By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – The race for St. John district attorney was a first-class, clean campaign on the part of both parties, and new District Attorney Tom Daley wanted to thank his opponent for that.

“The only way you have a campaign as clean as we had it, is for both candidates to decide to do that,” he said. “When one starts throwing mud, then the other one usually has to respond.”

Daley defeated Kerry Brown on Saturday in the race for district attorney of the 40th Judicial District Court, with Daley garnering 56 percent of the votes to win.

“I want to thank Kerry Brown for the election being the way it turned out,” Daley said. “From the time we both began shaking hands, we decided to act like two Christian gentlemen, and that’s what we did. I think it was a positive thing for the parish.”

Daley will take over as district attorney on January 1, 2009, after John Crum resigns the position he has held for 24 years.

Daley entered the race as the heavy favorite since he had 24 years of public service in the judicial system, and it was Brown’s first attempt at public office. But he ended up having a stronger fight from Brown than some experts expected.

“I was surprised to see how close it ended up being,” Daley admitted. “But I think that is a credit to the fact that Kerry ran a very smart campaign, and got his message out.

“But in the end I think my experience was the reason I won,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of experiences with people over my 24 years, and apparently I left a good enough impression on them that they voted for me.”

Incredibly, Daley has won election three previous times, but never had to actually run a race.

He won his first seat as a district judge with no opposition, then ran twice for Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge, and never had any opponent in those races either.

“That is pretty unusual to never have had any opposition,” Daley said. “And this campaign was really different than any normal campaign since we had it interrupted twice by hurricanes.

“The one thing I did learn is that it sure takes a lot of time and effort,” he added. “I’m tired.”