Wednesday, March 3, 2010
District A debate at St. Dominic's turns to ACORN
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 3:54 AM
Jay Batt and Susan Guidry, the remaining candidates for the City Council District A race, met tonight for a final forum at St. Dominic in Lakeview. About 100 residents turned out to hear Guidry and Batt, who have run a particularly contentious race since the Feb. 6 primary, a race marked by racially inflammatory flyers, a fair amount of behind-the-scenes whispering, and names from Vincent Marcello to Bruno's to Scotto's Café. Neither candidate bothered with pleasantries like saying hello or shaking hands when they took the stage, and neither candidate barely looked at the other during the whole 90-minute debate.
BATT AND GUIDRY: NOT THRILLED WITH EACH OTHER.
And while neither Batt nor Guidry deviated from their well-worn positions on the campaign trail, one topic was much discussed by both candidates: ACORN, the advocacy organization for low-income families that's been so much in the news lately. Given the voting habits in Lakeview and the makeup of the crowd (solidly Caucasian), it was safe to assume both Batt and Guidry wanted an ACORN endorsement about as much as they wanted one from Ray Nagin. And yet both candidates claimed the other had ACORN's seal of approval.
During one of her trips to the podium, Guidry waved a flyer not produced by her camp, which claimed she had the endorsement of both ACORN and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which would like to unionize New Orleans restaurant workers. Guidry said that, as the Democrat in the race, she was the de facto choice for unions (and, indeed, SEIU Local 21 has endorsed her), but she denied ever getting or seeking support from ACORN. Instead, she said, it was Batt who had been endorsed by ACORN during the 2006 District A council race, a charge which Batt denied:
"I've never had the endorsement of ACORN. I've never paid them; I've never been part of them. It's not even in my vernacular. So ... it's untrue."
There's no record of Guidry being endorsed by ACORN, but not so for Batt. In the 2006 race, he was endorsed by the New Orleans chapter of ACORN. An April 7, 2006 edition of New Orleans CityBusiness mentioned it:
City Councilmember Jay Batt today was endorsed by the Police Association of New Orleans and Athe Association of Community Organizations for Action Now. The organizations cited Batt's dedication and leadership."Your commitments to the needs of law enforcement have proven that you are dedicated to improving the New Orleans Police Department. Your years serving the city will only enhance what is already in place," said David Benelli, president of the Police Association of New Orleans. "ACORN members in the Carrollton-Hollygrove communities have been working with Councilmember Batt on establishing a police substation for the area and a variety of other neighborhood concerns," said Joe Sherman, Carrollton-Hollygrove ACORN chairperson.
Batt may not remember ACORN's endorsement now, but he knew about it at the time, according to an entry on his 2006 campaign blog, which is still online:
So ... what to make of a four-year-old endorsement in a race that's four days away? Probably not much -- the fact that it was even brought up is a sign that most minds seem made up one way or another in District A -- but it's another cudgel that will no doubt be wielded in a contest that's been marked by a good deal of nastiness so far.
The runoff is March 6.
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Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
Mr. Batt needs to be very careful. Long term memory loss at his age is a serious matter. Dementia can develop slowly, but the problem is: What else has he forgotten? Forgetting about ACORN is fairly significant. When you are in politics, you do not forget who endorsed you.
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So, he clearly had the endorsement of ACORN and then stands in front of 100 people and says "I've never had the endorsement of ACORN." And it is on video. When will he retract his statement since it is completely untrue? If he made a mistake, that's understandable, but if he clings to his untrue statement then that is very, very shameful. Mr. Batt, set the record straight, please.
At this rate, he'll be jumping up and down about people recording debates just like John Georges did. A simple "I don't recall" would have been a little less damaging for Batt....maybe.
Is this something the TP will report? The facts need to be out there, even if you don't choose sides.
Why is ACORN even an issue? And as noted by the article, the obvious racial pandering by Ms. Guidry makes one want to reconsider voting for her
Brad- ACORN isn't an issue. Lying is an issue. Hypocrisy is an issue. Batt is guilty of both of these. Where do you see racial pandering by Guidry?
On the front page of the Metro Section of the Times-Picayune today, March 4, 2010, Jay Batt finally admitted he lied to all the people at the recent forum at Saint Dominic's Church. He did have, and he did boast about having, the ACORN endorsement. Then he discredits himself yet again by calling Susan Guidry "a liar," even though he does not have any facts to prove his accusation. Someone should tell Mr. Batt that "when you live in a glass house, you should not throw stones." Shame on you, Jay Batt.
Yeah Brad, I was also going to ask where you see the racial pandering. Some of the right wing's attacks on ACORN were race-based, but ACORN's now poison that nobody wants to be associated with. In the video clip Guidry answers a question about an ad that Batt apparently ran on black radio stations, but that's not racial pandering.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/03/acorn_thrust_into_spotlight_in.html Here's there article. Interestingly, they linked to Gambit's Facebook page, not the BONO Blog.
This is ridiculous. Pay attention people. Batt was very helpful to anti blight activists after losing to Midura, whose chief of staff was hostile to blight concerns, as was she. Denise Thornton , founder of the Beacon, and the queen of anti blight, supports Batt. WHY? Guidry has not been involved in any anti blight effort. Much like New Orleans suffered due to lack of leadership by Nagin, so has A during Midura's reign,and Batt is needed for the same reasons Landrieu was needed. District A suffered with the emotional and ineffective Midura, leaving A constituents to seek and get assistance from Clarkson and Fielkow. We do not need another novice, who knows nothing about Lakeview blight, and who has some troublesome endorsements. If Lakeview abandons the people who have helped in favor of a no show who is indeed endorsed by the AFL CIO (she even tweeeted it) then so be it, but call me bewildered.
