Mike Foster Called "The Third Grader in the Governor's Mansion"

Jay Blossman Email Newsletter ^ | 07-11-03 | Crouere, Jeff, and Maginnis, John

[Theodore R.]

THE THIRD GRADER IN THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION by Jeff Crouere July 11, 2003

...The Governor is trying to inflict damage against Public Service Commissioner Jay Blossman by attacking him on this subject {of the serial killer}, but he didn't figure that the family members of one of the victims of the serial killer would come to Blossman's defense. Pam Kinamore's brother-in-law Ed White criticized Foster for an "inappropriate" and "offensive" web poll question.

Lynne Marino, Kinamore's mother, lauded Blossman for the commercial and praised his "guts." She called in to Foster's program yesterday and correctly stated, "We had money to fund the Saints,we had money to get football players for LSU. Where are our priorities?" When Foster tried to interject during her statement, Marino blasted him by responding, "Don't pacify me."

In my opinion, if Blossman's commercial has the approval of the family members of the serial killer's victims, it has my approval. If Governor Foster doesn't like it, I believe it is just one more reason that Blossman made the right move in bringing up the controversial issue.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOSTER TIRADE IS BOON FOR BLOSSMAN by John Maginnis July 15, 2003 ...It is no surprise that the DNA ad would strike a raw nerve in Foster. In this case, the governor is less an arbiter of good taste in advertising than he is an unnamed but clear target of Blossman's commercial.

In his ad and press release, Blossman states that the Legislature enacted a law in 1997 requiring that a DNA sample be taken of any person arrested for a sex offense or other violent act. But two years later, when the samplings were to start, the Legislature, with the tacit approval of the administration, suspended the law, citing budget problems.

During the time the law was suspended, accused serial killer Derrick Todd Lee was jailed twice on offenses that would have required DNA samples to be taken. Eight months after Lee was released from prison in 2001, Gina Wilson Green was murdered in her Baton Rouge home, and the killer's DNA was identified.

The commercial concludes that had state funding for DNA sampling been in place at the time of Lee's first arrest, five subsequent victims of the serial killer might be alive today. In an accompanying press release, Blossman charged that the state's spending priorities are "out of whack" when funds could be found for the "urban slush funds" but not for DNA sampling.

"Hindsight is perfect," responded the governor, "but this isn't the boy to be talking about it."

He's not the only one who is. Lynn Marino of Metairie, the mother of murder victim Pam Kinamore, called into Foster's radio show and let him have it. "We didn't have the money to fund that bill, but we had money to keep the Saints in New Orleans and to get athletes at LSU," she told him. "Your office made the final decision on funding the DNA bill."

The amazing thing about Foster's reaction is that it has caused people with no intention of voting for Jay Blossman to come to his defense. What should be more troubling to the governor is that he has increased awareness of Blossman among conservatives most likely to respond to the candidate's hard-line message--the same kind of voters who rallied to Foster in 1995...

...Foster has given Blossman's issue more than legs, he's given it wheels. The candidate could ride it far, or he could run it into the ground. There's a long way to go to election day. For now, Blossman doesn't mind being shunned by the governor and the political establishment, for that's who he's running against. And with enemies like Foster, who needs friends?

[Princeliberty]

Foster attacking someone is a sign that they
are a real conservative and an honest person
both qualities he hates.