I hope you enjoy our full page of pictures today from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. There were so many good ones that we needed two weeks to run them all since I had help with the photos from my good buddies James Elorriaga and Brian Smith.
Anyone who attended the Olde Towne parade knows what a great local event it is, and I have a good time walking around taking pictures. Truth is, there are so many great photo ops that it can be difficult narrowing them down.
I was pretty close to finishing when I ran into my good buddy, former Mayor Greg Cromer. He asked if I was almost done, and if so, to join him on the front porch of his home to watch the parade.
Greg and his wife Peggy purchased an Olde Towne home a few years ago, something they especially enjoy since they are right in the middle of Slidell activities, and Greg used to walk to work at City Hall sometimes.
I was happy to oblige the mayor, who is now in his new job at the state level with the Gov. Jeff Landry administration. We had a great view of the parade as it got moving, but more than that, Greg’s porch is a wonderful place to see friends walking by and say hello.
One thing was clear by the time I left a couple of hours later—Greg Cromer is still one of the most popular public officials to have ever served in St. Tammany Parish. And I do mean the entire parish.
The fun thing about getting a bit older, which I certainly am doing, is that I get to be the guy who makes big predictions, or states historical facts that may not really be facts….like who is the most popular public official in St. Tammany right now? Or who do I believe rates among the most popular ever?
I have been covering Slidell and St. Tammany Parish news for a good bit now—yes, I’ll admit it’s really a long time. For that matter, I hit 52 years of local news coverage this month.
I have especially enjoyed political coverage and business coverage, and I’ve watched dozens of public officials up close over the years. There is no doubt that Greg rates at the top of the list with a few others as someone I would say is among the most popular public servants we have ever had in the entire parish.
Can I back that up?
The two-hours on his porch made the point. We would hardly sit there for 5 or 10 minutes when the next group of people would come walking by, glance over to see Greg, and stop to come give him a hug, a handshake or a big hello. And of course, that meant I was taking a few more pictures with some of his many friends.
As many of you know, Greg called it quits almost two years ago when he ran for parish president and was defeated by Mike Cooper in a very close race. Most people I knew thought Greg would certainly win that election, and I was among those people. There have been a number of reasons tossed out about why he didn’t win, especially since Cooper had a rough four years with many difficult issues with the Parish Council, lawsuits against his own parish agencies, and more.
But in the end, I still believe Cooper won largely due to his popular name on the west side of the parish. As much as I don’t like it, too many people still go into a voting booth and select a name they are familiar with. Considering Mike Cooper’s dad was a popular mayor in Covington for over 20 years, I believe it was the key reason Cooper won.
Greg has been asked many times about whether he would run again, and it seemed he had answered that question when accepting his new job with the La. Dept. of Transportation.
But the more we talked that day, and of course the topic of politics did come up, I could tell that “Once a politician, always a politician,” was still nagging at him. And I know without a shadow of a doubt Greg still gets urged by many to take another run at the parish president’s seat in 2027.
Will he do it? Personally, I would be surprised, but as I said in a recent column, “never say never.”
But judging by the popularity I saw that day on his front porch, I have no doubts the “urging” for him to run again is going to press pretty hard in a year or so.
All I can say is I’ll be interested to see what happens.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.