[StBernard] Taffaro, Stephens roll to big wins in St. Bernard Parish

[Westley Annis]

Taffaro, Stephens roll to big wins in St. Bernard Parish
Posted by St. Bernard bureau November 17, 2007 9:33PM

By Paul Rioux 
St. Bernard bureau 

St. Bernard Parish Councilman Craig Taffaro Jr. won the parish presidency
Saturday, beating Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, who was saddled with having to
defend the parish's slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina. 

In the sheriff's race, incumbent Jack Stephens held on to his post, easily
beating challenger Larry Landry.

The race for the presidency had become increasingly bitter in the final
weeks of the campaign, as Rodriguez's camp unleased a barrage of newspaper
advertisements trying to cast Taffaro as a self-serving politician who
blocked Rodriguez's recovery efforts for political purposes. 

But just as they had during the Oct. 20 primary, when Taffaro led the
five-candidate field and nearly won the office outright, voters largely
weren't buying Rodriguez's message and swept Taffaro into office with 59
percent of the vote, bringing to a halt Rodriguez's 32-year run in elected
office. "This is a win, not for me, but for you and all of St. Bernard
Parish," Taffaro told his supporters gathered in the Sicilian Room at Rocky
and Carlo's. "I am no more than an instrument in this process of rebirth."


The parish's other featured political race, for sheriff, was every bit as
nasty.


Stephens defeated Landry, an insurance salesman and former justice of the
peace, by more than 1,400 votes. That's a much more comfortable margin than
in 2003 when Landry came within 115 votes of unseating Stephens, who has
held the office since 1984. 

With both candidates in agreement that the parish is largely devoid of
violent crime, the issues of the campaign became personal. 

Landry, 54, of Chalmette, hammered away at Stephens, calling him an absent
sheriff, questioning Stephens' St. Bernard Parish residency and making note
of an expensive home the sheriff's wife had recently purchased in
Mandeville. Stephens parried with questions of his own about Landry's
performance as a justice of the peace, where he was suspended in 2001, and
Landry's 29-year-old son, Maxwell, who who was charged by federal
authorities in April with conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of
cocaine. 


Stephens, who lives in Shell Beach, worked to remind voters of St. Bernard's
relatively low crime rate, often emphasizing the murder rate in neighboring
New Orleans. He said he does not plan any major changes in the way he runs
the office. 

Saturday marked the second consecutive runoff Rodriguez had faced for the
parish president's post. Unlike the 2003 runoff, when he beat Scott Wolfe to
win his first term, Rodriguez was unable to fend off Taffaro's challenge. 

Seeking to put the best face on Saturday night's defeat, staffers at
Rodriguez's headquarters in Chalmette unfurled a banner that said, "Happy
retirement, Junior.' 

"We're having a happy retirement party," Rodriguez said. "I'm going to start
enjoying life again."

Taffaro, 42, alluded to the bitterly fought campaign in his victory speech.

"Unfortunately there were forces in this election that tried to divide the
parish again," he said. "But those forces were crushed tonight."

Taffaro, a self-employed psychotherapist from Meraux, pounded the Rodriguez
administration during the campaign about the slow pace of hurricane
recovery. Taffaro characterized the president as an absentee leader,
claiming he missed countless meetings with the council and had failed to
move forward with FEMA-approved projects worth tens of millions of dollars. 

Rodriguez, who had won eight consecutive elections dating to 1975,
complained that Taffaro and other members of the Parish Council had derailed
many of his recovery efforts by micromanaging his administration. Rodriguez
said his efforts the past two years have laid the foundation for long-term
recovery. 

Taffaro, who fell a scant 32 votes from winning the race in the primary, is
completing his second term representing the council's District D. He held
the post from 1996-2000 and won it again in 2003. In 1999 he lost the race
for an at-large council seat to Rodriguez. 

Taffaro has called for fast-tracking recovery projects for which FEMA has
obligated money, having an internal auditor to oversee parish finances and
using a computerized system to track public complaints to ensure they are
resolved.

Taffaro has 6,545 votes, of 59 percent. Rodriguez had 4,518 votes, or 41
percent.

In the sheriff's race, Stephens had 6,258 votes, or 56 percent. Landry had
4,855, or 44 percent.