Why Candidates Refuse to Respond to Candidate Freneaux’s Questions

Central City Council candidate Dave Freneaux has paid to mail his publication Central Speaks to every household in Central every week or two for the past eight years. He ran for Mayor four years ago and lost. In June of this year, he qualified to run for the Central City Council from District 3 on Nov. 6.
Freneaux is also running for Mayor Pro-tem of the City of Central. When the new Council is sworn in in January, he will need at least four votes on the new seven-member Council to be elected Mayor Pro-tem and control the Council.
As Mayor Pro-tem, he would become Mayor if the office of Mayor became vacant for any reason.
In Central Speaks, he has recommended a slate of six candidates for the City Council in the Nov. 6 election.
Freneaux has attacked Mayor Jr. Shelton almost every week since Freneaux lost to Shelton four year ago. He has also repeatedly attacked the candidates running against his slate — Central Mayor Pro-Tem Dr. Kim Fralick, Councilman Wayne Messina, and Council candidate Kim Powers. Those candidates are among those least likely to support Freneaux for Mayor Pro-tem.
Over the past two months, Freneaux has sent a series of questions to himself and other candidates for the City Council. Yes, to himself!
He even sent his questions to his opponent in District 3, Dr. Kim Fralick.
In last week’s Central Speaks, Freneaux devoted six full pages to how the various candidates responded to the questions he asked himself and the other candidates.
The four candidates Freneaux has repeatedly attacked — Shelton, Fralick, Messina, and Powers — refused to respond to Freneaux’s questions, or at least that’s what Freneaux said.
In last week’s Central Speaks, Freneaux printed the words “Declined to Respond” next to those candidates’ names. We reached out to the candidates to find out why they chose not to respond.
Two candidates alleged bias and manipulation of their statements, which led to their avoiding Freneaux and his publication. Those two candidates said they DID respond to his first question, but Freneaux was unhappy with their answers and refused to print them. One candidate said Freneaux ignored her response and wrote an answer for her.
Several candidates asked how Freneaux, himself a candidate for the Council, could ask himself and other candidates for Council, including Dr. Fralick, his opponent in District 3, a series of questions on issues, while reserving to himself the right to answer his questions after he had received everyone else’s answers?
Some candidates questioned whether Central Speaks was a real newspaper as opposed to a political hate sheet that does little more than publish Freneaux’s attacks on public officials and other candidates. They showed a page from his publication and next to it one of his campaign flyers (see above). The two bore a remarkable similarity.
One candidate said Freneaux is campaigning for a slate of candidates. One by one, he attacks the candidates running against his slate, he said.
Some candidates said that when Freneaux ran for Mayor against Jr. Shelton in 2014, Freneaux was caught rigging the debate between himself and Shelton by writing and planting with friends on the debate panel questions for them to ask Shelton in the debate.
One incumbent said Freneaux spent the last four years continuously making false charges against the Mayor and Council and that Freneaux is a completely biased source who can make no pretense at objectivity.
Here are more detailed statements from the candidates:
Central City Councilman Wayne Messina said: “I did not respond to Central Speaks because I believe it is highly unethical that a person who sometimes owns a paper, is the Editor of that paper, and a Council candidate in the upcoming election — all at the same time — should pose questions to other Council and Mayor candidates, be able to look at their responses, and then and only then write his own responses!”
“It’s kind of like what happened in the Mayor’s debate four years ago!”
“I responded to the Central Speaks question simply by saying ‘Give your answer first and then I will respond!’ but Freneaux told me that was not appropriate. Then he turned around and said in his paper that I did not respond! That was a lie because I did respond! He just didn’t like my response and so he didn’t run it and told people a falsehood!”
Central Mayor Pro-Tem Dr. Kim Fralick, whom Freneaux is challenging for Council member from District 3, said: “Because the editor/owner of Central Speaks is my opponent, I felt it unwise to give him my answers. To do so would be much like being in a debate with my opponent with him having made up the questions while I did not have them.”
Council at-Large candidate Kim Powers said, “I work for a newspaper, the Central City News, a real newspaper that has won all of the top awards in our profession. It is not a hate sheet run by a candidate for Council who does nothing but attack political leaders and candidates. A newspaper actually writes and publishes news, not political diatribes.”
