Mayor-elect Cantrell, state AG reach accord

16th April 2018   ·   0 Comments

After more than five months of legal squabbling over a subpoena filed by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office to gain access to New Orleans Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell’s financial records, the city’s first female mayor and state AG Jeff Landry have reached an accord that will grant investigators access to her financial records.

The subpoena was filed after an anonymous complaint filed during last fall’s mayoral race over then New Orleans City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell’s use of a City-issued credit card.

After Cantrell refused to turn over her personal financial records, state AG Landry sought to take the investigation out of Orleans Parish because of what he described as a conflict of interest. He filed court papers that pointed out that Cantrell’s father-in-law, Harry Cantrell, is the City’s Magistrate Judge and the City of New Orleans determines the budget of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

All of the Criminal Court judges agreed to recuse themselves from the investigation with the exception of Chief Criminal Court Judge Laurie White.

Ultimately, the Louisiana Supreme Court appointed Freddie Pitcher Jr., a retired Baton Rouge judge and former chancellor of the Southern University Law Center, to decide whether the Orleans Parish Criminal Court judges had to recuse themselves from the probe. He ultimately decided earlier this year that moving the probe outside of Orleans Parish was not necessary.

Cantrell’s case remains in the investigatory stage and she has not been charged with or accused of anything. A separate probe of the New Orleans City Council’s use of the City-issued credit cards is being conducted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.

Coming just weeks before Cantrell is scheduled to be sworn in as mayor, Tuesday’s agreement to allow the state Attorney General’s Office to take a look at her personal bank records brings to an end the bitter tug of war that placed a cloud of doubt over the incoming mayor.

Landry agreed to drop the subpoena under the condition that his investigators are allowed to examine Cantrell’s bank records in the office of her attorney, Billy Gibbens.

Cantrell has agreed in turn to dismiss her motion challenging the subpoenas.

“Mayor-elect Cantrell and the Attorney General’s Office have agreed on a procure to review the Cantrell’s personal banking records, and we look forward to the conclusion of this matter,” attorney Billy Gibbens said in a statement Tuesday.

Cantrell, a California native, is married to New Orleans defense attorney Jason Cantrell.

Nola/The Times Picayune reported that Chief Judge Laurie White still has to approve the motion to release the Cantrell’s personal bank records to Gibbens.

The state Attorney General’s Office would not comment on the probe because it is “an ongoing investigation,” spokeswoman Ruth Wisher said.

The state Attorney General’s Office became involved in the case after an anonymous complaint was filed with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office accusing Cantrell of misusing her City-issued credit card.

Cantrell, who has repeatedly said that her use of the credit card did not rise to the level of a crime, paid back more than $4,000 just days before she qualified to run for Mayor of New Orleans.

Some have questioned AG Jeff Landry’s probe of the mayor-elect’s credit card use, suggesting that the Republican attorney general is asserting himself in New Orleans politics to score points with conservative Louisiana voters as he prepares to launch a gubernatorial bid.

Orleans Parish D.A. Leon Cannizzaro, who supported Cantrell’s opponent in the mayor oral runoff, Desiree Charbonnet, recused himself from the case and handed the matter over to AG Jeff Landry.

Cantrell is scheduled to be sworn in as mayor on May 7.

This article originally published in the April 16, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.