Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni today announced he would not run for another term as president of Jefferson Parish.
"You have no one to blame but yourself," WWL's Newell Normand said in response to Yenni's statement.
Normand, the former Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, reacted to the parish president today on the radio.
Yenni said in his announcement, "While I treasure public service, there are still parts of the political process that come with the job that I don’t like. I recognize that running for a second term would result in me having to spend the entire campaign talking about issues other than the great strides and forward movement Jefferson Parish has made under my administration. I can’t submit my family, friends, and this parish to months of that kind of campaign."
Normand insisted, "It's not our fault."
He made the argument that Yenni brought this all on himself through his actions courting a 17-year-old boy through explicit text messages and a meeting in a public bathroom.
The former sheriff insisted that while there was much progress made in Jefferson Parish over the past four years, it was often despite Yenni.
"There are folks that had to legitimately compromise... their belief system... in looking at the greater good, that the entity's interests outweighs the individual's," Normand said in noting that the parish's progress has been the result of the hard work of many people. "You are not an oligarch, you are not a czar, you are not a dictator."
He explained that many people had to put their own personal beliefs aside to work with Yenni for the good of the parish, "and still deal with you in a cordial and professional manner."
Normand also noted that Yenni did not have a real shot at winning reelection.
"I saw some recent polls where he was polling at 12%," Normand pointed out.