Tensions remain high in Lafourche

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An uncomfortable silence hung over the Lafourche Parish Council meeting last Tuesday night.

The room full of council members, department heads, parish employees and residents waited on the words of Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle. In return, he offered silence.


Cantrelle was being asked a series of questions from Council Chairman Corey Perrillioux regarding his administration’s barring of Lafourche Legislative Auditor Reggie Bagala from budget meetings with parish department heads. Perrillioux’s questioning was confrontational, directly asking what Cantrelle was trying from the public, and he was willing to give Cantrelle minutes to gather information for an answer. Cantrelle, who has demurred on answering other council members’ questions in past meetings, told Perrillioux and the rest of the council he was opposed to the questions on procedural terms.

“I asked over and over again to submit your questions to make sure you get the right research and get the right answers, and y’all refused to ask the questions. So I refuse to answer any questions and be part of this circus that y’all have been doing,” Cantrelle said.

Bagala further expanded on his access to the budgetary meetings in his first public report as legislative auditor for the parish, delivered at last Tuesday’s meeting. Bagala, who was hired as auditor two days after Cantrelle fired him as parish administrator, focused on the parish’s commitment to transparency, participation and accessibility in the report. Bagala said the continued denial of requests by parish administration to have him sit in on critical budgetary meetings that affect projects in each council district is a testament to its lack of transparency.


“The mere fact that this administration says they have a true and open transparent policy mindset is disingenuous at best,” Bagala said. “Obstructing open access, even if just in an observatory fashion to the legislative branch, of meetings regarding the use of public funds, capital outlay projects, and budgetary matters should not be tolerated by this Council or the citizens of Lafourche Parish.”

However, administration officials responded to Bagala’s report by saying they are under no legal compulsion to let Bagala into the meetings, even if he were there in a strictly observatory manner. In an email back-and-forth with Bagala, Interim Parish Administrator Tommy Lasseigne said administrative meetings are not deliberations of a public body and thus do not have to be open to the public. Lasseigne went onto inform Bagala that any budgetary documents he requested were already accessible on the parish’s server and able to be scanned from Bagala’s office. Cantrelle reiterated the separation of powers in a prepared response to Perrillioux and Bagala sent out the following day.

“This morning I spoke with District Attorney Morvant and he reiterated that Chairman Perrillioux and Mr. Bagala have been repeatedly advised by his office that the Administration is not bound by the open meetings law with respect to internal meeting attendance requests,” Cantrelle said. “DA Morvant confirmed his opinion with the Attorney General. The Executive Branch negotiates and presents contracts and the Legislative Branch enacts or rejects contracts in adherence to the separation of powers.”


The exchange over the meetings is indicative of the current discord between Cantrelle’s administration and most of the parish council, where the two sides will air grievances in public view during the bi-weekly council meetings. While disagreement will happen in any political body, particularly in Lafourche where meetings have been contentious for many past presidents and council members, discussion in the current body can sometimes devolve into allegations of malfeasance being shared on the public record. Following Bagala’s firing as parish administrator, the council passed a 6-1-2 “no confidence” vote of Cantrelle.

It should be noted, however, that the parish council is not unified in total opposition to Cantrelle nor that those who challenge the parish president most have ground government to a halt out of spite. Council members Daniel Lorraine and James Bourgeois have been far less critical of Cantrelle and have sometimes come to his defense when he has been under the microscope at meetings. Council members Michael Gros and Armand Autin, who have questioned or even spoke outright against some of the parish president’s actions at flash points, have also called for tempering criticism in the name of increased cooperation. While council members and Cantrelle may have disagreements that can devolve into ad hominem barbs, the council does vote unanimously on many ordinances and resolutions in the name of moving forward.

Perrillioux’s questioning of Cantrelle last Tuesday kept tensions high in the Mathews government complex. Two weeks prior, Perrillioux himself was the one facing questions about his leadership. Then, Perrillioux was being questioned by Burnell Tolbert, president of the Lafourche chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for incendiary posts on Perrillioux’s personal Facebook page Tolbert called racist and insensitive to people of color.


