Hello, everyone and welcome to the WDSU hot seat. I'm Salah Kim. We continue our debates now for the October elections and we're going to focus on an important seat. District 103 for an open state house seat. It's an important district because in Bernard Parish, as we all know is growing in population according to recent census data and according to analysts in the housing market. So right now, now the position is held by Ray Garafalo who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection. We have three candidates who qualified for this position. They are all here, two Republicans and one Democrat, Mr Mark Baham, Richie Lewis, current councilman and Mr Stacey Riley. Thank you so much, gentlemen for being here. As always. We're going to start with opening statements, opening remarks. You each have six seconds to begin. Mr Mark Baham, we'll start with you. I'm Mike Baham. I'm running for state representative. I'm *** lifelong resident of ST Bernard Parish, *** parishioner of Our Lady of Prom Sucker Church, *** graduate of Holy Cross High School in LSU. I'm also *** former councilman where I chaired the committee to redesign the parish flag founded the Battle of New Orleans re enactment and cracked down on blight across our community. The Office of State Representative is very important and it's *** hard commitment. We're going to have three, we're going to have *** three month regular session next year. In addition to the possibility of three special sessions to work on the housing, the home insurance issue, reapportionment and other important matters that affect our community and our state. We need someone who has the experience of working with the legislature to get the job done and I would be honored to receive your support in the election. All right. Thank you so much, Mr Mr Lewis. Thank you for having me. My name is Richie Lewis. I am the current councilman for ST Bernard Parish, *** lifelong resident of ST Bernard Parish. I've been married for 28 years. I have one daughter who has graduated from she high school. I've been in business my entire life. Um I currently own *** restaurant in ST Bernard and I have the skill set and the experience to go to Baton Rouge and help this insurance market to make an arena where other companies will come in and get some better competitive rates. I've served on the Paris Council for the last 12 years. I've been the Council at Large West and chairman for the last eight years. I've also served five years on the executive finance committee, four years on the Planning Commission committee. I'm *** current member of the Rotary Club and the club and *** proud member of Saint Bernard Parish. All right, Mr Lewis. Thank you so much, uh Mr Stacey Riley. Thank you for having us today. My name is Stacy Riley Senior. I'm running for the house district 103, lifelong resident of Saint Bernard Parish. Graduate of Saint Bernard High School in 1982 graduate of Del Community College, as well as LSU. Also, I'm *** military veterans of 21 years former school board member of Saint Bernard Parish. And just as you stay, stayed in the opening statement, Saint Bernard is growing. But during my military tenure been around the country and I've seen how other communities and I really think Saint Bernard can use my wisdom in the in regards to the growth and development of the parish. All right, Mr Riley, thank you so much. I can tell you, gentlemen, are all going to be on time. So that's certainly good news. Let's start then. Since you all talked about the insurance crisis, let's start with that topic. Such an important issue, not only for our state, but also across the country. I myself have talked to so many homeowners struggling with homeowners and insurance and the skyrocketing premiums lawmakers I talked to said this is going to be *** priority during the next legislative session. So if you are elected, what is your plan to help these struggling homeowners and bring down the insurance premiums. So Mr Boeheim, let's start with you. The good news is we're going to have 144 legislators that are going to be focused on this issue possibly in the special session at the new insurance commissioner, Tim Temple is advocating for I've met with Commissioner Jim Donlan and have had conversations with Mr Temple about the issues. Some of the things we need to do is create *** more competitive environment to bring in more companies into Louisiana. Now, the good news is we have *** much greater share of the national insurance companies participating in Louisiana than *** state like Florida. But we need to make sure that these insurance companies that are coming in that are enticed to come in are sustainable. We've had problems with insurance companies going belly up that have come here. So one of the big things we need to do is we need to first keep investing in the the Roof Fortification Grant system that has led to people's homeowners insurance dropping significant significantly. Secondly, we need to look at what other states are doing in their legal system to have much lower insurance rates than what we have in Louisiana. Third is we need to look at we need to protect. All right, thank you so much, Mr Lewis. What is your plan if elected to help struggling homeowners and bring down the skyrocketing insurance premium? Basically, the question is, what is your plan, detailed plan to solve this insurance crisis. So looking at the insurance crisis and some of the things that Mr Bahe has said is absolutely true. We need to create an