Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Why the JP Sheriff's race matters

Ok that's kind of a dumb post title. The Sheriff of Jefferson Parish is one of the most powerful and consequential political offices in the state.  Of course it "matters" who holds it.  But there is one item buried near the bottom of this juicy Advocate profile of Shane Guidry I think is worth making note of.
Guidry and Normand served as co-chairs of Landry’s transition team. But the sheriff and the attorney general have been at odds over Normand’s refusal to have his deputies seek out and arrest potential illegal immigrants, in defiance of a demand by the Trump administration that Landry backs.
The outgoing sheriff, whatever else we may think of him, at least had enough clout to buck the preferences of State Attorney General and even the President of the United States with regard to one of their most cruel and highly politicized policy priorities. Given everything else this article says about Guidry's importance, not to mention Landry's ambitions, we can expect the pressure to victimize immigrants to increase. Will the next sheriff retain anything approaching Normand's independence?  That's a big question.

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