Might still have to pay this one out

One minor result of the regular legislative session this year finds the mayor of New Orleans is still subject to the rule of law, more or less. 

But Landrieu got no traction on a related matter: a bill that would prevent city officials from being held in contempt of court for failing to pay legal judgments.

During the height of the city’s dispute with the firefighters last year, Civil District Judge Kern Reese ruled that Landrieu should be put under house arrest on weekends until the city paid up the money it owed the firefighters. Though that decision was later stayed by the state Supreme Court, Landrieu’s bill, which fizzled, would have prevented the same thing from happening in the future.

 Seems like a small thing. But it turns out there were other judgements pending.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is out of options in his funding fight with Criminal District Court Clerk Arthur Morrell, ending a dispute that has been simmering for four years.

The Louisiana Supreme Court last week refused to hear Landrieu's appeal of a lower court's ruling that he must pay Morrell's office $141,600 to make up for shorting the clerk's 2012 budget.

It's fine, though. You have to figure we can hold off on paying that for a few years. But the next mayor might have to do the house arrest.