The head of the committee charged with finding Gerald Breaux’s replacement at the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission would not confirm the names of the two finalists, but sources close to the selection process say Renee Areng and Ben Berthelot are the only remaining candidates.
In terms of tourism experience, Areng, executive vice president for sales and marketing at the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau, has the edge. She also was convention marketing manager at LCVC from October 1990 to November 2002. Berthelot is director of Lafayette Consolidated Government’s Community Development department.
The selection committee, which includes and was appointed by Hilton General Manager James Thackston (president of the LCVC board), is comprised of businessmen Rob Robison and Thomas Rogers and Holidome General Manager Ed Buchert. Thackston would not confirm the finalists Friday morning, saying the three candidates who did not make the cut may not have received their notification letters yet.
Susan Holliday, Mark Mouton and Dave Domingue were also semifinalists.
Areng and Berthelot are vying for the top post, executive director, which is opening up after almost 31 years due to Breaux's retirement.
Thackston chose the selection committee members based on their length of service on the board, according to Breaux. Ema Haq, who has been on the board since December 2001, however, declined to serve, saying he had too many other commitments. Both Rogers and Robinson joined in December 2003; and Ed Buchert joined in December 2005. Amos Batiste, whose service began in August 2008, was not named to the board because Thackston, who has been serving since March 2009, took a seat on the selection committee. The remaining board members are Lionel Prejean (3/3/09), Charlie Goodson (1/4/11) and Kendall Banks (12/21/10).
The LCVC board will meet in executive session to interview Areng and Berthelot on May 4. Thackston says no consideration was given to holding the interviews in the open, despite that this is a publicly funded position."We were told we didn't have to conduct the interviews in the full public," he says.
LCVC is supported by a hotel-motel tax in the parish. The bureau was created in 1974 to promote tourism and coordinate marketing efforts for Lafayette Parish.
The board hopes to make an offer May 1, with employment to begin no later than June 1.
Breaux will help with the transition process for about a month, as his last official day is June 29.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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Aligned with all the other, similiar inbreds.
Areng, thou need pursue some other post instead.
This opportunity thinly veiled, is positively dead