Serpas signals no

This was a long shot rumor anyway.. I think.

Ronal Serpas is taking a pass on politics.

The former New Orleans Police Department superintendent, who was rumored to be considering a bid to challenge Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman in the fall, said Monday he would not be running.

"I am very happy here at Loyola University New Orleans," Serpas said in an email in which he flatly rejected a bid.

Serpas, who has never sought elected office, secured a tenured post as a "professor of practice" at Loyola shortly after Mayor Mitch Landrieu tossed him from the police chief's job in August 2014 after four tumultuous years.

Qualifying begins in a few days. Seems like nobody wants Gusman's job (such as it is right now.)  Hardly anybody wants to run for Mayor either, it seems.  More on that later. 

Congratulations to the sheriff on being elected sheriff

This ballot question was a re-do after having failed back in November.  It fell apart then because people are, rightfully, dissatisfied with the state of the jail and because they.. probably also rightfully.. are distrustful of the sheriff.  But after having thrown a fit over that, voters grudgingly accepted that they had to do this.  It's really not that bad, anyway.

The proposal, championed by Sheriff Marlin Gusman and Mayor Mitch Landrieu, didn't raise taxes. Instead, it called for freezing the current tax rate at 2.8 mills and allowing the sheriff to use the revenue for the "operation, maintenance and upkeep of jails and related facilities." Money raised through the original tax was dedicated to capital projects.

Gusman asked for the additional money for jail operations to help pay for improvements required under the terms of a federal consent decree that could cost as much as $22 million a year. The sheriff's office estimated the new tax proposal would provide the sheriff's office with an additional $4.4 million in 2016.

Someday maybe we won't spend so much money incarcerating people.  Maybe the fact that we also decided to invest in supporting our communities with libraries yesterday will help with that. 

On your side

WDSU prevents one of the four candidates for sheriff from participating in its televised debate because reasons.

When the candidates for Orleans Parish sheriff convened at WDSU-TV’s studios for a half-hour debate Friday evening, Quentin Brown was the only one of the four men who qualified for the race not on hand.

Brown, a gardener who has mounted previous campaigns for mayor, governor and City Council, wasn’t pleased.

“They say I’m not a serious candidate,” he said in an earlier interview. “I’m registered. I paid my $225. Why am I not being included in this?”

WDSU News Director Jonathan Shelley said the station limits participation to candidates who have held office, or who hit certain polling or fundraising thresholds. Brown was also excluded from forums for Democrats this week because he is an independent.

Nice of them to put these arbitrary qualifications in place for us.  I know how concerned we were that our local politics wasn't quite restricted enough to the well financed and established.