NEW ORLEANS — Governor Jeff Landry is facing some pushback for a post made on Instagram on Thursday, which used a stock photo of a couple with a fictitious storyline in order to push his tax plan.
The photo was posted Thursday, claiming the people in the photo are “Huey and Rose”, who make $25,500 dollars per year, work part time, and won’t pay income tax under Landry’s proposed tax bills.
Dozens of comments rolled in, admonishing the Landry Administration for not actually picturing real Louisianans in support of the bill, and not disclosing that “Huey and Rose” were made-up.
That’s when the real-life man in the photo, named Dalton Thacker, commented as well, surprised to see himself and his wife.
Thacker is a lawyer in Seattle, and tells us the photo was taken by his mother years ago and put on a stock photo site. Friends began sending him the Instagram post Friday.
Thacker says he doesn’t take great issue with the political nature of the post, but quote, “found it odd that it was trying to make it seem like we were someone other than who we are.”
He says the post has been used for marketing in several places in the past, but has never been used to characterize them as someone they are not.
The Governor’s Office tells us the photo was just meant to be an example of Landry’s tax benefits, and the data displayed is real.
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