JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — After almost a month of controversy and wavering, it’s now official: The Jefferson Parish registrar of voters says he is hiring former Parish President Mike Yenni and Yenni will start as chief deputy registrar Monday, nearly eight years after WWL Louisiana exposed his sexually explicit texts to a 17-year-old boy.
Registrar of Voters Dennis DiMarco sent a letter to Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and council members Friday stating that “after much consideration and consultation with our legal counsel,” he had decided to hire Yenni.
He also wrote that it would amount to “outside interference” by other elected officials on his independent office if he yielded to pressure from council members not to hire Yenni.
Yenni left public life four and a half years ago after declining to seek reelection as parish president and acknowledging that the improper texts were a mistake that had caused disappointment for his family. WWL first exposed the sexting scandal in September 2016, including texts by Yenni to a 17-year-old in the summer of 2015 about the underwear he had bought for the teen and requesting to have sex with the teen.
The station was also first to report last month that Yenni was returning to government, shadowing a long-time registrar’s office employee and training to take over as chief deputy registrar.
DiMarco refused to answer questions from WWL and accused this reporter of a “hatchet job from the beginning on Mike Yenni.” In an interview at a public meeting on July 15, which extended out the parish government building to the parking garage, DiMarco repeated “nothing to report” 28 times, refused to answer questions about Yenni’s qualifications, and said he would sit down with WWL for an interview after meeting with all council members.
DiMarco has not agreed to multiple requests for interviews since then, including Friday when his staff said he was out of town.
Yenni had left town after the initial firestorm on a deployment with the Navy Reserves, according to his Facebook page. He reported returning earlier this week.
DiMarco met with council members and told them he would reconsider the hire in light of their concerns. Council members Scott Walker, Deano Bonano, and Jennifer VanVrancken all told the station that they didn’t think Yenni should be back as a public official.
After receiving DiMarco’s final decision letter Friday, Walker acknowledged the council can’t stop the registrar from hiring whomever he wants. But he said it’s not “about politics” to oppose the hire.
“This is not just any hire. This is a guy who was ostracized from political life because he had a relationship with a teenage boy,” Walker said.
He also said Lee Sheng’s administration had decided to withhold the parish’s $20,000 portion of Yenni’s salary, which he said is about $78,000 a year. Walker said he’d like to look at other options the council could take to “make my feelings about this hire loud and clear.
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Video: Head of Registrar of Voters office may backtrack on decision to hire Mike Yenni