slickdawg
12/19/2006, 10:23 AM
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/121406dntswblanco.2cb2c48.html
Dinner with La. governor goes for $1 at auction
09:38 PM CST on Wednesday, December 13, 2006
New York Times News Service
NEW ORLEANS -- What was meant to be a joke became an embarrassment for a bank executive and a small-town Louisiana chamber of commerce, when the executive bid $1 in a fundraising auction for dinner with Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco -- and won.
The incident happened in Monroe, a town of about 56,000 people in northern Louisiana.
Sue Edmunds, president of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, said that Malcolm Maddox, regional chairman for Capital One, offered $1 and, before anyone else had a chance to give a nod, the deal was sealed.
"The auctioneer closed the bid very rapidly," Edmunds said. "Several others wanted to bid, but they didn't have the opportunity to do so."'
Edmunds said Maddox immediately regretted his action and the next day gave the chamber a check for $1,000 for the dinner with Blanco -- and a letter of apology.
"He is also sending a letter to the governor," Edmunds said.
A receptionist in Maddox's Monroe office said he was not available for comment.
Blanco, who is up for re-election next year, has been harshly criticized for what opponents say was ineffective leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Marie Centanni, a spokeswoman in Blanco's office, said the governor had not heard about the incident until Wednesday afternoon.
Centanni said Blanco had raised tens of thousands of dollars across the state over the past three years at similar fundraisers.
"One prankster cannot take away the value of the good works done with my contributions of these dinners," Centanni quoted Blanco as saying. "And the Monroe Chamber is now $1,000 ahead for these efforts."
Edmunds said that the $1,000 Maddox ultimately paid for the dinner was the highest amount given for dinner with a Louisiana governor in the decade that the annual fundraising event has taken place. Before now, the highest winning bid had been $600, she said.
Centanni indicated Blanco was good-natured about the incident, adding the governor was "trying to track down the bidder to tell him that the blue-plate specials (at the governor's mansion) start at $5."
Dinner with La. governor goes for $1 at auction
09:38 PM CST on Wednesday, December 13, 2006
New York Times News Service
NEW ORLEANS -- What was meant to be a joke became an embarrassment for a bank executive and a small-town Louisiana chamber of commerce, when the executive bid $1 in a fundraising auction for dinner with Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco -- and won.
The incident happened in Monroe, a town of about 56,000 people in northern Louisiana.
Sue Edmunds, president of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, said that Malcolm Maddox, regional chairman for Capital One, offered $1 and, before anyone else had a chance to give a nod, the deal was sealed.
"The auctioneer closed the bid very rapidly," Edmunds said. "Several others wanted to bid, but they didn't have the opportunity to do so."'
Edmunds said Maddox immediately regretted his action and the next day gave the chamber a check for $1,000 for the dinner with Blanco -- and a letter of apology.
"He is also sending a letter to the governor," Edmunds said.
A receptionist in Maddox's Monroe office said he was not available for comment.
Blanco, who is up for re-election next year, has been harshly criticized for what opponents say was ineffective leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Marie Centanni, a spokeswoman in Blanco's office, said the governor had not heard about the incident until Wednesday afternoon.
Centanni said Blanco had raised tens of thousands of dollars across the state over the past three years at similar fundraisers.
"One prankster cannot take away the value of the good works done with my contributions of these dinners," Centanni quoted Blanco as saying. "And the Monroe Chamber is now $1,000 ahead for these efforts."
Edmunds said that the $1,000 Maddox ultimately paid for the dinner was the highest amount given for dinner with a Louisiana governor in the decade that the annual fundraising event has taken place. Before now, the highest winning bid had been $600, she said.
Centanni indicated Blanco was good-natured about the incident, adding the governor was "trying to track down the bidder to tell him that the blue-plate specials (at the governor's mansion) start at $5."