KEVIN BLANCHARD
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Dec 15, 2006
 

Joey Durel --- Mike Skinner Advocate staff photo by Bryan Tuck Lafayette Parish President Joey Durel, left, greets former Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party Mike Skinner, right, Thursday night during a fundraiser for Durel’s re-election campaign next year. Also seen, from left, are Chuck McMath, Frances McMath and Jan Skinner.

A who’s who list of both Republicans and Democrats showed up Thursday night for a nonpartisan fundraiser for Republican City-Parish President Joey Durel.

Durel wore a red and blue tie to commemorate the occasion, held at the home of prominent local Democrat Glenn Armentor.
Lafayette has a lot going for it, but the challenge of making it the best place to live in the South can’t be accomplished with a partisan approach, Durel said.

“The only thing that can stop us is if we’re arguing over things that don’t make sense,” Durel said.

Durel credited Armentor — a member of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee — for throwing the fundraiser despite getting some grief from other Democrats. He said he and Armentor both seem to have a knack for “stirring it up.” “When you stir it up, good things happen,” Durel said.

Armentor said he and the 120 co-hosts for the fundraiser just want a “bipartisan dialogue” about how to make sure Lafayette is a great enough place to live so that “our children will have their grandchildren here.”

No one has announced their intentions to challenge Durel in the fall.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Metairie and U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, both were co-hosts. Vitter said Durel is an important part of Lafayette’s “energetic leadership team.”  “I’ve always been a big fan of Joey’s,” Vitter said.
Also in attendance were Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mike Neustrom, 15th Judicial District Attorney Mike Harson and former U.S. Attorney Mike Skinner, all Democrats.

Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret, a Republican, joked about the mixture of political figures at the event.
“The first 30 people I shook hands with were all Democrats,” Perret said.
 

Skinner is formerly chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “(Durel’s) heart is in the right place and he’s trying to do the right thing for the city and parish of Lafayette,” Skinner said. Besides Armentor, two other members of the parish Demoractic executive committee were in attendance — Ken Boullion and Jeff Moss.

Also attending were state Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, state Rep. Don Trahan, R-Lafayette, and Lafayette Parish School Board members Ricky Hardy, Kay Gibson and Judy Cox. Others in attendance were Robbie Mahtook, Gary McGoffin, Richard Zuschlag, Robert Daigle, Bill Fenstermaker, Matt Stuller, Barry Berthelot, Rusty Cloutier, Fred Hoyt and Elaine Abell.

At the halfway point of the party, more than 500 people had checked in at the door — with a steady stream still arriving.

It was eight years ago almost to the day that then-City-Parish President Walter Comeaux threw a similar holiday party fundraiser — drawing about 1,000 people at $250 per couple.
At the time, no one had yet announced they would run against Comeaux in the election that was still 10 months away.

Eventually, Comeaux went on to defeat Stanley Brosky, carrying 77 percent of the vote, propelling him to his second term as city-parish president.

In attendance that night for Comeaux were Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, state Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown, then Elections Commissioner Jerry Fowler and state Attorney General Richard Ieyoub.

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