More statewide officials release campaign finance reports

The Louisiana Ethics Administration is receiving more campaign finance reports from the state’s elected officials as today’s annual deadline looms. Most of the reports cover activities from last year. For example, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne went into 2011 with roughly $146,000 in the bank; in the final month of 2010 the Baton Rouge Republican beefed up his fund-raising in preparation for the regular fall elections. He took donations up until the final days of December, including $5,000 from the New Orleans Hospitality Coalition PAC and $2,500 each from New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau President Stephen Perry and SEAPAC, a political action committee underwritten by river pilots. Dardenne was elected last year in a special election to replace Democrat Mitch Landrieu, who held the No. 2 spot in early 2010 until being elected mayor of New Orleans. Landrieu had more than $236,000 in his campaign war chest entering this year but is expected to stay on the local level. Meanwhile, Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, a Republican, raised more than $187,000 for his campaign last year and used about $125,000 to pay back personal loans he made to his campaign, largely in 2007. To keep track of this year’s reports as they become available, click here. —Jeremy Alford