LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Daughter of the late Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Monique Blanco-Boulet hopes to pursue her own political journey as Lafayette Mayor-President.
With her roots planted here in Lafayette, Boulet says her story led to a passion that created a plan to bring Lafayette to the next level.
“I bring a level of expertise and love and passion about who we are as a people and as a community that can help us meet our potential,” said Boulet.
The daughter of Raymond and Kathleen Blanco, Boulet and her 5 siblings were born and raised in Lafayette where she attended UL and meet her husband of 30 years, David. They went on to have 4 children.
“We grew up here and learned to love Louisiana and Acadiana,” Boulet said.
Boulet would later return to UL and earn her executive M.B.A. leading directly into her next venture of building the Acadiana Planning Commission; pioneering drainage, broadband, transportation and revitalization projects to all 8 parishes of Acadiana.
Gaining experience in knowledge-based decision making in these areas brought Boulet to her next step of running for mayor presidency in Lafayette.
“This is the space I work in. This is the space I really am effective in, and can be very effective. And I think LCG can be run simpler, much more effective, and without all of the drama that we have today,” said Boulet.
Saying the situation at LCG today can be considered crisis level, Boulet has prepared a plan to set LCG on the right course to be the foundation of the community.
“The first step is to really triage LCG and put it back in a stable condition,” Boulet added.
Boulet says law enforcement is also in need of more attention.
“The police department has been kind of juggled around with leadership and different issues. That needs to stabilize fairly quickly and we really need to focus on supporting law enforcement agencies,” said Boulet.
Another top priority for Boulet is drainage.
“Very quickly we are going to start making knowledge-based decisions, not political decisions on where investments are made. We’ve invested a significant amount of money into projects that don’t truly have a lot of impact on our flood plain,” Boulet explained.
Boulet says the most important part of her plan, is getting things done quickly.
“I want to very quickly put this back in order and turn the corner. Turn Lafayette in a direction that we can live up to the potential that we all have. We have tremendous people, a great business community, and we haven’t really leveraged it,” said Boulet.
Boulet says her experience and her family driven approach make her the best candidate when it comes time to cast votes on October 14th.
