[StBernard] 'Spillionaires' Powerbroker Loses Reelection Bid

[Westley Annis]

'Spillionaires' Powerbroker Loses Reelection Bid
by Kim Barker

A southeast Louisiana powerbroker at the heart of a ProPublica investigation
into "spillionaires," or people profiting from the BP oil spill clean-up,
has lost his bid for reelection.

Craig Taffaro Jr., the president of St. Bernard parish, was accused of
handing out clean-up jobs based on favoritism and of handing out no-bid
contracts to allies after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, 2010,
sending 200 million gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Taffaro was defeated in a runoff Saturday by Dave Peralta, 58, a former
chief administrative officer in St. Bernard who was fired by Taffaro in
2008. Peralta, a grant administrative officer for the St. Bernard Sheriff's
Office, had campaigned mainly as a reformer, accusing Taffaro of
over-spending and of his role in creating "spillionaires." It was a close
race: Peralta received 6,527 votes, while Taffaro got 5,943.

Taffaro, 46, a therapist and former marathon runner, did not respond to a
phone call and an email from ProPublica for this story. He has said that he
worked up to 20 hours a day during the clean-up and didn't make a single
dollar more than his salary. He also has said the spill jobs were handed out
fairly.

After the spill, Taffaro declared a state of emergency, allowing him to
award contracts without competitive bidding. He picked the main parish
cleanup contractor, choosing a company that had no experience running
projects of that scale. Friends and supporters were also given major
construction and catering jobs.

Some local fishermen complained that some of the most lucrative cleanup jobs
went to political allies of Taffaro, and not to those who were most
deserving. Particularly on Delacroix Island, a narrow spit of land about 30
miles southeast of New Orleans, fishermen were upset.

Taffaro's political opponents suggested that those who worked on the spill
were later asked for donations, although parish officials denied pressuring
anyone for campaign money.

At an election fundraiser on Sept. 29, 2010, Taffaro raised $207,400, the
most ever collected by a St. Bernard politician in one night, according to
records available online. The fundraiser's host committee members-many of
whom got spill-related work-and their family members, business partners and
companies donated $47,500 of that. Other companies and people tied to the
spill cleanup gave an additional $59,300, reporting by ProPublica showed.

Much of Peralta's support came from precincts in the southeastern part of
the parish, where many fishermen live.

"I just think they realized they didn't get a fair shake during the BP
crisis," Peralta said Monday. "They were hoping for change and they voted
for change."