In Monroe, the practice of “pay-to-play” politics has become so entrenched that many elected officials seem to have forgotten that it is, in fact, illegal. Illegal Pay to Play campaign contributions are at the heart of the ongoing controversy involving the Kema Dawson campaign for re-election to the city council.
Pay-to-play is a simple, yet insidious concept: a company receives a lucrative government contract and, in return, makes substantial campaign contributions to the officials responsible for awarding that contract. It’s a quid pro quo arrangement that prioritizes the interests of corporations and politicians over those of the people they are supposed to serve.
The recent allegations against Councilwoman Kema Dawson are a case in point now, but she’s following the illegal practices of many before her who broke the law and got away with it.
Dawson is accused of receiving thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from companies that have benefited from her votes on contracts worth millions.
Some companies made their contributions days after she cast votes for them to receive multi-million dollar contracts from the city. Some of the companies are Manchu Consulting, which also gave multiple contributions to Mayor Friday Ellis’ campaign under different names, exceeding the $2,500 donation; Rep. Michael Echols, who arranged a fundraiser for Dawson that raised over $6,000 for her 2024 campaign, and a few weeks later, Dawson made the deciding vote for Echols to indirectly receive a $2.5 million TIF for a hotel downtown; Boles and Shafto, which gets the bonding work from the city, Contractor Joe Holyfield, Atakapa Services; and many more.
Dawson isn’t the only one who has broken state ethics laws in this area; hers follows a pattern of behavior that has been set by scores of local public officials, including former mayors Bob Powell, Abe Pierce, Melvin Rambin, Jamie Mayo, and now Friday Ellis. They all broke the law because it’s the way things are done in Monroe—illegally.
The state law has clear prohibitions against accepting anything of value, including campaign contributions, from those seeking to do business with the city. It is not unambiguous on this point, yet it continues to be disregarded.
Everyone has been doing it, but Dawson has received so many illegal contributions that it has become a campaign issue in her re-election. To her credit, she probably never thought she was breaking the law by receiving the donations since it has been done so routinely.
This week her father, the Rev. King Dawson, a former police juror, said in a Facebook post that officials accepting donations was a standard practice that even he followed, and he said he has the records to prove it.
“Pay to play” also implies “Pay for a contract vote,” and that is troubling.
Until we break the cycle of pay-to-play politics, we will continue to see the erosion of public trust and the degradation of our democratic institutions.
Regardless to how the Dawson campaign ends, the state Ethics Commission should crack down on this violation of state law that has become common place in Monroe.
