Angels aiding angels:
January 24, 2018
Terrebonne’s women’s jail closed
January 24, 2018
Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove has ended growing speculation among local politicos about his future intentions by stating plans to seek re-election on his Facebook page.
Dove made the disclosure Sunday on his Facebook page. The Terrebonne rumor mill has been grinding full time in coffee houses and restaurants about the 2019 election. While The announcement was made far earlier than those of his predecessors, he said he felt it necessary to make it, because of the increasing buzz. Suggestions have been made that Dove would seek the term-limited Sen. Norby Chabert’s seat or that of Sen. Bret Allain. Both, like Dove, are Republicans. Another rumor placed Dove running for his former House of Representatives seat.
“There were rumors but that was all definitely made up,” Dove said. “None of that has even been discussed … I have always been a guy who finished what I started and if the good people wish to re-elect me I will finish everything I started.”
The names that come up in discussions about challengers to Dove most frequently are that of former parish president Michel Claudet and former parish councilman Daniel Babin.
Both were contacted Monday morning and declined comment on their plans.
Claudet has a website copyrighted by “Friends of Michel Claudet” paid for by Claudet himself.
The Houma businessman has also been making appearances at various events — including one recently in Montegut — that have stoked the rumors.
Claudet, who served two terms and was then term-limited out, enjoyed stong support from elements of the parish’s business community.
But Dove has also built relationships and trust during his first term.
Dove said another reason he announced early was that he was getting questions from constituents about projects he has begun while in office, and whether they could be completed if he left to run for another office.
He has pledged to complete the “Field of Dreams” sports complex project — which has been dogged by delays — and took early control of controversy surrounding the parish’s recreation districts, establishing a separate board made up of rec district leaders to better coordinate projects between individual communities.
The Field of Dreams project will include ten softball and baseball fields, soccer fields, parking, concession and restrooms once complete, along with a an extension of one of its approaches to Valhi Road.
Dove’s strongest suit is drainage, and he points out that many of the projects he is now completing or has completed were begun during his tenure as a state representative, and were made possible to complete because of his commitment at that time to funding.
“We balanced the budget and still built projects and finished up a lot of projects,” Dove said.
The connection between Dove’s House term and big projects could be a harbinger of future campaign debate. Supporters of a Claudet bid have punctuated announcements of project completions trumpeted by Dove as having originated with the previous administration.
A rallying point for Dove’s critics has been the cost attendant to Parish Attorney Julius Hebert’s tenure.
“We inherited a lot of lawsuits,” Dove said, noting the cost of handling legal issues surrounding the widening of Hollywood Road. “We not only went in and completed that project but there were a lot of lawsuits we had to straighten up.”
Among projects Dove is looking forward to completing is the Hansen Canal Pump Station which he said should go to bid next month. The Facebook announcement included a list of projects completed or begun under the Dove administration:
Fourteen new drainage pump stations; a 4 million gallon per minute pump station at the Bubba Dove Floodgate; a Bayou Petit Caillou lock system with a conveyance channel and pump station in Chauvin and the Bayou Terrebonne lock station at Montegut; the Falgout Canal Floodgate; four bridge replacements and improvement of several parish roads; the Whiskey Island replenishment project and restoration of Lost Lake.
“After taking office in 2016, with the economy on a downward spiral, the council and I have cut 23 percent off of every department and cut $10 million dollars from the budget I inherited without affecting any services that the government provides to our residents on a daily basis,” Dove said, concluding his announcement pitch. “With these cuts, along with savings such as the $3 million on insurance and good budget management, we still are engineering and constructing … and planning on more in the future.”