environment where insurance companies will come down and do business in Louisiana. It has to be cleaned up by the state legislature. Nobody on this panel is more experienced in meeting when it comes to building *** business environment. I've built businesses from the ground up and I know what that takes to attract them and get them there. I look forward to working with our new insurance commissioner and working with the House of Representatives. We know there's going to be *** whole lot of new representatives there and putting the ideas on the table and moving forward to lower the cost for our everyday working Americans and especially an audience um on this insurance issue. But as long as we, as long as we keep the current policies, we have, we're going to struggle to, to get this, this down and this isn't going to be fixed in one session or one special session. This is gonna take time, it's going to take every industry to sit at the table and, and figure out what what the moves are to get this insurance price down. But there are also some things you can do in the interim, you can look at you. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much Mr Riley. What is your plan? To solve the insurance crisis. Uh, first of all, I think we need to do *** nationwide search, uh, comparing the insurance rates. Secondly, we need some legislation. Uh, *** lot of insurance companies are to come to Louisiana because of the, the propensity for lawsuits and *** lot of them are going back for law lawsuits or leaving, leaving the state. And we need to look at those laws and adjust those where it was. It won't be as easy to file lawsuits. And that's most of the problem with, with the insurance rates, the steady skyrocketing in this area. Yeah, definitely gonna be *** big issue that lawmakers will have to tackle during the next legislative session. The next question is about another issue that's making headlines in ST Bernard Parish, the port project. If elected, do you support the project or not? And tell us why we'll start with you, Mr Lewis. Thank you. Great question. Right. I'm the only candidate up here that has publicly voted twice in opposition of the port. I've also sponsored some resolutions and sent them up to the state regarding the infrastructure that is going to surround the port. The port project is, is gonna be really hard on Saint Bernard Parish. Um It, it's gonna be, our infrastructure is not ready for *** port of this size. I just, I think it's way too big for our parish at this point and there's *** lot of discussion that has to be had. But if I could press the button today to not have the port in Saint Bernard Parish, I would press that button today. All right. Thank you, Mr Lewis, Mr Riley. As far as the port is concerned, I'm, I'm at *** neutral, neutral point standpoint with it because Saint Bernard, we've, we've challenged several issues throughout the years. We had the, you only get rent to your blood relative was shot down by *** federal judge. When you're building in the hospital, there was *** lawsuit against it. It was shot down by *** federal judge. So we have to look at the totality of the issue in regards to what the federal government is going to say in regards to the port and 99 times out of 10, when they say something is coming, it's it's coming. So we need to grab *** hole. And I also found out that Senator John Kennedy has also earmarked $15 million towards that port project as well. So I believe it's coming. We just have to get with the port and get an understanding of what's going on in regards to the port and make it happen from that standpoint. Ok. So it sounds like you are in support. I'm not exactly in support but I'm not, I'm not going to rule it out because I've seen history. You're willing to work to see what kind of benefits. Yes, pros and cons the port will bring, bring to the Paris. All right, thank you Mr Reilly for that transparent answer, Mr Baham, would you support the port project? Absolutely not. I've consistently been against the Violet Port project. I believe it will degrade our high quality of life in Saint Bernard. It's going to impact us in *** very severe way and I'm very concerned about that. You have concerns about the stress that it's going to put on our existing infrastructure And, and to be brutally honest, we've heard this from the port before with the Mississippi River golf outlet. This was supposed to bring prosperity to our community and all it did was bring 10 ft of water in our living rooms. During hurricane Katrina, we need to have someone who will be *** strong advocate against this project opponent against this project in Baton Rouge. The port has gotten state funds to help pay for some of the early engineering work on this. As *** state representative, I will work against future funding to the port because we have to stop this project or it will affect our parish in *** way where we will not be able to recover. All right, thank you so much, Mr Boeheim for that answer. Let's move on to another very important topic, not only for ST Bernard port for the entire Southeast Louisiana area, natural disaster. ST Bernard Parish. Not *** stranger to that. Obviously, if elected, how will you continue to help support in the recovery efforts of the Arab tornado. And do you have any other plans to help protect your constituents and residents from future natural disasters? Mr Riley, yes, if elected work hard with FEMA in regards to their, their action plans in regards to hurricanes and hurricane