Here's a question for the fine citizens of New Orleans: Should the mayor have the right to make googly eyes at one of her employees in a public restaurant on a public balcony without anyone seeing photographs of it or is that shielded by privacy laws?
WWL's Newell Normand went on a tear as the judge decided that Mayor LaToya Cantrell's restraining order against the woman who took said photo on a public balcony could continue until at least June 18th so her new attorney -- whom she reportedly hired last night -- could get up to speed on the case. Cantrell will go back to Civil District Court June 18th.
Newell called it a delay tactic and said it's evidence that Gov. Jeff Landry needs to step in and replace Cantrell. As background, know that Anne E. Breaud snapped a picture of Mayor LaToya Cantrell on a patio staring admiringly at her security officer over what looked like a romantic meal. Cantrell got a restraining order against her for taking the pic and Breaud filed a counter-claim accusing the mayor of filing false claims against her.
The case brought up other questions, including how the mayor got background information on the woman who took the photo and why the media was barred from the courtroom. Bread's attorney called Newell on the show and said he has serious concerns about information the mayor was able to get in her order including 'Social Security numbers, driver's license photos, mentions of past court records that aren't available to the general public.' He said he'd like to know why is the mayor entitled in a civil proceeding to all of this information
"Meanwhile, this is just costing the taxpayers more money. It'll be interesting as to whether or not this is a personal obligation, or this is going to be paid for by the city," Newell said. "This is like another example of the dysfunction in, in this city over and over and over again. And, we just cannot execute. We cannot get out of our own way. And we've got this complete total lack of leadership."
Is there any bit of protection that the mayor has for sitting on the balcony of a restaurant? Newell asked, adding, "I've never seen that in law. It's curious ... And when we talk about respect. Do we really respect the taxpayers of this city wasting their money by continuing to engage in conduct that has been questionable. Maybe not illegal, maybe, maybe not even unethical, but violative of city policies, violative of your own police department.
"It's amazing that this administration fails to read the room right. Do they ever just read the room as to what is out there and what the expectations of the public may or may not be as it relates to the conduct of this mayor? This mayor does what she wants, when she wants, how she wants. She doesn't give a damn. She's in the last quarter of her work life in the city of New Orleans. She knows there's nothing at stake. She doesn't care. She's gone is almost as much as she's here.
"We're trying to prepare for a Super Bowl coming up in February. I'm hearing frustration at the frustration after frustration in dealing with city administration. Not knowing who's the point person going to be, not knowing whether or not they're going to be able to get this done or that done or anything else done to put our best foot forward so that we can capture and leverage the moment that we get the amount of attention that we get worldwide. To inure to the benefit of the city. To shine ourselves up. To embrace human nature, the first impression being a lasting impression. And to understand the value of same. But now we're in court."
But you know who wasn't in the courtroom? The media. Walt Pierce, public information officer for the Orleans Civil District Court, revealed why. He said the judge decided since it was a pre-trial hearing to have it in the courtroom without media present, which is a 'holdover of COVID.'
"I think a lot of the media was hanging out in the lobby, I should say in the hallways and of course, downstairs, because they want to see the mayor actually walk in, I guess. But, no, no, the media was not put out of of the case or the courtroom for this case. It was just the way the judge does her pretrial conferences. She likes to do them sometimes in the courtroom. It's a bigger space," Pierce said.
Newell added that if Cantrell wanted to provide less fodder for talk, she's not doing a great job of it. "This is not about beating up on the mayor or vilifying the mayor. The mayor's doing that to herself. She's doing a bang up job and creating more fodder to talk about her than anyone else. In fact, there is no one that beat this mayor in the race to the bottom."
