Feud between Patricia Schwarz Core and her successor, Louis Firzmorris, means transition is anything but smooth
The acrimony between the longtime St. Tammany Parish assessor and the small-town mayor who challenged her is typical for local political campaigns in Louisiana. There is the constant sniping. The he-said, she-said accusations. The occasional tabloidesque news release. A casual observer might think the race is imminent and every potential vote counts.
View full sizeLouis Fitzmorris, left, and Patricia Schwarz CoreBut this race ended months ago, with Abita Springs Mayor Louis Fitzmorris defeating incumbent Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core in her bid for a sixth consecutive term.
A state law keeps Fitzmorris from taking office until 2013, though, ostensibly to ensure a smooth transition period for the taxpayers as well as for the current and future office-holders. Yet, the transition thus far has been anything but smooth -- and it seems to be getting worse.
By all accounts, the relationship between the assessor and the assessor-elect began well enough.
Core called Fitzmorris on the night of the Nov. 21 runoff to concede the race and offer her congratulations. Fitzmorris appreciated the call and believed that Core meant it when she said she would help him in any way possible before he took office.
More than a month passed before Core spoke to Fitzmorris again. She said she was driving back to Louisiana on Dec. 28 from a visit with her family in Florida when Fitzmorris called and, during the course of a conversation about family and other pleasantries, mentioned that a liaison from his transition team and a campaign supporter -- Abita Springs Alderwoman Sheri Campbell -- would be starting work at the assessor's office on Jan. 3, at a salary of $40,000.
Core said she had no idea what he was talking about and that Fitzmorris had never discussed this proposition with her.
The situation involving Campbell triggered the downfall of the fledgling relationship and put a stop to personal communication between the two.
Fitzmorris said Abita Springs Alderman Troy Dugas, the head of his transition team, had arranged the job with George Klumpp, chief deputy in the assessor's office. But, it appears Klumpp failed to inform Core of the plan. Klumpp said last week he told Dugas he would have to talk to Core first but he didn't think she'd have a problem with Campbell working there.
Fitzmorris said he didn't know that. He said Klumpp promised Campbell a job, said she could start Jan. 3 and initially suggested a salary of $50,000, which Fitzmorris said he rejected as being too high for the work that she would be performing. Klumpp then suggested $40,000, Fitzmorris said.
Klumpp agreed the salary discussion occurred as Fitzmorris recounted, but he denied telling Dugas or Fitzmorris that the job was a sure thing.
Fitzmorris, who said he wanted Campbell to observe the operation and learn how the office is run, conceded that he never spoke to Core about Campbell. Rather, he assumed that Klumpp had the authority to make the decision.
Core's refusal to hire Campbell led Fitzmorris to seek information -- and lots of it -- about the way Core runs the office. Armed with that information, he then launched criticisms about her hiring decisions, her office finances and her efforts to secure a state law mandating free lifetime health insurance for herself and her retired employees.
Fitzmorris has tapped Dugas to serve as his chief deputy when he takes office. Klumpp said he likely will retire before the end of Core's term, but that Fitzmorris has asked him to return part-time to help him get acquainted with the job.
Fitzmorris also will have Campbell's help when he starts work; he already has assigned her the job of handling public and intragovernmental relations in his administration.
At the same time, he criticized Core for hiring longtime political supporter and former Parish Councilman Ken Burkhalter in January as a field appraiser in the assessor's Slidell office at a salary of $26,000 per year. Burkhalter lost his bid for re-election last fall.
Core said Burkhalter, a former contractor, asked for a job in August or September but she told him he couldn't start until the first of the year. In fact, Core has hired a total of five employees since Jan. 1, admittedly without first advertising the openings, at a total 2012 cost of $166,000.
Fitzmorris said he found the new hires strange, as Core had told him she couldn't hire Campbell because she wouldn't have time to train her. But Core said all of the new people on the payroll had experience and wouldn't need training.
"I have nothing against Sheri," Core said. "The only thing I knew was that she was an alderman and owned a snowball stand in Abita."
Campbell said Core is making the transition harder for everyone involved, including the taxpayers.
"There's a point where you need to look at the big picture," she said. "Ultimately, the people who are going to suffer in this tit-for-tat are the residents."
Once it became clear that Core wouldn't be welcoming Campbell into the office, Fitzmorris began inundating her with public records requests. Acting on Fitzmorris' behalf, Campbell hand-delivered 15 requests between Jan. 10 and March 6, seeking check registers, employee salaries and a list of raises Core had given during the past six months, just to name a few.
Fitzmorris said he felt he needed to put his requests for information in writing because he couldn't trust anything Core said, citing her sudden refusal to hire Campbell, then hiring five others instead.
Core noted that she has on several occasions told Fitzmorris she would help him and provide any information he would like. At the end of several of her responses to his public records requests, she said he could call her anytime and she would be glad to meet with him.
Fitzmorris said he thinks it's better to let others do the talking because when he and Core talk, it never goes well.
"I am the assessor. He is the assessor-elect. I don't know what his problem is," Core said. "Why hasn't he contacted me?"
She added that she ran into Fitzmorris at the St. Tammany Parish courthouse a couple of weeks ago and suggested they get together for lunch -- just the two of them. The lunch plan turned into a party of four -- Core, Fitzmorris, Klumpp and Dugas -- then occurred without Core when the men decided to keep the lunch on a date when she had a previous commitment.
Around that time, Fitzmorris issued a statement publicly criticizing state Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Pearl River, for filing a bill in the legislature at Core's request that would guarantee her and her employees free lifetime health insurance after serving in the office at least 20 years and reaching the age of 55.
He said Core and Crowe tried to "pull the wool" over the eyes of taxpayers by trying to "slip through" a bill that provides a "golden parachute" for Core. Employees in assessor's offices in 48 of the state's other 64 parishes already receive this benefit, and the state Legislature will consider a separate bill this session to add two others.
Crowe has since withdrawn his bill.
Core blames Fitzmorris for the feud, noting that she spoke to her fellow assessors at the annual state conference last month in Lafayette and none seems to be having such problems dealing with their successors.
"I just see it as more vindictive," she said, "than anything else."
For his part, Fitzmorris produced a newspaper article from 1993, in which Core said she wished her predecessor had allowed her to come into the office before the start of her first term to become familiar with the job.
He said he was hoping she'd appreciate his efforts -- via the hiring of Campbell -- to do the same. He noted her recent statement to the contrary:
"Louis can have the keys to this office when he lawfully claims it -- in January 2013," she said after he issued his news release about the retirement benefits bill. "Until then, we will continue to respond to his public records requests as the law requires -- and not a thing more."
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Christine Harvey can be reached at charvey@timespicayune.com or 985.645.2853.