recovery, work with them and get the federal funding to help rebuild if there is *** natural disaster and also early warning system, help evacuate those who need to get out in regards of *** hurricane is coming. You know, we don't wanna get caught, like many people were caught with. Katrina didn't have any finances, nowhere to go, got caught on their roof because they had no way to get out. So those type of issues we need to work on in regards to nat natural disasters. All right. Thank you, Mr Saint Bernard has been challenged more than any other community in the state of Louisiana over the years. But between hurricanes and tornadoes, the spirit of Saint Bernard is one of resiliency. We get knocked down hard, but we get back up quick and we heal fast. One of the big things that we need to do for in ST Bernard and Louisiana as *** whole is to continue to fight for greater coastal protection money up on the federal government. Congressman Garret Graves has done *** fantastic job holding the Army Corps accountable saying that with the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet funding after Katrina that they need to fix it there is no cost share. They agreed to fix it after Katrina we need and Congressman Graves has held the cops accountable on that and we need to back Congressman Graves up on this and work with our federal delegation. I've worked with some of our federal officials to try to ensure that we have *** greater share of our oil revenue coming in and restore our coast. And I will be *** strong advocate for that in Baton Rouge and in Washington DC, we have *** working relationship with our congressional delegation. All right, Mr Baham, thank you so much for that, Mr Lewis. What is your plan to protect residents from future natural disasters and continue in the current recovery effort from the Arab tornado as *** city councilman, you know, when hurricane Katrina hit, one of the, one of the hardest things we faced was, people couldn't get back home for two weeks because we had to wait for the state and federal money to come in and clean up. Since then, I've worked really hard to put together *** contingency fund of money that is available after *** natural disaster, which is why when the deadly tornadoes hit in Arabi, we were able to hit the streets that night and clean up and get our residents cleaned up and put back together as fast as possible. We didn't have to wait for federal or state money to come in and help us clean up. So I plan to continue that and make sure that we have that in place and when it comes to our coastal protection, which we definitely need more of the last eight years. I've been *** part of bringing over *** billion dollars of coastal projects to ST Bernard Parish for this exact reason to give us more natural disaster protection from hurricanes. I don't think anybody could foresee two tornadoes in one year in ST Bernard Parish. but we handled those just like we handle every other natural disaster and the first class rate put our citizens back in their houses, got them back on their and back to work just as soon as we possibly could. All right. Thank you so much, Mr Lewis. Let's talk next about *** topic we talked about before the debate. Let's talk about the recent issue making headlines in ST Bernard Parish fights at local schools and local high schools and you are *** former school board member. So I'll start this question with you, Mr Riley of 60 seconds. *** number of brawls and fights have happened recently. All captured on camera going viral, making news from ST Bernard Parish. What is your plan to help reduce violence for the youngsters at schools in ST Bernard? I think the biggest piece on that is, is mentorship. Uh Many of the kids need to be mentored. Some of them are single family homes, mothers raising young men and don't have *** true grass on it. And uh one thing was mentioned, dad's on duty, you know, getting with uh church groups in order to come and mentor the kids in order to let them know that fighting is not the answer to, to solve the problem. Maybe we get ***, *** debate team or something where they can get there and uh, counselors can talk to them where they can out their differences without using their fists and try to alleviate the fighting in the schools. I know when we was coming up, uh, we used to have boxing gloves where if you had *** problem, the coaches used to put you in the middle of the gym and the funny part, but the, the gloves were too heavy for us. So you wasn't getting many licks by the time you tried, you, you were out of breath. So you need to look at alternative ways to get these kids more involved with each other and let them know that all that fighting is not the answer. Yeah, mentorship is so important, Mr Bae. What is your plan to help reduce violence in schools? First of all, no child should be afraid to go to school and I keep encountering this when talking to parents on the campaign trail that said that their kids are afraid to go to school. That's unacceptable people, young men or young people in general who are engaging in violence in schools, they need to be held accountable if they cannot behave themselves in the school system. Then we need to find alternatives. We also need to provide them with mental health assistance. That's one of the big things that these schools are lacking. We need more mental health counselors in the schools. Unfortunately, we live in *** much more toxic society than the one that we all grew up in. And we need to provide