The Livingston Parish Government Finance Department is going to have some headaches over the next two-to-three weeks.
At the Parish's Finance Committee meeting, which was held before the parish council's September 24, 2026 meeting, members learned that the parish's finance department will have to go through the exercise of changing the number of their bank account due to a security breach that was identified by their banking insitution, First Guaranty Bank (FGB).
According to Mickey McMorris, parish finance director and CFO, the parish received a call from FGB informing them that exact photocopies of parish checks had been reproduced on a political marketing piece that had been mailed the week before. Out of security and caution, the bank informed the parish that the account would be locked and they would have to establish a new one.
McMorris went on to say that he expected his office to have about a 'one week delay.'
"The bank is not going to charge us, but they're going to have to give us new checks," McMorris explained, "but it will cause a delay in service.
"It's a substantial thing to close an account and open another."
However, Deputy Finance Director Gail Housley stepped up to the podium to give a different estimate of closer to 'two-to-three weeks.'
"We have hundreds of vendors and other things (like) the sheriff's office, school board, and so forth," Housley explained, "and we will pay those vendors as soon as the checks come in."
Housley went on to explain that the parish has pushed for ACH / Direct Deposit payment methods with vendors in order to 'combat things like this,' and said that those types of payments should be operational quicker although some companies and intergovernmental payees will have to 'verify the parish's identity first.'
Housley said this doesn't just harm Livingston Parish government, but the bank as well for having to increase security measures on the account, and vendors not getting paid.
The political mailer, which was paid for by the Sherman Mack Campaign, alleges double-dipping on behalf of the Moody Law Firm. Chris Moody, head attorney at the firm, served as legal counsel for several government boards including the Livingston Parish Council. He also served as counsel in court for those governments.
Moody passed away in October of 2025.
Cascio is listed as an attorney at Moody's firm, alongside his job as an Assistant District Attorney. Cascio has served as counsel to the Livingston Parish Council since Moody's health began to decline last year.
According to testimony from McMorris, he's 'not sure how' the check images were acquired because there were no public records requests for those items, and McMorris added that his office would have redacted the senstitive check information if a public records request had occurred.
Cascio, Mack's opponent for the 21st Judicial District Attorney's office, responded first via his Facebook page:
“The mail piece sent by my campaign recently contained 100% factually correct information," Mack's statement said. "My opponent has taken thousands of dollars of taxpayer money and when confronted with it, he refuses to admit to his double dipping efforts off the working people of the 21st JDC.
"The check images on the mailer are public record and include the same information any citizen who receives a check from parish government receives. In fact, the very checks themselves are paid for with taxpayer funds.
"My opponent owes an explanation to the people of our community for why he continues to double dip public money for personal gain. In fact, my opponent has been campaigning for the last year on taxpayer time while drawing a full time salary paid for by the taxpayer.”
While check images and payment records are public record, parish finance director McMorris explained that the numbers are redacted to prevent fraud.
According to Parish President Randy Delatte, an official investigation is underway to determine how the check images were leaked.
