St. Tammany Spending Approximately $200,000*** On Campaign Surrounding Quarter-Cent Sales Tax

St. Tammany Spending Approximately $200,000*** On Campaign Surrounding Quarter-Cent Sales Tax

St. Tammany Parish taxpayers are being asked to approve another sales tax.

But before they cast their votes, taxpayers are also footing the bill for an approximately $200,000 campaign surrounding the proposed quarter-cent sales tax.

According to information provided to The Rabbit Hole, $159,036 of that amount is associated with the contract involving political consultant Sam Caruso Jr.’s Campaign Depot, with approximately another $40,000 budgeted for additional campaign-related expenses.

That means taxpayers could be spending approximately $200,000 on consulting, materials and public outreach surrounding a proposal asking them to pay another tax.

That’s the part of this story that deserves attention.

The Rabbit Hole publicly asked Caruso a straightforward question:

How much are you being paid?

Caruso responded directly beneath the Facebook video where the question was asked, a video with the operator’s face clearly visible.

Rather than disclose the amount of the contract, Caruso responded, “Happy to speak to a human with a real name. Not engaging with false names.”

He did, however, say the “full parish budget for the campaign is 0.0022% of the funds that this proposal will raise.”

Who operates The Rabbit Hole isn’t a secret, and Caruso was commenting directly beneath a video showing exactly who was asking him the question.

So The Rabbit Hole continued looking into the money.

And while Caruso characterized the campaign budget as a tiny fraction of what the tax would ultimately generate, approximately $200,000 is still approximately $200,000 in public money.

Former Slidell City Councilman Kenny Tamborella then entered the conversation, appearing to come to Caruso’s defense rather than reinforce the call for transparency.

“Sam, thank you for all your work on this,” Tamborella wrote, adding, “This is why consultants are hired.”

Caruso responded, “thank you, Kenny.”

Some may look at that exchange and see the good old boy club coming to the rescue. Others may simply see two people who believe strongly in the tax proposal.

Either way, the question remains legitimate.

Why should taxpayers spend approximately $200,000 on a campaign surrounding a proposal asking taxpayers to approve another tax?

And what exactly are taxpayers receiving for the $159,036 associated with Campaign Depot’s contract?

Supporters and opponents of the tax alike are raising the question.

Taxpayers deserve to know exactly where that money is going before they’re asked to vote.

This also isn’t Caruso’s first rodeo. Campaign Depot has previously been paid for campaign work aimed at building voter support for both the St. Tammany Library millage and the mosquito abatement millage.