clicking these two links:
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