News

Angelle cruises to easy PSC victory

by Walter Pierce

Former Jindal administration official Scott Angelle has won an open seat on Louisiana's utility regulatory agency, the Public Service Commission. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Former Jindal administration official Scott Angelle has won an open seat on Louisiana's utility regulatory agency, the Public Service Commission.

He took more than half the vote Tuesday over four other candidates, securing the south central Louisiana seat left vacant by retiring commissioner Jimmy Field.

Angelle, of Breaux Bridge, was Gov. Bobby Jindal's natural resources secretary. He resigned from his cabinet post to run for the PSC.

Only Angelle and state Rep. Erich Ponti, a contractor from Baton Rouge, had substantial fundraising for their campaigns. But Ponti ran third in the race behind Forest Wright, a Democrat and energy policy consultant from New Orleans.

Other candidates included Greg Gaubert, an innkeeper with no party affiliation who lives in Thibodaux, and Sarah Holliday, a Republican community activist from East Feliciana Parish.