Gaon Escude honored by LMA for 12 terms as Mansura alderman

Being elected to a public office even once is tough. Mansura Alderman Gaon Escude received a diamond pin from the Louisiana Municipal Association for accomplishing that feat 12 times.

LMA President John Gallagher attended the Mansura Town Council meeting on Dec. 14 to personally present Escude with a Service Award pin for 12 terms as alderman.

Escude, 82, will finish his 12th term on Dec. 31, 2022. He was elected to the council in 1974.

"I almost didn't run this last time," Escude said, "but people said, 'Go on and run one more time.' I didn't know it would be such a milestone to deserve a pin like this."

For many of his elections, Escude was the top vote-getter among candidates for the five at-large alderman seats. In the 2018 election, he edged out the sixth-place finisher by 24 votes to win re-election.

"I think maybe I should step down after this term," he added with a laugh.

The walls of the Town Council meeting room contain the portraits of Mansura's mayors over the past 160 years. There is a generous sprinkling of Escudes among that group, including one of Gaon Escude.

Escude was mayor pro tem of the council when long-time Mayor Harold Quebedeaux died in 2006. Escude served as interim mayor until the regularly scheduled mayoral election that October, when Kenneth Pickett was elected to his first term. Pickett is now in his fourth term as mayor.

In looking back over the past 46 years, Escude said there have been many milestones in the town's development. Expanding the corporate limits down La. Hwy 1, which allowed for more businesses in town, was a major one.

Escude said he enjoys his work as a councilman, and always has.

For most of his years on the council, the town used his business experience as the council's finance chairman.

"I always tried to find ways to be more economical with the public's money," he said. "I wanted to save where we could and be as efficient as possible."

The LMA Service Awards Program honors elected municipal officials who have "served sufficiently well to earn continual and repeated re-election to positions of authority in their respective municipalities," the LMA notes on its website. "Election to a position of municipal authority is a great honor and privilege, but re-election is an extremely high honor reflecting the trust and confidence each long-term municipal official has earned through many years of dedicated public service. These Service Awards pay fitting tribute to such unparalleled achievement."

The awards are given each year to elected officials who have served four or more terms in office. On its website, the LMA only goes up to eight terms in its description.

This year Escude and St. Francisville Mayor Bill D'Aquilla received the 12-term award. D'Aquilla finished his 12th term in December. His terms include some as a councilman and some as mayor.

"We believe it is important to recognize elected, and appointed, municipal officials for their terms of service," Gallagher said. "It is very, very rare to see someone serve 12 terms. I took great pride in being able to recognize a man who has dedicated so much of his life to serving his community.

"We usually would have done this at the state convention, in front of a large crowd, but we couldn't do that this year because of COVID," Gallagher continued. "I felt it was important and significant enough to drive from Baton Rouge to Mansura to personally give him this recognition."

Gallagher said the achievement is so rare that the pin has to be special-ordered when the occasion arises. The lapel pin is basically the eight-term pin "with a slightly larger diamond in the middle."