[StBernard] In St. Bernard Parish sheriff race, Jimmy Pohlmann and Wayne Landry in runoff

[Westley Annis]

In St. Bernard Parish sheriff race, Jimmy Pohlmann and Wayne Landry in
runoff

Published: Saturday, October 22, 2011, 10:21 PM     Updated: Saturday,
October 22, 2011, 10:43 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

Chief St. Bernard Parish Deputy James "Jimmy" Pohlmann rose to the top of a
heated four-person fight to succeed Sheriff Jack Stephens but fell short of
winning outright and will face St. Bernard Parish Councilman Wayne Landry in
the Nov. 19 runoff. Pohlmann, a Democrat from Meraux, received 45 percent of
the vote and Landry, a Democrat from St. Bernard, slid in second with 30
percent. Candidates in the primary need one vote more than 50 percent to win
outright.

Chad Clark, head of the Sheriff's Office special investigations division,
came in third with 18 percent, and former FBI intelligence analyst Barry
Bernadas trailed the pack with 7 percent. With the three top-financed
candidates together raising about $1 million, Bernadas ran the thriftiest
campaign with less than $10,000.

Stephens, 62, the longest-serving current sheriff in Louisiana, did not run
for re-election. He has held the post since 1985.

Both Pohlmann and Landry, a wealthy businessman who has served parishwide in
his at-large council post the past three years, were the butt of attack ads
during the brutal campaign, with Landry financing a barrage of television
commercials against Pohlmann, accusing him of helping to kidnap a member of
the parish's wealthy Meraux family in 2002 and thereby aiding Stephens and
others in usurping a piece of the Meraux fortune.

Pohlmann, currently the Sheriff's Office's top-ranking nonelected official
who runs its day-to-day operations, says the Meraux heiress came back with
him and others from a trip to Chicago of her own free will.

Landry found himself the subject of a YouTube video that caught him
aggressively kissing a blond woman -- not his wife -- at a Bourbon Street
bar a few months ago. The clip quickly amassed more than 20,000 views.

The other candidates denied posting that video.

Landry, 52, who has no law enforcement experience except some criminal
justice classes in college, touts his administrative ability and his track
record turning around struggling businesses in metro New Orleans. Pohlmann
points to the parish's low felony crime rate under his tenure.

With career law enforcement officers Clark and Bernadas out of the race,
many believe their law-enforcement base will throw themselves behind
Pohlmann. Landry, though, has said he and Clark have a strong base in
eastern St. Bernard and that, with Clark out, he would reap a much larger
chunk of that vote.

C 2011 NOLA.com. All rights reserved.