Campbell re-elected to PSC
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Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish won easy re-election Saturday while the election for the regulator representing much of suburban New Orleans will require a runoff next month.
With 961 precincts reporting in the PSC’s 5th District, incumbent Campbell received 120,244 votes or 78 percent of the 154,065 counted to win his second, six-year term on the five-member panel that regulates utilities, telephones and trucking in Louisiana. The 61-year-old Democrat first won his seat on the PSC in 2003.
In District 1, with all 705 precincts reporting, former PSC Commissioner John F. Schwegmann, No Party-Metairie, appeared headed for a Nov. 4 runoff with businessman Eric Skrmetta, R-Metairie. Skrmetta narrowly held off longtime legislator Ken Odinet, R-Arabi.
Schwegmann had 61,711 of the 147,827 votes counted. Odinet polled 33,470 votes and Skrmetta had 34,206 votes in the four-candidate race to replace PSC Chairman Jay Blossman of Mandeville.
The 1st District covers much of suburban New Orleans down to the mouth of the Mississippi River but stretches along the north shores of Lakes Ponchartrain and Maurepas to include communities in Tangipahoa, Livingston and Ascension parishes.
Campbell’s challenger was Jim Crowley, a Shreveport Democrat who was a Caddo Parish police juror from 1979 to 1984.
Blossman, a lawyer from a large banking family, has held the seat since 1997, when he beat Schwegmann, the former grocery store magnate who held the commission seat for 15 years.
Blossman qualified to run for re-election in August, then abruptly dropped out after qualifying closed.
Blossman then threw his support behind Skrmetta, 49, who is a lawyer who owns a seafood-processing equipment company and had business dealings with casino companies.
Odinet represented parts of St. Bernard Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988 until term limited at the end of 2007. He had served on the powerful tax writing House Ways and Means committee. He lost a bid for state Senate in 2007.
The fourth candidate, Bruce Kincade, 56, is a lawyer with a specialty in taxes who has run unsuccessfully for Jefferson Parish president and assessor. He had 18,440 votes.
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