With 10 months until election, tactics by Penn called ‘deceptive’ by Jones

Former candidate refuses comment on billboards

By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – The highly-anticipated parish elections in St. John are still almost 10 months away.

But it hasn’t stopped some heated controversy from starting already.

Following an intense and very controversial political race for sheriff four years ago, it appears the same campaign is going to face St. John voters this year, after some billboards surfaced around the parish last week taking a shot at incumbent Sheriff Wayne Jones.

The billboards, located at various locations on main highways in the parish, make statements stating the need to remove Jones from the position he has held for 12 years.

The controversy in the race that Jones has won each year is again coming from local businessman Shannon Penn, who has tried to beat the sheriff in each of the last three elections. He forced a runoff in the 2004 election before losing with a final count of 56.6 percent for Jones, and 43.4 percent for Penn.

The signs now posted in the parish say they were paid for by S.A.S. Association, and although there is no registered political group in the state by that name, L’Observateur has obtained information which tie Penn directly to the signs.

Lamar Advertising Company, which put up the signs, confirmed to L’Observateur this week that the signs were paid for by S.A.S. Association, which has a phone number of 652-7854, and an address of 214 McReine Rd., LaPlace. The contact person for the company which paid for the signs is Shannon Penn, according to Lamar General Manager Lance Kern. Additionally, the phone number and address listed for S.A.S. is Shannon’s Body Shop, the company Penn operates in LaPlace.

When asked if he put the signs up, or if he was affiliated with S.A.S., Penn told L’Observateur he had &#8220no comment.”

When asked if he was planning to run for sheriff this year, he also had no comment.

However Penn did say he agreed with what the signs said.

&#8220I do think we need a change in sheriff in St. John. The area has a lot of new people, and maybe when they see the signs, it will raise their interest in who would be the right person for the job,” Penn said.

Penn also acknowledged that he had &#8220many calls saying good job” about the signs, even though he continued to decline comment about whether he was involved in putting them up.

Jones, who said he plans to run for sheriff again in the fall, believes the signs are deceptive and misleading to the pubic, regardless who would have put them up.

&#8220It’s just real deceiving to the community to do something like that,” he said. &#8220I welcome anyone to enter the race, but I would think they would have the dignity to say who they were, and to talk about the issues, not just try to run someone else down.

&#8220But I’m a big boy and I can handle it. It’s just not above board to run an election this way,” he added. &#8220I still fluffed my pillow and slept like a baby last night.”

Attorney Jeff Perilloux was contacted by the sheriff to investigate the matter and see who put the signs up, since Jones originally hoped to meet with the organization to discuss their issues.

&#8220When the sheriff called me, he wanted to find out who it was so he could just talk to the group,” Perilloux said. &#8220That’s when I also found out it was Shannon Penn. It’s just grossly misleading to the public to say that an organization has these opinions, and to say it is the people of St. John, when it is only a handful of people along with Shannon Penn who are against the sheriff.”

Perilloux contacted the Louisiana Board of Ethics, the organization that oversees elections, and feels like there may be an ethics violation with the signs as well.

&#8220The Board of Ethics has a law that says if two or more people form a group to back a candidate, and if they plan to spend money to support a candidate, then they must register with the state. But S.A.S. has not registered in any way, so I think there is the possibility of an ethics violation just to start,” Perilloux explained. &#8220It’s just very misleading for the signs to say it is a group that did this, when in fact it is a fictitious name for a three-time unsuccessful candidate. In my opinion it destroys the credibility of the candidate.”

&#8220This is just a group of Penn supporters, not ‘concerned citizens’ as the sign says,” he added.

Periolloux said he is forwarding all information from his investigation to the Board of Ethics, as well as the state Attorney General’s office, so they can decide if there is any violation that needs to be pursued. Additionally, he said, the use of Jones’ picture is probably illegal since no approval was received for it.

Kern, with the Lamar Sign Company, said his company normally does not give out information about who pays for a sign, but they have the right to reveal it if they want to, in this case since it was a political situation.

&#8220Given the circumstances, we didn’t want to put Lamar in the middle of anything. We’re just providing a service so we’re not going to get in the middle of the situation,” he said in confirming it was Penn’s organization.