One of my favorite movies is “The Usual Suspects,” a crime drama “who-dunit” that came out in 1995.

The last line of the movie comes from the character Verbal, played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey. In a tight close-up, Verbal says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that — he is gone.”

The line is meant to convey a trick on the audience that the main character, Verbal, was completely different than the way he had presented himself in the movie’s first 100 minutes.

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For some reason, this movie memory rekindled inside me amid the fallout of the recent New Iberia political qualifying period.

I had been extremely excited for two citywide elections: Mayor and mayor pro tem. I’m not from New Iberia, and the first day I actually spent significant time in the city was nine months ago when I first moved here. Fast forward six months and my first child was born in Dauterive Hospital — signaling the exponential growth of my caring for the city’s well being.

Thus, the next three months would have been very interesting for my wife and me as we listened and studied the plans of both incumbent Mayor Hilda Curry and incumbent Mayor Pro Tem Freddie DeCourt.

Comparing those platforms with challengers Chris Jordan and Dan Doerle, respectively, not only would have been insightful, but entertaining, considering political races in Louisiana have a way of becoming anything but boring.

No matter whose side one is on, the push of competition would have inevitably forced the opposing candidate to strengthen his or her positions, providing an even better eventual winner. As the saying goes, competition brings out the best in everyone.

But, alas, that is not the case.

Doerle was the first to drop. The current city councilman pulled his name from the mayor pro tem race 24 hours after qualifying for the election.

The ten-year council representative cited personal issues as taking attention away he would have needed for such an important race.

“I had a lot of things going on, and I just knew I couldn’t give all my effort and time towards that right now,” Doerle told The Daily Iberian.

“You can just do so many things at one time. I think I’ve shown I could have been a good (candidate for mayor pro tem). You need to give everything to it or you shouldn’t be there.”

The mayoral race’s only challenger lasted a little longer but Jordan was eventually out of the running less than a week after qualifying. He said the more he thought about it, he really enjoyed what he was doing already.

Jordan went as far as to tell The Daily Iberian, “My everyday job is probably better than most people’s vacations.”

Now, I’ve enjoyed my chosen profession immensely for the past five years but I would be hesitant to make such a statement because generally people really enjoy their vacations. Needless to say, if I felt like Jordan, I would not run for mayor, either.

New Iberia is in a relative strong standing, and the city and its residents are on solid ground for four more years with both Curry and DeCourt back in the fold. However, few would admit the next three months would not have been interesting, at the very least, had Curry and DeCourt been challenged by Jordan and Doerle.

This all brings me back to “The Usual Suspects” and that last great movie line.

For months, I was convinced we were getting a devil of an election season between four accomplished city pillars. And like that — it is gone.

Stephen Hemelt is city editor of The Daily Iberian. You can contact him at stephen.hemelt@daily-iberian.com.