When deputies and senators boost their children

Macronie had promised it: now no more piston, Fillon way. The Republic will be exemplary. Really ? The law of confidence in public life adopted on September 15 put an end to the direct jobs of the spouses and children of deputies and senators, but it is far, very far from having buried the practices of self-reliance. “The old world”. In November, Streetpress had revealed the taste of some walking deputies for cross hiring.

Today, our investigations attest that, from the Bourbon Palace to that of Luxembourg, passing by some local authorities, many parents and close friends of politicians continue to quietly officiate. Licensed in the name of moralization or deprived of work by the Jupiterian legislative tidal wave, many have resettled thanks to the networks of their dear families. In short, under the gold of our meritocratic Republic, cronyism is still moving. Hammered with great publicity by the Macronian fanfare, the transparency operation outlawed nepotism à la Fillon, but the virtue of the Walkers has limits and the law they have laid down in no way prevents favoritism in hiring. . The proof is by several examples of legally admissible but morally irritating recruitments.

After the defeat, you have to relocate your family

Until the legislative elections of June 2017, Stéphanie Boisserie worked as parliamentary attaché to her deputy father-in-law, the Socialist Daniel Boisserie. Beaten in his stronghold of Haute-Vienne by Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, candidate LREM from civil society, the socialist briscard did not involve Stéphanie in her fall. With a real sense of rebound, the latter now puts her skills at the service of her stepfather’s killer: “I did not receive any help in any way for this new position” asserts without laughing the new little hand of deputy Djebbari.

Variation on the same recycling with Anne-Charlotte Brandt-Bailly: daughter and collaborator of Dominique Bailly, PS senator defeated in the September 2017 election, Anne-Charlotte did not campaign for long to find a job. She quite naturally reclassified with two colleagues of her father, the Socialist senators Marie-Françoise Pérol-Dumont and Bernard Lalande. Quaestor like dad in his time, Bernard Lalande is fully aware of the management of the budget and staff of the Upper House and knows full well that the draft of “A daughter of” as questionable as it is, does not expose it to sanction or to declaration to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP). Member of the indulgent Parliamentary Ethics Committee of the Palais du Luxembourg, Senator of the Somme Jérôme Bignon is not moved by these privileges. He assumes with chosen words:

“In the Senate, we wash our dirty laundry as a family. ”

Impunity therefore for Marie-Pierre Monier : PS senator from Drôme since 2014, she recruited Auriane Besson, daughter and former collaborator of the Socialist and Drômois Jean Besson. Failing to put his mandate as senator on the line in 2014, this caring father took care not to leave his offspring on the sidelines.

As everyone knows, finally, in the Southern League, we prefer our family to our friends, our friends to our neighbors etc … So as a good soldier of the extreme right, Jacques Bompard, forced to resign from his post of deputy for Vaucluse because of multiple mandates, did not let go of his son Yann: after having employed him as a collaborator in the Assembly until August 2017, he bombed him at the same post alongside Marie-France Lohro, her former substitute who became a member of Parliament. That family jobs are reappearing today in a disguised form does not surprisingly defeat the unions of parliamentary collaborators: “On a moral and deontological level, this can raise questions”, concedes Florence Faye of Unsa (National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions). “But the real problem is controlling the effectiveness of the work, whether we are family or not.”

Chief of staff and son or daughter of

Son of Nicolas About, former Modem senator from Yvelines, Quentin About does not detect any malice in these small arrangements. “There is a shape of a circle which is done oddly, naturally. It is not unpleasant ” he admits blandly. Pure product of the elevator return, he owes everything to the centrist Michel Laugier, which itself would be nothing without… Nicolas About! Let’s rewind, the piston is complicated: in 1993, About senior was mayor of Montigny-le-Bretonneux and recruited Michel Laugier as chief of staff. Ten years later, Laugier succeeds his mentor at the head of the city. In 2014, he became president of the agglomeration community of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and quite naturally propelled About junior to the position of chief of staff. And when Laugier was elected senator under the banner of the UDI in 2017, who do you think he appoints parliamentary attaché? The son, Quentin About, of course!

” When we are UDI, it’s easier to work in a territory UDI ! It’s not very big, there isn’t a plethora of elected officials ”, comments Valentine Vercamer, daughter and former parliamentary assistant to Francis, centrist deputy from the North. Forced to resign by the moralization law, she quickly hung up the cars. Last October, she was appointed chief of staff by Olivier Henno, mayor UDI of Saint-André-Lez-Lille. “My father and Olivier know each other well, they hang out in particular at the European Metropolis of Lille (Mel), it’s a small world”, concedes Valentine Vercamer without pretense. Since then, Olivier Henno has joined the Senate, but Vercamer daughter still works for Elisabeth Masse, who succeeded him.

In Corrèze too, we know what “Microcosm” means. Frédéric Soulier, LR mayor of Brive-la-Gaillarde, has never made a secret of his proximity to Claude Nougein, Senator LR from his territory. Testimony of this beautiful friendship: the parliamentary attaché contract which binds Paula Soulier, wife of Frédéric, to Claude Nougein. History of diminishing her role, the interested party specifies:

“I manage the agenda, the invitations… The political part is taken care of by the other assistant. ”

A small job in the region

Maryll Guilloteau, she displays less anecdotal service records. Parliamentary attaché to her father, LR deputy from the Rhône until 2016, the young girl was able to make her address book profitable. When Christophe Guilloteau left the Assembly where he also employed his partner (!), she joined the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. His job ? Project manager within the Directorate of Assemblies and Relations with Elected Representatives (Dares), a strategic section where maneuver Angel Sitbon, l from “Mr Elections” of the UMP reconverted into gray eminence of Laurent Wauquiez, whose StreetPress drew the portrait. Expert in electoral division, the man manages an unofficial unit responsible for allocating subsidies to local communities. Knowing that Christophe Guilloteau now heads the Rhône Departmental Council, her daughter’s duties raise the issue of gender mixing at best, and conflict of interest at worst. Solicited by Streetpress, neither the father nor the daughter returned our calls.

Not exhaustive, this inventory of mini tricks and mega privileges attests that if moralization is underway, it is progressing very slowly. And five months after its entry into force, the law of confidence in public life smells like a wet firecracker.

Survey carried out by Laure Dandolo, Manon Marc, Marion Vanmansart, Florian Domergue, Chloé Demarais, Assia El Kasmi, Axel Lambert, Jérémy Piot, Inès Edel-Garcia, Merima Huasenbasic, Manon Walquan, students at the StreetSchool and supervised by Nathalie Gathié.

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