these kids counseling and we need to help them work through their problems because the problems that are in the school are going to spread to the street and into the neighborhoods and it'd be better if we can nip this problem in the bud. I will work with the school board to see what we could do on *** state level to help make our school safe. All right. Thank you, Mr Lewis. Thank you. You know, it's unfortunate that the fight that we had at the one particular incident we're talking about at Shelman High school and there's no other place to put the responsibility on other than the kids that actually got into the fight. And I think Mr Riley kind of had the answer that that seems more likely to me is, is we have to teach respect to our young, our young generations and that's through mentorship and we have to get some programs. Dad's on duty is going to be *** great program. I know our sheriff is working on launching that program. Um And I look forward to working with the Education Committee and the House of Representatives and coming up with policies we can, that can stop these kids from being scared to go to school. Our kids need to go to school and they should, this is the years you should enjoy in your life. This should be the one of the best times in your life when you're in high school, you shouldn't have to worry about fights or any of these things going on. So hopefully we can, we can start with the younger generation and start some mentorship programs and start to make them *** little bit more responsible and maybe *** little bit more. Uh What's the word I'm looking for here? It's respect authority. I think that they need to respect authority figures. Mr is right. We had fights when we were in high school, but when the teacher showed up, everybody quit fighting and, and it was over. All right, Mr Lewis, thank you so much for that. That's all the time we have. I wish I had more time to ask you so many more questions that I didn't get to, but hopefully you'll be continuing to do your campaigning. So thank you so much for that. Let's end now with some closing remarks, closing statements, you each have 60 seconds to tell the viewers why you think you are the best candidate for this seat. Uh We'll start with you, Mr Beam, like I said, I have worked, worked with the Louisiana Legislature for many years. I worked in the State Senate in 1995. I have *** working relationship with senators and representatives from across the state. That is how I was able to work to get capital outlay funds, to fix the Saint Bernard Parish jail and to help the sheriff build *** new special operations facility on Paris Road. We need someone who can hit the ground running. I have *** working relationship with not only just the current legislators but some of the people that are gonna be elected this uh this fall and that's very important because you have to get 53 votes to pass *** bill in the House of Representatives and 20 votes in the Senate. I have those contacts. I have those working relationships and I will be able to be effective for Saint Bernard. There are 100 and 44 legislators. We need to make the person who has this seat count for our parish. Thank you. Right. Thank you, you Mr Lewis. You have 60 seconds. Thank you, Richie Lewis. I've been involved in Saint Bernard parish government for the last 16 years. My roots and my relationships are in Saint Bernard Parish with business owners and families alike. It will take years for someone to foster their relationships and understand the needs of Saint Bernard Parish. The way I do my experience in business, my experience with my family, my experience in politics. Gives me more than an edge over the current candidates for this seat to go to Baton Rouge. You know, I haven't been in Baton Rouge every day for the last 10, 15 years. It wasn't my job to do so. It was my job to work in Saint Bernard Parish. It was my job to help the current issues in Saint Bernard Parish. I know those issues inside and out. I know what the businesses need. I've worked with our chamber, the Chamber of Commerce for years, knowing how to work through supply chain shortages, employee shortages, rising taxes, rising insurance and knowing the needs that businesses need to survive. Knowing the needs that our Saint Bernard families need to survive. I know what's going on in our community. I'm intimate in every single topic that is happening in Saint Bernard Parish. And this more than qualifies me to represent you as your house representative district 103. Number 49 Richie Lewis. Thank you. All right. Thank you Mr Lewis. Mr Riley. Yes. Uh again, my name is Stacey Riley senior and my number is 50 on the ballot. I I didn't do it in my introduction of married to Dana Riley, uh 20 years who is an educator and as I stated, I was *** former school board member as well. Education is one of the one of the key issues to the growth in our parish in our community as well as I'm also endorsed by the *** FL cio. So just as my opponent stated, about making contacts, I have contacts with current legislators as well to hit the ground running business experience. I've worked in the, in the quick service industry for many years, almost 30 years. So I know how to run *** business as well. So consider me, I hit the ground running and I'm dedicated and hard working and I always answer my phone. All right. Thank you so much for that, Mr Stacey Riley Democrat, Mr Richie Lewis Republican and Republican candidate Mark Baham. Thank you, gentlemen so much for your time.