Gregory Joseph is no longer on the City of New Orleans's payroll.
The city council voted unanimously to suspend Mayor LaToya Cantrell's communications director from the city service without pay for the remainder of Cantrell's term. That vote came after the council convicted him of six charges, including gross misconduct, neglect of duty, and incompetence for using city funds to publish a mailer sent to voters during the Cantrell recall effort.
It also happened after a council debate about how long the suspension should last.
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"If this administration hired him, the next may want to. I would just do it for the remainder of this administration's term, Councilman Freddie King said, disagreeing with Council President J. P. Morrell's idea to suspend Joseph for a three-year period.
Morrell said the suspension should be a punishment for Joseph's actions, and not be a swipe at Mayor Cantrell.
"Mr. Joseph is the one who violated the law," Morrell said. "Mr. Joseph is the one who has not participated in the process. Personally, I don't care if the administration wants to hire him on day one."
But why suspend Joseph and not fire him? Council vice president Helena Moreno said suspending Joseph closed a possible loophole.
"If we were to terminate, for example, there could be an argument that this individual could then be immediately rehired," Moreno said.
At the start of the hearing, Morrell said Joseph hasn't had any communication with the council regarding the hearing, even after the council continued the hearing two weeks ago.
"There have been multiple opportunities to participate in this process to no avail. Therefore, this council must move forward with ensuring accountability because: if not now, when?" Morrell asked.
Even council members who were hesitant to vote to remove Joseph said they couldn't understand why Joseph went radio silent. Councilman Oliver Thomas said he came to the hearing ready to vote not to remove Joseph.
"I was hoping that he would come here and say why these charges are false and why they don't apply, but I was not afforded the opportunity to do that," Thomas said.
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