Claudet, Naquin clench re-election

Terrebonne Parish voters said “Yes” to the Claudet way Saturday, as the incumbent parish president clenched re-election with 14,873 votes, or 61.42 percent of the total 24,217 ballots cast in that race.

“I am very pleased that the voters of Terrebonne Parish selected me to lead them for the next four years,” Claudet said after election totals were posted. “I had a great group of volunteers working with me and there is a great group at parish government that has helped me during the past four years and we think we can do a great job for the next four years.”

In a primary bid that was expected to advance to a runoff on Nov. 19, Claudet led the field of five contenders with former Parish President Barry Bonvillain running a distant second with 14.65 percent of the vote on 3,547 ballots.

A third place finish, with 3,133 ballots, representing 12.94 percent of the votes secured, was made by businessman Mike Fesi. The fourth-place spot went to Terrebonne Parish Council Chairman Clayton Voisin with 9.63 percent or 2,332 of the ballots being cast for him. Rancher Herdis Neil finished the race in fifth place with 1.37 percent of the vote on 332 ballots.

Claudet said that a wide-winning margin in such a large field of candidates indicates to him that the voting public endorses “a progressive form of government,” which was his theme in both this and his initial candidacy in 2007.

“Every election is a difficult thing because it comes under tremendous scrutiny by so many people,” Claudet said. “I will say that I am hopeful that all the different factions that are representing and working with other candidates can embrace us and work together to try to make Terrebonne Parish a better place.”

Claudet said he has a long list of items he wants to address during the next four years.

“It’s always drainage, levees, coastal restoration, roads, bridges and quality of life. I can name 10 projects in each of those. We are going to figure out some exciting ways to enhance and fund these projects to get them off the ground.”

St. Mary Parish will have its current leader for four more years.

Parish voters opted to re-elect incumbent parish president Paul P. Naquin Jr., in Saturday’s election.

The people of St. Mary showed their support for the incumbent, giving the Democrat 61 percent (8,687 votes) of 14,355 ballots cast.

Naquin secured the victory over his lone challenger, fellow Democrat Gary Duhon, who hauled in 5,668 total votes.

Naquin, 70, said prior to the election that he would dedicate a second term to creating jobs within St. Mary Parish, saying that his 11 years as a school board member and 21 years working in the oil field made him a resourceful candidate able to boost the parish’s economy.

One way Naquin believes he could help stimulate the economy is through improved housing.

The parish president said he hopes to build apartments in the area, which he believes could attract more workers into the parish and thus make its economy more versatile.

The now two-term parish president also said he would try and increase flood protection in the parish.

St. Mary Parish is prone to flooding in spring water events when snow melts and enters the Mississippi River, heading south toward Louisiana.

That became a problem for the parish this year and Naquin said he’d like to boost protections to prevent similar events in the future.

Naquin also added that he’d like to increase the parish’s hurricane protection systems before next June’s hurricane season.