Members of both Kenner and Harahan City Council will vote this Thursday on resolutions urging Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni to resign, following his admission of sexting a 17-year-old boy when he was campaigning last year while still being mayor of Kenner.
Many Council members question Yenni’s ability to fulfill his assigned tasks properly and worry that maintaining a status quo would send a wrong message to teenagers.
As Kenner Councilman Keith Reynaud says, “if this resolution fails, we’re sending the wrong signal to our kids. We have to set a good example, by not doing anything at all, you make it look like it’s OK.”
Maria DeFrancesca, also working on Kenner City Council, supports Reynaud and expresses her concerns : “As an educator and a mother, I truly understand the vulnerability of a high school student, and I find this most troubling.” DeFrancesca, Reynaud and Gregory Carroll, also condemning Yenni’s “improper” texts, all run as candidates for Kenner office of mayor.
Other organizations such as the Westbank Business & Industry Association and Citizens for a Better Kenner have recently exhorted the 40-year-old married father to resign. Nonetheless, the Louisiana politician keeps on asserting that the scandal strictly concerns his personal life and would not affect his duties as Jefferson Parish President.