Lafayette Democrat Mike Stagg qualified Thursday morning to take on two-term Republican City-Parish President Joey Durel in the Oct. 22 election.
An independent information technology consultant by vocation and former newspaper editor and reporter, the 59-year-old Stagg is a long shot to unseat Durel. “The ultimate thing was, it appears that Mr. Durel was going to get in without opposition, and the notion of somebody getting elected to basically a 12-year term ... was just repugnant to me,” Stagg says. “He needs to be held accountable to the voters, and if nobody else will step up, well then obviously I needed to.”
Stagg is running on a platform of better managing Lafayette’s growth and maximizing — and more vigorously marketing — the parish’s unique cultural offerings. And he acknowledges his status as underdog. “Four years ago he didn’t have opposition; there was no discussion about his record or the future of the parish,” Stagg says of Durel, who is seeking a third and final turn as the top elected official in Lafayette Parish. “This doesn’t speak very well about the quality of civic discourse in our parish. There’s no consensus in Lafayette because there’s no discussion in Lafayette, and what I want to do with this campaign is provoke that discussion.”
A Eunice native and longtime Lafayette resident, Stagg is an at-large member of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee. He says he doesn’t anticipate much in the way of financial resources from the state party, adding that he plans to harness the Internet to reach voters. He has also openly challenged Durel to a series of debates.
“[Durel] hasn’t been answerable to the voters since 2003,” Stagg adds. “I think he owes them this conversation, and I think he needs to defend his record. I want to hold his record up; I think there’s a case for him to be fired. But ultimately what the election’s about is what’s the future of the parish and where are we going to go with it? He hasn’t talked about that. This issue is too important to be left to guys having coffee, which is what Durel and his cronies have basically been doing for eight years — that’s how the future of this parish is being decided.”
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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The "no discussion" comment is really silly and “[Durel] hasn’t been answerable to the voters since 2003,”, I believe Durel is on the radio most Thursday's and morning television one day a week, answering questions for anyone that is willing to make the call or email. So I take exception to Stagg and his stance that the quality of Lafayette's citizenry
isn't up to the his standards, I guess he is much superior to the rest of us.
I assume that Stagg's assumption that his party won't support him financially is because of the huge bi-partisian support for Durel. I challenge Mr. Stagg to show his true bi-partisianship in this race.