Re: Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 1
Editorial
A big deal was made over Michele Avery using the word “bribe” to describe potential campaign contributions by a member of the Sucette Harbor developer team to District II Councilman Skelly Kreller at a campaign event April 17, 2023.
It was on the same night as the successful 4-3 vote by the Planning & Zoning Commission to recommend the Sucette Harbor project to the City Council.
Avery later shared screenshots of a Facebook post from Kreller’s campaign page showing a photo of developer attorney Paul Harrison at the event.
There’s nothing illegal about Harrison being at that event or even if he were to have given a donation. Avery used the rhetorical hyperbole “bribe” to illustrate her belief that it should be illegal. She later emailed the City Council the images and complained about the appearance of impropriety, urging the City Council to adopt an ordinance restricting campaign contributions by parties having a matter before the council.
The righteous indignation by several people involved in the project was extreme. Woodward Interests President Bill Hoffman brought it up at the next council meeting. Harrison went on a tirade at that meeting threatening to sue anyone “the next day” who challenged his integrity. Kreller read a statement that he had retained “consul” and was considering legal action. Councilman at Large Rick Danielson later introduced a social media resolution that was seen by many as an attempt to quell criticism on Facebook and Nextdoor.
All this over a picture of a perfectly legal campaign event that someone added the word “bribe” to. Truth be told, most people might agree with Avery on this subject.
Did it occur to the Woodward Interests folks that maybe, just maybe, it was not a good look to be attending that campaign event on the very same night as the controversial 4-3 vote by the P&Z Commission? And how smart was it to plan the fundraiser for that particular night to begin with?
What a shame.
Because now we have the text messages from Kreller and other council members that were released as part of a public records request made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem.
As it turns out, Kreller — in his own text messages — told his campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association President Eric McVicker in January that Woodward Interests President Bill Hoffman “knows I’m trying to hold the votes on P&Z together.”
After one P&Z meeting in March, Kreller — in a text conversation with McVicker and former Mandeville Mayor Donald Villere — said he planned to complain to City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert about P&Z Chairman Brian Rhinehart for his “attempting to push his negative position on the other members.”
In that same text thread, Kreller instructed McVicker to contact one of the other P&Z members saying “need to keep Mike Pierce a yes vote.”
This is the very same Planning & Zoning Commission that Kreller — as a member of the City Council — can appoint its members, and by the way, can also vote to remove them.
And they were upset about the word bribe? I wonder how they would have felt about the word coercion?
And let’s not forget that Michelle Avery’s controversial post happened in May 2023.
But a text message from August 2022 — almost nine months earlier — reveals that Kreller told McVicker he wanted someone to libel or defame him, and that he had talked to developer attorney Paul Harrison, who would end up being the very person pictured in the Avery “bribe” post.
Suddenly, the ire and fury expressed toward Michelle Avery seem disingenuous.
These text messages make it sound like Kreller at the very least thought he controlled P&Z votes or that he wanted others to believe he did. And what was he hoping to gain by preemptively complaining to the city attorney about a P&Z member he feared might vote no? Read his words. Judge for yourself.
Even project proponents would have to admit that this new information paints an unsavory picture of what was going on in the Kreller camp behind the scenes.
Maybe he didn’t actually “control” any P&Z votes like he claimed or thought. Maybe the P&Z members didn’t take him seriously. After all, Mike Pierce ended up voting against it. So who knows.
But knowing what we know now, was it really all that outrageous that Avery used the word “bribe” to describe something that Kreller’s own text messages reveal, that at the very least he was bragging that the developer knew he was working to control P&Z votes, he was threatening to complain to the city attorney about a “negative” P&Z member, and he was telling his consultant to reach out to yet another P&Z member to hold their vote, for a vote that occurred on the same night as his campaign event, an event that one of the developers attended as evidenced by pictures posted on social media by Kreller’s own campaign?
It’s starting to sound like someone — maybe several someones — will owe Michelle Avery a huge apology when all is said and done.
Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 2 will be published soon.
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Mandeville Daily 
Dr. Kreller attended everyone of the P&Z meetings. If anything, I would guess he was disappointed he had unkowingly scheduled his event on the same night of the vote which was on a special Monday night meeting instead of the regular Tuesday meeting.
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