No sting operation necessary

Lon Burns (after several twists and turns) has been ruled ineligible to run for DA. 

Napkins

We're about to get into the thick of campaign season. But the Orleans Parish DA's race is still embroiled in the Jurocratic^TM stage.   It looks like Lon Burns is going to get another chance to show his paperwork is in order.

Judge Dennis R. Bagneris, who wrote the majority opinion for the 4th Circuit, said Judge Tiffany Chase erred when she did not extend the trial an extra day to allow Burns to call his tax preparer, Monica Jackson, to the stand.

Burns, a former Orleans Parish prosecutor, told the court he filed returns for 2010 to 2014 in August of 2014. He submitted copies of those returns into evidence during the hearing.

However, an employee from the Louisiana Department of Revenue testified that after performing an updated search he still had no such records.

Chase ruled against Burns, barring him from the race.

In his ruling, Bagneris said that by refusing to allow Burns to call Jackson, the district court violated his due process rights. He remanded the case to the district level.

Burns might already know a thing or two about violating due process rights.  He honed that particular skill back when he worked for Harry Connick. James Gill recounted this story in a recent column.

Open-file discovery, Burns explains, will “help to prevent wrongful convictions as well as expensive retrials.” He certainly will recall one expensive retrial, because he caused it.

That was in 2000, when an ex-New Orleans cop named George Lee was in the middle of his third trial for rape. His second one had been abandoned because the prosecution team, which included Burns, had withheld witness statements from the defense.

Next time around, Burns, now the lead prosecutor, put a cop on the stand and asked him to check the back pocket of some pants seized from Lee. When the cop pulled out a bunch of napkins, the courtroom was abuzz with astonishment. The scene of the rape had been littered with napkins that Lee allegedly used to wipe himself. Although no semen had been found on the napkins, the discovery of the napkins was clearly calculated to incriminate Lee.

Judge Arthur Hunter was convinced that Burns had planted the napkins and sentenced him to six months in the slammer for contempt.

The appeal court upheld Hunter, but, when the case came up for a Supreme Court hearing, Connick himself put in an appearance to declare Burns guiltless. “No one has to tell me if my prosecutors did anything wrong. I will not tolerate it,” he said. That remark seems most humorous in light of subsequent revelations, (Ed: Reginald Adams link added by me) but maybe Connick’s views did carry weight, for the justices wound up delivering an opinion that employed some far-fetched reasoning to give Burns a break.

This is not to say that the the challenge to Burns's candidacy on tax filing grounds isn't  a waste of time. Jarvis Deberry says that it's possibly even an abuse of power on DA Cannizzaro's part.

Burns is fighting to get back on the ballot, but even if he's successful in that regard, the chances of him unseating Cannizzaro are slim to none. That's why the thought of somebody in Cannizzaro's office working - privately or otherwise - to get Burns off the ballot is all the more disturbing. Why should getting Burns off the ballot be anybody's aim? Can Cannizzaro not tolerate anybody challenging  him?

See what I did there? I linked Martin's actions to Cannizzaro because - whether Martin likes it or not - that's what happens when you are the assistant to a high-ranking public official. What you do, on and off the clock, reflects on the person above.

Martin might argue that he gets to be something other than the first assistant to the district attorney whenever it's convenient for him not to be.

On the other hand the question of whether a candidate for DA can be counted on to execute his office in an ethical and constitutionally sound matter is far more relevant than whether or not he remembered to file a tax return on time. Clearly Burns's own record with regard to evidence suppression, not to mention simply having been employed as a deputy to the notorious Connick, reflects on him. Right, Jarvis?

Jurocracy

I'm looking for a word that describes a system of government wherein the government is chosen mostly via lawsuit.  We seem, at least, to be in the jurocratic round of our current election cycle, anyway.

For example:

A judge on Tuesday disqualified defense attorney Lionel “Lon” Burns in his bid to unseat Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, ruling that Burns failed to prove that he paid his state taxes for four years prior to filing his candidacy papers last month.

Burns, a former Orleans Parish prosecutor, said he “absolutely” would appeal Civil District Court Judge Tiffany Chase’s ruling. He has until Wednesday to do so.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond won the first round in a bid to knock two of his four challengers out of the race, while Jefferson Parish judicial candidate Angel Varnado beat back a residency challenge.

A pair of Orleans Parish judges ruled that Gary Landrieu and ex-bail bondsman Rufus Johnson, both running for Richmond’s 2nd Congressional District seat, were disqualified because they failed to pay fines to the state Ethics Board for past campaign reporting lapses.

