By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – It was over a year ago when questions first were being put to Natalie Robottom about running for parish president.

Current President Nickie Monica was term limited out by 2008, and it was early in 2006 that the questions began to come up about who would run.

Robottom seemed a strong entry, since she had served as Monica’s Chief Administrative Officer, and had always received accolades for her knowledge of issues, and the professional way she handled herself.

“When I first was getting asked out it, I said ‘no’ quite emphatically,” she said.

After all, Robottom had never run for political office and never saw herself as a political person.

But still the questions persisted, and then the pressure from others increased.

“It really never seemed like my decision to run,” she said. “It wasn’t really my choice. I had a lot of people who kept asking me to do it, and the more I looked at the idea of being parish president, I finally decided to try.”

After Saturday’s election results, where she lost a narrow 51 percent to 49 percent margin in the runoff for parish president to Bill Hubbard, there is no question in Robottom’s answer when asked about another run for office.

“No, never again,” she said. “Or should I say, — no.”

Robottom was running a strong first in the polls from the outset. She announced for the position before anyone else, and was a natural front runner with her experience working with the Monica administration.

But Hubbard started an aggressive marketing campaign months ago, and came from a virtual unknown to winning the parish presidency seat.

Robobottom was asked what the difference in the the win and loss was, and her answer was quick.

“Money, plain and simple. Money was the difference,” she said.

Robottom said she raised about $135,000 for the campaign, and never spent any of her money, while Hubbard told L’Observateur he spent over $200,000 in the campaign, along with making a $20,000 loan to the campaign from his personal money.

“I ran a good race and I feel very good about how I conducted myself through the campaign,” Robottom said. “I gave it my best effort, but it wasn’t to be for me. I’ll never run again, that’s for sure. But I’m a better and stronger person for what I went through in this campaign.”

As for comments about Hubbard and how he managed to win from his early low ratings, Robbottom simply said, “I’d rather not comment.”

She did say that she sees the key issues facing Hubbard as the same things she addressed in her campaign.

With the water problem in LaPlace almost fixed with a new system scheduled to come on line in December, and a big, new sewer treatment plant now approved and being built, she pointed to the traffic problems and the educational system as key areas that need addressing.

“I think Bill has the same ideas as we had,” she said. “And that’s a noble approach to being parish president. He will go through a transition with new council people coming on board, and new people he appoints. But then he needs to work on the school situation, helping students be more prepared for industry jobs or to go to the technical college if they aren’t sure about college, and then to work on our traffic problems.”

As for Robottom, she said she has a number of job offers already, and can pick from government, business or education to go into.

“I’ll take a little break and decide what to do next,” she said. “But I definitely have some options already in front of me.”

How does she feel now that the campaign is over?

“I feel good, and I feel a big relief,” she said. “It’s amazing how good I feel today. I think it’s because I know I ran a clean campaign, and now that it’s over, it’s just a big relief to me.”