François Delattre, embroiled in controversy?

How was such a thing possible? I knew François Delattre to be the former French consul general in New York, currently the French ambassador to Canada. A diplomat, levelheaded, not one to court or to spark controversy.

FD, the mayor

It turns out that I’d confused François Delattre with a homonym. I hardly thought the name common, but there is at least one other François Delattre. The other François Delattre is the conservative mayor of Franconville, a city in the Paris area. He’s a rotund fellow, grayer and heavier than his homonym, the diplomat.

François Delattre, the mayor, caused controversy over upcoming regional elections. No one in France seems to know or care what the regions are or do, so the campaigns tend to focus on the personalities of slate leaders (voters choose a slate, generally aligned with a political party but identified by the name or slogan of the slate leader). Negative campaigning is common.

François Delattre, the conservative mayor, made a series of remarks about the labor party standard-bearer in the Val d’Oise district, where Franconville is located. The labor party standard-bearer is named Ali Soumaré, a thirty-something black man, active in local politics. Apparently, Delattre can’t stand Soumaré, and said this about him:

  • “At first, I thought he was a player on the PSG reserve team. But he’s actually the party head from Villiers-le-Bel.” (decoding: the PSG is the Paris football/soccer team; Villiers-le-Bel was a center of urban rioting a few years go.)
  • “His candidacy is an outrage for democracy.”
  • “An experienced recidivist delinquent.”

Ali Soumaré

Delattre, the conservative mayor, produced copies of convictions in support of his characterization of Soumaré as a repeat offender.

The convictions include: aggravated theft, aggravated theft with violence, battery, driving without a license, and rebellion against a law enforcement officer.

Media reports often included an unflattering photo of Soumaré (at left) with this rap sheet.

The initial reaction to these allegations looked, to my eyes, like confusion. Soumaré first said that he needed to talk with his lawyer. Then commentators pointed out that some recent charges were still pending, and that other convictions were subject to appeal. A debate then ensued about how Delattre came to possess copies of court judgments, and whether criminal convictions were confidential or otherwise protected.

Ali Soumaré

Then the truth emerged. Yes, Ali Soumaré had been convicted of aggravated theft, in 1999. A “youthful error”, according to Soumaré, who says he “paid his debt to society”. As for the many other convictions, all were attributable to one or more homonyms: François Delattre had confused Ali Soumaré with others who have the same name and the misfortune of being defendants in criminal proceedings.

The error seems hugely embarrassing to the conservatives. Their standard-bearer, Valerie Pécresse, has been spending time explaining and apologizing for Delattre’s blunders. Watching her, she seems uncomfortable.

For his part, Ali Soumaré (pictured, at left, from his campaign materials) has become a household name. In a campaign where personality and name recognition mean everything, I suspect that labor party officials are jubilant.