Louisianans might be surprised to learn there is real, big money being spent by the far left to defeat Amendment 2 and other constitutional amendments this Saturday.

Reports are coming in from around the state of big money being spent to defeat these conservative amendments.

• Facebook ads being run by all kinds of liberal groups from the Vera Institute of Justice, Louisiana Voters for Constitutional Integrity, the Louisiana Budget Project, and the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.
• Robo call attacks being delivered in North Louisiana.
• Multiple text messages falsely claiming education will be harmed with Amendment 2 being received all over the state.
• Direct mail in multiple Parishes making false, liberal claims against the Constitutional Amendments, including mail received in the NOLA suburbs.

Funding is hard to trace but there are clear signs that national liberal groups from outside Louisiana are funding these big money efforts, including contributions in the tens of thousands of dollars to at least one group from California. It mirrors efforts seen the past from Soros connected organizations. In fact, the Louisiana Budget Project – now known as “Invest in Louisiana” – has touted their direct support from Soros groups.

Worse, some of these leftist messages are specifically targeting conservatives with false information that Amendment 2 will harm churches or even the Boy Scouts or Veterans services. As Rep. Julie Emerson, who helped to author the bill creating the amendment, noted, this is not what’s happening at all…

In drafting House Bill 7 (Amendment 2), the aim was to declutter and strengthen Louisiana’s State Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is short, concise, to the point. It serves as a framework and a guiding document that has made our country great for almost 250 years. There are no tax exemption protections for churches or nonprofits in the U.S. Constitution, yet they have always enjoyed those exemptions because lawmakers certainly understand and value their roles. The Louisiana Constitution, on the other hand, is the second longest state constitution in the country, and it’s loaded with items that should instead be in our tax code.

As it was making its way through the process, we were contacted by a few leaders of church organizations about concerns of placing those property tax exemptions in the tax code instead of the Constitution. I agreed that religious freedoms enjoyed special status and added specific language to the Constitution that I believe protects our churches and moved the language for all other nonprofits to the tax code, requiring a supermajority vote in both chambers of the legislature to change the statute (HB11, now Act 12) plus governor’s signature – and everyone, included church leaders who contacted us, seemed pleased.

There are warning signs their deceptive attacks might be working.

WVLA-TV in Baton Rouge reports, “Democrats outpace Republicans in early voting ahead of March 29 election.” So far, 30,000 more Democrats than Republicans have voted on these constitutional amendments. She quotes political analyst John Couvillon saying, “not even during John Bel Edwards 2019 reelection, when I was seeing strong Democratic numbers, have I seen numbers as strong as they are today.”

The Hayride reported yesterday on left-wing money being dumped into the Lake Charles mayoral race, in an effort to take down Republican mayor Nic Hunter.

This is a huge warning sign for Louisiana conservatives that leaders and activists need to get their own supporters out to vote on Saturday.

Many reports from around the country, including in former Congressman and now national security advisor Michael Waltz’s old Congressional district, where a special election is being held, are showing major Democrat and left-wing turnout in special elections. This is not surprising as they seem to be activated by the strong moves by President Trump.

It remains to be seen if local conservative and Republican leaders from around Louisiana are able to rally their local people to come out to vote on Saturday.