KENNER, La. — Police Chief Michael Glaser rolled to an extremely easy victory over incumbent Ben Zahn in the race for Kenner mayor Saturday night.
In a resounding win Glaser took nearly 3 of every 4 votes cast as the voters signaled an unmistakable rebuke of Zahn, who came under heavy fire for, among other things, his handling of Hurricane Ida hazard pay and for a reported FBI investigation into the awarding of a contract for garbage collection in Kenner, which were the subjects of reports by WWL-TV’s David Hammer.
Glaser, who ran the city’s police department pledged to run a controversy-free administration. He promised to replace top level administrators with “professionals who know and understand Kenner.” He said he would also eliminate needless positions to reduce “grossly overpaid salaries.”
Glaser told his followers Saturday night that on his first day he would distribute a code of ethics for city employees to abide by, and that if they didn’t, “the person who takes their place will.”
According to Hammer's reports on WWL-TV, Zahn had been secretly recording his meetings with his political adviser, Greg Buisson, and Jefferson Parish Councilman Dominick Impastato for months. He said he had turned those recordings over to the FBI.
Buisson and Impastato say they were holding a political strategy session to help a flailing Zahn find a way to avoid a tough race after a Times-Picayune report that he was under federal investigation.
Zahn grew even more embattled with questions about one of his top deputies, Chad Pitfield, making more than $80,000 in hazard pay in just over three months during and after Hurricane Ida.