[StBernard] Bad blood from heated St. Bernard runoff carrying over to transition

[Westley Annis]

Bad blood from heated St. Bernard runoff carrying over to transition

wwltv.com

Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:43 PM

Updated Friday, Dec 2 at 7:02 PM

Scott Satchfield / Eyewitness News

St. Bernard President-Elect Dave Peralta is working with a newly-formed
transition team -- getting things in order for his official move into office
next month.

"We've had several meetings," Peralta said. "We have several meetings
scheduled for next week."

Part of the transition requires cooperation with the outgoing president, he
said, especially when it comes to building his own future administration.

Peralta said he would like to have access to current department heads to
gauge their interest in continued employment with the parish.

But, he claims he's been running into road blocks with outgoing President
Craig Taffaro.

"I have, in fact, made several calls to Mr. Taffaro, none of which have been
answered," Peralta said. "I just checked, we sent three emails within the
last day and a half. None of those have been answered."

Friday, Taffaro disputed those claims.

"I've never received a phone call from Mr. Peralta. So, until he actually
sends me a phone call or sends me a message, I'm not sure what he's really
wanting of me," Taffaro said.

The disagreement comes after last month's heated runoff, in which both men
went on the attack.

Peralta won by fewer than 600 votes.

Friday, Taffaro said his staff is free to pursue opportunities, but he
doesn't want the process to impact daily business.

"I have informed all of my staff that if they have an intention of staying
on through the transition, they should reach out to (Peralta)," Taffaro
said. "If (Peralta) wants to move on and take the reins, then come in and
take the reins, but he shouldn't come in and try to disrupt the final month
of operations in parish government for some other reason."

Peralta said he's simply trying to prepare for his job ahead, which
officially begins in the second week of January.

"I have not been in the government complex. I have purposely avoided going
in there to prevent any possible disruption from government," he said.

For now, it's a case of one man's word versus the other.

But Eyewitness News Political Analyst Clancy DuBos weighed in on how he
feels the process should work.

"Typically when there's a changing of the guard, the outgoing administration
offers to be of assistance to the transition. They usually offer, not only
to lend people and resources, but sometimes they even donate office space or
they make things available," he said.

As for the apparent rift, DuBos said he's seen it before in the aftermath of
heated races.

"I'm not that surprised, but I think many of the voters are probably
disappointed because they expect this to end at some point," he said.