[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta faces recall petition

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta faces recall petition
 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on November 27, 2012 at 2:20 PM, updated November 27, 2012 at 5:13 PM Print

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta is facing a recall effort launched
by Peter Rupp, whose wife Peralta fired soon after taking office. Rupp, who
lost a runoff for a St. Bernard Parish Council seat by 16 votes last year
and then unsuccessfully contested its results, began the recall effort last
week.

He would need to collect signatures from one-third of the parish's
registered, active voters within the next six months for a recall election
to be held. Rupp lists St. Bernard businessman Joseph "Anthony" Mendoza as
the vice-chairman of the petition.

Peralta took office in January.

"I think he has some personal animosity to government and the administration
in particular," Peralta said of Rupp. While Peralta said he is all for the
recall process "as it is part of the democratic process and I respect that,
I'm not going to spend any time worry about it as I can't have things like
that, personal animosity, distract me from the duties of government."

In addition to the recent petition, Rupp filed suit against the parish on
Sept. 20 alleging that a $32 monthly fire fee to support the parish fire
department should be nullified as unconstitutional and its collection
prohibited. That case still is pending.

"This has been in the planning for quite a while." -- Peter Rupp
Meg Casper, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, said the recall
petition has been properly filed.

The Secretary of State's Office records show 25,968 registered voters.
One-third, or 8,656 parish voters, would have to sign the petition by May
20, 2013. Then, the signatures would have to be validated by the parish
registrar of voters.

Rupp said in a recent text message to a reporter that the petition would
have no trouble attracting signers.

"This has been in the planning for quite a while," he wrote.

Rupp has criticized Peralta's firing of his wife and has questioned the
parish's financial shortfalls. He often blames the parish's poor financial
position and its subsequent layoffs on the Peralta administration.

Peralta and his administration in turn say the financial burdens largely are
due to decreases in sales tax revenue. Peralta did not return a call for
comment this week but previously has declined to comment on the recall
petition.

Rupp's wife, Samantha, who worked as a legal secretary, was fired because
she gave Rupp her access code to enter the government building, according to
parish Chief Administration Office Jerry Graves and conversations with
parish councilmen. Graves said she was fired "for cause, due to that
security breach."

Peralta adds that "the investigation was not initiated by my administration.
It was initiated by tow members of the Parish Council and the investigation
determined, through records, that Mr. Rupp used Ms. Rupp's passcode on
multiple occasions."

"Employees are told when they are given these codes that they cannot give
these codes to anyone for obvious reasons and Ms Rupp freely admitted that
she was wrong for giving him those codes," Peralta said.

Peralta also said that Rupp likely recently was pushed over the edge when he
was removed last month from the parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of
Life Authority Commission as Rupp had missed too many meetings to legally
remain a commissioner. Rupp had missed 50 percent of scheduled meetings for
the year.

St. Bernard Parish has not had a recall election since at least 1966, the
Secretary of State's office said.

The last attempt in St. Bernard was in 2009, when Paul Molinary and Bradley
Cantrell, angry that they thought parish government was moving too fast to
demolish homes damaged by Hurricane Katria, led a recall effort against
then-St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro. Their recall petition
fizzled.