Once a potent political force, Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn is in for reelection fight | Local Politics

On June 29, 2018, Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn stepped to the podium in a packed Pontchartrain Center auditorium to deliver his inaugural address. He pledged that the newly elected City Council, the police chief and his administration would work “as one” to move Kenner forward for the next four years.

Zahn had reason to be optimistic. He had just secured 80% of the vote in his election, after winning 72% a year earlier in a race to complete Mike Yenni’s term as mayor. With broad public support and a raft of new friendly faces on the council, Zahn could afford to preach unity.

“We are not going to have the political fights and disagreements that we’ve had in the past,” he told the crowd. “As one, I believe we will put those differences aside.”

Four years later, that rosy prediction has wilted. In his first full term, Zahn has faced a crippling pandemic, a devastating hurricane and a series of bitter feuds that cost him political allies and brought a formidable challenger into the race. As qualifying ended last week for the March 26 election, the roiling tumult left Zahn facing the stiffest test of any Kenner incumbent since Ed Muniz unseated Mayor Phil Capitano in 2006.

Zahn’s sole election opponent is Police Chief Michael Glaser, a fellow Republican and veteran of Kenner politics. The two-term elected head of the 135-officer police force had long indicated his 2018 election would be his last; he’s famous for having a phone app that counts down the days to his retirement.

But he said Zahn’s combative style and constant drama drew him back in.

“Everything’s a fight,” Glaser said of his opponent’s governing style. “It’s all personal.”

Zahn rejects that criticism. “I am going to define that as I’m fighting for the right thing,” he said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic and hurricanes have made governing more difficult than usual. 

The mayor said many of his disputes come from other politicians and public relations people with axes to grind. “You become a target when you fight for the right thing,” he said. 

Zahn signaled early in his tenure – and demonstrated throughout his term – that he wouldn’t back down from a political battle. 

He drew national attention in 2018, when, soon after his inauguration, he tried to ban recreational booster clubs – which receive some municipal revenue but also raise their own money – from purchasing Nike-branded products. The company had recently aired an advertisement featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who sparked conservative outrage after kneeling to protest police brutality during the playing of the national anthem.

Zahn eventually rescinded the order, after it drew national criticism and a hundreds of people to a rally at the Susan Park Playground gymnasium. 

In 2019, Zahn filed a police report against two political activists, Richard Brown and Stacey Allesandro, alleging they intimidated a public official by threatening to go to the news media because they thought a Zahn ally was responsible for cybersquatting on their group’s website.

The next year, Zahn switched the city’s garbage collection contract to IV Waste and cited its predecessor, Ramelli Janitorial Service, for 22,000 litter violations, because Ramelli cans weren’t picked up quickly enough. Kenner eventually paid $215,000 to settle a suit that Ramelli brought over the citations, and other Ramelli suits are pending in state courts.

Last year, a dispute with the City Council over the budget process resulted in Zahn bringing in outside attorneys who disagreed with his own appointed city attorney, over whether the council had authority to amend the spending plan. That fight resulted in bad blood between the mayor and the council, exacerbated a few weeks later when Zahn fired the city attorney, two deputies and a staffer.

Earlier this month, Zahn sharply criticized council members who proposed reforming Kenner’s disaster pay policies, after several news media reports detailed how some officials made tens of thousands in extra pay in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

Amid the battles, even some of Zahn’s longest and staunchest allies have dropped their support. In recent weeks, political consultant Greg Buisson and Parish Council member Dominick Impastato III, both longtime allies, have parted ways with him.  

Impastato has endorsed Glaser, and cited Zahn’s confrontational style as one of the main reasons.

“He undertook a mantra of divisiveness and antagonism,” Impastato said. Regarding the council, Impastato said, Zahn’s “approach has involved intimidation, anger and force.”

He also pointed to the pay issue after Ida, the long suspension of recreation programs due to COVID-19 and Ida and the gutting of the city attorney’s office, among other issues.

Impastato went so far as to describe Zahn as an “underdog,” a rare position for an incumbent.

Zahn remains confident.

“Absolutely,” he said last week when asked if he felt like the frontrunner.

Zahn argued that most of the negativity comes from “CAVES” or Citizens Against Virtually Everything, a term he borrowed from former Jefferson Sheriff Newell Normand.

“I see a lot more support from the people for the things this administration is doing than the negatives,” he said. “The silent majority is very positive.”

Impastato should “mind his own business,” Zahn said, noting Impastato has no mayoral experience. “He has never walked in these shoes.”

Zahn pointed to the pandemic and hurricanes Zeta and Ida as unprecedented challenges that Kenner has faced during his administration.

“I think people see the progress we’ve made here,” he said. “We would be doing more if not” for the pandemic and storms, he said.

He pointed to announcements of major developments at Laketown and in Rivertown, and said that the switch of garbage contractors resulted in a steep drop in complaints.

“I stand by the garbage switch,” he said, and argued that he is “absolutely” the frontrunner the race.

“I do not feel like an underdog,” he said.

Glaser appears to agree. 

“I still think an incumbent is in a very strong position,” Glaser said. The police chief must overcome the relative anonymity he has even as a citywide elected official; he ran unopposed in his past two races, so has never had to beat the streets for votes.

“I can guarantee you, residents of the city of Kenner know who the superintendent of [the New Orleans Police Department] is more than they know the chief of Kenner,” he said.

But Glaser is no stranger to Kenner campaigns. He worked on those of his father-in-law, Nick Congemi, a longtime Kenner police chief.

“You hit the streets, you knock on doors, you talk to people and you listen to their concerns,” he said. “You run these campaigns in the streets and you speak to the people.”