Does ending of Family Court race benefit Stacy Head?

14th February 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

And then there was one.

On Thursday, February 2, attorney Kris Kiefer, son of the late State Senator Nat Kiefer, dropped his second bid in less than six months to win election to the Civil District Court. With his departure, Bernadette D’Souza, the seasoned lawyer who spent years arguing for a Family Court in Orleans Parish—and literally wrote and lobbied for legislation in Baton Rouge mandating its creation—will become the first judge for the Domestic Section 1 of the CDC that she so long championed.

Moreover, the March 24, 2011 election suddenly is reduced to just one citywide race, the Special Election for Council At-Large, joined by Louisiana’s GOP Presidential nominating primary–a contest that may very well be contested despite Mitt Romney’s strong victory in Florida. Both of those realities speak well for the chances of District “B” Council­woman Stacy Head to win promotion to the Council Presidency.

Low turnout elections in Orleans Parish, with little else on the ballot, tend to disproportionately favor Caucasian candidates. In an average election, white voters tend to nearly equal Black voters in turnout post-Katrina, but head to head, in a spring special election, like the one to succeed Arnie Fielkow, a conservative Democrat like Stacy Head may have a demographic advantage. (The post-hurricane phenomena is explained at length at www.louisiana­weekly.com/­green-drops-out-of-council-at-large-race/).

By all indications, this trend is further accelerated by the potential of a large GOP turnout as the race continues for the Republican nomination. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s victories in Minnesota and Missouri—and particularly his five-point upset in Colorado where Mitt Romney had expected to win comfortably as late as when the polls closed on Saturday, February 4—promise that the race will continue past Super Tuesday. Newt Gingrich is rallying for a return in Ohio, where Santorum currently leads the field, and in the Southern States of Super Tuesday, where the former Geor­gia Congressman and Speaker is planning a rebirth.

With less reasons to go to the polls, and higher white turnout, Head, as a Caucasian, would seem to have an advantage—though one of her two opponents, Austin Badon, believes that he can at least split the GOP vote enough to force a runoff and an eventual victory. The State Rep’s championing of conservative causes like school vouchers, National Guard Military Police deployed in the city, and, most recently, abolition of the State Parole Board (see related article) are all keyed to appeal to that predominantly white constituency—though the issues are areas that are popular with a large minority of the African-American community as well.

Still, those who had counted on a competitive judicial contest to help drive turnout, with the scion of a political dynasty on the ballot, will be disappointed. Kiefer despite his recent loss, seemed well positioned with the added Caucasian turnout on March 24 to pull off a victory. His name was certainly well-known. Besides his father, the late Senator Nat G. Kiefer, he could boast of his uncle, the Honorable George “Buzz” Kiefer, former Judge of Juvenile Court for New Orleans, and a brother, Nat G. Kiefer, Jr., active in politics.

But, name recognition only brings a candidate so far, even in New Orleans’ family-obsessed elections. Part of the reason is the strength of D’Souza as a Family Court candidate. Traditionally, newly elected judges were given the domestic docket, and ran from it as soon as they could advance up the Civil Court ladder.

D’Souza observed to The Louisiana Weekly, “I once had a case where I had four different [CDC] judges on it.” She noted how hard that lack of consistency was on a pro-see defendant in a domestic case. “I begged several judges to stay on the domestic docket.” Few were interested, and one, she recollected, said if she wanted that, she should run.

The law professor and veteran Family attorney went further, going to the State Capitol and convincing legislators to earmark the next open CDC seat to the family docket exclusively. When she decided to throw her hat in the proverbial ring, it was as the mother of a section of the Civil District Court.

That was daunting for Kris Kiefer to face under the best of circumstances. Add to that reality the fact that D’Souza was not African-American, but a Catholic Indian immigrant, 30-years resident in the city of New Orleans. Kiefer, in other words, lacked the racial advantage that a Stacy Head enjoys against Black Democrats like Cynthia Willard Lewis and Austin Badon.

Experience matched with political realities were enough last week for the two time judicial candidate to wait for another bid for the CDC.

This article was originally published in the February 13, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper