Jeff Parish: What is Assessor Chehardy up to?

UPDATE Da Paper reports that Chehardy has submitted a letter of resignation, effective 1-Jan-2011, in an effort to force Piyush to put the Assessor's race on the October-2010 ballot.

Da Paper's right, the permutations of what's going on in terms of the resignation of Jefferson Parish's assessor, Lawrence Chehardy.

Chehardy's career has been about power from the beginning. His family's ability to circumvent the democratic process in Jefferson Parish was clearly illustrated in 1975, when he took office. His father, Lawrence (father and son have different middle names) was the parish's assessor at that time, and ran one of the two main political factions in the parish at the time. It was Chehardy and his allies versus Tom Donelon, then parish-president and father of current state Insurance Commissioner Jim, then-Sheriff Alwyn Cronvich, and State Senator Jules Mollere. The two factions were classic precinct-and-ward-level political machines. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was only one political party of note in the parish, the Democrats. Politicians didn't start jumping ship to the GOP until Reagan.

The power of the Assessor's office was so great that Chehardy was truly a kingmaker. I'm not privy to why the elder Chehardy wanted to retire in 1975 (he later became a state appellate judge before he passed away in 1999), but it was clear he didn't want to give up power. On the last day of election qualifying for the state election cycle in 1977, the elder Lawrence was the only one who had signed up to run for assessor. At 4:57pm, the younger Lawrence walked up to the desk and presented qualification papers to run for the job. At 4:59pm, the elder Lawrence withdrew his documents. Qualifying closed and the younger Lawrence was elected without opposition.

Now Chehardy says he wants to retire:

The job of assessor is unique. Every four years, assessors are required to revalue all property for tax purposes. The appraisal process is complicated and takes several years to complete. By announcing my decision to resign at this time, an election can be held this year to fill my pending vacancy. A delay in the transition of administrations would be a disservice to our citizens. This decision and timing will allow the newly-elected assessor to begin serving January 1, 2011, giving him or her ample time to properly conduct the 2012 reassessment.

This is a very noble sentiment, Chehardy's desire to manipulate the democratic process continues, however. He wants to resign on 1-1-2011, which would mean the earliest time a special election could be held is April of next year. Chehardy wants his successor chosen on the October ballot, when voters of the parish will choose the successor of future Club Fed guest Mad Aaron Broussard.

Why the October election? The governor can't order an election for a vacancy/unexpired term until that vacancy actually happens. Until he actually packs up his office and resigns, there's no vacancy. If the concern is for the 2012 reassessment cycle, surely an election held in April of 2011 will give the next assessor ample time to ramp up for the process.

With both Parish President and Assessor on the ballot at the same time, there would be a true opportunity for an alliance of politicians to build a true 60s-style machine. With the two staggered, October and April, it's possible that the loser for president could run and win the assessor's job. That's often how things work, of course. Mary Landrieu lost to Murphy Foster in the governor's race in 1995, and she turned around the next year to become one of Louisiana's senators.

Chehardy wants to circumvent this process by holding the elections simultaneously. He wants to rig the process.

Just like his dad did for him over 30 years ago.