Wayne Touchet
Vermilion Parish Police Jury
We have awarded Wayne Touchet three Yo-Yo's. One for his disposition and two for his previous ethics violations. Unfortunately, he was recently elected president of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, replacing Gerald Butaud who was one of the most sensible police jury presidents in years.
He is a somewhat unfriendly person who seldom smiles, except of course during an election campaign. He walks with a John Wayne type of strut, but it looks awkward on him since he is half the size of John Wayne. Maybe we should refer to him as "Little John Wayne." In decent weather, Touchet can usually be found hanging out around the parish courthouse. If one didn't know him, one would think that he was a panhandler standing on the sidewalk waiting for handouts. In essence, he was probably panhandling for favors from other politicians and others visiting the courthouse. The joke around the coffee shops is that his home is the courthouse.
Touchet has a small construction company. Many people say that Touchet is in the pocket of Eugene Sellers (Sellers & Associates) the parish engineer. In fact when Touchet was first elected to the police jury, he was fined $3,500.00 dollars for ethics violations by the Louisiana State Board of Ethics for services to Sellers & Associates. Here is the link to the ruling by the Board: October 13, 2005 OPINION NO.: 2004-628. The following day, the Ethics Board, acting as the Supervisory Committee on Campaign Finance Disclosure fined Touchet another $500.00 for failing to report a campaign contribution from Revis Sirmon. Here is the link to this ruling: October 14, 2004 OPINION NO. 2004-065.
On Wayne Touchet's LinkedIn webpage, he appears to be looking for handouts. Here is the lists of some of his interests:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
Some other comments heard around town are that Wayne Touchet headed the committee for the burn site in Meaux, and was instrumental in getting Eddie Young to purchase the property. It is also said that he is pushing the idea of a 2 million dollar arena for Gerald Libersat. Most interestingly are comments that he stated that the police jury should do work on private property to help the people out. We thought that was illegal.
Update - April 6, 2010: The Police Jury under the current president, Wayne Touchet, recently attempted to push through a tax on the entire parish for flood protection which would benefit only part of the parish. When it was first proposed, it appeared that their plan for flood protection was not coordinated with adjoining Iberia Parish. Waters from that area flooded Delcambre and Erath during hurricanes Rita and Ike.
From the news reports, it appears that the Police Jury was attempting this tax without the City's participation. Fortunately, the mayor, Mark Piazza, opposed the tax and asked the City Attorney to verify with the State Attorney General whether this was legal without the city's cooperation. It seems the city charter does not allow the parish to pass a parish-wide tax without the City's permission. Considering that Wayne Touchet was elected to the Police Jury to represent his district, which includes property owners in Abbeville, he should have at least consulted with the city before trying to pass a tax which most of the parish is against. Tax revenues have been down lately, and the Police Jury is trying everything to get their hands on more revenue which is understandable. Many people think the main reason for the tax was to have more revenue to dole out to the Policer Jury member's friends and supporters, not benefit the majority of the parish.
Following is an excerpt from Part I, Section 6, of THE CHARTER OF ABBEVILLE, LOUISIANA: "....the police jury of the Parish of Vermilion shall have the right to include all of the properties within the corporate limits of the City of Abbeville, Louisiana, for any tax levy voted for the purpose of maintaining and operating a parish wide public library within and for the Parish of Vermilion, Louisiana, and no tax shall be imposed upon the City of Abbeville by the police jury of the Parish of Vermilion, Louisiana, except for the building or repairing of a courthouse or jail, constructing or maintaining of hard-surfaced roads as herein set forth or for the maintaining and operation of a parish wide public library as herein set forth."
