Hopefuls eye state Senate

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 29, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The election to replace out-going state Sen. Bill Cassidy won’t be held until spring but already decisions are being made by potential candidates.

Business executive/evangelical writer Lee Domingue and lawyer/certified public accountant Scott Love said Friday they are definitely running.

Commercial Realtor James M. Riley has a Web site saying he is running.

State Reps. Hunter Greene and Erich Ponti, both Baton Rouge Republicans, said they are not.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Steve Carter, another Baton Rouge Republican, said he is still considering a run for the soon-to-be vacant state Senate seat.

Also eyeing bids are former congressional candidate Laurinda Calongne, and Shaw Group Executive Vice President Gary Graphia.

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne recommends candidate sign-up in mid-January to allow a special election to be held March 7 and a runoff, if needed, on April 4. That would allow a new state senator to be seated in time for the start of the 2009 Legislature, he said.
Senate President Joel Chaisson III, D-Destrehan, will decide the election dates.

Cassidy, a Republican, won election to the Baton Rouge-based 6th U.S. Congressional District seat on Nov. 4. He said he would resign his state Senate seat in January prior to being seated in Congress.

Cassidy’s District 16 seat covers southeast Baton Rouge from around the LSU lakes to past the Country Club of Louisiana.
Domingue’s campaign is the furthest along.

Domingue said he is raising campaign funds, preparing to open a campaign headquarters and hired Lenny Alcivar as his campaign manager. Alcivar was a key aide in Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy’s failed U.S. Senate campaign this fall.

“This is something I have wanted to do for a long time,” Domingue said.

Domingue contributed $100,000 to Believe in Louisiana, an organization headed by Baton Rouge publisher Rolfe McCollister Jr. to push Gov. Bobby Jindal’s agenda. He also contributed to Jindal’s governor’s campaign and $10,000 to his transition organization.

McCollister’s Greater Baton Rouge Business Report named Domingue its Businessperson of the Year in 2008.