[StBernard] St. Bernard resident launches petition to recall parish President Dave Peralta

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard resident launches petition to recall parish President Dave
Peralta

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on October 15, 2014 at 5:02 PM, updated October 15, 2014 at 5:25 PM

A recall petition against St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta
officially began collecting signatures Wednesday (Oct. 15) after its
24-year-old filer, Christian Serigne, of Meraux, delivered the paperwork to
the Secretary of State's Office in Baton Rouge.

That means the 180-day clock has started rolling, with Serigne having until
April 13 to collect about 8,500 signatures needed to force a recall
election.

In explaining his reasons to launch a recall effort, Serigne cited Peralta
facing felony charges for sexual battery and stalking of Peralta's now
ex-wife. 

"I don't think he can't handle all his problems and still do all that he
needs to for the parish," Serigne said.  

Peralta said Wednesday that he was not aware that the petition had been
filed, but that he was not worried about the recall effort. He reiterated he
would not resign and that he intends to run for re-election in the fall of
2015.

"I am at work every day and I continue to get my job done," Peralta said.  

He was indicted on April 23 on the charge of sexual battery of Sharon
Schaefer, related to her accusation that he raped her Oct. 27. Peralta has
said the bondage sex with his wife was consensual and has denied sending her
harassing emails after she bought forward the accusations.

A hearing on a possible revocation of his bond in the sexual battery case
had been set for Wednesday but was postponed until Oct. 29. An arraignment
in the stalking case is set for Nov. 10.

Serigne, a University of New Orleans student, first announced his intention
to launch a recall petition at the last Parish Council meeting. At that same
Oct. 7 meeting, the council introduced ordinances that would take control of
employee hires and salaries away from the embattled parish president.

The council is expected to vote on officially passing those ordinances at
its meeting Tuesday (Oct. 21).

Serigne admitted that getting the necessary signatures is a mammoth task and
that he is "worried about getting it done on time.

"But it is kind of a statement too. If you can't do your job as a public
official, and you are getting paid by the tax payers to do a job, then
people are going to ask you to step down."

Peralta disagreed. "I have attorneys who are handling the legal issues and
so I don't have to handle that, that is what I have attorneys for," said
Peralta. He said he pays private attorneys in his criminal cases out of his
own pocket, and not with parish funds.

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

Peralta has faced two unsuccessful recall petitions, both by Peter Rupp, in
2012 and earlier this year. 

Serigne said he considered Rupp to be vice-chairman of his recall petition,
but Rupp was not qualified because his latest petition attempt still is
technically active.

Instead, Serigne ended up having a friend - Sean Martin, of Violet - sign on
as his No. 2.

While Rupp said that he got "about half of the needed signatures" in 2012,
he never started collecting signatures in 2014 because they could not get
the necessary funding together to send out mailers.

Rupp's 2014 recall officially petition expires Nov. 8. 

Serigne needs to receive signatures from one-third of the parish's
registered, active voters within the next six months for a recall election
to be held.

Secretary of State's Office records show 25,503 registered voters in St.
Bernard. So, Rupp would need signatures from 8,501 parish voters. Then,
those signatures would have to be validated by the parish registrar of
voters.

In terms of how he might accomplish the task, Serigne said he has started a
Facebook page for the recall effort and plans to create a Twitter account.

"I mean, I'm 24, so I'm always on the Internet," he said.