Early voting began yesterday in Kenner and there were
glitches at Jefferson Parish polling stations. Far be it from me to toss out
conspiracy theories but, the JP Registrar of Voters, Dennis DeMarco, is a
Democrat and a Yenni Acolyte (which means he is also a Zahn supporter). I’m
relatively certain that, if he could do anything to help Lil Ben, including
suppressing Democratic votes that might help Greg Carroll, DeMarco would.do it
in a heartbeat
It’s a good thing I’m not into the conspiracy theory game,
right?
The fact is, DeMarco should have retired (or been forced to)
years ago. But that would require him to get his snout out of the public
trough. And, we know folks like DeMarco won’t do that without a fight.
Since this is also a Presidential Election, more people will
be voting for Kenner Mayor than ever before. Many will be voting for Kenner
Mayor for the first time. While I never tell anyone who to vote for, since the
Kenner Mayoral election is particularly important, I am going to tell you who I will be voting
for.
In my opinion (and, if you’re reading this you either
appreciate my opinions or you think I’m full of crap – like Ben Zahn, who you
are most likely supporting), even with 5 candidates and the most crowded
Mayoral election in over 10 years, the choice for Kenner Mayor is clear.
After almost a year of “Acting Mayor” Mike Sigur - - - sorry
but I still can’t say that without laughing out loud; 5 years of the
professional (and now personal) disgrace that is Jefferson Parish’s Sexual
Predator-In-Chief Mike Yenni; and 4 years of Yenni as Kenner CAO (primarily to
poke Ed Muniz whenever Ed nodded off), the next Mayor of Kenner will serve for
about a year and a half before we start this process all over again.
Even though it’s just for a year and a half, your vote for
Kenner Mayor is important. Whether you support Trump or Clinton; Kennedy,
Boustany, Fleming, Campbell, Fayard. Maness or another U.S. Senatorial
candidate NOT named Duke; please consider carefully who you believe has the
most integrity (something that has been sorely lacking in Kenner politics) and
who will do the best job. I have and my choice is listed below.
If you didn’t have an opportunity to read my profiles of the
5 Mayoral candidates, here’s the “Reader’s Digest” version.
Ben Zahn –
Ben Zahn is a pathological liar who will do anything and say anything to get
elected. He has lied to the media on multiple occasions (and the media has
never called him on it), lied to the people of Kenner on multiple occasions,
and sued me twice (he lost both times) to stop me from telling the truth. He
has been planning his coronation to Mayor for years. He was reelected to the
Kenner City Council in 2010, and quit on his constituents to job hop to the JP
Council in 2011. He ran without opposition in 2015, and now wants to quit that
job (again) to job hop back to Kenner. Zahn has no experience running an entity
even remotely close to size of the City of Kenner and it’s $50 Million +
budget.
Zahn is a disciple of Aaron Broussard, and took over $50,000
from Broussard’s campaign account for “flowers”, despite Broussard being a
Democrat and Zahn being an unlicensed florist.
Zahn is a Yenni Acolyte. He supported Yenni’s plan to double
property taxes and he was a 110% Yenni voter on the Council. His top JP Council
Aide is Mike Yenni’s former Driver (I wonder how many times he drove Yenni to a
school playground so Yenni could drool over young boys or how many times he
drove Yenni for a sexual liason).
Zahn has been a close confidant of Yenni’s for over 10
years. Among the many things the two share are campaign contributors and their
campaign manager, the PuppetMaster himself, Greg Buisson.
The bottom line is, when Yenni is recalled, all of Yenni’s
political appointees in JP will be looking for a new space at the public trough
and they will readily find one in a Zahn Administration.
Zahn has been on the Kenner or JP Council for the past 10
years. Before you vote For Ben Zahn, ask yourself: what has Ben Zahn done for
Kenner?
Yeah, I don’t know either.
A vote FOR Ben
Zahn is a defacto vote FOR Mike Yenni. That’s what happens when you
spend 10 years in Mike Yenni’s filthy pocket.
Maria DeFrancesch
– As I wrote previously, I’ve tried really hard to like Maria DeFrancesch.
Sadly, she has become like a peeping Tom – she’s always there, lurking, but she
never really does anything.
Like Zahn, DeFrancesch has been on the Kenner City Council
for the past 10 years. She ran unopposed for Council-At-Large in 2014 after she
was term limited in District 4.
She was a member of Yenni’s Economic Development Committee (remember
them? They approved the largest debt in Kenner’s history for some pretty
medians and public art and didn’t recruit one business to Kenner or create one
job). She was also a member of Economic Development Committee’s subcommittee on
The Esplanade Mall, which resides in her former Council District. She has sat
back and watched The Esplanade wither while tossing out the delusional promises
of large retailers coming to Kenner right before each election.
