Tom Capella

Thomas John Capella, known as Tom Capella (born April 1965),^[1] is a lawyer in his native New Orleans, Louisiana,^[2] who has been since 2011 the tax assessor of suburban Jefferson Parish. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 98 in Jefferson Parish.^[3]

Background

Capella is the youngest of ten children of Bernard Joseph Capella, Jr., and the former Lillian McCormack, both deceased. His sister, Mary Jane Capella Silva, an educator and the second oldest of the children, died at the age of sixty on September 2, 2012.^[4] He graduated in 1983 from the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School in New Orleans. He earned a Bachelor of Science in management in 1987 from Tulane University and a law degree in 1993 from the Tulane University Law School, also in New Orleans, where he maintains his legal practice. He resides in Metairie in Jefferson Parish^[5] with his wife, the former Stephanie Carroll, a former parochial school teacher, and their two daughters, Sophie and Eliza Jane Capella.^[2]

Capella has been active in the Catholic Youth Organization and is a member of the finance committee of St. Michael's Special School for disabled children in New Orleans. He is a class captain of the Jesuit High School Alumni Association. He is affiliated with the Pontchartrain Shores Civic Association and the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce.^[2]

Capella formerly resided in Baton Rouge and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dates unavailable.^[6]

Political life

On November 24, 2001, Capella narrowly won a low-turnout special election to succeed Republican Representative Jim Donelon, who resigned effective June 30 to become the assistant state insurance commissioner under J. Robert Wooley, a Democrat. When Wooley later resigned as commissioner, Donelon moved up to the top spot on an interim basis and was elected in 2006 to the position, which he still holds. Capella polled 1,861 votes (50.6 percent) to runner-up fellow Republican Dianna Dyer's 1,489 (40.5 percent). Two other candidates held the remaining 9 percent of the ballots cast.^[7]

Capella's abbreviated term in the House corresponded with the second administration of Republican Governor Murphy J. Foster, Jr., who credited Capella with saving the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS scholarships, adopted in 1998 and named for its key proponent, New Orleans businessman Patrick F. Taylor. The program particularly benefits the middle class. Capella was a member of the House Insurance and Judiciary committees. He co-authored the Louisiana Anti-Terrorism Act and worked for the rights of military service personnel. He sponsored the creation of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation. He worked to obtain economic development projects for municipalities.^[2]

A victim of redistricting adverse to his political interest, Capella did not seek reelection to the House to a full term and was succeeded by a Democrat, Cheryl Gray. Instead he was narrowly elected in 2003 to an at-large position on the Jefferson Parish Council. He unseated the veteran Division B member, Edmond Joseph "Ed" Muniz, by 973 votes: 65,721 (50.4 percent) to 64,748 (49.6 percent).^[8]

In 2007, Capella won a second term on the council by a wide margin, 78,531 votes (79.9 percent) to 19,714 (20.1 percent) for the Democrat Fred "Ed" Mathew.^[9] Capella left the council in 2011 upon his victory in a special election for Jefferson Parish assessor to succeed Lawrence E. Chehardy, a Republican who retired after thirty-four years in the position in order to return to his law practice. Capella won the post with 32,857 votes (74.3 percent) over two other Republicans and an Independent.^[10] Like his predecessor, Chehardy, Capella is a staunch advocate of the $75,000 homestead exemption in Louisiana. In 2013, Capella sent a letter to constituents arguing for the exemption and reminding voters that the renewal of property taxes on their ballots the following month would mean an increase in their 2013 tax bills.^[11] Voters then rejected the tax renewals except for fire protection.^[12]

Capella won his second full term as assessor without opposition in the primary election held on October 24, 2015.

References