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.