The amount of money being spent in this year’s supreme court election will certainly reach new high water marks for Louisiana’s highest court. A great deal is at stake in who takes the third district seat being left vacant by retiring Justice Knoll. LABI’s PACs have endorsed Lafayette District Court Judge Marilyn Castle over 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Jimmy Genovese. As campaign contributions flow into each candidate’s coffers, and SuperPACs get loaded to fire off ad after ad, it is clear who the trial lawyers are supporting.
Since the beginning of the year, Jimmy Genovese has collected $795,309 in campaign contributions. Of that total, $716,050 has come from lawyers, their spouses, and those lawyers’ affiliated businesses. So basically over 90 percent of his money has come from lawyers. And those contributions are coming in chunks of $5,000 at a time. So far, Genovese has picked up 87 $5,000 checks in 2016.
Genovese is also receiving a financial lift from a trial lawyer funded SuperPAC, Restore Our Coast PAC, specifically formed to help him in his election efforts. The PAC has raised nearly a million dollars since July 15th.
Just a few years ago we saw a similar influx of trial lawyer money into a Supreme Court race. In 2012 we saw Justice Jeff Hughes elected in the greater Baton Rouge area. The ‘oil & gas legacy lawsuit’ plaintiff lawyers funneled nearly $700K into a SuperPAC, Citizens for Clean Water and Land PAC, to help get Hughes elected. The trial lawyer funded ads portrayed Judge Hughes as a pro-gun, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage type of guy. They simply left off one ‘Pro’, Pro-Trial Lawyer. Since being elected to the court, Justice Hughes’ decisions have consistently been pro-trial lawyer and have decimated Louisiana’s economy at every turn. The most recent Judicial Evaluation report card highlights just how bad Justice Jeff Hughes has been for Louisiana’s citizens.
Hughes is tied for second to last on the Supreme Court. The Justice who shares his abysmal score is Justice Knoll, who will be replaced by either Castle or Genovese.
Supreme Court Scorecard 2016
Guidry 85%
Clark 75%
Weimer 69%
Knoll 58%
Hughes 58%
Johnson 48%
If you look at Genovese’s record on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, you can see why they are excited to support him with so much money. When Genovese’s Judicial Evaluation came out in 2013, he scored a low 24%. Then in 2016 he failed again with a 37%. We cannot afford to have Judge Genovese elected to Louisiana’s Supreme Court.
The trial lawyers are gearing up this last week to try and capture another seat with a Genovese victory. We can’t let that happen. Please take the time to share the attached video that reveals the real truth about this year’s Supreme Court race. And take the time to send Judge Castle an online contribution.