Maria won’t try that this time because the people of Kenner
are on to her game.
DeFrancesch supported, and campaigned for, Yenni’s plan to
double property taxes (as did Zahn), but, when Yenni realized the plan would
falter, he, DeFrancesch and Zahn pivoted proclaiming that they “were just
giving the people of Kenner the opportunity to vote on the plan”.
Sadly, they didn’t give US an opportunity to vote on taking
on the largest debt in Kenner’s history, which DeFrancesch also approved.
In fact, also like Zahn, I’m hard pressed to come up with
anything Maria has done in 10 years for Kenner.
In the height of irony, DeFrancesch proclaimed that she “Was
Not Part of the Political Machine” in Kenner. Not now perhaps, since they
squeezed you for every vote they could and now have spit you out like a bad piece of food.
Before Zahn entered the race, and she was kicked off the
island, DeFrancesch was a charter member of the Yenni Cabal. In fact, I can’t
think of one time that Maria EVER voted against Yenni. Even for something
small.
Continuing the irony. DeFrancesch committed mail fraud last
week when she sent out a direct mail piece claiming that she would put an end
to “No-Bid Contracts”.
If you’ve paid attention to Kenner politics, I have long
railed against No-Bid Contracts and have spoken out against them here on this
blog, in the media and at Kenner City Council meetings. At every Council
meeting where I would discuss my disdain for No-Bid Contracts and seek for the
Council to not approve them, the chief defender of No-Bid Contracts was – wait for
it – Maria DeFrancesch.
During one such exchange at a council meeting, DeFrancesch
even held up pieces of paper claiming that State and Federal law banned Kenner
from putting out certain contracts for bid. She wasn’t aware however, that I
had the same pieces of paper that showed the Federal law didn’t apply to Cities
and the State law only applied to a limited amount of contracts.
In other words, like her promise that Kohl’s (and, later,
Belk’s) would soon be in Kenner, Maria was trying to get over on the people of
Kenner.
She’s still trying to get over on us.
DeFrancesch was endorsed by The Alliance for “Good
Government” and actually was The Alliance’s Legislator of the Year once.
The Alliance’s blessing alone is a reason to disqualify her.
Keith Reynaud –
“The People’s Choice” coming in at a projected 7% of the vote, District 3
Councilman Keith Reynaud is also running for Mayor although, since I think he’s
seen the writing on the wall, is not spending anywhere close to the amounts
spent by other candidates (with the exception of Al Morella whose largest, and
probably only, campaign expense was his qualifying fee).
I have no idea why Reynaud is running other than to feed his
massive ego.
It’s that massive ego that won’t let Reynaud quit.
Perhaps he will see the light on November 9th.
While he worked stridently to defeat Yenni’s plan to double
Kenner’s property taxes, Reynaud soon turned after he was elected to the
Council and became a loyal Yenni vote. Like DeFrancesch, Reynaud supported
Yenni’s 2030 Plan, saddling Kenner with Millions in debt.
But, at least Reynaud’s district got a new intersection and
a bike path.
Not exactly 30 pieces of silver but, when you sell your soul
(and vote) to the Devil, every man’s price is different.
Al Morella
– As I’ve mentioned in the past, I think Al Morella is a great guy. He’s
passionate. He cares about Kenner. The problem is that he’s not qualified to
run an entity as big as Kenner.
Kenner, Jefferson Parish, and everywhere else needs more
folks like Al Morella. Just not as Mayor.
Gregory Carroll
– Like DeFrancesch and Reynaud, Carroll is currently a Kenner City Councilman. Unlike
those two (and you can throw Zahn into the pool too), Carroll has consistently
stood up for what is in the best interest of Kenner and the people of District
1.
Even when we have disagreed, Councilman Carroll has listened
to opposing points of view.
Carroll fought against Yenni’s plan to double property
taxes; fought Yenni’s plan to close playgrounds; stood up to stop Yenni from
selling streets to the Levee Authority which would have limited access to
historic cemetaries; and stood up for his constituents regarding the rezoning
and return to commerce of Airport buyout property.
Carroll constantly holds community meetings when issues
arise to ensure that the people of his District are heard and that they learn
and are aware of issues and their impact.
Carroll is the only Democrat in the Mayoral race.
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The bottomline is, in the race to become Kenner’s next
Mayor, the candidate with the most integrity; the candidate that has
consistently represented and advocated for his constituents and the people of
Kenner; the candidate that is the most fiscally Conservative and not beholden
to the special interests that have dragged Kenner into the muck; and the
candidate that I believe is best positioned to lead our city forward is the
same person.
So, for the first time in my life I will be casting my vote
for a Democrat in a major election and I’m proud to say that man is Greg
Carroll.
