By KEVIN CHIRI
Tammany West news
COVINGTON – A newcomer to the political scene in St. Tammany Parish upset the conventional thinking to win a runoff Saturday night for clerk of court in the parish.
Melissa Henry, a deputy clerk in the office who had never run for public office before, was outspent in a big way by two other candidates in the election, but still prevailed in the runoff on Saturday by defeating Matt Faust by garnering 52 percent of the vote.
Henry, Faust and Nelson Rivers were the three candidates who qualified for the election in September, with Rivers entering the race months ahead of the others and launching an aggressive advertising campaign that had his message all over the parish.
When incumbent Malise Prieto announced she would not seek re-election, Henry and Faust both joined the race just before qualifying.
Faust and Henry were almost dead-even in the primary to make the runoff as both pulled 39 percent of the vote, then Henry won in the runoff on Saturday with 34,719 votes to 31,712 votes for Faust.
“I’m ecstatic at this result,” said Henry, a late entrant into the race when Prieto announced her retirement in August. “I look forward to working with Ms. Prieto and other staff at the Clerk’s office to ensure a smooth transition.”
Henry, a deputy clerk in the office for the past four years, claimed she was the most qualified person for the job since she has worked in the office the past four years, and cross trained in eight of the 11 departments.
“I am the only truly qualified candidate for this job,” she said. “I have spent the past four years learning about most of the different departments, and I have recommended several changes to Malise so the office could operate more efficiently and with the best customer service we could offer.”
Henry, 50, said she “always had a long term goal to run for the clerk of court job,” she said. “I planned to wait until Malise served one more term, but when she decided not to run, I knew this had to be the time to enter.”
Faust, 60, served for five terms on the Covington City Council and was elected president of the council four times. He had a 30-year career in the banking industry before taking a job with the St. Tammany Assessor’s Office two years ago.
Henry said she plans to consider more technological upgrades in the office since there is not e-filing in the St. Tammany Clerk of Court’s office at this time.
“Not every clerk’s office in the state does e-filing, but I think we need to review it to see what it would cost to set it up, what it would cost for the clients to use it, and if it could make us more efficient,” she said. “I’ve already made several changes in our office to do more things with computers, generating more reports on computers and improve the operation in several areas. I think we need to look at doing more with technology, getting more training for the clerks, and providing better customer service.”
Henry’s background includes owning a mortgage brokerage company for 10 years before selling to a national company, then getting hired by the clerk’s office four years ago.
Henry will take over the job in July.