After Hurricane Katrina, former Jefferson Parish President
Aaron Broussard gave me his cell phone number. I don’t remember why and I
really don’t think I used it until sometime in 2007 when I was hosting a radio
program on what was then WIST AM 690.
I did a couple of radio interviews with Broussard and then
tried to get him back on the radio as he campaigned for re-election. Twice
during the campaign, he agreed to come on the radio and then backed out at the
last minute.
The second time Broussard failed to appear, I had scheduled
all of the candidates running for Parish President to appear in an hour-long
debate. About 5 minutes before airtime, I received a phone call that President
Broussard was “too sick” to come on the air.
Needless to say, I didn’t ask to have Broussard on the radio
again until 2009 when the Tim Whitmer Scandal began unraveling.
Broussard’s secretary wouldn’t let me speak with him. I
called his cell phone and he answered. I said, “President Broussard. This is
Walt Bennetti,” to which he promptly hung up the phone.
I remember going on the radio in disbelief that someone like
Aaron Broussard could not have known what Tim Whitmer was doing right under his
nose (of course, that’s before we learned that Broussard was complicit too).
I said, “Either Aaron Broussard is a poor manager; he’s a
liar; or he’s an idiot. Or all three.” That line turned into a promo that the
radio station ran almost every hour.
We never spoke again and, I was ok with that.
Today, in Butner, North Carolina, a town I have never heard
of before, Aaron Broussard got a new number: Inmate 2234-034.
I’m relatively certain that, until recently, Aaron Broussard
had never heard of Butner, North Carolina, either.
Broussard reported to the Federal Correctional Complex in
Butner to begin his 46-month prison service.
The man who ran Jefferson Parish, was the Mayor of Kenner,
and held other political positions during his 30+ years in politics will now be
earning between $.12 and $1.15 per hour, depending upon what job he is given.
The man who could walk down the halls of Jefferson Parish
Government and tell his political appointees to loan him $5,000 for his
campaign, will now earn less than a common sweatshop worker.
And, no matter how you feel about him, that’s sad.
Sad for him. Sad for our parish. Just sad.
And what have we learned since Aaron Broussard resigned?
What have we done as a parish to improve our reputation and ensure that the
Aaron Broussards still out there can’t rape and pillage our parish again?
Sadly, not much.
Oh sure, there were calls for stricter ethics rules. Several
current Jefferson Parish Councilmembers even publicly patted themselves on the
back for their “tougher” ethics rules.
Yet, at every Council meeting, members of Citizens For Good
Government list the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions
received by Parish Councilmen from businesses seeking parish contracts.
Councilmen spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in other
people’s money to get elected.
And, they think we are naïve enough to believe it’s because
they actually want to serve the people and represent their constituents.
Columnist and Author Thomas Sowell said, "No
one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are
not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems —
of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever
is number three is far behind."
Jefferson Parish politicians understand this and nobody
understood it better than Aaron Broussard, now known as Inmate 2234-034.
