ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 2, 1999

LAPLACE – The four candidates running for St. John Parish Presidenthandled questions of fiscal responsibility, economic development and hurricane protection in a Thursday evening political forum.

Speaking to a packed house at the Belle Terre Country Club, Carl “Butch” Baloney, Mike “Coach” Maggiore, Nickie Monica and Pat McTopy all agreed the finances of the parish need serious re-tooling, and the future of the parish is dependent on getting parish government back into a business mode of operation.

The forum, moderated by Judge Thomas Daley, gave each candidate five minutes to present their platforms. The candidates were then asked fourquestions by a panel made up of St. John Parish residents and were given aminute and a half each for their reply.

Panelist and former Assistant District Attorney Carl Butler brought up the audit report done earlier this year that showed the parish is wasting money with too many bank accounts, sloppy bookkeeping and time-keeping of employees. He asked the candidate what they would do to fix thefinancial woes of the parish.

McTopy, the parish’s chief administrative assistant, said he would hire a certified public accountant to help him put the parish finances back in order. He said the CPA would be the “most important” of his newemployees. With a degree in accounting himself, McTopy stressed theparish needs a business manager, and his 17 years in parish government as an “unelected official” qualifies him for the job as president.

Hiring a CPA was also put forth by former councilman Maggiore. He saidthe president must also be held accountable for the finances of the parish.

Maggiore said the “parish is ready for a new direction.” He also emphasizedthe need for a business manager for the parish.

Garyville businessman Baloney said the two biggest planks of his platform are fiscal responsibility and economic progress. He said there is a lack ofaccountability when it comes to parish finances. Baloney said he wouldrun a full-fledged audit when elected to office and make the parish president accountable for all finances.

He too, said the parish must be run like a business, and that if he ran his funeral business like the parish ran government business he would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

District 5 Councilman Monica blamed the present administration for the financial mess because it did not follow the suggestions of the audit report. Monica said the parish could balance its books if it had a strictinventory control of parish equipment and that the parish government “learned to live within a budget.”Panelist Bob Warren asked what could be done about the diversion of the economic development fund tax to pay for other parish services.

Baloney labeled this diversion as a “slush fund” and “pork barrel” and said a real economic plan for the future of business in the parish needs to be put forth. He also said something must be done to make sure contractorsand other businesses buy from within the parish.

Maggiore said promotion is the key to economic development, and he suggested that 40 percent of the economic development fund tax go to promotion and advertising the economic benefits of doing business in St.

John Parish.He also said we must use cable access channels to promotethe parish.

With $1.5 million coming from the fund, Monica thinks that by workingwith business the parish could use the fund more wisely and be more pro- business.

McTopy said the money should be used to rebuild the economic development department and maybe give some businesses financial incentives to attract new jobs to the parish. McTopy also said bringing inclean manufacturing business and training citizens for future technology are keys to a good economic base.

Finally, local attorney Jeff Perrilloux asked about the proposed hurricane protection levee and how it would be financed.

Baloney said before we think about a protection levee, the parish’s first job must be to stop the flooding every time it rains. He would leave it upto the Corps of Engineers to decide if the parish needed a hurricane protection levee, he said.

Monica said that being a councilman, he has worked with the Corps of Engineers and the parish on the levee. He said the federal governmentwould pay for most of it. However, he warned the parish must proceedwith caution because there is a 17-foot drop between the river and Interstate 10, and to make the levee work the parish would also need to put in a sophisticated pumping system, which means more money.

Caution is also Maggiore’s response. Claiming to be the first to bring upthe idea of a hurricane protection levee, Maggiore said he knows it better than anybody but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. As tofunding, he suggested the parish go to the various levee boards in the area for the money.

McTopy said his investigation of the levee has shown that the federal government would pay the lion’s share of construction, but that even if the levee is built it will not protect the parish from a Category 5 storm.

After listening to the candidates for parish president, the audience then heard the candidates for parish assessor and for councilman-at-large Division B.

In the assessor’s race, Henry Hotard, Dale Madere and Lester Millet III all said they would work hard to keep the homestead exemption and try to attract new businesses to the parish.

In the District B councilman-at-large forum, Duaine Duffy, Ruben Keating and Joel McTopy were all very forthright about the future of development in the parish. When asked about uncontrolled development, Duffy andMcTopy said they have been working in the council to put the reins to development to make it work for the parish and not destroy it. Keatingsaid he doesn’t want to force developers to do anything that would infringe on their business plans.

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