[StBernard] Recall effort filed today against St. Bernard ParishPresident Craig Taffaro

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Wed Feb 18 14:27:30 EST 2009


John - I denounce the recall petition as well.

I too could of (and at times have) written a lengthy essay about what I
disagree with in the current council and administration and about my limited
understanding about what has transpired that is unethical and at best
questionable, but I still believe in America and still consider St Bernard
Parish part of the United States of America (even if we are brought there
kicking and screaming).

the simple enforcement of existing laws would make an immediate and
significant improvement

simply uphold the existing law

that is a reasonable request and should be met no matter who holds what
office


SJK (Suzanne Kneale)


-----Original Message-----
I am going to state my opinion on this. Not because I am opinionated -
which I am, but I'm going to state it out of fairness. By fairness I mean a
credible assessment of what I perceive to be going on and where any real
fault lies.

To give further credibility to my forthcoming comment let me say that I am
no particular big fan of Craig Taffaro's while at the same time not having
any particular grudge either. Without going into a long essay I'll just
summarize by saying I've always felt Craig placed himself on the opposite
side of the table from me. Probably because of politics and elections...who
knows for sure, even if it wasn't warranted. But one thing for sure is I
always understood he was never a supporter of mine while I was working for
whomever - whether it was Junior, Dean or Boasso. Having said that, it
might come as a surprise, especially to Craig, that I denounce the recall
petition against him.

If I understand correctly, the parish administration is proceeding based on
ordinances passed by the parish council, and prior to Craig's
administration, whereby the parish believes it is acting accordingly. Now I
realize there are breakdowns in communication and mistakes are made - like
tearing down a house that shouldn't be since the owner has permits.

In this case, let's give the administration the chance to recognize any
mistake that might have been made and make good on rectifying the situation.
Craig has made comments that he will promptly look into this and I get the
impression he is going to make good on that if it's learned the wrecking
crain was little too zealous - espically if it was at the wrong house.

Mistakes are made - even big ones, but to me recalling an elected official
means that official has either committed a crime or major ethics violations
which puts him as unfit to hold that public office. To put it another way,
when deciding whether or not to sign the recall petition you have to ask
yourself...did Craig break any laws or ethics code? Are his actions in
violation of the parish charter or state constitution? Is what he did
grounds for "impeachment?" Because when you consider signing a recall
petition, that's basically what you're asking...Did Craig do something
terrible enough that warrants his impeachment?

I feel when you look at it in this way, he's done nothing to violate his
oath of office. He's not done anything like the past governor of Illinois
has. I sincerely feel for the homeowners affected by this, but I say give
Craig the chance to fix any mistake that has been made here - and if he
doesn't then you'll have the opportunity to vote him out of office in a
couple of years...and the homeowners involved can always seek litigation
against the parish.

A very good and wise man I worked for some years back told me something I've
never forgotten. He said judge a person not by the mistake he made but by
how well he learns from the mistake he made. No, it wasn't Lynn Dean who
told me that, it was doctor at Ochsner Hospital I worked for out of college
;-) .

Before signing anything let's first see how Craig will handle this.

- John Scurich





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