A dispute among Jefferson Parish officials over a bus advertising contract has sparked a political firestorm and exposed deep divisions that could determine the balance of power in Louisiana’s most populous coastal parish.
At the center of the dispute is Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Jennifer Van Vrancken, who on Monday portrayed both her fellow council members and Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng as corrupt politicians in a series of social media posts and emails to local GOP activists.
The scathing public statements followed a turbulent week behind the scenes in municipal administration, during which, as interviews with several municipal officials reveal, months of pent-up frustration over Van Vrancken’s approach to governance reached boiling point.
The latest dispute arose over a contract for advertising on municipal buses. In July, the municipal council unanimously approved Van Vrancken’s decision to commission FUEL Media to sell and install the advertising. Of the two bidders, FUEL offered the municipality the highest guaranteed monthly income.
However, according to Lee Sheng, the prosecution was unable to reach an agreement with the company, so its administration proposed adding items to the municipal council’s agenda to either re-tender the work or start negotiations with the other bidder.
Van Vrancken refused to put the items on the agenda, and when Lee Sheng’s administration began looking for another council sponsor, Van Vrancken confronted the mayor, arguing that legislation affecting the entire municipality must be sponsored by a council member without portfolio.
“Council At Large members decide whether or not to put community-wide issues on the agenda. Period,” Van Vrancken wrote in an email to her colleagues.
Instead, in an extraordinary rebuke, all five district council members joined together to put the items on the council’s agenda on Wednesday.
Divisive deal
On Monday, Van Vrancken sent a letter to Attorney General Liz Murrill asking her to look into the matter, arguing that Lee Sheng’s administration acted in “bad faith” to derail the contract negotiations.
“If the deal is fake, we all pay the price,” Van Vrancken said in a video posted on Facebook and Instagram. “Someone or something is trying to overturn the deal and give it back to a politically connected company. I need your help to expose this because this is about good government,” she added.
In an email to the Republican Women of Jefferson Parish, she wrote that the contract contained a “poison pill” designed to nip any real negotiations in the bud. She urged anyone “who agrees that this deal smells bad” to contact the parish president and parish council members.
In a statement, Lee Sheng said it was “regrettable that anyone would suggest that anyone in our government would ever try to undermine a treaty.”
Van Vrancken’s council colleagues are convinced that her motive is to take revenge on her political enemies.
“I believe this is a political feud and it is ironic that this is happening in the name of good government,” said Hans Liljeberg, a member of the 5th District Council.
The company that lost the contract is Vector Media, which is run locally by Dana Pecoraro, who supported Van Vrancken’s opponent Ricky Templet in last year’s election and, as a business owner in Fat City, was a vocal critic of Van Vrancken’s failed plan to build a $12 million entrepreneurship center in Fat City.
Neither Vector Media nor Pecoraro were immediately available for comment. Vector Media argued in a separate letter last month that its procurement process was flawed and threatened to sue.
Van Vrancken, who as a non-chair member has the honor of selecting the vendors for community-wide contracts, said she chose FUEL Media for the contract because the company offers a guaranteed monthly income of $20,833.33, compared to Vector Media’s $11,470.
She rejected the notion that her actions were motivated by political grudges, pointing out that earlier this month she voted to extend Vector Media’s existing contract with the municipality for six months while contract negotiations with FUEL Media continued.
These negotiations are about how many buses the municipality will allow FUEL Media to cover entirely with advertising. The municipality’s tender stated that some form of advertising would be allowed on all buses, but the number of buses that could be fully covered would be subject to negotiation.
Lee Sheng said FUEL Media submitted a proposal that incorrectly assumed they would be allowed to wrap the entire fleet of vehicles. The municipality gave the company an opportunity to revise its proposal, but there was no response, she said.
Van Vrancken said the contract would only allow FUEL Media to advertise on a portion of the buses. Lee Sheng, however, disputed that statement and said all buses would be eligible for some form of advertising. Cheryl Anderson, vice president at FUEL Media, declined to comment.
The council is divided
The recent controversy has brought Van Vrancken’s political isolation into focus and raised questions about how she can implement her programme three and a half years before the end of her term.
Four votes are needed to make a difference in the seven-member municipal council, and Van Vrancken is running against a coalition of five district council members.
Scott Walker, council member without portfolio and current council president, declined to comment. So did 2nd District Council member Deano Bonano and 4th District Council member Arita Bohanan. Jefferson Parish 1st District Council member Marion Edwards and 3rd District Council member Byron Lee did not respond to calls.
Van Vrancken argues that it is within the power of council members to decide whether or not to put items of community-wide importance on the meeting agenda, even if that means putting items requested by the administration on hold indefinitely.
She pointed to a “practices and procedures” manual prepared by the council’s research and budget office, which states that all township business must be approved by the non-presiding member without portfolio to be placed on the agenda. It is unclear whether the manual was ever voted on by the council.
Lee Sheng said that allowing council members to block items from the agenda would deprive other council members of their ability to speak on community-wide issues.
“We are just trying to give the council every opportunity to move this contract forward,” Lee Sheng said. “I have a lot of trains to keep on track. I can’t let the government stop operations because of one council member.”