Councilman DeJohn Calls on Mayor to Make Tony LoBue “Suffer the Consequences”

Councilman DeJohn Calls on Mayor to Make Tony LoBue “Suffer the Consequences”

CENTRAL — Central City Councilman Louis DeJohn has called on Mayor Mac Watts to make Councilman Tony LoBue “suffer the consequences” for having brought copies of City Attorney Sheri Morris’ monthly legal bills to the Mayor’s Committee on Legal Services, which LoBue chairs.

To read DeJohn’s letter, click here.

LoBue says the Mayor appointed the committee to recommend changes in the City’s system of providing legal services and he does not see how that would be possible without examining the existing bills from vendors.  The City of Central has far exceeded the current year’s City Budget for legal services.

Vendor’s bills to governmental bodies are public records in Louisiana, but City Attorney Sheri Morris has insisted on “redacting,” or blackening out, virtually all of her bills in response to Public Records Requests.  Last August, Mayor Watts appointed local attorney Steven Stockstill to review Morris unredacted bills.  Stockstill reported to the City Council on Aug. 24, 2010, that Morris has no basis for redacting the bills and that they should be provided immediately when a Public Records Request is made.

But DeJohn said LoBue has “gone to a new level of arrogance” by allowing committee members to view the bills, and he urged the Mayor to “take immediate action.”

Providing copies of Morris’ monthly legal bills to members of the Mayor’s Committee on Legal Services has “crossed the lines” and is either “intentional” or “an ignorant mistake,” DeJohn said.  In either case, it is “a grave act of indiscretion” and “has put our city in jeopardy,” he said.

DeJohn told Watts that he should “either disband this committee or remove Tony LoBue from the group.”  DeJohn said LoBue’s action could “unravel all of the good work so many have accomplished.”

DeJohn said, “I will not let this lie or die” in all capital letters.

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News

 

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