Was This PAC Built to Raise Money for Their Officers While They Try to Defund the Library?

We were just notified that a Political Action Committee was formed in Louisiana to defund a parish library. The PAC is run by Michael Lunsford and Chris Comeaux who are named as officers. The PAC raised over $21,000 to defeat the library’s tax renewal measure on the ballot.

But it gets worse than that… The PAC gave over $17,000 of that money to a television Network called Brave New Television. This is Comeaux’s own Television Network! The Network is registered as active with the Secretary of State but it’s not in good standing for failing to file a report for nearly two years. That means that Chris is somehow unable to take the time to file reports to the state, but does have the time to pay himself handsomely from the PAC that he is an officer of. You can read more about that here.

This is what libraries are up against in the United States. That’s why we’re asking you to join us at action.everylibrary.org and let our representatives know that Americans love their libraries.

This isn’t even the first time that these two have tried to make money for themselves by trying to take library services away from the community. The group has ties to Policies for Louisiana’s Future, a PAC that paid for mailers opposing a tax re-dedication in 2017. Comeaux is listed by the secretary of state’s office as an officer in the group. Campaign finance reports from November 2017 show Policies for Louisiana’s Future paid Comeaux’s Brave New Television $9,000 for mailers, digital media purchases and digital media production opposing the re-dedication.

It sounds like these two are simply trying to use the library tax measure as a way to make themselves a little money. It’s possible that they are simply preying on a community by falsely fighting against tax funded services in order to turn a profit for themselves. Of course, after they take the library away from the community they’ll walk away a little richer while the parish suffers.