Start Corporation to offer a Community Crisis Walk-In Center this holiday season
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Hallmark-Inspired Reads at LPPL
December 3, 2023
Daniel Lorraine, the District 9 representative on the Lafourche Parish Council, is officially celebrating and impressive 40 years local government this year– with no plans to stop serving his community.
Lorraine was first elected to the Lafourche Parish Council at 30-years-old in 1983, with just a high school education. “I just decided that I wanted to run to see if I could make a difference,” explained Lorraine. “I wasn’t happy with the way things were being run in the parish. I was running against a well-known incumbent, and my father–who was sick with cancer at the time– told me he wanted to help me. I told him not to worry, and that I’d do the best I could.”
Lorraine described making homemade signs, personally campaigning, and worked hard to secure his first victory, finishing strong in the election with 1,356 votes– his incumbent opponent finishing with only around 400 votes. “My dad told me he thought I could win,” said Lorraine. “But he didn’t tell me I’d be in for life! When I first got in, I was about as green as you could be. I knew nothing, and there was a lot to learn. It’s easy to tell someone you can help them, but an elected official has the ability to stay true to their word and make significant change. One thing about me that I learned early on was that I would never give up working for the people of Lafourche Parish.”
Lorraine describes one of his biggest accomplishments as his success in creating a one-cent sales tax to help fix up the roads in Lafourche Parish’s 9th District. “We had so many streets that were busted– school buses and post trucks could not even go down the streets,” said Lorraine. “The Parish tried to pass a one-cent sales tax to go to bridges and roads, which failed five times. I am proud to say I was able to come up with the idea for a one-cent Road District Tax, and we were able to start fixing the streets.” Later, around 1985, Lorraine spearheaded the decision to take the garbage tax off of residents’ water bills, and implement a one-cent sales tax to pick up the waste, causing smoother garbage pick-up funding system from 1985-2023.
Over his 4-decade career in office, Lorraine describes the fallout from Hurricane Ida as one of the biggest challenges of his career. “Hurricane Ida was horrific for south Lafourche. After the fallout from the storm, I have never seen so many people in my district struggle,” said Lorraine. “The people in south Lafourche need help and support– and the people down here do not care for handouts. I can’t control how slow things are moving, but I will be here to help whenever possible.”
Lorraine is currently entering his 11th term in office in January of 2024, and is eligible to run for one more term on the Lafourche Parish Council. “I sit back and I think– 40 years is a long time. I think it must be some kind of record for a councilman,” said Lorraine. “And 90% of my diehard support that I began my career with have passed away, so how do I keep winning? It is different people, different generations, who continue to put me in office. It makes me think there must be something right in my philosophy– if you come to me with a problem, no matter who you are, I will always be there to help you out.”
The long-time councilman explained that the biggest lesson he learned over his years in office is the importance of answer phone calls, emails, and being available and reachable for the community members. “If you need something, call me. Tell me your problems and your situation, and I will be there to help,” Lorraine said. “I’m not going to tell you that I’m always right– but I ain’t wrong too often!”
Congratulations to Councilman Daniel Lorraine as he enters his 11th term in office this January!
To get in touch with Councilman Daniel Lorraine, please call him at 985-438-4122 or email councildist9@lafourchegov.org.
