Ethics Review Board votes to reappoint Inspector General

By April Siese
Contributing Writer

Despite mostly negative public comments that culminated in an emotional outcry during the final vote, The Ethics Review Board voted 4-0 to reappoint Inspector General Edouard Quatrevaux.

The ERB convened for public comments Monday, May 20, and their unanimous vote came after almost fifty minutes of deliberation in an executive session. Though the ERB is supposed to have seven members in all, just four seats are filled and the board is currently still searching for three more members.

ERB Chair Dr. Michael Cowan read an opening statement to the audience of approximately 25 community members, activists and media, detailing the meeting’s sole purpose in considering the reappointment of Quat­revaux. The board was quick to cite its review of “multiple sources of information including peer review, annual reports, quality review and public input.”

“Toward that end ERB members reviewed the report of the 2012 Peer Review conducted by the Association of Inspectors General, annual reports submitted by the OIG from 2010-2013, the 2011 and 2012 review of OIG performance prepared by the Office of Inspector Quality As­surance Review Advisory Com­mittee, and public comments received during the period 15-30 April, 2013,” Cowan read in a statement.

Ruthie Frierson, founder of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, was the first to speak in public comment, strongly urging the ERB to reappoint Quatrevaux and crediting his successes with inspiring similar programs in Jefferson Parish. Three other speakers offered positive comments on Quatrevaux’s reappointment, including Business Council of New Orleans Managing Director Bob Brown.

Brown made three points in favor of Quatrevaux’s reappointment: his prevention of waste, fraud and abuse, transparency, and enhanced public confidence. Byron Harrell, President of Bap­tist Community Ministries and an Orleans Parish resident, voiced his support for Qua­trevaux based on his past performance and Harrell’s own observations and personal meetings with Quatre­vaux. “I appreciate his integrity,” Harrell said.

In all, 11 speakers took the floor of the Council Chambers, including community activist Eloise Williams, whose outbursts, along with fellow activist Dyan French Cole, shortened Cowan’s final statement regarding Quatrevaux’s reappointment. Williams’ criticisms regarding the IG’s supposed lax attitude towards NOPD echoed the many speakers who opposed Quatrevaux’s reappointment.

Ronald McCoy, a community leader and organizer with Safe Streets / Strong Communities said it was like “night and day” comparing Quatrevaux’s assessments of the police department with that of Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson. Hutson came up multiple times in public comments, with many praising her diligence in police accountability despite an apparent lack of funding and questioning Quatre­vaux’s lack of reallocation of funds to bolster her position.

“He [Quatrevaux] has a refrigerator full of food and they [the IPM] are starving to death,” said activist Norris Henderson, who previously served as special advisor to the IPM. Norris cited a notary discrepancy between Police Chief Ronal Serpas and Assistant City Attorney Victor Papai as evidence of Quatrevaux’s bias towards Serpas.

Papai acted as notary for Serpas’ pension paperwork when he first joined the NOPD after serving as Nashville’s police chief. Though Serpas was appointed May 6, 2010, and the necessary paperwork was signed and notarized that very day, Serpas was still in Nashville and Papai in New Orleans.

The ERB say they have taken the public’s concerns regarding funding for the Independent Police Monitor into consideration. Quatrevaux’s initial term was set to run out in October and has now been extended an additional four years until 2017. The former Legal Service Corp. inspector general was first brought on in January 2009 to replace Leonard Odom, who had acted as interim Inspector General upon the resignation of New Orleans’ first Inspector General Robert Cerasoli.

This article originally published in the May 27, 2013 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.