A couple of city councilman are going back-and-forth over the search for a new police chief. Council president J.P Morrell mentioned to WWL's Tommy Tucker Friday morning that Councilmember Oliver Thomas, who Mayor LaToya Cantrell put on the search committee, hasn't shared much with the council.
"She selected Councilman Thomas to be on that selection committee, and Councilman Thomas did not share with any of his colleagues what happened on the selection committee," said Morrell. "You can't really take anything they say with significant credibility if they're not willing to share publicly what led to those conclusions."
Oliver Thomas, speaking later on Tucker's show, said all members of the council will get their change to ask questions, when a nominee is put foreword for the confirmation process.
"There's no information that a councilmember cannot request or ask for when it gets to the point," said Thomas.
Thomas said he doesn't think the process so far has been unusual, and says some chief searches have been even less transparent than this one:
"Marc Morial had one of the great police chiefs of all time," Thomas said. "If you remember, Tommy, they were looking for a police chief and they were going through this process and one day Marc Morial called a press conference at Gallier Hall, and said, 'hey, it's Chief Pennington.'"
Pennington proved to be a successful chief in New Orleans from 1994-2002.
Meanwhile, the appointment for interim chief Michelle Woodfork expires on September 23.
