GOP activist says he sent Holden mailers

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 5, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A self-described Republican activist acknowledged Monday he sent out a political mailer smearing Mayor-President Kip Holden, but refused to say who paid him to do it.

Scott Wilfong said he was paid through his business, Capital Business Services, to send out the mailers that allege the mayor had an affair with a married woman and was beaten up by her husband.

“I didn’t write it, I didn’t print it and I wasn’t responsible for its content. I simply did a job for a client and sent them out,” said Wilfong, whose post office box and postal permit were on the mailings.

Holden has called for a criminal investigation by the FBI and the state Attorney General’s Office into the brochure distributed through the U.S. Postal Service last week.

Wilfong said he doesn’t think any laws were broken, noting that Holden is a public figure.

“If it’s true, it’s terrible — and if it isn’t true, it’s terrible,” Wilfong said.

In a telephone interview Monday evening, Wilfong said he would be violating the confidentiality of his client if he revealed his identity, how many mailers were sent out, or what demographics were targeted.

Earlier Monday, Metro Councilman Byron Sharper called a news conference to deny allegations that, shortly before the mailers began turning up in East Baton Rouge mailboxes last week, he had threatened to “drop a bomb” on the mayor.

“That’s not the way I fight,” Sharper said. “I’m going to take you head on.”

Sharper also flatly denied that his brother, Kurt, was handing out copies of the mailer, as Holden alleged Friday.

Sharper said he plans to ask the Metro Council to launch its own investigation of allegations in the mailer that some police officers have refused to serve as the mayor’s bodyguards because of his alleged extracurricular affairs.

Sharper said he wants the council to focus its investigation on the police officers assigned to guard Holden.

“We need to know where he’s been and what he’s been doing,” Sharper said.