He's back.
Former Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni, who served one term before opting not to run in 2019 due to a sexting scandal, is back in parish government. News broke Tuesday that Yenni has gone to work as the top deputy to Jefferson Parish Registrar of Voters Dennis DiMarco.
It's a wily move for DiMarco, a longtime political fixture in Jefferson who gets to hire someone who was widely considered a capable administrator. And since the registrar doesn't answer to the Parish Council, he has insulation against the inevitable political backlash. DiMarco has a long relationship with the Yenni family, working for Yenni's grandfather and uncle before serving on the younger Yenni's transition teams.
Whether it's a good move for Yenni is another question. Since his term ended in early 2020, he's been out of the public eye. That must have been a welcome development for his family, who had endured countless news reports about his scandal since it came to light in 2016, even though he argued — often vociferously — that it was a nonstory.
Taking a job in the public sector, even in a relatively low-profile job in the registrar's office, will only resurface much of that negative attention.
Predictably, Yenni's hiring drew quick reaction. Council member Deano Bonano, a longtime parish employee who in 2016 worked for Council member Chris Roberts, a Yenni adversary, told The Times-Picayune's Blake Paterson that Yenni's hiring was a "slap in the face" to the people of Jefferson Parish. Council member Scott Walker said he thought the move was an effort to "rehab" Yenni's image.
The reactions are mostly performative. The Council appoints the registrar but is powerless to remove or otherwise punish him. That can only be done by the State Board of Election Supervisors.
Faimon Roberts on Monday, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Reached by phone Wednesday, Yenni would only say that he "loves working in government" and that the job reminded him of when he was then-Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz's top aide, a job he called "awesome."
Yenni's reemergence evokes a volatile time in the parish's politics when warring factions waged bitter campaigns fueled by genuine animus.
Let's quickly recap Yenni's arc. A scion of a prominent Jefferson Parish political family — his grandfather Joe Yenni has his name on the parish's main governmental building and his uncle Mike Yenni was also parish president — Yenni became Kenner mayor in 2010. Four years later, he cruised to reelection before deciding to run for parish president in 2015.
The election, in which Yenni faced off against at-large council member Elton Lagasse, was intense. Lagasse, who was behind in the polls, recycled old allegations that Yenni was a political conniver who in 1998 changed his surname from Maunoir, his name at birth. Yenni said he did it to honor his mother and grandmother after his parents divorced. He accused Lagasse of focusing on the past and trying to score cheap political points.
During the race's latter stages, his opponents approached media with allegations that Yenni had sent sexually explicit texts to a 17-year-old. The teen and his family were reluctant to talk to reporters, but months later, WWL-TV's David Hammer broke the story.
Yenni apologized and acknowledged sending "improper" texts but denied wrongdoing.
The fallout was immediate and severe. Critics launched a recall petition. The feds reportedly investigated. The parish council called for Yenni's resignation. The parish school board passed an unenforceable resolution banning him from campuses.
Through it all, Yenni refused to bow to pressure. The recall petition failed. Yenni said he was never even interviewed by investigators, who didn't file charges. He stayed in office throughout it all.
But the damage was done. Halfway through his term, his political future was in hospice. In 2019, to no one's surprise, he opted not to run again, saying he couldn't put his family through it.
Since leaving office, Yenni has done deployments as a Naval reservist and offered his services as a consultant.
Now he's back in parish government.
The registrar's office is a far cry from the 10th-floor presidential office he once decorated like George W. Bush's Oval Office, but it puts him back in the building. And DiMarco, who has been the registrar of voters since 1997, can't serve forever.
Yenni could be well-positioned to make a play to be DiMarco's replacement. He could certainly argue that all of the allegations against him are far in the past, and point to others who have weathered scandal and returned to public service.
He'd be right. But it might not matter.
Yenni may want to focus on the future, but fair or not, he's never going to escape his past.