Aaron Broussard

Aaron F. Broussard (born 6 January 1949 ) was the president, a combined municipal-parish position, of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana from 2003 to 2010. A Democrat, Broussard is known nationally for appearances he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Broussard was born in Marksville, the seat of Avoyelles Parish in south central Louisiana. He moved to Kenner, a city in Jefferson Parish, in 1958. He received a law degree from Loyola University New Orleans in 1973. The following year he was elected to the Jefferson Parish School Board and reelected in 1976. In 1977, he was elected as a district chairman to the Jefferson Parish Council and re-elected in 1981. He successfully ran for mayor of Kenner in 1982, and he was reelected in 1986, 1990, and 1994.

Broussard was elected Chairman of the Jefferson Parish Council in 1995, and reelected in 1999.

In 2003, Broussard was elected Jefferson Parish president. He defeated Republican John M. McDonald by a huge margin, 72-28 percent, even though Jefferson Parish is considered a GOP stronghold in Louisiana.

Broussard was president of Parishes Against Coastal Erosion (PACE) and in a June 14, 2005, press release predicted:

Many Jefferson Parish residents joined in a class action lawsuit against Broussard after he followed a years-old "doomsday plan" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and evacuated more than 200 drainage pump operators north to Washington Parish. The pumps remained off for more than two days and sections of the parish, including Metairie and Kenner, experienced severe flooding as a result of rain water, backflow from Lake Ponchartrain and flood waters from the broken 17th Street Canal. Broussard defended his actions, saying that he wanted to protect the pump operators' lives, even though some pump operators were willing to stay. Other public officials, such as police and fire departments, did not evacuate. Water department workers also stayed.

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