I was reading up in the JDN on one of the candidates for Sheriff and his campaign platform. Randall Verret, is a 53 year old Lacassine resident, who has thrown his hat in the ring for Sheriff. Before proceeding here, this is a biased one-sided opinion. My opinions are usually biased, unfair and one-sided. I make no bones about it. If your in pursuit of an unbiased opinion, good luck in your search.
Randall Verret, candidate for Sheriff in the upcoming election, recently attended the Pachyderm Club meeting. As you may already know, the Pachyderm organization is a Republican party group. I am a republican myself, however, I am not a member of this group at the present.
At this meeting Mr. Verett discussed his ideas with the group. He would
like to re-implement a neighborhood watch program throughout the parish and establish an
anonymous tip hotline for those who witness illegal activity, but are afraid to report it.
If elected, Verret also plans to address the drug problems in the area. To deter these
crimes, Verett also wants to establish a K-9 unit in the parish. Verett also wants to
assist disabled veterans who are seeking medical assistance by providing them with free
transportation to and from treatment. The candidate explained that the federal government
provides free used vehicles to areas that apply and qualify for extra assistance. He also
wants to change the way the parish is patrolled. Verett said he does not like that JDP has
only 2 deputies on call per shift. He wants to put more deputies on the road and pay them
better. Verett also wants to get a prison facility through government bonds, grants and
privatized prisons citing "we have plenty of farmland to put a prison on". He
continued "If we can use farmland to put a dumpsite, then we can use it for a
prison". Another topic the candidate feels strongly about is keeping "the big
10" (ten commandments) in our courthouse to be observed. The candidate also said that
people should not be afraid to vote for him because of what other people may think or
do". "That is political oppression. He also stated that he threw his name in the
hat at the last minute because he was waiting for someone else more qualified to
run.
Okay! Lets analyze this in reverse order. I'm a republican, and I look at
this campaign and I see a "platform outline" of a die hard democrat. It is a
commonly known Democrat strategy to play on the fear of voters with talk of political
oppression. People vote in a private voting booth. When you vote, nobody knows who
you voted for unless you tell them. When you run for office, you don't throw your name in
the hat at the last minute while waiting on someone else more qualified. You are either
hungry for it or your not. So a question is raised.....is his heart really in it?
Mr. Verett wants to build a prison. He does not want to rebuild a jail....he wants a
prison. This is a vastly different animal.
He is bargaining with the farmland that belongs to others. It appears the type prison he
is talking about are along the lines of what you find in Allen & Avoyelles parishes
and others. He is campaigning on an item that initially carries a good sound bite, but he
does so without knowing the pulse of the voters. That's a very risky platform, but in the
eyes of the democrat base of voters, it brings home the bacon. I for one do not want a
prison in my backyard.
Candidate Verret also wants to add more deputies. Adding more deputies, and paying them more is another topic that brings home the bacon. Labor is among the highest expenses of any business or organization. There is no way on god's green earth that the parish can afford to add too many more deputies. You can take an initial glance at a budget, cut expenses and find the money your looking for to support your plan of hiring new heads. But you have to have a long range forecast to determine if you can afford it over the entire fiscal year and the next.
The cost of operating and maintaining a K9 unit is not cheap. That's an
additional increase in expenses.
Verett wants to assist disabled vets with rides to their treatment facilities. This is a
noble gesture but we are faced a situation right now with dialysis patients and their
rides to treatment. There is no funding for it, but yet Verret's platform is seeking the
same for disabled vets. Again it's noble and something should be done, but it's not the
function of the Sheriff's department to do it. Nor is it the function of the Police Jury
to do it. It is the function of the private sector and the many non-profit, organizations
that billions are pumped into annually. It is a function of volunteer's and the local
churches. It should not and should never be allowed to become a function of the local
government. If public transportation exists then it should be funded by those mentioned or
at minimum the State. This public transportation should cover dialysis patients as well as
disabled vets and others in need. We have people who are unemployed. We have people on
social security disability that can still drive. Why not make a pre-requisite that if you
can drive and your collecting disability that you are required to work in a public
transportation capacity. We have people who are retired that probably wouldn't mind doing
it but there's a problem.....It's liability. The lawyers and the insurance companies have
made it impossible for the private sector to take care of these issues that could be
handled by volunteer's. Once again, he is campaigning on the platform of a democrat.
Anonymous tip-lines and neighborhood watch programs were also on his agenda. Anonymous
tip-lines sound good but often send law enforcement on wild goose chases. It would work if
you didn't have all the crack-pots calling in for every little thing.
Doing something about the drug problem. That's a tricky situation. Right now there is
nobody dedicated to drug enforcement.
The effective interdiction program went down in flames when the dateline story appeared on
Dateline NBC several years ago.
The funds to run an effective interdiction program went out the window much like the story
did. The funds used for local interdiction was lost after the dateline story. So another
platform that will cost local voters more dollars.
That leaves the neighborhood watch program.......We already have that!
Here is the problem as I see it. Nobody is challenging local candidates
and many are walking right back into office unchallenged. The problem is that they have
nothing new to offer. Nothing unique, except the same old tax and spend ideas.
"Elect me and I'll bring home the bacon...cept' you'll have to pay for it".
Meanwhile the police jury talks about taking a pay cut to fund a "free ride
for dialysis patient's", of which they should have never been involved with in the
first place. So others are discouraged from taking office because it does not pay well
enough for the headache. He's a republican running on a democrat's platform, and wan't to
bring home the bacon. What we need from future candidates is something fresh, something
new and innovative. Not the same ole's stuff.