LAPLACE — A recall petition directed at St. John the Baptist Parish District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut was withdrawn last week by one of its chief organizers.

Recall chairman Demond Lee of LaPlace wrote the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office Friday, saying he was withdrawing his recall petition.

“I am thankful for the effort that was put forth over the past four months,” he said. “I am withdrawing this petition to reorganize and maximize our efforts under different leadership. The strength of our parish comes from the beautiful people that live, work and are entertained here. I know we are at our best when all of us participate in the democratic process. I am personally resolved to fight for the right of every St. John the Baptist Parish resident to elect our District Attorney.”

The recall was filed in February with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office.

Signatures on a recall petition must be handwritten, and a petition has to be signed by 33 and 1/3 of the qualified voters where a recall election is petitioned.

According to the St. John the Baptist Parish Registrar of Voters office, there are 29,028 eligible voters in the parish, which means the petition would have needed 9,666 signatures to move to the parish’s registrar of voter’s office for certification.

Lee told L’OBSERVATEUR the effort produced about half the number of signatures needed.

Dinvaut took office this year.

A runoff election between incumbent St. John the Baptist Parish District Attorney Tom Daley and Dinvaut was originally scheduled Dec. 6 after they were the top two vote getters in the Nov. 4 primary, where Daley secured 46.26 percent of the turnout (7,029 votes), compared to Dinvaut’s 34.31 percent (5,213 votes).

A third candidate, Geri Baloney, secured 19.44 percent (2,954 votes) of the November ballots cast.

Daley withdrew from the runoff Nov. 10 after receiving news his cancer had returned, which automatically placed Dinvaut in the district attorney seat.

Daley died Jan. 31.

Throughout the recall process, organizers suggested St. John voters were never given a fair election, suggesting Daley should not have participated in the process.

Dinvaut characterized the recall effort as a failure.

“You either have the signatures or you don’t,” she said Tuesday morning. “You either succeed or it failed. It was just a courtesy letter that was sent. The recall effort was not abandoned it actually failed.”

Dinvaut said she respects a citizen’s right to engage in a recall of any elected official.

“However, I do not respect the hidden agenda or the devices with retaliatory motives of this recall effort,” she said.

“I do not respect the attempt to malign or disparage, first, the stellar legacy of Tom Daley and my character by accusing us of engaging in a conspiracy or participating in a quid pro quo or deal, making which everyone in this parish should know is illegal and unethical.”

“(Daley) would never do that. How dare them. How vicious. That is a blatant lie, and you can see it if you look at my campaign finance report. If you look at the effort my family and friends put into campaigning, the only thing I can say about that is people judge you by their own standards.”

Dinvaut, in her most extensive comments to date about the recall effort, said she believes the people of St. John the Baptist Parish have spoken by not engaging in the recall.

“I believe I got a vote of confidence from the people of St. John, and I’m extremely grateful,” she said.

“Throughout this recall I remained focused, and I worked diligently for the people and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.

“We did not allow the recall effort to distract us from some of the things we were trying to do in the office. I would like to say that I am extremely grateful to family and friends and supporters for their prayers throughout this process.”

— Staff members Raquel Derganz Baker and Stephen Hemelt contributed to this report.