“The only person in this city, with a population over 27,000, who has ever been rude to me in public is Dave Freneaux. It doesn’t matter what I do or how I do it, in his mind I represent Central City News. Dave has been poison to this community and I compare him to Gary Chambers or Saul Alynsky because of the tactics he uses. For eight years, he has been someone Central could depend upon to provide complete negativity! He presents himself to the public as a humble man who wants to be a public servant, but if you talk to him for more than a minute without his wife by his side you will know he is arrogant and egotistical! He is also very ruthless, and he has made many personal attacks against me that he knew to be false.”
“For heaven’s sake, I am a single mother of two small children attending Central Intermediate School simply trying to live life and serve my community, and he has gone after me as though I am Public Enemy No. 1.”
“For example, in his last two publications of Central Speaks, Freneaux ran with his narrative that I am a Democrat and a party flip flopper, when he knew full well the truth and had in his possession a detailed explanation from me of the actual facts, which he refused to run! The facts are that I am a life long Conservative Republican and a strong supporter of Donald Trump for President. During the 2016 Presidential election, I had a large Trump sign in my yard, attended Trump rallies, and worked at Republican events. I publicly stated all of this, and Freneaux had my statement but he misled his readers into thinking I am a liberal Democrat and supporter of Hillary Clinton when the exact opposite was and is true!”
“Another reason I do not respond to his candidate questions is because of his utter dishonesty. For example, the very first question he asked me, I responded, ‘I am interested in hearing the presentation and discussion at the Council meeting before making any comments.’ Instead of printing that response, he concocted out of thin air an answer for me and stated in Central Speaks what HE thought my position was! After that, I never responded to his questions again.”
“His so-called ‘newspaper’ is simply his vehicle to attack the Mayor and the Council in every edition — over and over again — creating controversy and hard feelings in this community where little existed before. For example, he has been on a crusade against the city for supposedly failing to provide public records, despite the city’s repeatedly providing everything he asked for! If you notice, he has been up and down the court system and lost at every step of the process! That’s because he is legally wrong! He wants to compare his shenigans to the public records battle of the Central City News which sought public records about the City of Central that were in the hands of a private contractor, CH2MHill. There is no comparison! The Central City News sought to establish that records about city business in the hands a private contractor were in fact public records that should be accessible to the public. CCN never sued the City of Central but the private contractor, CH2MHilI. Unlike Freneaux, the Central City News was right and won in the Court of Appeals and the Louisiana Supreme Court. CH2MHill ultimately provided the documents and paid all of Central City News’ attorney fees. That case expanded the rights of our citizens to get records in the hands of a private contractor managing the city, while Freneaux has done nothing but harass public officials, cost the taxpayers money, and lost in the courts because his position is wrong.”
“I have no intention of participating in Freneaux’s publication or giving any legitimacy to his games. He is behind much of the division in our otherwise beautiful city, and I will not be party to his shenanigans. I fear for this city if a man like this gets on the City Council.”
Central Mayor Jr. Shelton said, “The reason I didn’t answer the Central Speaks questions is simple. I don’t believe it is ethical for a candidate for a city council seat, who owns a newspaper, to have other candidates for any office to get political answers before his answers are revealed to them. He can simply tailor his answers after seeing theirs. Keep in mind he was even asking his opponent for answers. Also, it is a matter of trust. Mr. Freneaux, candidate and owner and editor of Central Speaks, has repeatedly bashed the Central government, Council and Mayor. Why would I trust him to print the answers as given in the first place? He promised to do that, but I have first-hand knowledge that he told a sitting councilman that he would not use his answer because in his opinion, ‘His answer was unresponsive to the question.’ When I respond to Mr. Freneaux, I found him to ‘spin’ my words and twist them to fit his purpose. That is not the work of a true journalist. So, to summarize: I did not respond to Mr. Freneaux’s questions because I do not trust him.”
Councilman John Vance, who answered some of Freneaux’s questions and not others said work obligations forced him to miss Freneaux’s deadlines on some of the questions.