The Greater Shreveport Chamber, KSLA, KTAL, and KTBS have partnered to produce a series of televised forums for Mayor of Shreveport candidates in advance of the open primary election on November 3.
All seven of the mayoral candidates have been invited to participate in three forums IF they meet the participation qualifications.
The requirement of “demonstrated public support” has two parts, both based upon the campaign financial report for the period ending Sept. 24, 2026, which is due to the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program on Oct. 5:
“a. contributions from at least fifty (50) individual contributors; AND
b. aggregate contributions of at least twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
For both figures we exclude money from you, from your spouse, parent, child or sibling, all loans and in-kind contributions. This is meant to measure support raised from other people, not your personal resources or your ability to borrow.”
Hmmmm.
A candidate running a grass roots campaign may not be dunning his friends for contributions and thus may not have 50 individual contributions
Hmmmm.
A candidate running a bare bones campaign may not have QUALIFYING contributions of $25 grand.
Hmmmm.
Why is a candidate not allowed to participate in the forums simply because he/his family are self-funding his campaign.
Michael Bloomberg served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the city’s most successful mayors, he established public charter schools, rebuilt urban infrastructure, and supported gun control, public health initiatives, and environmental policies.
The Arceneaux administration has benefitted greatly from the training and assistance of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and other Bloomberg programs.
Guess what? Bloomberg self-funded his mayoral campaigns.
If the Chamber and local TV stations truly want to provide educational content for Shreveport voters on the mayor’s election, the requirements for “demonstrated public support” certainly favor a few of the candidates and penalize others. More importantly, is money the relevant basis to determine “public support.”?
Not surprisingly, Mayor Tom’s campaign finance report for period ending December 31, 2025 showed major contributions from the downtown Chamber crowd. Tammy Phelps, the only other mayoral candidate that was required to file a 2025 financial report, had very few downtown donors.