By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Government corruption from previous parish leadership came to light Monday in the final parish presidential candidate forum before Saturday’s election.

Candidate Natalie Robottom, who has consistently campaigned on a platform of restoring faith and trust in parish government while also touting a zero tolerance policy for corruption, used her opening statements Monday to defend her acceptance of a contribution from the family of former Parish President Lester Millet Jr., who was convicted of extortion charges in 1995.

Robottom explained that $5,000 in campaign contributions came from Millet’s family and business and not from the former parish chief administrator, who was listed as the donor on campaign finance reports for several weeks before Robottom’s campaign changed what was described as a “reporting error.”

Robottom said a $2,500 individual contribution came from Millet’s wife Judy, and she added the other $2,500 came from Millet Enterprises, which lists Judy Millet as president, according to records from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Web site.

“She is supporting me because she felt I was the best candidate in the race,” Robottom said of Judy Millet. “I don’t think it’s fair for the other candidates to attack a local business owner because of a campaign contribution to me.”

As parish president, Millet used his office to pressure landowners to sell property to the Formosa Plastics company, which was looking to build a facility in the parish near Whitney Plantation in Wallace. He was convicted in 1995 of extorting money from a partner selling land to the company.

Robottom, whose major campaign theme has been the elimination of the “cloud of corruption” hanging over St. John Parish following former Parish President Bill Hubbard’s resignation and guilty plea for accepting bribes from parish contractors, stressed again Monday that she is committed to enforcing the strictest code of ethics for all aspects of her administration.

“Natalie Robottom did not bring corruption to St. John Parish,” she said. “I will not let Mr. Hubbard run St. John Parish from his jail cell.”

Fellow candidate Gerald Keller took issue with Robottom’s explanation and noted the report was filed in February with Lester Millet’s name attached, but her campaign delayed making the change until late last week, when questions were raised about the contribution by candidate Buddy Boe.

“It is five weeks later, and we are just now discovering an accounting mistake,” Keller said.

Also at issue Monday was a $1,000 campaign contribution from Hubbard to candidate Dale Wolfe. Wolfe, who serves on the parish council, addressed the issue as part of a question posed by forum moderator Amanda Howard.

“I did not solicit this contribution,” Wolfe said. “Bill Hubbard is his own man, and $1,000 won’t sway me one way or the other. Bill Hubbard didn’t run me when he was parish president, and he certainly won’t run me from his jail cell.”

Boe has challenged Robottom to return the contribution, arguing she cannot run a campaign on trust if she is taking contributions from a convicted felon and then changing a finance report so that people won’t notice.

Robottom said she sees no reason to return the funds because Millet’s criminal activity occurred 15 years ago, and he has paid for his mistakes.

She in turn challenged Boe to return money he received while working as campaign manager for Hubbard when he ran in 2007.

Other issues touched on during the two-hour forum included addressing the parish’s code enforcement department and officers, the candidates’ plans for correcting drainage problems, as well as possible ways to unify the east and west banks of the parish.