[StBernard] St. Bernard sheriff's election becomes contentious

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard sheriff's election becomes contentious

wwltv.com

Posted on September 27, 2011 at 10:27 PM

Updated yesterday at 10:42 PM

Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News

CHALMETTE, La. -- Nearly 20 candidates for St. Bernard Parish Council took
the stage at Nunez Community College in Chalmette, explaining their views to
a packed auditorium.

But a number of people in the crowd came to hear from four candidates in
particular - those running for St. Bernard sheriff.

It is a heated campaign with some of the testiest exchanges involving two
candidates in particular, Chief Deputy Jimmy Pohlmann and Councilman Wayne
Landry, with Landry accusing Pohlmann of using strong-arm tactics in
dealings involving the non-profit Mereaux Foundation.

It's a charge Pohlmann denies.

"I would create a white collar that would monitor all of the public
officials in St. Bernard and that division, first order of business would be
investigating the Mereaux foundation practices and their formation," Landry
said.

"Unfortunately, Landry decided to go on a negative campaign," Pohlmann said.
"He decided his numbers are low and he can't bring himself up, and so he's
attacking trying to bring my numbers down."

Two other candidates, Barry Bernadas, formerly of the FBI, and Col. Chad
Clark say a negative campaign is exactly what they're trying to avoid.

"I'm actually congratulated on a daily basis for being clean and not
throwing mud, not only by the citizenry, but by the other candidates,"
Bernadas said. "And they appreciate the fact that I don't throw mud."

"This is something that we knew two years ago, that some of this
mud-slinging was going to start," Clark said. "We're going to be consistent.
We have a plan in place and we're executing our plan and we're not really
concerned about what those two guys are doing. We're trying to take politics
out of the sheriff's office."

Despite their differences, all of the candidates did have one thing in
common. They all mentioned the need for the sheriff's office here to tackle
what they call a serious and ongoing drug problem in St. Bernard Parish.