Terrebonne candidates prepare final push for Saturday

Of the 62,480 registered voters in Terrebonne Parish, only 24,535 or 39.9 percent of eligible participants showed up at the polls for a primary vote on Oct. 22.

Candidates in five runoff races set for Saturday all hope to see a larger turnout and more ballots cast their way in tight contests that include three parish seats, one state House of Representatives post and the office of parish assessor.

While officials with the registrar of voters office declined to speculate on participation in the runoff election, political observers expect turnout could drop to between 15 and 20 percent.

A rundown of the remaining match-ups offers a mixture of political newcomers, repeat contestants, incumbents, returning office holders and candidates looking to expand their experience.

Louisiana House of Reps. District 53

In a three person primary, the remaining two contenders for one seat in the state House of Representatives are Terrebonne Parish District 3 Councilman Billy Hebert and newcomer Lenar Whitney.

At the completion of last month’s primary, Whitney came out with 40 percent of the vote. Hebert attracted 31 percent of voters. The remaining 29 percent went to Theresa Ellender. All three candidates are registered Republicans.

“I am working very hard meeting a number of people,” Hebert said regarding his final week of campaigning. “It’s very interesting. I can feel a difference between the primary and runoff. People are looking at our qualifications in public service. I have 25 years and [Whitney] has zero. Experience counts.”

Hebert admitted that he did not expect to come in second during the primary election, and said he has approached this second leg of his campaign more aggressively.

“I think I was naive to a state race,” Hebert said in describing running for the House seat in comparison to parish council. “I just thought you had to raise money locally, [and] I’ve put up my own money 50 percent to donations. But I’ve learned that you have to go beyond that to run a successful campaign.”

Hebert commented on Whitney’s activities with lobbyists in Baton Rouge and Washington, and held that having made the political rounds led to Gov. Bobby Jindal offering his endorsement to her regardless of Whitney being a political novice.

Whitney said she is confident in her campaign and the results she expects.

“We did great,” Whitney said coming into the last leg of this race. “We ran a positive campaign in the primary and we’re continuing on that same path for the runoff.”

Whitney said that her effort involves placing added yard signs in the district and said her strategy has not changed between the primary and runoff elections.

“We just did a blitz on the sign campaign and that has been wonderful,” Whitney said. “The people of District 53 are just fabulous people. I really enjoy the meet and greet of the campaign and reacquainting myself with family members throughout the district.”

Terrebonne Parish District 5

In the first of three runoff races for the Terrebonne Parish council, incumbent Johnny Pizzolatto is being challenged by former Councilwoman Christa Duplantis.

During the primary election, Pizzolatto led the race of three candidates, finishing with 39 percent of the votes cast. Duplantis finished the first round with 35 percent of the ballots. The eliminated candidate was Chris Domangue, who gathered 23 percent of the votes.

As an incumbent Republican, Pizzolatto said that he had to put on a full press during the runoff race and has been using examples of his record to show his willingness to vote along the line of his constituents when representing them.

“We are out talking to people that supported Chris Domangue,” Pizzolatto said of the change to his campaign strategy. “I’m getting a real good response from everybody and pretty confident it will come out in my favor.”

Pizzolatto said that he has noticed during this campaign a larger number of younger voters than were obvious during his first bid for the council seat. “These people have come of age and are very interested in what is going on,” he said. “That makes it where I’ve got to go out and meet a lot of different people, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Duplantis, with no party affiliation, makes a point of noting her experience in having represented both Districts 4 and 5 because of realignment during her time in office.

“There is very good energy out there,” Duplantis said. “I’m feeling that people want me to come back.”

Areas of concern vary depending on areas of District 5, according to Duplantis. “The approach is the issues affecting the different areas where I go. When it is the east side [of Houma], right now, it is that green space under that twin span. They want that completed and it should have been done four years ago. Grand Caillou and Main is a congested area. Some areas it is drainage and some it is roads. That smell from the treatment plant off St. Louis Canal Road is an issue.”

Both Duplantis and Pizzolatto are reminding constituents what they individually have accomplished in the area. Each also said they learned that mailouts and telephone calls are not as helpful as meeting voters face-to-face.

Terrebonne Parish District 7

District 7 Councilman Clayton Voisin termed out of office and left this seat open to new representation. Following a primary election that included five contestants the runoff race has come down to Republican political newcomers Danny Babin and Tim Fanguy. Babin completed the primary election with 47 percent of the vote while Fanguy’s second place yielded him 26 percent of the ballots cast.

Fanguy said he has been urging lower Terrebonne voters to make it to the polls.

