Accenting double negatives
October 28, 2015Accenting double negatives
October 28, 2015
Lafourche parish president, other races headed to run-off
Incumbent Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph, Republican, will face off with James “Jimmy” Cantrelle, No Party, in a run-off election that will decide who the next parish president will be.
Randolph and Cantrelle each received roughly 33 percent of the vote, with Cantrelle leading Randolph by 143 votes.
Cantrelle told The Times previously that this is his fourth and final time running for the office, after losing the last presidential bid to Randolph in 2011. That race went to a runoff where Randolph won by a slim 51 percent majority. Exactly 435 votes determined the outcome of the last run-off election.
Last Saturday, there were a total of 22,221 votes cast in the presidential election and only 39 percent of all of Lafourche Parish’s registered voters cast votes in that race.
Candidates who did not make the cut are current councilmen Aaron Caillouet, No Party and Joseph “Joe” Fertitta. Caillouet garnered 15 percent of the vote and Fertitta 19 percent.
In 2011, Randolph enjoyed a greater share of the votes than this go-around. In that election, she got 42 percent of the popular vote. Cantrelle received 27 percent of the vote.
Charlotte Randolph has served as Lafourche Parish president for three consecutive terms.
Compared to then, Cantrelle jumped ahead five percentage points while Randolph lost a total of nine. Up for grabs is the remaining 34 percent of the vote that Fertitta and Caillouet cumulatively received during Saturday’s election.
Cantrelle has told The Times many times previously the first thing he would do while in office would be to ask the parish council to put to the vote during the next possible election term limits for the parish president.
Cantrelle’s platform also includes reducing wasteful government spending in Lafourche Parish. He’s said before the myriad agencies in Lafourche Parish government charge too much in property taxes, making Lafourche less appealing to businesses.
Randolph has also said in previous interviews with The Times that Lafourche has property taxes that are too high and would work to reduce them if she were re-elected.
Randolph also said if she were re-elected, she would work to advance the parish’s master plan 200-plus-page document outlining a broad plan to improve Lafourche’s resiliency against flooding, improve infrastructure, economy and quality of life.
Both candidates said that drainage ditches need to be better maintained. Randolph said she has tasked administrators to create a plan to accomplish that aim.
Cantrelle also said he would work to improve the entire parish drainage system with a “vigorous” maintenance program to clear out reservoirs and ditches. He also said he intends to build safe houses for pump operators to hunker down in during hurricanes to keep essential personnel at the pumps.
The run-off will be held on Nov. 21. Early voting will begin on Nov. 7 and end on Nov. 14.
Incumbent Charlotte Randolph (at left) and Jimmy Cantrelle will face-off with one another in a run-off for parish president.
