Suit: Broussard 'breached' duty

Plaintiffs say parish violated pump policy Tuesday, October 18, 2005 By Paul Purpura West Bank bureau

Jefferson Parish residents are suing Parish President Aaron Broussard and the parish, claiming their east bank homes flooded after drainage pump operators were sent out of town before Hurricane Katrina hit.

Broussard and the parish "owed a duty to operate the drainage pumps" and "breached that duty by failing to man and operate" them, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking class-action status, want unspecified damages and want the case to be decided by a jury. The lawsuit is assigned to Judge Henry Sullivan.

Only two plaintiffs are named: Zoe Aldigé, of Metairie, and Chicago Properties Interests, a Metairie company formed in March 2003 by Mark Marzoni, according to Louisiana secretary of state records.

"We have many, many more (plaintiffs), as you well might imagine, given the enormity of the problem," said E. Carroll Rogers, one of three plaintiffs' attorneys.

An assistant in Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson's office said parish officials were not aware of the lawsuit.

Parish officials have said that 200 pump operators were evacuated to Washington Parish on Aug. 28, the day before the storm, and returned the following day at 7 p.m. Broussard has said that leaving the operators at their stations during a Category 4 or 5 hurricane amounts to a "death sentence."

Series of ads defends pump decision
Broussard's political mire 'monumental'
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
By Michelle Krupa
West Bank bureau

Facing a steady barrage of criticism and now a lawsuit from owners of flooded property, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard has launched his most overt -- and possibly most expensive -- public relations venture since Hurricane Katrina, an attempt to explain his decisions during the storm and to lay out plans for the parish's future protection.

In four full-page ads in The Times-Picayune costing $38,000 total, Broussard's administration discusses, in its own words, the steps it took before the Aug. 29 landfall and its plans for how to staff pump stations and fortify Jefferson's drainage system for future hurricanes, said Greg Buisson, a political consultant to Broussard who has been working as an administration spokesman.

In the aftermath of the catastrophe, the direct communication likely aims to serve dual purposes: to educate the public on policies rarely discussed in stable times, and to temper political fires easily stoked in an atmosphere of silence, longtime observers of Louisiana politics said.

"They probably figure they have to do something," said Ed Renwick, director of the Loyola University Institute of Politics. "Obviously, they have a monumental political problem, and you can't just sit back and never say anything. You either have to apologize or you have to explain (that) the decision you made was rational.

"It's a difficult task," he said.

Four installments

The first installment -- inside Sunday's Metro section -- set out a chronology beginning Aug. 28 at midday. It included Broussard's decision to evacuate pump station workers to "save lives," a judgment that has fueled wrath from residents whose properties were flooded while other public employees, including fire and police personnel, manned their posts.

"It still being in hurricane season, the parish thinks it's important to quickly educate the public on some policy issues," Buisson said, adding that the segments also will "prime Congress for some of the things that Aaron is about to ask for," including money to build "safe houses" at pump stations.

"Jefferson Parish officials clearly recognize that many people throughout the parish were unaware of some of the policies that were involved in preparing for a Category 5 storm, mostly because there hasn't been any Category 5 that has threatened to the extent that this did," he said.

The second and third installments, set for publication today and Thursday, will include a series of questions and answers on some of the event's most heated issues, Buisson said. The fourth piece, slated for Sunday, will describe future plans.

The cost of the ads, Buisson said, could be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though FEMA spokesman Mike McCormick said that while services such as debris removal and fire response will be repaid fully by the agency, "I've never heard of a category that would cover" such government advertising.

Never-ending defense

Susan Howell, a political science professor at the University of New Orleans, said that to save political face, Broussard would be wise to tout the fact that he and his emergency management director, Walter Maestri, had a disaster plan in place and followed it as Katrina churned toward shore as a Category 5 monster Aug. 29, even though many residents didn't know about the so-called "doomsday" scenario.

"Right now, I think frustration is probably at a very high level because now is when people are tearing out their Sheetrock and their floors," Howell said. "What (Broussard) has to politically do is continue to say why the decision was made, putting it in the context of lives versus convenience, lives versus some property damage."

That task could be never-ending, at least in the course of Broussard's political career, Renwick said. The parish president said last week that he intends to seek re-election in 2007, and Renwick said that campaign surely will be based on Broussard's continuing defense of his policy decisions during Katrina, actions that spawned a lawsuit Friday by a Metairie resident and a Metairie property company charging that Broussard and the parish are liable for homes flooding.

"People are going to be talking about this for 50 years. It's not something that's just going to go away next week," he said. "I imagine all Louisiana politicians, especially the major ones, that's going to be the major issue in their re-election campaign, and their opponents will make sure they are refreshed in a nightly basis.

"I mean, just look at all those pictures you can put on TV," he said.

However, Howell said that today's political environmental is unlikely to endure to the end of this election cycle in Jefferson. In that case, Broussard's decision to speak directly to his constituents now must aim to satisfy their immediate questions and their concerns for the rest of the 2005 hurricane season.

"I think that the atmosphere in Jefferson Parish will be totally different in 2007," she said. "We have no idea what it's going to be. This is a very heated time. Everyone is really raw. What people are feeling now might not be what they're feeling in two months from now."

Michelle Krupa can be reached at mkrupa@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3785.

Times Picayune Editorial

Playing defense
Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard is going to be frustrated -- and ineffective -- if he spends his time and energy trying to silence everyone who thinks it was a mistake to send drainage pump workers away before Hurricane Katrina struck.

East Jefferson Levee District President Patrick Bossetta is just one of those critics, but his comments have, in part, prompted Mr. Broussard to ask Gov. Kathleen Blanco to boot him off the board.

Mr. Broussard cited Mr. Bossetta's public dissent and also complained that the Levee Board president didn't warn him that Metairie was flooding on Aug. 30 after the levee breach at the 17th Street Canal.

No matter what mistakes were made during and after Katrina, though, Jefferson Parish residents would be far better served if their leaders focused on learning from them. Mr. Broussard seems more intent on defending his actions and punishing those who dare question him than analyzing how things could have been done better.

No one knows whether flooding in Jefferson Parish could have been prevented had pump operators stayed at their posts, as Mr. Bossetta and others believe. But evacuating such essential personnel is clearly not the way to go in the future.

Mr. Bossetta suggested at an Oct. 4 Levee Board meeting that the district should take responsibility for staffing pump stations during hurricanes. That's an idea that deserves consideration, but Greg Buisson, a political consultant to Mr. Broussard, said that the levee board president was "outside his jurisdiction" in making that suggestion.

Gov. Blanco shouldn't help Mr. Broussard silence a dissenting voice. The truth is, Jefferson Parish and as other jurisdictions need to engage in an unflinching analysis of how this crisis was managed. That won't be possible if everyone who raises a question is quashed.

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