Pubdate: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA) Copyright: 2004 The Times-Picayune Contact: http://www.nola.com/t-p/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848 Author: James Varney, and Steve Ritea Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) CANDIDATE CITES HIS 1977 COCAINE ARREST He Seeks To Address Likely Campaign Issue Seeking to defuse a potential campaign bombshell, acting Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff William Bill Hunter confirmed Friday he was arrested for cocaine possession in 1977. Hunter, who was a Marine infantryman in the Vietnam War, said the lapse resulted from the confusion and post-traumatic stress that enveloped him upon his return to civilian life. I allowed myself to be in bad company although I did not personally use drugs, he said. I found myself in a situation where the police could suspect that I was involved. It was a terrible experience. He pleaded guilty to the charge, but the Louisiana Supreme Court eventually reversed the plea and the case was dropped. The incident arose after two police officers stopped Hunter and one of them allegedly felt in his pocket a small vial and a miniature spoon, common accouterments of cocaine use, according to court records. However, neither the vial nor the spoon were ever introduced at an evidentiary hearing, the Supreme Court noted in tossing out the case. Hunter said he has never used cocaine but chose to acknowledge the incident now rather than scramble to answer charges about the matter later, and hold to his pledge to run a transparent sheriff's office and jail. I had valid information from someone I trust that either the media or one of my opponents had this information and if I didn't get out ahead of it, it would be worse for me, Hunter said. I can't change history; it happened, and I have to deal with it. His announcement overshadowed other developments in the race to succeed Charles Foti as the city's criminal sheriff, a campaign whose crowded field has shone a spotlight on some fractures in New Orleans' political establishment. For example, five City Council members joined their colleague, Marlin Gusman, at a press conference Friday to announce their support of Gusman's bid for the sheriff's star. Their endorsement came less than a day after Mayor Ray Nagin endorsed another candidate, former Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley, and set off speculation about what kind of blow the citywide sheriff election Sept. 18 will deliver to the working relationship between the administration and the council. Council President Eddie Sapir denied there was any confrontation between the executive and legislative arms of City Hall, but he took a sarcastic swipe or two at the value of Nagin's political coin, when asked about the divergent endorsements. You'd like to have every endorsement in any race, but of course if Nagin hadn't endorsed that kid on 'American Idol' he might have been the champion, he said. Sapir's jest referred to Nagin publicly throwing his support behind local singer George Huff in the popular television show this year. Gusman sidestepped the political undercurrents. He said his tenure as chief administrative officer in Marc Morial's regime gives him valuable crime-fighting experience. On Friday and in other forums, Gusman trumpeted his key role in helping to reform the New Orleans Police Department and reduce the city's stratospheric murder rate in the mid-1990s. I feel compelled to step up because I believe the city of New Orleans is facing a crisis, Gusman said, citing resurgent crime statistics. I'm going to be a great partner to the NOPD and we're going to do a lot together. But the lone council member missing from Gusman's event, Oliver Thomas, suggested Gusman lacks the necessary experience. Echoing Nagin's comments that an unreleased poll shows the public wants a professional crimefighter as sheriff, Thomas said he is leaning toward Riley, Hunter or school district security chief Ira Thomas. In addition, Thomas said the group endorsement proffered by his colleagues smacks of machine politics, and predicted it could backfire on a public that is increasingly leery. Even so, Thomas is the most prominent elected member of BOLD, and Gusman is strongly linked to Morial's LIFE, meaning the two council members are figureheads for New Orleans' most powerful African-American political organizations. Meanwhile, not far from where Hunter stood inside Orleans Parish Prison revealing his past brushes with the law, another candidate, the Rev. Raymond Brown, stood on the prison's steps outlining what he would do if chosen to replace Hunter. Specifically, Brown said the job training programs at the Parish Prison are a sham, that the practice of holding misdemeanor arrestees past midnight to take a per diem payment from the city is widespread, and that the Roman Catholic Church has a stranglehold on ministry efforts within the jail. Brown insisted he is not trying to pick a religious fight, and he did not criticize the Catholic efforts. Rather, he said a committee should be formed that would make more denominations available to inmates seeking counseling. The other common-sense, cost-saving steps can be taken immediately, he said. These are all things that can, and should, be done right now, he said. The per diem is draining the city's coffers, and all they've got for job training is really a boot camp. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin