News Roundup

Tensions run high in at-large race

The Times-Picayune
By Steve Ritea and Michelle Krupa Staff writers
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The final days of any political campaign are always tense. But nerves seem to be getting frayed in the runoff for the only vacant at-large council seat, as evidenced by the abrupt exit of City Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson from a debate Friday.

Clarkson stormed out of a forum at Woodland Presbyterian Church in Algiers after resident Teresa Haab accused Clarkson of not keeping a 3-year-old promise to repair her street and asked: “Why would anyone vote for someone that lies?”

Clarkson later said she was trying to answer Haab’s question — explaining how the city’s bond rating had prevented a bond sale in October needed to pay for the street repairs — but “the woman kept calling me a liar and the moderator kept letting her do it,” so “I left.”

Moderator Frances Sewell said Clarkson took more than six minutes to respond to the question and resisted each time she was told she had reached a three-minute limit on answers.

“I’m gonna finish, Frances!” Clarkson said several times before storming out.

“She was shaking her finger and getting all upset,” Haab said.

Her challenger in the race, former New Orleans Saints executive Arnie Fielkow, said he tried to calm things down after she left, thanking everyone for attending the forum and sharing their concerns. Clarkson, who heard about Fielkow’s words from supporters, later called to thank him for being a “gentleman,” he said.

But the honeymoon didn’t last long.

On Saturday, Fielkow tried to make political hay out of the incident, issuing a news release saying he was “disappointed.” He added: “Angrily walking out of this type of public forum is unacceptable and not the kind of leadership we need if we are to move our city forward.”

In an interview Monday, an angry Clarkson responded to Fielkow’s news release, calling him a “son of a bitch.”

Fielkow fired back, calling her words “highly offensive, insulting and totally inappropriate.”

Clarkson said she is planning to take out a full-page ad in Thursday’s editions of The Times-Picayune to fully respond to Haab’s question. In the ad, Clarkson explains the status of several road repairs and pledges “to oversee the commitments I have made to you.”

Haab said she regrets using the word “liar.” Then she added: “I was taught growing up that when someone doesn’t tell the truth, they’re a liar.”