While Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson was able to pull off a successful Mardi Gras event this year, there has been controversy of the decision to pay for hotel rooms that weren’t used.
During an interview with WWL’s Newell Normand, Hutson said the rooms – which cost more than $18,000 altogether – were paid for with public funds, but not taxpayer funds.
“I think you're misleading the public by… by trying to draw a distinction between a taxpayer fund and a public fund,” Normand said. Taxpayer funds are public funds.”
According to a WWL 4 report, Hutson’s office explained that the account used to pay for the rooms used money from sources such as fundraisers and vending machines. She told Normand that it has been used for similar expenses in the past.
“No taxpayer funds went to it,” Hutson said. “There was no wrongdoing, no unethical conduct. I wasn't there. It wasn't. There's just a lot of nothing here. And it just it's overshadowing that hard work.”
According to the sheriff's office, that account uses money from sources like fundraisers and vending machines. However, like Normand, City Council Vice-President Helena Moreno believed that distinction to be irrelevant.
“This is not the sheriff's own private account. This isn’t her campaign account,” she said. “These are your public dollars that were being spent toward this.”
Per the WWL 4 report, the city’s Office of Inspector General found that around half of the rooms at the Omni Royal in the French Quarter held for 13 staffers held for 90 days went empty. Those empty rooms racked up an estimated dollar amount of $11,046, the report said. In a statement, the sheriff’s office said the purpose for holding the rooms was to keep staffers safe during Mardi Gras.
“It’s a colossal waste of public money,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a non-profit watchdog group, said.
Still, Hutson maintained this week that the funds are and have been used judiciously.
“Well, you stick to your guns on trying to draw a distinction between a taxpayer funded [and] public… and I will just make this one prediction: It will not bode well for you,” Normand said. Listen to their full conversation here.