Getting to know Sheriff Newell Normand, courtesy of his long career and the state’s public records laws.
By Jeremy Alford
“Newell got elected with 90 percent of the vote, so don’t mess with him.”
—New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, in The Times-Picayune
Technically, Sheriff Newel Normand commandeered 91 percent of the vote. But once you pass a certain threshold, who keeps counting anyway? That Normand swept the Jeffersonian electorate so mightily in 2007 wasn’t a stunner. After all, Normand served under iconic Sheriff Harry Lee for 29 years and was appointed as interim sheriff by Lee as he bravely fought his leukemia.
Normand had been groomed and, more importantly, ready to fill those big boots once Lee was taken. This October will mark three years since the former sheriff’s untimely death.
Today, Normand remains as popular as ever in Jefferson Parish. In TJR’s public opinion poll that was released last month, the sheriff received an enviable 89 percent approval rating, topping even Gov. Bobby Jindal. In fact, only 6 percent of the poll’s participants voiced negative inclinations about Normand.
In political terms, he’s an Untouchable.
Even when his relationship with movie star and one-time deputy Steven Seagal — a union inherited largely from Lee — turned sour, Normand owned the spin by taking away Seagal’s badge and reaching out to his accuser, who was allegedly kept at the actor’s Jean Lafitte mansion as a “sex toy.”
Normand is a local boy, too, which is important. Although he was born in Los Angeles in 1958, he only lived there for two years before coming to Jeff. He attended Jesuit High School and the University of New Orleans. Later, he continued his education and snatched up a law degree from Tulane.
Under Lee’s guidance, Normand jumped over onto the administrative and legal side of law enforcement in the mid-90s and he has been a key player in parish politics ever since. Normand is an avid sportsman and lives in Metairie with his wife, Shawn Bridgewater, and two children.
According to his 2009 personal financial disclosure report, Normand made about $157,000 as sheriff last year and less than $5,000 in health insurance benefits as a member of East Jefferson General Hospital’s Board of Directors.
Normand also owns a 50 percent share in CTNN Enterprises LLC of Harvey. While the state doesn’t require specific amounts for certain income, we do know that Normand made between $25,000 and $100,000 as an “offshore oil industry broker” through the company.
The Secretary of State’s corporate database lists Craig Taffaro as the only other officer in CTTN. On the sheriff’s Web site, Taffaro is further tagged as Normand’s chief of field operations. Taffaro is a mover and shaker in his own right as well and was recently appointed to the Planning Advisory Board by the Parish Council, whose membership knows Taffaro.
In 2009, based on campaign finance reports, the Taffaro household donated $500 to Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng, daughter of Harry Lee. Normand, for his part, is Lee-Sheng’s campaign chairman.
State Sen. Danny Martiny, a Metairie Republican, is Lee-Sheng’s campaign treasurer, but Martiny apparently gets more bang out of his relationship with Normand. In 2008, Martiny’s law firm made $188,000 representing the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
As for 2009, Martiny has not yet filed an updated personal financial disclosure form — but he did donate $1,000 to Normand on Oct. 24, 2009, paid equally between checks from his law firm and Senate campaign account.
From his own war chest, Normand personally contributed money last year to the campaign funds of District Attorney Paul Connick, $1,000, and Parish Councilman Tom Capella, $500. But the money just circled back around. Capella’s campaign donated $1,000 back to Normand in 2009, Connick’s committee kicked up $1,000 and then Connick’s private law firm came through with an additional $500.
Normand’s most recent campaign finance report shows he has more than $1 million in the bank. To put that figure into perspective, it exceeds the campaign kitties controlled by many statewide elected officials and a few members of Congress.
There are also a couple of donations that connect Normand to the sad case of Tim Whitmer, the former parish administrator who resigned from office after it became known that his company, Lagniappe Industries, was allegedly selling insurance coverage to public entities and parish contractors.
There’s $500 from former Parish President Tim Coulon, an admitted agent for Lagniappe Industries, and $250 from former Parish President Aaron Broussard, who resigned after briefly covering for Whitmer and telling reporters he helped direct business to Lagniappe.
Normand has another set of roots in the Redflex debacle. It’s truly a legal mess — the Council halted the traffic light camera program when accusations were made that lobbyists for the company were set to get a cut of the profits locally; citizens are filing lawsuits, and not just in south Louisiana, based on privacy rights and other issues; and now Redflex has the parish in court for $5 million it says it is owed from the $20 million that’s been collected from captured offenders.
Council Chairman John Young, who is running for parish president, is credited with pushing the Redflex deal past the finish line in this 2007 account from The Times-Picayune, but it sounds more like Normand was in the driver’s seat:
The idea to install cameras at 10 of Jefferson’s most accident-prone intersections became a mission for Councilman John Young, a former assistant district attorney who had specialized in traffic enforcement. He gained support from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the parish district attorney’s office for the plan shortly after Hurricane Katrina… the key to Redflex winning the Jefferson contract was a conversation Young had with Chief Deputy Newell Normand of the Sheriff’s Office, Young said.
Young seems to be following Normand’s lead on politics as well. His campaign for parish president has hired Karen Carvin Shachat and Deno Seder as media consultants. From Young’s press release: Both Carvin and Seder have a long history of handling winning campaigns in Jefferson Parish. Karen Carvin and her late father Jim Carvin worked in the contentious Parish President race for Mike Yenni when he beat Willie Hof in the late 1980’s. Both Seder and Carvin have worked for Sheriff Harry Lee over many campaigns and recently helped Sheriff Newell Normand win his election with 91 percent of the vote.
Normand has officially weighed in on the contest and is backing Young, but that only comes after Tom Capella’s decision to run for parish assessor. Young crossed the sheriff last year in quite a bold fashion, but that’s obviously old news. That’s when Young led the opposition movement against Normand’s proposed sales tax plan, which would have generated $17.5 million annually on the backs of taxpayers.
Then there’s what you think and know. What’s your take on Sheriff Normand? Has crime improved since he took office? Are tax dollars being used wisely? We want your words and thoughts. So weigh in here and keep checking back.
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***Last week, we posted another “Getting To Know You” story on District Attorney Paul Connick and asked for your input. Readers responded and we’ll be posting follow-up stories to both editions of the “Getting To Know You” series this month. If you have something to add, act soon!
