[StBernard] lections in St. Bernard left many scars: Stephanie Grace

[Westley Annis]

lections in St. Bernard left many scars: Stephanie Grace

Published: Thursday, December 01, 2011, 9:41 AM     Updated: Thursday,
December 01, 2011, 9:51 AM

 By Stephanie Grace, The Times-Picayune 

Here's the way modern-day political campaigns generally play out:

First the contenders go on the attack. They not only point out differences
between themselves and their opponents, but grossly exaggerate them. They
freely question their rivals' records, philosophies, ethics and character.
They do their best to paint the other guys as absolutely unacceptable.

And then, when it's all over, they act as if it never happened.

In one particularly memorable example, Mitch Landrieu and Ron Forman spent
much of the 2006 New Orleans mayoral primary tearing one another to shreds,
with Forman painting the then-lieutenant governor as a tax-addicted coddler
of criminals, and Landrieu accusing the Audubon Nature Institute CEO of
feasting at the public trough. Yet just two days after Landrieu won the
second runoff spot against incumbent Ray Nagin, Forman enthusiastically
endorsed him, and Landrieu shrugged off his vanquished opponent's harsh and
still-fresh words as well within the bounds of "political discourse."

The message was clear: Even if voters remembered some of those negative ads,
the candidates quickly forgot because they didn't mean any of it in the
first place.

And then there were this fall's St. Bernard Parish elections, which were so
ugly, so personal -- so, frankly, weird -- that it was easy to believe that
candidates really did mean all those horrible things they said about one
another.

The media blitz didn't just cover the usual charges of greed, cronyism and
back-room dealing -- although there was certainly plenty of that.

It also included some truly bizarre allegations, like the one about
sheriff's office Chief Deputy Jimmy Pohlmann being a kidnapper. Pohlmann's
rival, Parish Councilman Wayne Landry, accused his opponent of abducting
elderly heiress Arlene Meraux, whose mental competency had been challenged
in court, in order to help his boss Jack Stephens get control over some of
the family fortune. Pohlmann said Meraux accompanied him back from a trip to
Chicago voluntarily.

And that wasn't even the cycle's most salacious hit.

That honor belonged to an anonymous Internet video against the married
Landry, featuring surveillance footage from inside a Bourbon Street bar
where Landry canoodled late one night with his mistress, and even linking
him to the suicide of the woman's husband.

Then there was victorious parish president candidate David Peralta's spot
showing incumbent Craig Tafarro dressed as Napoleon and riding a pig. The ad
accused Tafarro of riding "high on the hog," allegedly mishandling money and
cleanup contracts after the BP oil spill. This from a man who once worked as
Tafarro's top aide -- until the outgoing parish president fired him.

These ads weren't just cookie-cutter attack spots, the type generally driven
by that staple of campaigns, opposition research. These seemed more
personal, more visceral -- more in tune with the small-town nature of St.
Bernard politics, where people know one another, know the folks who work in
parish government and the sheriff's office, and even understand the
convoluted history of the Meraux Foundation.

One result was that the elections got people talking. Other candidates
across the region may have struggled to engage voters during what was
overall a lackluster election season. But in St. Bernard this fall, all
those accusations went viral. And in an election where only 20 percent voted
statewide, about half the parish's voters turned out.

Another consequence was that the people outside St. Bernard who watched it
all play out on television were talking too-- which, the survivors of those
ugly elections now acknowledge, might be a bad thing for a parish still
struggling to attract business and residents after twin catastrophes.

Let's face it, these were not the sort of images any Chamber of Commerce
would approve.

So now that the campaign's over, Peralta, Pohlmann and new Clerk of Court
Randy Nunez, who survived his own heated race, plan to sit down and talk
about how to "rehabilitate the image that was portrayed," as Peralta put it.

As winners, of course, they have that luxury.

They also have a new self-interest: Rather than just convincing voters that
the other guy is bad, they now need to convince their constituents that they
can be trusted to govern honestly and effectively, despite what their
opponents said about them.

So who knows, parish government might actually become a vitriol-free zone.
At least until the next election rolls around.

........

Stephanie Grace can be reached at sgrace at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3383.