JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — The Jefferson Parish Council unanimously resolved Wednesday to ask the Louisiana Board of Election Supervisors to review Mike Yenni's hiring as the parish's chief deputy registrar of voters.
Yenni returned to public office Monday morning over the objections of several parish council members, who said constituents don't want Yenni back in government because of Yenni’s sexually explicit texts to a 17-year-old in the summer of 2015. Those texts referred to underwear Yenni, then 40 and the mayor of Kenner, bought for the teen and Yenni stating he wanted to perform a sex act on the youth.
After WWL Louisiana exposed the texts in September 2016, Yenni admitted he sent "improper texts to a young man," apologized and said it caused embarrassment for his family, which drove him out of political office. Some council members said that alone should disqualify him from now taking on an important position overseeing elections.
Meanwhile, the parish's Ethics and Compliance Commission sent a letter to the parish attorney this week asking what authority Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng had to withhold the parish's $20,000 supplement to Yenni's $59,000 state salary.
"Our parish attorney has said it's well within our rights," Councilman Deano Bonano said after passing the resolution to request the state commission to review Yenni's hiring. "So, the parish attorney is the legal advisor to the council, not the Ethics Commission."
Yenni was hired by Registrar of Voters Dennis DiMarco, who is appointed by the parish council but holds an independent state office overseen by the Louisiana Election Commission. The council does not have any control over whom he hires, but it does control supplemental pay for both DiMarco and Yenni.
"If Mr. DiMarco were accountable to the voters, he would be run out of the parish right now," Bonano said.
But in an interview with WWL Louisiana on Tuesday, DiMarco defended his decision to hire Yenni and reiterated his argument that it should be free from any "outside interference" from the council.
"Only I take responsibility for what could be a great decision or a bad decision," DiMarco said. "I’m fair to everyone. I think Michael has shown contrition and he’s asking for the ability to support our elections.
"Do I like what happened way back when? No," added DiMarco, who accused this reporter of a "hatchet job" for reporting about the sexting scandal. "But I do believe without a (criminal) charge, he should be judged on his abilities from now on. Nobody can argue he doesn’t have the knowledge and experience to do this job."
DiMarco has repeatedly declined WWL's interview requests for nearly a month, since the station broke the story that he planned to hire Yenni in early July. DiMarco again declined to go on camera but spoke with this reporter over the phone.
He said he believed in second chances and has heard the same from a growing number of supporters of his decision. Debbie Albert, a member of the Jefferson Parish Board of Election Supervisors, made that argument to the council before it passed the resolution.
Yenni "has been persecuted," she said, getting emotional at the public speaker's lectern. "He's apologized publicly. His family has forgiven him. Felons -- convicted felons -- after five years, can in turn have the right to vote and be forgiven. So there's no reason that this man can't be forgiven. Everybody deserves a second chance."
In an interview with WWL during his first official day in office, Yenni said the sexting scandal was the “one mistake in my life.”
“I'm not going to keep reliving nine years ago and going back to that time,” he said. “It was a mistake. I apologized. Myself, my family; we've moved on. And, you know, unfortunately, there's the World Wide Web and Google, and you'll never get away from those things. So, (the chief deputy registrar position is) an opportunity for me to come back and serve the public in a great capacity with one of the most important things out there, voting.”
Yenni also emphasized that while he’s back in government, he’s out of politics, serving in an apolitical position.
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