“People really don’t like planning and zoning and regulating in the parish,” Fanguy said. “That’s why I tell people to go to out and vote. We don’t have representation down the bayou because nobody that votes cares about our community.”

Fanguy expressed frustration as to the free dealing of illegal narcotics while legitimate businesses get bogged down in governmental red tape before being able to open shop. “We have to have it free to do businesses and open development,” he said.

As a political newcomer, Fanguy said he has learned that there are caring people in the community. “But people don’t believe in the government because of the government machine,” he said. “It’s hard. That’s not how it is suppose to be. Everybody is supposed to fight for the betterment of society, not just a certain interest.”

“We are just getting out there and thanking the people that voted for me and go from there [to the runoff,]” Babin said of his final week of campaigning.

Babin said that going through the election process has taught him about how much work is involved in getting elected.

“The problems are all still the same,” Babin said. “You have drainage problems. You have road problems. You have flooding and hurricane problems. You have coastal erosion. The problems don’t change, just the severity of them. We just need to do a better job of taking care of the entire parish and I think I can help do that.”

Regarding a lack of voter participation, Babin said his campaign has been reminding residents that voting is a privilege. “Don’t let just a few people dictate to the majority,” he said.

Terrebonne Parish District 8

In an unexpected turn of events, a primary race for the Terrebonne Parish District 8 seat saw the sound elimination of incumbent Councilman Joey Cehan to runoff election contenders Democrat Dirk Guidry and former Councilman Pete Rhodes, who has not party affiliation.

“It’s doing pretty good,” Rhodes said of his final campaign week. “I’m knocking on doors and talking to people.

Rhodes said that going through the election process this time as well as previously is muddied by dirty politics. “I guess that is every election,” he said.

“I’m getting positive feedback,” Guidry said of his campaign. “I think people are looking for different faces in government. One of the biggest problems is getting people out to vote. [Saturday] happens to be the first day of deer season in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. So that makes it kind of hard to get people out to vote.”

Rhodes and Guidry agreed on the importance of being honest and upfront with voters when running a campaign.

Terrebonne Parish Assessor

The race for Terrebonne Parish Assessor took an unexpected shift this past Saturday with the death of incumbent office holder Gene Bonvillain.

Bonvillain, who had worked in the assessor’s office 40 years and held the top spot for 16, had announced plans to retire in June and left the office open to a new field of contenders.

Now, with the Terrebonne Parish council following protocol established by the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office, Saturday’s runoff between Harvey Chauvin and Loney Grabert might not hold much long-term promise for either candidate.

The Terrebonne Parish Council is expected to appoint Grabert, who is currently chief deputy assessor, to fill the position of parish assessor on an interim basis following Bonvillain’s death.

The unexpected appointment, while allowing for continuous top management in that office until the end of this year, could upset results from Saturday’s runoff election between Grabert and Chauvin.

“This sounds kind of crazy,” Grabert said of the legal process that will take place that could eliminate both him and Chauvin from filling the assessor role long-term, regardless of this weekend’s vote.

According to election rules, no matter who the winner might be on what will be one week to the day following the incumbent office holder’s death, a special election will be conducted with a primary election on Nov. 6, 2012. This would be followed by a corresponding runoff on Dec. 4, 2012 if necessary. Candidate registration for the special election will be open Aug. 15-17, 2012.

If appointed by the Terrebonne Parish Council, Grabert would fill a term of five weeks. This would work under conditions if a runoff election were not being held this week and a new office holder could fill the position in January 2012.

Additionally, according to state election rules, having participated in the 2011 primary and runoff election, the winner of Saturday’s vote would not be eligible to run in the special election.

“I’ve never seen this before,” Terrebonne Registrar of Voters Linda Rodrigue said. “It is all being handled [by the Secretary of State’s office] in Baton Rouge. I really have no comment in it.”

“They tell me this is the first time this has ever happened,” Grabert said of state election officials responding to the Terrebonne Parish situation. “Even if I win they have to hold a special election [in which] I would be ineligible, and if Harvey wins he cannot run in the special election.”

“They have got some stuff to work out,” Grabert said. Chauvin was not available for comment.

Runoff Election Day

Polls open for the Louisiana runoff election between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Nov. 19. Registered voters need to have photo identification with them. This could be a Louisiana driver’s license, special state identification card or other generally recognized identification that includes a photo of the cardholder, that person’s name and signature.

Registered voters with no identification card may present a utility bill, payroll check or government document that includes the holder’s name and address.

Should problems arise at any polling location, the registrar of voters office in each parish will be open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Candidates in five runoff races set for Saturday all hope to see a large turnout and ballots cast their way in tight contests that include three parish seats, one state House of Representatives post and the office of parish assessor.