New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is blaming the media for her decision to violate Louisiana public records and law withhold the names of the 33 people who applied to be the next superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, including the six semifinalists in that race.
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A reporter asked Cantrell during her weekly press briefing Wednesday if she would release the names of the six semifinalists. Cantrell repeated a claim that she made last week that she would not because she didn't want anyone harassing those candidates.
Then, Cantrell launched her accusations at the reporters gathered in the city hall briefing room.
"I'm not looking to do harm to people. You all do harm," Cantrell said. "Sometimes you all do... you do a really good job of doing harm to people when they're stepping up to do a good service for the people, and that's something that I will not get involved in relative to this search. You all will get the names at the right time."
Cantrell's missive against the press came minutes after dismissed claims that she has not been transparent during the superintendent search process.
"Lack of transparency: I don't see that's the case at all," Cantrell said. "I think we've been definitely transparent. There's nothing to hide. We've been engaging, and this is a process that has been managed by (the International Association of Chiefs of Police)."
Cantrell also said she's let the outside agency running the search do its job.
"The whole point of having it independent (is) so that it can be managed without any, I would say, micromanagement of the administration, just guidance," Cantrell said.
Despite her refusal to name the six semifinalists for the superintendent's job, Cantrell publicly acknowledged for the first time that interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork is among the semifinalists who will take part in interviews on July 20 and 21.
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