What an interesting turn of events for this election. I'm sure there are a few people scratching their heads wondering what happened and some candidates may still be in a daze.
In Senate District 1, Walter Boasso has narrowly missed winning the seat outright in the primary, missing the 50% + 1 mark by 493 votes. Rough calculations show that counting absentee voting may still have him missing the magic mark by 98 votes.
Wayne Landry was a surprising second place winner and even carried Plaquemines Parish by 1075 votes over Boasso.
Wayne Mumphrey has to be scratching his head this morning. Losing handily in all four parishes. Over 11,000 votes behind Boasso and almost 4,000 votes behind Landry, Mumphrey showed a poor connection with the voting public.
Although I am disappointed that Boasso didn't win out-right, I am extremely happy that Mumphrey polled in behind Landry. Mumphrey is only about the fast buck and milking the state or whoever else he can for every last penny. Thankfully the majority of voters in Senate District 1 recognized this and voted against him.
The Sheriffs race is too close to call. Although last nights number show incumbent Jack Stephens holding on to his position with 115 votes over challenger Larry Landry, these numbers are way to close. I'm sure a manually recount will be done along with counting the absentee ballots. This race is far from over.
From the grapevine, I was told that the mood inside the courthouse was very somber while election returns were being called in. At one point, while Landry was leading in the numbers, a lot of whispering was being done behind closed doors. Once the numbers from Ycloskey were called in, giving Stephens another 3% of vote and putting him over the top, the mood changed. Obviously though, not everyone slept easy last night.
Another rumor floating around is that this will be Stephens last election. Even before the turn of events from last night, it was said that he would not seek another term after this one. Four years is a long time and anything could change. So I wouldn't bet heavily on this one.
Now, the strong polling by Landry does show that Stephens is vulnerable to attack. In four years, if Stephens does run again, hopefully we will have a better choice of candidates. As a friend of mine said, being a Justice of the Peace does not make an insurance agent qualified to be a sheriff, especially one who was suspended as a Justice of the Peace.
The other big race in St. Bernard was for Parish President. What seemed to be the conventional wisdom happened, a runoff between Junior Rodriguez and Scott Wolfe. The runoff election is only thirty days away and this campaign was already turning negative. Expect more of the same.
The question that still burns in my mind, and I'm wondering if it is just the folks I hang out with. Most people I talked with cannot stand Scott Wolfe, but when you look at the people he has supporting him, elected officials and other businessmen, you have to wonder whats going on.
Hopefully, in the next week, I'll have a chance to look at the lawsuit between Scott Wolfe and Rocky Vaccarella. I've gotten a comment from Vaccarella's attorney, but I haven't had the opportunity yet to talk to Wolfe's attorney.
Completing our round-up of the President's race, a strong round of applause should be given to newcomer Kent Diaz. An unknown entry into the race, outspent by thousands of dollars, he still managed to garner 1,689 votes. If he sets his sights a little lower for one of the District seats, he stands a good chance of being elected.
Clay Cosse', with endorsements from the Alliance for Good Government and the Times-Picayune didn't stand a chance it appears. Even if you gave him all of the votes that Diaz won, Cosse' was still almost 500 votes behind Scott Wolfe.
Councilman at Large-East will pit Lynn Dean against Joe Gallodoro in the runoff. I don't know if it is just name recognition or what it is, but Lynn Dean always seems to be able to pull things through with very little signage. Outside of his newspaper ads, I don't think I saw one sign or any other piece of literature for Dean, yet he polled 47% of the vote.
Council District A will have Mark Madary against Ryan Vallee in the run-off.
District B pits Charlie Ponstein against Judy Hoffmeister. Charlie collected 40% of the vote to Judy's 34%. This should be another close election.
Kenny Henderson won handily in District C with 80% of the vote.
Craig Taffaro could be in for a tough race in the runoff against newcomer Tiffany Ingargiola in District D. Craig pulled 40% to Tiffany's 28%, but she may be able to gain some broad appeal to those who voted for Ray Garofalo or Robbie Terminie.
Ricky Melerine maintained his seat in District E with 59% of the vote. Challenger Fred Everhardt could be a shoo-in in four years, depending upon the opposition he pulls since Melerine will not be able to run due to term limits.
This has been a fun election to watch and it should get more interesting as the runoff draws nearer. The only negative comment about the whole night was the lack of coverage for St. Bernard Parish. With luck, I may be able to remedy the situation. Stay tuned....
Be good to yourself,
Westley Annis
westley@da-parish.com
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Pub. Fall 2003
posted by Westley at 10/05/2003 10:41:13 AM
