I thought I had this city figured out. In New Orleans, or at least in the New Orleans I grew up in, when you tell people an event scheduled in the middle of summer on a weeknight begins at 6:30, surely you don't mean for them to show up before 7. Maybe that's different now. I don't know. Anyway, I certainly wasn't the only person who calculated incorrectly the best time to arrive for VOTE's mayoral forum a couple Thursdays ago. By the time I got there, a sizeable crowd of my fellow stragglers had already been locked out of the over-capacity event.
It's a shame too. People really seemed to be looking forward to this. I swear I saw couples on dates waiting outside. Or at least a lot of people were overdressed. Mid-summer isn't exactly high social season around here. School is out. The Saints don't kick off for a few months. The Pelicans have been done for a while. It's too hot to spend much time outside. At the time of the forum, Essence Fest was still a few weeks away (and now that it's here, has turned out to be something of a dud anyway.) Politics is basically the only game in town right now. And a good number of us couldn't get a ticket.
That wasn't really anybody's fault. VOTE headquarters isn't a large space. They did the best they could. But maybe the next mayoral forum can book the Smoothie King Center. One man who didn't make it in was giving the volunteers at the door a hard time about all of this. There was no need, though, as we were assured the event would be live streamed on Instagram and then made available later. "But the video will be biased!" the man shouted. In favor of who or what, he didn't say. Or, at least, I didn't wait around to find out. I hurried off to find somewhere air conditioned where I could watch on a screen. What follows is a brief summary of the event (accounting, of course, for whatever unseen "bias" the video may be harboring.)
In the above screen grab from Instagram, we see seated on our left, former criminal court judge Arthur Hunter. Judge Hunter isn't really seen as a major contender in this election. But he is a respected figure in political circles and we can consider him a serious candidate. Or at least, he's not a crackpot. He does have a history of ducking in or out of municipal campaigns serving as either a stalking horse or strategic spoiler, although it's not explicitly clear to what purpose. On the right, is Once and Current Councilman Oliver Thomas famous for, among other things, his gig as a local talk radio host, some dabbling with acting in community theater, and that one time he pleaded guilty to charges of accepting bribes in exchange for fixing city parking lot contracts. In the middle, dressed as an orange traffic cone, perhaps to emphasize her concern with fixing the city streets, is current Councilperson At-Large Helena Moreno.
Moreno and Thomas were especially energetic in their delivery at this event. It's opening night of a high stakes campaign and, obviously they wanted to set a dramatic tone. The actual rhetoric could use a little refinement. I'm already tired of hearing Moreno talk about "outside the box solutions." Hunter answered nearly every question by saying he is all about "doing the work and bringing people to the table." So it's a little discouraging to see we haven't updated our go-to cliches since 1996 or so. Also everyone thinks they've hit on a winner with variations on "govern like it's the Superbowl every day." I understand why they think that. But until I hear any of them actually push back against the way corporate mega-events like this year's Superbowl exploit the city and its people, all of that posturing rings hollow.
The night's format consisted of questions prepared by VOTE and some submitted ahead of time by audience members and partnering organizations. I'll try to organize candidate responses around general topics covered in the questions.
Housing: Moreno talked a little bit about city owned properties. For decades, the city has struggled.. or neglected.. to make productive use of the large number of vacant buildings it owns or properties controlled by quasi-governmental agencies. I believe I heard Moreno actually use the term "public housing" while referencing such properties. Normally you hear politicians stop at the more vague phrase "back into commerce." So that's something to keep an eye on. Thomas said he wants to meet with realtors and owners of home construction firms to see what these "experts" have to say about the problem; a decidedly more conservative, or what the punditry typically terms "business friendly" approach.
Homelessness: All three candidates shifted the focus to supportive services for people dealing with mental illness. That's a laudable point of emphasis in a vacuum, but in this context it is more of a dodge. It's true that many people suffering from homelessness also need mental health care. But politicians tend to marry the two issues in a way that implies mental illness is the cause of homelessness in general. And that simply is not the case. Too often, focusing the discussion here is a way to pretend a problem isn't really a problem.
