Three sheriff candidates meet at forum

PATTERSON — Less than a year later, Blaise Smith and Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi were back on a forum stage Monday in a campaign for sheriff. The stage is less crowded this time, but with a new character.
Retired Louisiana State Police Trooper Todd Pellerin joined Smith, who won last year’s race for St. Mary Parish sheriff, and Morgan City Mayor Grizzaffi on the Patterson Area Civic Center stage for the election cycle’s first Chamber of Commerce candidate forum. The primary for statewide, legislative and parish offices, including sheriff, is Oct. 12.
This time, the election is for a full four-year term. The 2018 primary pitted four candidates, including Smith and Grizzaffi, against incumbent Scott Anslum, who served as interim chief for nearly a year after the resignation of Sheriff Mark Hebert.
Anslum was the top vote-getter in the primary with 34%. Smith, a former sheriff’s deputy and Chitimacha tribal police chief, got 23% of the vote to edge Grizzaffi, who polled 22%. Smith went on to beat Anslum 52-48 after making a campaign issue of a pair of jail escapes during Anslum’s tenure, along with deputy staffing levels and morale.
Those issues came up again Monday.
Smith said that during his eight months in office he has hired uniform deputies, added three new K-9s and secured the jail.
In 2018, a point of contention between Smith and Grizzaffi was Smith’s law enforcement experience vs. Grizzaffi’s administrative experience as Morgan City’s mayor.
This time, Smith pointed to an administrative accomplishment, turning a projected $520,000 deficit into an $85,000 budget surplus.
“Experience matters,” Smith said. “I’ve got the most experience of any person running for this office.”
Grizzaffi pointed to his seven years as Morgan City’s chief executive, managing more than 200 employees and working with Police Chief James F. Blair.
He said buying some used police cars and putting up fences at the jail are “all administrative ideas. That’s what administrators do. ...
“As I look around the parish, I think some professionalism needs to take place, at least as far as the top down.”
Grizzaffi also attributed the improvement in Sheriff’s Office finances to increased property assessment’s rather than budget expertise.
Pellerin’s theme was professionalism. He served in the Sheriff’s Office, and joked that Smith gave him his best job as a deputy when Smith made him the parish Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer.
Pellerin joined the Louisiana State Police in 1995 and retired in 2018.
His emphasis on professionalism came out strongest in response to one of the prepared questions, this one about the Sheriff’s Office use of social media.
Pellerin objected to photos showing deputies training to handle active shooters in front of identifiable buildings. That could tip off people about how deputies would respond, he said.
Grizzaffi chipped in with criticism about what he feels is an inappropriate use of hashtags in descriptions of criminal arrests.
Smith defended the training photos, saying they could serve as a deterrent rather than a tip-off.
Pellerin also promised deputies that he wouldn’t make politics part of the job.
“I believe there are some remnants of old school politics,” Pellerin said.
Also at the forum:
—“I believe the sheriff has to be out in front, working with the men in the trenches, making sure they have what they need,” Grizzaffi said.
—Smith said he’d like to see the Sheriff’s Office once more become a bigger part of local youth programs. He talked about the importance of building relationships with young people as well as with his subordinates.
“You have to be a good listener,” Smith said. “And to be a good listener you have to know how to communicate.”
—“The sheriff’s primary role is to be a leader,” Pellerin said. “The sheriff has to go out where the crime is.”