Recall drive half way at half-way point, organizers say

The point man for Eunice First’s recall campaign against Mayor Bob Morris says it has about half the required signatures with half the allowed time remaining.
Darren D’Aubin concedes the harder work lies ahead.
Eunice First organized in August and filed its recall notice with the Secretary of State on Aug. 20.
It has until Feb. 20 to obtain approximately 2,200 signatures of registered Eunice voters to force a recall election on Morris.
“We’ve gotten all those who were dissatisfied enough to get out and do something,” D’Aubin said during an interview at his Cajun Real Estate office on Second Street.
“Now we are working those who are dissatisfied but couldn’t or wouldn’t get out and sign our petitions,” he said.
D’Aubin said the recall group is working door-to-door in neighborhoods to secure necessary names.
The Eunice First office in Amy Shopping Center will probably close soon due to a declining amount of visitors there.
D’Aubin said recall workers will take the petition to anyone who cannot get to his office.
“We got about 100 signatures working on Halloween night and only one person we asked said no,” D’Aubin said of the neighborhood work.
He said there are about six petition books involved in the canvassing of a total of about 12 in effect.
This is the third recall campaign against Morris since he took office in January 2007. The others did not obtain the necessary signatures.
Morris declined to comment on the recall, saying he “is focused on all the progress we’re making in this city.”
Recalling Morris is priority one for Eunice First, though D’Aubin, who is president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the new group will serve from here on as a conduit for business involvement in government.
“We haven’t looked beyond the recall at other issues. The recall is a high enough mountain for now.”
And he said Eunice First does not have a mayoral candidate in mind.
“We would more than likely decide who we like among the field. If there were not one we felt right with, then as a last resort we might look for one,” D’Aubin said.
D’Aubin noted that the recall number is about the same as the number who voted in the 2006 election that Morris won.
Why the apathy on that election day?
“Many felt they didn’t have a candidate they liked between the two (incumbent Lynn LeJeune was the other candidate), so they just didn’t vote. They paid a high price to learn the lesser of two evils is still better than no action,” D’Aubin said.
He said there doesn’t seem to be a specific issue that stands out among those signing the petitions.
“There’s just a general dissatisfaction that seems aimed at the mayor and his dictatorial style,” D’Aubin said. “The city shouldn’t be run like a fiefdom,” he added.
He said he thought a more-muted mayor of late is a combination of Morris’ learning to better manage his image while he manages the city and an awareness of the recall campaign.
“His style hasn’t changed. It’s just more quiet. Just because he’s not on a planter screaming doesn’t mean he’s changed,” D’Aubin said.
He said the timing of the beginning of the recall campaign and the filing of defamation suits against Morris by City Council members Chawana Fontenot and Bubba Bourque was coincidental. Fontenot and Bourque were among the first signers of the petition in August.
Morris declined to comment on the recall, other than to deny he has spoken to anyone’s employer about their participation in the campaign against him.
The mayor’s supporters have noted that some Eunice First supporters don’t live in the city, questioning why they are involved.
D’Aubin lives in Chataignier.
“My business is in town and it is affected by what occurs here. And I do a lot of my work and other activity here.
“On a personal level, I am involved in schools, sports and civic activities in town.
“And I still have an opinion, even though I have no vote, “ he said.