Newly appointed Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Denise Amoroso says she'll approach her job by asking โ€œWhat would Buddy do?โ€ in honor of her late husband, who was in his second term on the council before his death last month.

Denise Amoroso, appointed by council members after a fiery showdown last week, delivered her first public address Tuesday to the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge. She said she's ready to move on and said those who spoke out against her appointment โ€œdonโ€™t know me... (and) donโ€™t know my heart.โ€

Amoroso, a teacher at Christ Presbyterian School, a Blue Star Mother and a Womanโ€™s Hospital volunteer, told a crowd of around 40 people at Cafe Americain that she and her husband had spoken while he was alive about who he would want to take his seat in the event anything ever happened to him. She said he repeatedly told her he would want her to take his place on the council.

Denise Amoroso also said that she grew to understand her husbandโ€™s line of thinking on various topics during his time serving on the Metro Council. She gave the example of an ordinance that recently went into effect that banned smoking in bars and casinos.

Though she said she and her husband hated tobacco smoke, she said he explained to her that he would not support the ban because he disagreed with government regulations of private businesses.

โ€œI felt like, in taking this position, Iโ€™m doing what Buddy would have wanted me to do,โ€ Denise Amoroso said. โ€œI feel like, if we could have gone to the people of District 8, they would have said, โ€˜Pick Buddyโ€™s wife.โ€™ โ€

After her address, three candidates running for city constable introduced themselves to the group and answered questions. Gordon โ€œTreyโ€ Bargas, Leo LaMotte and Terrica Williams each said the constableโ€™s office is important for providing security at City Court and handling civil matters.

โ€œThe constables are needed,โ€ LaMotte said. โ€œWhen you put too much on the city police, then youโ€™re going to wear them down.โ€

Asked about the most pressing needs of the constableโ€™s office, Williams responded that โ€œthe morale needs to be lifted.โ€

And Bargas spoke of the need to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the community.

โ€œStaffing is always an issue,โ€ he said. โ€œLaw enforcement is really under a microscope right now and itโ€™s causing training and recruitment deficiencies across the board.โ€

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Follow Andrea Gallo on Twitter, @aegallo.โ€‹

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