New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams is hammering back at Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, after Landry took aim at Williams in a recent campaign ad.
"I will not stand silent while Jeff Landry attacks the city of New Orleans," said Williams in a statement issued by his office. "As Attorney General, Jeff Landry has had 7 1/2 years to develop policies and approaches to respond to the rise in violent crime throughout our state, and has taken no real action."
Williams said Landry has never reached out to his office about developing a strategy for prosecuting lawbreakers, and accused the attorney general of being more concerned with waging a culture war.
"He has been more concerned with prosecuting women for their reproductive choices and pandering to the far-right Trump base than addressing the critical needs in New Orleans and in Louisiana," Williams said. "Doubling down on wrong-headed thinking in an effort to turn our state in to the 'Handmaids’ Tale' has not made us safer.
As for the talk of him running for governor, Williams said, "I am honored that well-respected people throughout the State are urging me to consider this post at such a critical moment. I was certainly not thinking about running, given my full docket and the progress of my office early in this term."
Williams said he and his family have no desire to leave New Orleans, but also said "these debates, however, would be very different were I to join the race; and being in a contest with a candidate who is publicly working harder to ban more books than high-powered assault weapons has some appeal."