Short Term Rentals: Here we got a perfect encapsulation of the problem with this issue from the beginning: Strong rhetoric from elected representatives that in no way matches their actions or intentions in reality. "The real issue is out of town corporations buying up tons of homes and pushing people out," Moreno complained. "STRs are pushing people out of their neighborhoods. It's not morally correct," said Thomas. That's all fine and true. But those of us who have been watching city councilmembers get performatively mad at while actively enabling this problem for over a decade are going to need to see solid action before getting too excited. Thomas finished his answer by basically passing the buck on up to the state legislature. Also this week we learned that both councilmembers voted to approve an exception to the temporary commercial STR ban which allowed the owners of a building at 1201 Canal Street to begin evicting tenants in order to convert their homes into new Airbnbs.
Criminal Justice and policing: All of the candidates spoke favorably of care economy interventions like universal Pre-K although Moreno added that day care facilities funded by a recently dedicated property tax millage "aren't being built fast enough." Hunter boasted that as a judge he took charge of standing up "re-entry courts" to smooth the transition of incarcerated people back to civilian life. Moreno was quick to claim credit for the legislation creating these courts. Thomas tried to make a point about the economic impact of "lost production" from people excluded by incarceration histories. He has a valid point but there's something dehumanizing about conceiving of people in terms of their potential labor input.
Oliver Thomas is currently pushing an ordinance that would expand NOPD's use of invasive surveillance technology such as facial recognition cameras and gunshot detection microphones. The Washington Post recently reported that New Orleans police were already violating local laws banning them from using these tools and are, in fact, creating the most expansive surveillance dragnet in the US right now. This is most acutely concerning as the newly passed Republican budget greatly expands ICE's reach into cities like New Orleans where information gathered by surveillance tech will no doubt lead to more outrageous abductions of local residents like that of this 64 year old Iranian immigrant arrested at her home in Lakeview last month.
It was in this context that we heard the most shocking comment of the evening from Thomas. When the candidates were asked how they would protect immigrant communities from ICE, Thomas bluntly stated, "illegal aliens who are criminal don't need to be here." Although he did express a desire to find "a humane way" to do deportations. So, good looking out, there.
Infrastructure: Already mentioned this but I think it was Helena Moreno who first brought up the "Superbowl every day" bit with regard to street repairs. Later there was a question framed around that premise. But there are some problems with this slogan. It references a situation created by the Governor last year when he appointed business lobbyist Michael Hecht to lead a task force focused on making the city look nice for visiting media and corporate guests of the NFL coming into town for the Big Game. Hecht was given charge of some state funds but mostly just money out of the municipal budget to prioritize repairs to roads, lights and other things likely to catch the eyes of visitors in early February. But handing extraordinary power over to an unelected lobbyist to contract out tourist-facing rush jobs such as, in some cases, literally concealing blighted office towers behind wrap-around advertisements is a dubious model for our mayoral candidates to hold up as aspirational. What Moreno (and Thomas who echoed these sentiments) should say is that they want quality, reliable infrastructure that works for every resident all the time. It seemed like they wanted to make this point. But I'm not sure they've fully examined the full implication of the Superbowl example.
Some other infrastructure points:
Thomas, still on the equity kick, had a line about "fixing the streets in the 9th ward the same way they do in the Garden District." I wonder if he's actually driven through the Garden District recently. Most of the streets there stay pockmarked. They're so bad, in fact, that I often wonder if the neighborhood wants it that way just to slow the traffic.
Hunter mentioned "merging" the Sewerage and Water Board with the city Public Works Department. That would entail such a massive political and bureaucratic reorganization, though, that one has to wonder if he knows what he is saying. On the other hand, I think Jacques Morial is an advisor to Hunter sometimes. So, maybe he does know.
Moreno complained about the city's chronic problems paying its vendors on time, which, yep, good point. On the other hand, she says the problem here is "leadership," which... eh.. yawn.
Odds and ends:
The candidates were also asked about the funding the Public Defender's office, which they all support, about the state of the public schools, about which they all had decent but unremarkable points, and about the UMC nurses' labor dispute. All of the candidates claim to have pro-labor bonafides but didn't break any news with regard to the nurses' situation. They were also asked to comment on the ongoing genocide in Gaza; a question which they all deflected via one or another version of "There needs to be ceasefire but I'm concerned about ceasefire in the streets of New Orleans..." to paraphrase both Moreno and Thomas's comments. The candidates may not want to grapple with this. But there are ways in which the mayor of a city like New Orleans can and does interface with the war crimes committed by the US military and its allies. So, like it or not, these candidates have a responsibility to think about that. Perhaps someone will ask the question in a way that is less easily brushed off.
