Reader says: Acting badly at Government Tower

DEAR EDITOR,

The Terrebonne Parish Council Policy, Procedure and Legal Committee meeting got a bit bizarre with the entire council sitting like stones while Parish President Gordon Dove accused Councilman Gerald Michel of not caring for his district and making other wild accusations and allegations he absolutely offered no evidence or proof of.

The Parish President then continued to say that he had “a staff member assigned to Bayou Cane and Broadmoor to make sure these people are represented, because they are not represented.” A “staff member” in the Bayou Cane and Broadmoor area who keeps in touch with people in Councilman Gerald Michel’s district to keep the parish president informed on their needs? – An employee paid with tax-payer dollars to spy throughout Gerald Michel’s district and come back and tell the parish president information?

I would like answers to a few of my questions about who this “staff member” is that gets paid to be a spying-gofer of President Dove, to be paid to act on his behalf, and how he justifies using taxpayer funds to do this. This sounds like collusion to usurp the authority of the elected Councilman Gerald Michel within his district.

Parish President Gordon Dove was so insulting towards Michel, who is the Policy, Procedure, and Legal Committee Chairman. It was incredible to watch all the council members as they allowed one of their own elected colleagues to be openly attacked by this man who is our elected parish president.

Dove outright trashed councilman Michel in his accusations in open committee meeting and Policy, Procedure & Legal Committee Vice-Chairman Darrin Guidry did nothing. I saw for myself along with others in the audience how un-professional Dove can be, how he has his own devised bully-pulpit at the council for his own use.

Witnessing this was alarming and disgusting to watch, and I am personally appalled that our collective council members sat there acting like whipped-puppies, with no integrity to intervene in any way to tone down the actions or behavior of Parish President Gordon Dove.

After the meeting, I made my way down the aisle toward the parish president from where I was sitting to ask him about the identity of the staff member he mentioned, and the man avoided me – he did that little maneuver to avoid me, talked to another man and then bolted out to the parking garage. I wasn’t surprised.

I have heard it said that God has angels who record all things, thoughts and actions, that His created humans do, in a Book of Life that is used for His purposes only; I surely do think that is a good thing, and I can’t help but wonder what, if anything, the Terrebonne Parish President and the collective Terrebonne Parish Council would say about that book. •