You’ve got to hand it to Kenner District 3 Councilman Keith
Reynaud.
In the few short years since Reynaud has turned his back on the people
who helped elect him and became Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni’s lapdog, Reynaud has
learned one of Yenni’s favorite political tactics: when in doubt, deflect and
blame a committee.
Reynaud, who was elected because he wasn’t Yenni’s candidate, and who couldn’t write a complete sentence let alone a law without
significant help, is now the City Council President and pushing Yenni’s agenda
and blaming another committee for his repeated political faux pas.
You will recall that when the tide was turning on Yenni’s
plan to double property taxes, Yenni changed course and said he wasn’t
proposing to double property taxes he was simply giving people the chance to
vote on what kind of Kenner city government they wanted.
When he didn’t get the answer that he wanted, Yenni scowled
that “there will be cuts that everyone will feel”.
We’re all still waiting with baited breath for those “real”
cuts.
Yenni did propose some meaningless cuts and personnel
shuffles. Of course,Yenni couldn’t make those cuts himself, so he formed a
hand-picked Streamlining Budget Committee, led by one of his mentors, former
assessor Lawrence Chehardy. The two have much in common including the fact that
both held political office because of their names.
At least Chehardy didn’t have to change his name to win an election.
When Chehardy’s committee proposed closing Kenner
playgrounds that serve primarily minority youths, Yenni could say, “Oh no, I
didn’t want to close any playgrounds – it was the committee”.
When Yenni didn’t get his way with his foolish tax plan, he
formed an Economic Development Committee - another committee hand-picked and
filled with his political cronies and contributors.
Then Yenii did another end run around the people of Kenner
and took on the largest debt in Kenner’s history, this time claiming that the
Economic Development Committee determined that Kenner needed several projects
to spur its growth.
Kenner had too many jobs they said. Its houses were too old.
Young people didn’t want to live in Kenner.
When questioned about the projects in his 2030 Plan, Yenni
could claim that all the projects came from the Economic Development Committee.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
But that’s Yenni’s pattern: rather than provide leadership,
accept responsibility and be held accountable for his decisions, when there is
the tiniest bit of criticism, Yenni ducks and runs for cover behind a
committee.
Now Reynaud is doing the exact same thing.
At the last city Council meeting, the Council deferred
several items related to Kenner’s Charter Review Committee - yet another
committee made up of… wait for it…Yenni’s cronies.
The Council will discuss, and most likely approve, those
items, at Thursday’s council meeting and seek to put them on the Spring ballot.
And what were these items that the Charter Review Committee
proposed? Basically the same things that Reynaud proposed last year and were
met with criticism, including a massive pay raise for Yenni, the Police Chief
and the Council.
When a citizen asked about the pay raises specifically,
Reynaud said, “They were proposed by the committee.”
Maybe the pressure of becoming Council President caused
Councilman Reynaud to forget that he proposed the pay increases last year.
At that time, regarding the pay raise issue, Reynaud told
Nola.com, "This is something that needs to be done, and I've been pushing to
have it done for the two years I've served on the council."
When the same citizen asked if the election were “a Special
Election”, rather than tell the whole truth Reynaud simply said it’s a “regularly
scheduled election”. Of course Reynaud failed to mention that nothing
in Kenner, and, possibly, Jefferson Parish, will be on the ballot except for
the charter changes that the Council is specifically putting on this ballot in
the hopes of low voter turnout.
But I guess that doesn’t qualify as a “special election”,
right?
Reynaud also failed to note the thousands of dollars that
the city of Kenner will have to pay for these items to be on the ballot,
especially if there are no JP items on the ballot.
But, despite his pledge to change “politics as usual in
Kenner”, Reynaud has jumped in the mud with both feet.
Enough about Reynaud; let’s talk about the Charter Review Committee.
So, who are some of the players on Yenni’s Charter Review
Committee? I’m glad you asked.