Speaking of brushing things off, the "lightning round" portion of the evening brought us the Yes/No question: "Do you support outright public ownership of public utilities?" The room went silent for a good thirty seconds while Helena Moreno, gears visibly turning in her head, thought about this one. Finally, the answer she came up with was, "Yes and no."
Oof.
Of course, these three aren't the only candidates participating in this year's sweepstakes. The forum was well ahead of the qualifying period which actually begins this coming Wednesday. According to VOTE, at the time, these were the only three candidates to file campaign finance reports which is why they were invited to appear on stage.
Lingering around outside I noticed signage on the neutral ground planted by some of the more niche candidates some of whom were giving interviews outside. I thought this bit from James Finn's T-P write up captured the image well.
Still, a handful of fringe candidates are mounting campaigns, several of whom arrived at Thursday's debate after protesting having been excluded from the event. Counselor Ricky Twiggs, a political independent, and businessperson Renada Collins shook hands with audience members before the forum began. Former 911 call center operator Tyrell Morris tried to enter the event but was turned away after the space reached capacity. He peered in through the space's sliding glass doors as the event got underway.
Finally we should note all of this took place a week before another big name candidate shook up the entire field with this announcement.
Business owner Frank Scurlock announced his run for New Orleans mayor on Thursday, saying that if elected, he would ensure a safe, business-friendly city.
Scurlock is running as an independent and his campaign is self-financed, according to a press release issued Thursday and his campaign website. Scurlock, who is known for his family's inflatable party attractions business and his attempt to acquire the former Six Flags site, ran for mayor in 2017 and for governor in 2023.
Also, Royce Duplessis is running. He says he has to for some reason.
“Six months ago, I made the very difficult decision not to run for mayor,” Duplessis said in a post on Instagram Sunday evening. “But after continuing to listen to the people of this city, your frustrations, your disappointments, your confusion, and most of all your lack of faith in the future, it became painfully clear that I have to run.”
It's painful for him to have to do this. Sounds like somebody's been twisting some arms. Who, though? and why? During a sweaty kick-off speech to a packed house at the Ashe center, Royce wasn't long on specifics but he did emphasize three points: 1) Port expansion. This is a major priority for state and local business leaders struggling with neighborhood opposition in St. Bernard Parish, Trump tariff chaos internationally, and competition from modernized facilities in Mobile and in Houston. 2) Support for service industry workers. There was some implication that this would be a priority within the city budget somehow, but nothing specific. 3) "Build 40,000 new housing units." Again, not much information as to who will be building them or for whom or how. Rhetorically, the thrust of his speech was basically, "we wouldn't have so many problems if it weren't for all these dang politics." Which is a weird thing for a politician to say on the day he is getting into a political race. Especially one he says he didn't want to run in.
Which brings us back to the question of why is Royce running? We'll learn more about that as the campaign goes on and we find out which funders and powerbrokers line up in his corner. But we can see why he might be an appealing option to some still looking in from the outside. At the outset, I think the rhetoric about "putting politics aside" might be the key to understanding that. Royce could offer a viable third lane in what had been shaping up as a field polarized, not only by race, but by matters of professionalism vs. patronage, transplants vs. locals, etc. Familiar dynamics that map out in a way Royce can kind of float above, or at least appear to.
Allies of Governor Landry seeking an entry point to "bring the city to heel," might take advantage of that. Royce is seen as a vocal opponent of the Governor in Baton Rouge. But he's often been receptive to Landry's designs on reforming local governance; putting more decision making power in the hands of state controlled boards rather than locally responsive entities, that sort of thing. Let's watch and see what he has to say about Sewerage and Water Board reform the next time that comes up. Royce has also been a friend to big business and real estate money in New Orleans. One example we've already mentioned is the port expansion plank he launched his campaign with last week. Another example, he was instrumental in getting tax breaks authorized for the controversial (possibly imperiled?) "River District" development.
On the more Democratic side of things, Royce has had alliances with the Ike Spears-Cedric Richmond-Troy Carter... um... what is the term for this? It's not a "machine" really. More of a gravitational center - a blob, maybe(?) of patronage fed by bail bonds and oil and gas money along with some other unsavory interests. Anyway, it makes up a key part of the Democratic Party establishment (such as it is) in Louisiana. Likely this support would have ended up with Moreno. Now it may be back up for grabs. If it shifts to Duplessis, that may also signal to conservative crime panic reactionaries who aren't thrilled that their closest ideological ally in the race, Oliver Thomas, is an admitted felon, that Royce might be someone they can compromise with.
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