Broussard to seek District 6 seat on council

Natalie Broussard of New Iberia will vie for the District 6 seat on the Iberia Parish Council.

“The time has come for us to renew our faith in Iberia Parish Government,” Broussard said in a prepared statement. “As your Iberia Parish Council person for District 6, I will represent the people of Iberia, not the political interest of a few.”

Broussard said young Iberia Parish residents are leaving the parish, now older residents are following the same trend.

“Too many resources have been squandered and countless opportunities have passed us by,” the statement said.

Broussard, 46, is a 1987 graduate of New Iberia Senior High School. She earned a degree in criminal justice from Louisiana State University in 1991 and a Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU in 1994. She returned to New Iberia and began her law practice in 1995.

She was a public defender from 1997 to 2004, co-chaired the Charter Commission for the city of New Iberia and was a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee for Law Enforcement, according to the statement. Broussard also is a member of the board of directors for CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocates — a volunteer program that helps support court appointed advocates for abused and neglected children. She has served on the board of directors for the United Way of Iberia and chaired the Community Impact Committee.

Broussard and her husband, Barry Broussard, are members of Highland Baptist Church, for which they are involved in several volunteer efforts, including being active members of the American Belorussian Relief Organization. They have four children, Blade, 19, Sarah, 16, Claire, 7, and Mary Ellen, who is deceased.

She is the first candidate to announce her intension to seek the District 6 seat, though it is a position held for several years by Bernard Broussard.

Qualifying opened today and will conclude Thursday. The election is slated for Oct. 24.