Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy is a prolific fundraiser. But some of his most generous donors are those who broker multimillion-dollar financing deals before the Louisiana Bond Commission he chairs.

(Photography by Don Kadair: Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy) In the campaign commercial released this summer, a high-school-age John Neely Kennedy rambles down a tree-lined dirt road in a sea green vintage Ford pickup truck. Over scenes of a young man unloading lumber and artful shots of the state capitol, the longtime state treasurer waxes poetically