For quite some time, our attention has been drawn to a noteworthy development within the Acadiana area’s political sphere. Lately, we’ve begun to take note of the rise in spurious political messages being disseminated during recent electoral races. At last, we are witnessing some much-needed law enforcement actions against these illicit acts. Eddie Lau, a local figure recognized for managing several political campaigns, was apprehended today for distributing false political content, as stipulated under LARS 18:1463 C.(1). We suspect this may be related to the misleading text messages we have been reporting on since late 2024.
Most notably, two particular campaigns saw themselves targeted with these deceptive text messages – Youngsville’s Chief of Police race and the Iberia Parish Assessor’s Office race. In the Youngsville Chief of Police campaign, a text message was circulated on October 19, 2024, falsely linked to a candidate, Cody Louviere. This message provided false information about Louviere, switching his party affiliation, and included images flaunting fraudulent voter registration and party change documents. Astonishingly, this information was alleged to have been ‘paid for by the Louisiana Republican Citizens Group’, a group that, unsurprisingly, is unregistered in Louisiana.
As we delved deeper, it came to light that the public records requested by parish Registrar of Voters Offices helped us discern who had requested those records during the race for Youngsville Chief of Police. It was unsurprising to uncover that the only petition sought was for the records of Interim Chief of Police Cody Louviere. Signed by J.P. Broussard, another candidate for Youngsville Chief of Police, and several other known Broussard supporters, the petition demonstrated observable collusion.
Interestingly, a suspicious message was sent on November 4, 2024, related to an Iberia Parish Assessor’s race candidate, Ashlie Spiker. Contents of the message, also falsely attributed to the ‘Democrat State Committee of LA’, urged unity among voters. However, once again, there is no such existing group within the state of Louisiana. A transparent attempt, it seems, to try and influence the outcome through fallacious means.
Just a day prior to Spiker’s misleading message, one targeted Brach Myers. This message, infamously known as the ‘Bingo message’, featured the Representative inviting people to an event at the Downtown Convention Center, was reportedly paid for by a fictitious group named ‘Acadiana Progressive Community Outreach’. Unsurprisingly, this was yet another scheme aimed at exploiting the democratic process.
A few months following this, Senate District 23 found itself in the crosshairs of a similar misinformation campaign. Jesse Regan and Brach Myers’ race was beleaguered with misleading, false, and fake messages, the majority of which were blatantly untrue. Jesse Regan, despite the barrage of falsities aimed at his campaign, refrained from outrightly denouncing these messages. Towards the end of his campaign, however, he would attest that he played no role in circulating the erroneous statements.
Further evaluation revealed intriguing overlaps within the three separate races. All three featured the use of the same text message vendor, Pendragon Consulting. Notably, David Groner, J.P. Broussard, and Jesse Regan, all made payments to the Pennsylvania-based firm. Moreover, Groner and Regan went so far as to hire the same political consultant, an agency named Parish Strategies Group, representing a concerning trend within these races.
This troubling narrative took another turn when the campaign finance report revealed that both Broussard and Regan had organization ties with Eddie Lau. Lau is also known to be associated with Fujino Capital, LLC, and Packet Red, LLC. These two entities made in-kind contributions towards Jesse Regan’s campaign, further binding these players in this misleading dance.
Upon discovery of this misconduct, we promptly reported to law enforcement. On February 6, 2025, a police report was filed with the Youngsville Police Department. The initial reluctance of the law enforcement staff to take the report, stating it wasn’t within their jurisdiction, raised further questions about the seriousness of the situation.
Eventually, with persistent insistence that they had the jurisdictional authority, the Youngsville Police Department accepted the complaint. Even so, they couldn’t comprehend what about the case was falsified. Their remarks reflected an alarming indifference and lack of understanding about the gravity of the issue, leading to our skepticism over their ability and expertise to handle such matters.
Upon requesting public records, we were informed the case was ‘ACTIVE,’ awaiting further review from the District Attorney’s Office. The lack of follow-up and seriousness from the police, coupled with the revelation of the case’s status, suggested a reliable justice system wasn’t as prioritized as one would hope in such crucial matters.
Brach Myers, searching for justice, filed another complaint, this time with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. The consequence of that agency’s investigation resulted in the arrest of Chun Ping ‘Eddie’ Lau on March 13, 2025, an apt reminder of the outcomes resulting from tampering with the democratic process.
Following his arrest, Lau was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center with charges of transmitting or distributing false political material under LARS 18:1463 C.(1). The implications of Lau’s arrest send a strong message that the sanctity of a democratic process is not to be infringed, hinting at a hope for justice among those who were wronged.
The tale of Eddie Lau serves as an unsettling reminder of the potential corruption within the political process. As the wheels of justice turn slowly, such incidents underline that the tainted misuse of political messaging can manipulate the democratic process, distort perceptions, and breed mistrust among those who should have faith in a fair and free process.