10/20/2022-- 6:00 PM CDT

A legal notice has been issued to a member of the Lafayette Parish Republican executive committee, THE DEAD PELICAN has learned. The notice was sent to Denise Skinner, and concerns the management of the RPEC'S Facebook page and $35,000 in reimbursements. According to the notice, Skinner had volunteered to manage activities to promote RPEC's political views, raise money, and acquire a large electronic media following for the RPEC. The copy of the legal notice is here.

The notice raises the issue of reimbursements and reads:

Over the course of managing these projects, you reported expenses that were reimbursed to you from RPEC funds totaling more than $35,000. The RPEC can find no evidence of receipts supporting those reimbursements. The only documentation discovered are canceled checks signed by you and made payable directly to you. The RPEC has no backup data as to the exact purpose of each reimbursement that you paid directly to yourself

The notice also claims that Skinner used the RPEC Facebook page to promote private enterprises in which she and her associates enjoyed ownership. The notice claims that the "RPEC has seen no other private enterprises which were promoted on RPEC's social media platforms."

Judging by the notice, the RPEC's leadership is not pleased with Skinner using the Facebook page for self- promotion. The notice claims that the RPEC's chairman, Tim Breaux, has requested that all management and content be transferred to the Executive Board of the Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee. Skinner has rejected these requests, the notice claims. It also claims that the RPEC has record that Skinner removed the RPEC's brand and changed the headers on one or more occasions for that certain Facebook page to convert RPEC property to her personal and financial enjoyment and concealed the rightful ownership of the property.

MORE

Shortly after we recieved the legal notice, we learned that https://www.newlouisiana.org/ had been extensively reporting on the scandal. The website had some scathing comments for Denise Skinner:

Absconding with the Party’s $35,797 Facebook Page asset is bad enough. However, it probably wasn’t quite enough to get two-thirds of the Lafayette RPEC to vote to remove her. In fact, quite a few of them just wanted to move on and forget the whole thing. “It’s not worth it. Just let her have it,” they said. But then something happened.

In the days after the Louisiana Republican Party endorsed Congressman Higgins for re-election, Skinner started using the page to promote one of his opponents who just happens to rent office space from her.

The report concludes saying that "Denice Skinner is no longer a member of the Lafayette Republican Parish Executive Committee" and that "The return of the Lafayette Republican Party’s $35,797 asset will be sought in the courts."

Read the full newlouisiana.org report here.

(C) THE DEAD PELICAN 2022