The posts were printed out and shared in a packet, addressed from a person wishing to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. The letter questioned how Perrillioux could represent all of his constituents with such views. A July 9, 2015 post by Perrillioux said, “If New Orleans don’t want the Gen Robert E Lee statue, I think it would look great at the Lafourche visitors center!”

Tolbert questioned why the statue, which New Orleans is set to bring down in the near future and has been the scene of impassioned protests and counter-protests recently, would be a good addition to Lafourche. While Tolbert acknowledged the value of history, he said the controversial monument would only serve to divide Lafourche residents further.

“Why would you want to bring a Robert E. Lee statue when it’s causing so much problems in New Orleans? I mean, it’s such a divisive [thing]. I know it’s history. All history is not good history. There’s some black history that is not good history. The history with the Holocaust is not good,” Tolbert said.


Another post in the packet had Perrillioux saying off-duty police officers from other states should “beat the s***” out of people at anti-police brutality protests. However, Perrillioux said he could only substantiate about 15 percent of the posts and said some of them were digitally altered or partially listed. He said he could not find the anti-police protestor post, but did recall the Robert E. Lee statue post. When asked if he understood how the statue could be offensive given Lee’s military leadership for a country that fought a war in order to maintain slavery of black people, Perrillioux said he was not in favor of removing the statue because we could repeat history if we try to erase it.

“It is history, and history cannot be erased. I even received a phone call yesterday from the former head of the Lafourche Parish NAACP, Mr. Charles Mosely, who stated he is against their removal as well,” Perrillioux said. “If it were up to these people, they would go around the world burning and destroying any historical structures they disagree with.”

At the council meeting, Tolbert called some of Perrillioux’s social media content “disgusting,” and said the statements, while many do not outright discuss race, are slightly subtle dog whistles around race.


“All of these things draw a clear picture of who he really is and what he’s really about, and maybe why he ran for this seat. I believe you have a hidden agenda that’s not hidden anymore, and it’s a shame and a disgrace for Lafourche Parish to have representatives that’s trying to divide and not unify,” Tolbert said.

Many council members came to Perrillioux’s defense after Tolbert’s statements. Bourgeois said while he disagrees with Perrillioux on many topics, he has never interpreted him as a racist, and he cited the council chair’s military experience as an example of his tolerance.

“I can sincerely say Mr. Perrillioux and Mr. Autin and I have been in the military, and there’s no way you can survive three years, much less 10 years, in the military. Not for one minute would I think there’s one racist bone in Mr. Perrillioux’s body,” Bourgeois.


Council members Luci Sposito, Jerry Jones and Jerry LaFont, who have frequently challenged Cantrelle and his administration, also defended Perrillioux’s character. Sposito said she could see how the posts could be misconstrued as racist, but in her time working with Perrillioux he had not revealed any sense of bigotry, something she said cannot be hidden over a long period of time. LaFont said while the posts may skew conservative and anti-liberal, they are not necessarily racist. Jones, the only black member of the council and one of Cantrelle’s chief critics, said he knew where the packet was coming from and said Tolbert should focus on parish administration instead of Perrillioux’s posts.

“There has been more racism in this parish, through this administration, than what you have in your hand. There’s two sides to every story,” Jones said.

Perrillioux insisted the packet was spread by Cantrelle’s administration to discredit him and instead went on the offensive. A few days after Tolbert’s appearance at the meeting, Perrillioux announced he would be running for Cantrelle’s position in the 2019 election. Perrillioux said he planned to bring integrity and morality back to the office and said employees would not have to walk on eggshells every day wondering if they would be fired for disagreeing with him.


“I am battle tested.  I survived Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Operation Iraqi Freedom  in 2004/2005, and I will absolutely survive the likes of Jimmy Cantrelle and Burnell Tolbert,” Perrillioux said. “In response to this shameful activity I am announcing my candidacy for Lafourche Parish President for the election in 2019. We deserve much better than the impotent and vindictive leadership we have now. I guarantee fair and equal representation for all citizens of Lafourche Parish rather you agree with me or disagree with me politically.”

Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle (center) and the Lafourche Parish Council at the inauguration ceremony. Cantrelle is beginning his first term in office and the council has only three holdovers from the last term.COURTESY