The challenges against Burns and Landrieu seem kind of petty. And they both say they're going to challenge the ruling.  If they are, in fact, disqualified these races will be deprived of some mild entertainment.... and I do mean mild. For instance, the one notable thing about candidate Burs is his rhyming slogan "You can't preach what you don't know, and you can't lead where you don't go."  That's how desperate we are for anything to happen in these races.

The Mayor's cousin Gary is a little more interesting. In 2012 he ran for City Council promising to get rid of traffic cameras.  Specifically, he said he would personally haul them away in a truck commandeered from the "Department of Garbage."

"When I say we're going to get rid of those traffic cameras, those traffic cameras are going to be removed," he said. "I am going to personally remove them if I have to personally go get a garbage truck from the department of garbage and go run them over with a garbage truck."

Later, Cousin Gary told voters of his idea for "huge economic development" which also happened to be a secret.

Landrieu said he would end the traffic camera ticket program, and had an idea for huge economic development that he did not ultimately disclose.

Did we ever find out what that was?   Or were we supposed to elect him first?

Anyway, it would be a shame if a jurocratically invoked technicality would deprive us of somewhat colorful candidates like the Mayor's Cousin Gary.  These are going to be some boring elections, otherwise.

As for the Mayor's Sister Mary, as far as any reasonable person can tell, she is definitely eligible to run  for the US Senate seat she has held for almost two decades.   But we're gonna have to wait upon the jurocratic process to play out there too. It's almost over with.

While Maness' objections might not be moving forward, state Rep. Paul Hollis filed a similar legal complaint last week about Landrieu's residency that will be heard in court.

In addition to Moore, Maness sent written complaints to three other Louisiana district attorneys, including Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, requesting they legally question the residency of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu last Friday.

Meanwhile, there's this: 

A legal challenge to knock Louisiana's longest-serving judge off the Nov. 4 ballot in New Orleans continued its speedy journey Tuesday, as an appeal court heard arguments over whether Judge Frank Marullo Jr. can run for another six-year term on the New Orleans criminal bench.

The Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal has 24 hours to make a ruling in the case, which is more than likely headed to the state Supreme Court regardless of the outcome.

Marullo seemed to find a sympathetic audience among the 12 judges, who directed most of their questions to the attorney for the New Orleans voters who challenged Marullo's eligibility to seek re-election to the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. Marian Cunningham and Lisa and Robert Amoss sued Marullo last week, arguing he can't run for reelection because at 74, he is over the constitutional age limit of 70 for judicial candidates.

One extra note about that one appears at the bottom of the article.

Amoss is the brother of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss. Robert Amoss and Lisa are supporters of Graham Bosworth, a lawyer who is one of four candidates running against Marullo.

Bosworth, by the way, was at the District B community budget hearing last month doing some politicking.  The fliers he was handing out highlight the fact that he is a member of the Knights of Babylon... one of the older and more blue-blooded of our Carnival organizations.




It isn't quite as cut and dry as all that, of course.  Bosworth is a criminal defense attorney with a background in sentencing reform which is kind of an important issue given our world-infamous incarceration rate.

Still... I dunno.  If I were already benefiting from the jurocratic actions of a plutocratic family, I might not go advertising my pseudo-aristocratic knighthood at the same time.   It just looks bad.

Qualifying week

Qualified 4 the #LA06 Congressional race! Surprised & pleased by the attention from media and @Louisiana_sos staff ! pic.twitter.com/ITzE0wt89w
— Edwin Edwards (@EdwinWEdwards) August 20, 2014

Think of it as pre-season but for political candidates.

 NOLA.com is giving us roster updates.

11:25 a.m.: Frank Marullo came in to correct some paperwork. At 74, he's too old to run for another term as Criminal District Court Judge, according to the current state constitution, which sets the limit at 70.

However, Marullo was elected before the constitution was adopted in 1974, when the age limit was 75. In an interview this morning, he said that he should be grandfathered in and legally allowed to run again.

Furthermore, it's a question of morality, according to Marullo. Forcing judges to retire because of an age limit amounts to "ageism" he said. "This is 2014 not 1928."

Also DA Leon Cannizzaro is being challenged by Lon Burns and his rhyming slogan.

His unofficial campaign slogan: "You can't preach what you don't know, and you can't lead where you don't go."

Other exciting things happened. Yolanda King had trouble filling out a form, for example.  Many other candidates qualified.  Were you one of them?  Better check the list to make sure.