Interesting little story here about a meeting between incumbent Coroner Jeffrey Rouse and challenger Dwight McKenna brokered by US Rep. Cedric Richmond just prior to Rouse's dropping out of the race. McKenna (who has run for this office before in rather flamboyant fashion) is now unopposed. That could change only if Rouse somehow ends up winning reelection even without campaigning. He would then, supposedly, resign setting up a whole new election. So.. some people might still be interested in bringing that scenario about.
It is not clear if McKenna anticipates an organized effort to re-elect
Rouse — who is white — against his wishes. So far, McKenna's candidacy
has drawn some questions in the media, but there's been no overt
campaign to deny him office.
No "overt campaign," OK. But if you're looking for a slightly less overt campaign against McKenna, you don't have to look very far. Just keep reading.
He would be the first local politician in recent memory to be elected
after serving time in prison for a felony, having been forced off the
Orleans Parish School Board in 1992 when he was convicted in federal
court of tax evasion.
"McKenna ... will always be best known as a tax cheat," The Advocate's James Gill wrote earlier this month.
The Times-Picayune's Tim Morris wrote a column titled, "Vote for the quitter. It's important."
Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Rouse is calling off his
re-election campaign, in which his only challenger is a convicted felon
he defeated for the post 3 1/2 years ago.
Nearing the end of his
first term in office, Rouse made the stunning announcement in a
statement issued Thursday, long after the deadline to get his name off
the ballot for the Oct. 14 race pitting him against Dr. Dwight McKenna,
75, publisher of The New Orleans Tribune newspaper.
Votes cast in favor of Rouse, who intends to complete his first term, will still count.
So,
if he wins, he would have to hand in a resignation that would take
effect at the start of his second term to avoid serving it. That would
set up his deputy coroner as an interim replacement, until voters could
choose a replacement during a special election which would most likely
be held in the spring next year.
Nonetheless, Rouse on Thursday
endorsed the idea of McKenna being his successor, going so far as to
congratulate him "on becoming the first African-American coroner of our
great city."
This office has a sordid history with regard to the role it has played in our famous systemic criminal justice corruption. So it raises eyebrows when the coroner just up and quits like this. The closest thing to a reason this article provides is that doing the work made Rouse sad.
Minyard's departure leaves three people vying for his seat:
Dr. Dwight McKenna, a surgeon and former school board member; Vincent
Culotta Jr., an obstetrician and gynecologist; and Dr. Jeffrey Rouse,
who already works in the coroner's office as Minyard's second in
command.
McKenna, who has twice before sought to unseat Minyard,
welcomed the news of his rival's departure. He criticized Minyard for
not determining a cause of death in many high-profile cases.
"I
think he's abused the office," McKenna said. "His diagnoses have been,
to say the least, suspect. He's actually protected the guilty and
disadvantaged the poor."
In a previous election, McKenna also famously criticized Minyard for... selling organs to mad scientists.. or something.
The fact that Rouse (Igor in the above video) got into the race should have tipped us off that something like this might be in the works. Minyard likely qualified in order to keep the field relatively clear for Rouse who Minyard has now endorsed.
Minyard said he plans to endorse Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, one of the three
candidates who qualified to run against him. Rouse, a forensic
psychiatrist, is Minyard’s deputy coroner and had been touted by Minyard
in the past as a solid choice to succeed him.
“He’s a good man with a good moral fiber,” Minyard said. “I think he’d be perfect for the position.”
The other two candidates in the race are Dr. Dwight McKenna, who has run
against Minyard unsuccessfully in several previous elections, and
political newcomer Dr. Vincent Culotta.
"I still love the job, but the position needs young blood, somebody
who's computer literate," Minyard told Eyewitness Investigator Mike
Perlstein. "I feel like it would be selfish for me to continue."
Here's one of the episodes (there have been more than one) of PBS' Frontline featuring Minyard and his history of downgrading murders to "accidental" or "undetermined" deaths in high profile cases.
You know there's been a long history where you've been accused of being biased on the side of the law enforcement --
Correct. Yes.
-- to the point that you had a friend who was an
officer who ... was involved in one of the more famous incidents, ...
Adolph Archie [who died in police custody after killing an officer].
Adolph Archie. ... In that case, my position was that Adolph Archie
died from an allergic reaction to iodine that he was given on the X-ray
table right before they were going to do a procedure. And written all
over his medical chart from Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary] and
from Charity Hospital has "allergic to iodine." He got the iodine IV; he
sat up, went back and hit the back of his head, and he died.
That created quite a furor. It brought [journalists] Hugh Downs and
Mike Wallace. We brought in three world-renowned forensic pathologists
to testify to our grand jury. We had a grand jury hearing. And the three
of them all came up with different answers. One of them backed me --
allergic reaction.
... And of course the grand jury came back no true
bill, [a grand jury's finding that there is no probable cause for
determining that a crime was committed]. And to this day, there is no
cause of death. ...
[What was the classification on the death certificate?]
Yeah. On the death certificate, I'm not sure. I haven't thought about
that in a long time. But I know there is no cause of death. See, a
death certificate you have one, two, three causes. And as far as a
classification, I don't know what we classified it as. We probably --
Riled up protesters struggled with the coroner's staff Monday as they overflowed into the lobby of the office.
They continued chanting in the lobby as Glover's family and the NAACP met with Minyard about the case.
“I did not see the remains of Henry Glover. But I have been told it was nothing but burned-out bones,” Minyard said.
Glover's death was originally ruled "accidental” because his body had been burned in a fire.
In 2009, Minyard reclassified it as "undetermined." Glover's family wants it classified as a homicide.
The ongoing rancor over the Glover case (occasioning multiple demonstrations at the coroner's office in the past week) may be what has actually driven Minyard from office. Even so, he's classifying the move as a simple retirement.
