Endorsements Then and Now
The Alliance for Good Government endorsed a
challenger in six out of 29 races with incumbents, ramping up to the Oct. 4
primary election. Three of the six races featured candidates the influential
political organization endorsed four years ago. Four of the six Alliance candidates
will be in the Nov. 15 run-off elections.
In 1999, the Alliance endorsed the reelection
bid of Keith T. Johnson, the veteran District 1 incumbent of the state
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). This year, the Alliance
opted to support political newcomer Louella Givens' campaign to oust
Johnson. Givens now faces Johnson in the Nov. 15 run-off. Both are Democrats.
In BESE District 2, the Alliance supported
Republican Donna Contois four years ago. For the Oct. 4 primary, however,
the group urged voters to replace Contois with challenger Barbara Ferguson,
a Democrat who made the run-off with Republican Penny Dastuge. Contois
finished third in the three-woman field.
In the House District 99 race, the Alliance
voted to replace incumbent Leonard Lucas Jr. with lawyer Charmaine
Marchand. The two Democratic candidates face each other in the run-off.
In 1999, the alliance endorsed then-state Rep. Sherman Copelin, a Democrat
who was ousted by Lucas.
In the state Senate District 2 race in 1999,
the Alliance backed veteran Democratic incumbent Jon D. Johnson. The
group switched to his challenger, banker Ann Duplessis (also a Democrat),
for the 2003 primary. Johnson and Duplessis meet in the run-off.
In the state Senate District 4 race on Oct.
4, the group supported political newcomer Jim McKay over veteran incumbent
Sen. Paulette Irons, who was unopposed four years ago. Both are Democrats.
Irons easily defeated McKay and Independent Greg Kahn in the primary.
In state Senate District 8 race in 1999, the
Jefferson Parish chapter of the Alliance supported veteran Democratic incumbent
Chris Ullo. For the Oct. 4 primary, however, the alliance backed Republican
challenger Robby Evans. Ullo defeated Evans in the primary. -- Allen
Johnson Jr.
Changing of the Guard
The changing of the guard in the New Orleans
criminal justice system is underway -- one election at a time. With Criminal
Sheriff Charles Foti Jr.'s election as state attorney general on Oct.
4, coroner Frank Minyard, 73, will soon be the last of four major officials
ushered into office on a wave of reform nearly three decades ago.
Harry Connick, 76, retired as district
attorney last year. Edwin Lombard, 55, who took office as clerk of Criminal
Court, vacated his seat after his election last fall to a judgeship on the state
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Minyard last year won election to his eighth
consecutive four-year term as coroner. When Foti, 65, takes office as attorney
general on Jan. 12, Minyard will be the last of the political quartet at Tulane
and Broad.
"He can handle it," Connick chuckled, back
in town with his band to sing for U.S. Rep. David Vitter's fundraiser
at the National D-Day Museum last week.
"I always thought Charlie would have been
the last to go," Minyard says. "He was very happy there (at the sheriff's office).
He was king of the hill."
So how does it feel to be the last one left?
"Well -- it's lonely," Minyard says. "Even though we had a few disagreements
over the years, especially with the district attorney's office, we settled them
privately; it never got into the news. We're all great friends." -- Johnson
End of a Tradition?
For the first time since the 1950s, local
voters who went looking for an election guide by the League of Women Voters of
New Orleans came up empty. The League did not publish a print guide for the Oct.
4 primary election.
"This is the first major election when the
League of Women Voters did not publish an election guide," Christine Jenkins,
president of the LWVNO, says, ruefully. Jenkins cites a lack of funds and high
printing costs as the main reasons why the League did not publish and distribute
its usual 10,000-plus copies of the guide citywide. The guide can still be found
at the League's Web site (www.lwvno.org)
and that information will be updated for the Nov. 15 election. "Online publishing
does not cost us money," she says.
Jenkins also complained that a too-short primary
election schedule left the League's guide less comprehensive than she would
have hoped. "It's just too much to collect comprehensive interviews on 77 candidates
in less than 60 days so you can distribute the information two weeks before
the primary election," Jenkins says. "You don't get everybody."
While most of the 77 candidates announced
long before the close of qualifying on Aug. 21, more than 30 jumped into various
races on the last day. The volume of candidates and the late entries strained
the research staff, she says. The League, whose membership has dwindled from
600 at its peak to 200 this year, is seeking more members. For more information,
call 581-9106. -- Johnson
