ST MARY PARISH COUNCIL WANTS ANSWERS FROM JINDAL

With some councilmen calling Gov Bobby Jindal’s rejection of nominees to the St. Mary Parish Levee District “ridiculous” and “a slap in the face”, the St. Mary Parish Council wants to meet with the governor to get some answers.

The story began when State lawmakers approved the St. Mary Parish Levee District in 2007, to work with the federal government to obtain funds for hurricane storm surge protection.
The Parish Council submitted a list of 8 names to then Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who gave her interim approval to the group, until they could be confirmed by the Senate in the next scheduled legislative session.

Since Gov. Jindal’s first session dealt with ethics only, the next session which ended this Monday, June 23, should have tackled the task. However, the Senate only confirmed two of the eight nominees and one legislative appointment at the request of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who refused to send the remaining six nominees to the Senate for final approval, St. Mary Parish Attorney Jim McClelland said.

That news came to the Parish Council this past Wednesday, June 25, in the form of a letter dated June 24, from James Quinn, the governor’s director of State Boards and Commissions. It simply stated, “The Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions would like for the parish council to submit names for the St. Mary Parish Levee District.”

Once more, the letter gave the Parish Council a deadline of three days and it asks that the Council submit names of persons who have backgrounds in engineering, accounting, legal, agriculture or business. It also indicates that while there are six nominees left for approval, the governor is apparently considering three more of the eight original nominees, while tossing out nominees from West St. Mary, Berwick and Patterson.

St. Mary Parish Councilman Charles “Chuck” Walters was the first to react to the news. He nominated former Berwick Mayor Charles Savoie, who was also former director of the Morgan City Port Commission, and former Chief Administrative Officer of St. Mary Parish.

“This is ridiculous,” Walters said. I take offense to this. I am very satisfied with the eight nominees we have chosen, particularly my nominee, Charles Savoie. If he isn’t qualified to serve on this board, well then there is not an individual in this parish who is.”

Council Chairman Steve Bierhorst was the second to speak. “This is a slap in the face to the St. Mary Parish Council. We don’t have a half-million people in this parish to choose a lot of candidates. We’ve been working two and a half years on this project to get slapped in the face. A lot of good people worked hard to do this right.”

The Senate approved the nominations of Luther “Clyde” Smith, who resides in Irish Bend, and Junius Patrick Hebert Jr., of Franklin, a retired contractor and farmer. They also approved Jindal’s nomination of engineer William H Hidalgo Sr., of Morgan City.

According to the letter from Quinn, apparently under consideration by Gov. Bobby Jindal, are the appointments of: Robert Judice, a farmer from Verdunville, Brad Matte, a salesman from Morgan City and brother of Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte, and St. Mary Parish Sheriff Chief Deputy, Stephen Clarke Sr. of Morgan City.

But “considered out” by the letter, are these appointments: Charles Savoie of Berwick, Jeff LaGrange who is chairman of the Wax Lake East Drainage District, and farmer Cleveland Provost Sr. of Sorrell.

To close the discussion during the Wednesday’s council meeting, Councilman At-large Gary Duhon of Morgan City made a motion to send Jindal a letter requesting a meeting with Parish President Paul Naquin, as well as Bierhorst and maybe one other member of the Council, to discuss the matter further.

The letter also requests that Jindal hold off making any further decisions on the board, until he meets with the St. Mary group.

Walters second the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Hearing the news, Senator Butch Gautreaux, who said he pleaded with the Governor’s office to accept the nominations, said this is a “big set-back” because the board cannot meet, as they do not have a quorum.

“There is just no communication from the governor’s office, as to what is expected, what he wants,” Gautreaux said.

“Obviously the governor feels our nominees lack professional qualifications. Well, there isn’t a plethora of engineers that exists right now who could serve on this board, and not have a conflict of interest,” Gautreaux said.

State Rep. Sam Jones said the situation “really stings, right at the onslaught of hurricane season.”

“First of all, I have to say that it’s quite obvious the governor’s staff is very inexperienced, as they certainly do not realize all of the qualities these folks bring to the levee district. I mean, Mr. Charles Savoie, who I respect tremendously, is a driving force for the Republican Party in Louisiana – infact, I think he was one of former Gov. Dave Treen’s right hand men,” Jones said.

“Then, here we are beginning Hurricane Season 2008, with some levees in this parish that have subsided over the years, and then the lack of levee protection from the Charenton Canal to Iberia Parish!” he said.

“And then, there’s the lack of flood gates on the Franklin and Hanson Canal, which caused Hurricane Rita wrath to flood 300 homes in South Franklin,” he said.

Jones also explained the lack of levee protection from the Charenton Canal to Iberia parish is what caused so much devastation during Hurricane Rita, where five to 6 feet of water flooded more than 30,000 homes from Four Corners to Delcambre.

“Now is the time for this board to be planning a strategy on how they can garner our share of more than $400 million this legislature just placed into coastal restoration, money from the state’s surplus – but they can’t meet, because they have no quorum, because the governor doesn’t like our qualified list of nominees,” Jones said.