New Orleans Mayor Presiding Over Major Crime Wave Hit With Recall Petition – Opinion

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who has earned a lot of negative attention for an expensive trip to Paris on the taxpayers’ dime and for appearing to come to the defense a carjacker in court, is the subject of a recall petition filed at the Secretary of State’s office Friday.

Cantrell is a Democrat who currently oversees a major criminal wave and a shrinking police force. However, her office issued a statement on Friday night.

“The mayor is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to solve the problems of the city,” director of the Mayor’s Office of Communications, Gregory Joseph, said in a statement to local media.

A recall petition must be signed by at least 20% of eligible voters to trigger state recall laws. The signatures will be then verified by the registrar. The WDSU New Orleans states that New Orleans requires at least 53,000 valid signatures to petition. Cantrell can appeal the validation of the signatures before recall elections are put on the ballot.

Belden Batiste, an activist from the community and longtime candidate for public office was responsible for filing the petition. Eileen Carter was a former employee of city hall. She joined Batiste when she filed the petition.

Carter’s sister is disgraced former state Senator Karen Carter Peterson, who recently resigned from office for illegally using state Democratic Party funds. During that time, she was the state party’s chair and was suffering from gambling addiction. She is currently subject to federal investigations.

Cantrell, meanwhile, was the subject of a lengthy Tucker Carlson monologue regarding the city’s crime wave and her appearance in court to defend a carjacker.

So, the mayor of the city, Latoya Cantrell, showed up to the sentencing, but here’s the twist in the story. Mayor Cantrell didn’t show up to support the victims, the women who’d been terrorized by this predator. The mayor was there to show support for the carjacker, and to inform the city that she was doing this, so everyone knew who she was.

[…]

She is encouraging violence and is ruining an already fragile city. We reached out to Mayor Cantrell’s office to ask why she is doing all of this. How did she force a judge to free a convicted carjacker? But of course, she didn’t reply to us. New Orleans mayor had an alleged connection with the carjacker. Cantrell had enrolled this person in one of her administration’s welfare programs called “Pathways Youth Internship Program.” Using taxpayer money, the program says it provides young people who commit crimes with a reward, paid internships and a stipend.

Cantrell first won the mayor’s seat in 2017, and her time in office has been filled with controversy. While Cantrell was hosting unmasked parties, many New Orleans residents found themselves under COVID-19 stricter restrictions than those in the rest of Louisiana. She was also responsible for imposing strict rules regarding Superdome attendance during pandemic.

She also tried to get Grammy-winning Christian singer Lauren Daigle, who is originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, kicked of the annual New Year’s Rockin Eve Celebration hosted by Dick Clark Productions. Why? Because Daigle sang at a public event during the pandemic, and Cantrell threw a fit about how much the event “endangered lives,” according to her.

“While this was under the guise of a religious activity or event,” she said at the time, “we know it put our people in danger.”

Cantrell originally won office with 60 percent of the city’s vote, and there is skepticism among political observers in the state as to whether or not the recall election would be successful. To make the petition appear on the ballot, the petition must be signed within 180 days.

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