Politics

Louisiana Race for Coroner Produces Wacked-Out Campaign Ad

By Anne Landman

The political race between two doctors duking it out for the elective office of Parish Coroner in New Orleans has resulted in arguably the weirdest political campaign ad in history. The incumbent is Dr. Frank Minyard, who is running for a tenth term after serving 36 years in the office, and the challenger is Dr. Dwight McKenna, a convicted tax evader who spent nine months in federal prison for underreporting his income by $367,000 in 1992. Dr. McKenna has launched a campaign ad against Dr. Minyard that highlights a mini-scandal that occurred in the 1990s, after Minyard was sued for allegedly removing pieces of bone and corneas from bodies and sending them to transplant centers without permission. The ad portrays Dr. Minyard as a mad, Frankenstein-style doctor in surgeon's garb, complete with a bloody hand-print on the back of his white coat. He and his assistant, Igor, hover ghoulishly over a dead body that bears a toe tag that says "DOA" on one side and "For Sale" on the other. Dr. Minyard carelessly waves around what looks like a rubbery calf's liver, and tells Igor that they need to retrieve a heart, a spleen and a liver "for tonight's sale." Igor sneers, "Ye-s-s-s, Dr. Minyard," and a deep voice-over intones, "Say NO to Dr. Minyard, and YES to Dr. McKenna."

Full post as published by PR Watch on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).