Chairman Mike
Power - Power is Kenner’s Interim City Attorney, appointed by Yenni and
appointed to this committee by his predecessor, Councilman-At-Large Keith
Conley. Months after his appointment to Kenner City Government, Power is still
“Interim” because he doesn’t reside in Kenner. Yet another of Yenni’s dodges
around the will of the people of Kenner.
Why, pray tell is someone who doesn’t even live in the city
of Kenner the Chairman of the Charter Review Committee? Because his only purpose
is to push through Mike Yenni’s agenda.
Vice-Chairman Tony
Ligi – Ligi, a former state legislator who quit during the middle of
his second term to become a hired gun lobbyist, was appointed by Reynaud. What
is ironic about that is the fact that Ligi vocally opposed Reynaud when Reynaud
first ran for office. Ligi has long been a supporter of Yenni and in his
position as Executive Director of the Jefferson Business Council, was a vocal
proponent of Yenni’s 2030 Plan.
Debra Yenni
– The Assistant City Attorney working under Power (and, formerly, Conley), she
was appointed by the mayor (of course).
William
Vanderbrook – A CPA who has provided campaign finance reports for
several elected officials including former KPD Chief Steve Caraway, current KPD
Chief Michael Glaser, Mike Yenni, and Councilmembers Mike Sigur, Lenny Cline
and Dominick Impastato. He was appointed by Sigur. Vanderbrook has also provided services to
Ligi and current 24th JDC Judge Michael Mentz (who threw out my suit
against Yenni’s 2030 Plan).
Debbie Villio
– An attorney and former Jefferson Parish Code Enforcement Director, Villio is
also a former Judicial candidate, Yenni’s appointee on the Code Advisory
Committee, and a Yenni campaign contributor. She was appointed to this
committee by KPD Chief Glaser.
\What’s truly interesting about this “Committee” is that
they seem to be more concerned with the public’s perception of Reynaud’s raise
proposal than they are about doing something meaningful for the people of
Kenner.
At the January 28th meeting, both Ligi and Power
raised concerns about only submitting the pay raise changes and the perception
of only offering the raises on the ballot. There was also a discussion
regarding when to put them on the ballot – the earlier the better before the
citizens of Kenner can find out what’s going on and vote it down.
One Committee member even said that if the pay raises were
on the October ballot, they would be soundly defeated.
Thus far, in addition to Reynaud’s pay raise change, after 6
meetings, the Charter Review Committee has proposed some other meaningless
housekeeping changes that are similar to the ones proposed by Reynaud last
year, without offering any substantial changes.
Except for hefty pay raises, of course, which were also
proposed by Reynaud last year.
Can a case be made that the Mayor and Police Chief of Kenner
are underpaid? Sure, particularly the Police Chief. In the same vein, a case
could be made that other Mayors are grossly overpaid.
But, life isn’t fair.
In their analysis, the Committee repeatedly referenced the
salaries of the top officials in Lake Charles, despite Yenni’s open disdain for
comparing anything in Kenner to Lake Charles.
As to the Council, there is no possible way to justify a
salary increase for them. It’s a part-time position that is paid more than what
many full-time employees in Kenner earn. According to City-Data.com, in 2009,
almost 30% of Kenner households had a total income of less than $30,000, and
that’s household income, not individual income.
In any event, should the voters of Kenner approve these
massive increases, any increase should be for the next council, Mayor and
Police Chief, not the current ones.
Hey, I have an idea: instead of tying the salary of Kenner’s
elected officials to what Judges make, why not tie them to Kenner’s population?
We could pay the Mayor $1 per Kenner resident; the Police Chief, $1.25 per; the
District Council members, $1per resident they represent; and the At-Large
Council members, $.50 per resident.
Of course, my idea would never fly because every elected official,
except the Police Chief and the At-Large Council members (who I would also
propose be disbanded in favor of 7 District Council members), would get a pay
cut.
Does Kenner need to review and amend its charter from time
to time? Absolutely. But not by another hand-picked Yenni committee of
rubber-stampers led by someone who doesn’t even live in Kenner and a guy who
quit on the people who elected him.
