By Frank Donze, The Times-Picayune
January 07, 2010, 7:42AM
This story was also written by Bruce Eggler and John Pope

BLIGHT BUSTER?: In her quest to win the City Council's District A race, Susan Guidry this week used the placement of Jay Batt's own political lawn signs on a few boarded-up houses to argue that her opponent can't be trusted to fight blight.

Taking aim at Batt's promise to rid the district of nuisance properties, Guidry sent reporters photos of Batt signs posted at houses on South Murat and South Hennessey streets owned by Batt friend and investment-firm owner Vincent Marcello Jr., who has given Batt at least $1,000 for his current campaign and $6,500 for his unsuccessful 2006 race.

There are at least seven more such properties, said Matt Larson, Guidry's campaign director.

"How can the people of District A trust Jay Batt to fight blight in our community when one of his largest donors also happens to be one of the most prolific owners of blighted property in our neighborhoods?" she said in the release. "The voters of District A won't stand for his hypocrisy."

Notably, the homes -- though perhaps eyesores -- appear to comply with the city's rules for property upkeep. They are boarded up, with trimmed lawns and no standing water.

Bari Blanks, Batt's campaign manager, criticized Guidry's release as "the typical type of attack politics that we have moved away from."

"We cannot control what supporters do, " Blanks said, "and it is obvious that we have countless supporters across District A."

Batt, a Republican who served one term on the council before being defeated in 2006, has made blight eradication a major plank of his campaign. A statement on his Web site criticizes Nagin's recent attempts to cancel housing-code hearings to save money.

In her statement, Guidry counters that Batt's "actions suggest that he'd rather treat the blighted property as his own personal billboard."

While Larson conceded that Batt is hardly the first candidate to put posters on abandoned buildings, "we thought it was a terrible thing, so we wanted to send out a release about it."

Also running for the District A seat are Virginia Blanque, a Republican, and Fred Robertson, an independent.

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