19th JDC Judge Trudy White
During the 2015 campaign for Louisiana Governor, Republican David Vitter often referenced the fact that then-candidate John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, had one of the absolute worst voting scorecards for business of the entire Louisiana Legislature. His score, which was always consistently in the low 20s, was even lower than that of Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport.
Many would argue that, during his first two years in office, Edwards has certainly governed down his already-anemic business scorecard well down into the teens. He has consistently supported litigation against Louisiana’s top job producers in the oil industry in order to financially benefit his trial lawyer cabal supporters. Meanwhile, as evidenced by the following 8-minute video of highlights of the October 30, 2017 and November 6, 2017 meetings of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC), Edwards’ appointees, who first got the state sued for its suppression of Indian eyebrow threaders, made clear their determined resolve to oppress hair braiders in categorically rejecting arguments made by the Institute for Justice’s Lee McGrath (integrated into the video below) that licensure of such hair braiders is “unnecessary.”:
LSBC v. Institute of Justice’s Lee McGrath (who emphasized 23 states exempting hair braiding licensure):
At the 1:42 mark, LSBC Chairman Edwin Neill, III stresses the need for sanitation; however, one of his own students, Chris Guidry (pictured in video), laments the fact that “20 year-olds are paying $20,000 in tuition and we’re losing them to waiting tables.” Guidry is a very outspoken critic of the LSBC, having previously noted that it is a “straight money grab,” that it is “disgusting,” and that it does not even check for cleanliness, which, if ture, totally negates Neill’s argument for “sanitation”!!! Guidry further stated that the LSBC “has no regard for the guest or craft.”
So, given the adamant stand of Gov. Edwards’ LSBC appointees, we should not be surprised that, should they succeed in blocking any effort to free hair braiders from their grasp in 2018 as Gov. Edwards got John Alario to do for them in 2017, more litigation by the Institute for Justice against the State of Louisiana is beyond likely and, in fact, probable. That, in turn, will most certainly be used as a campaign attack by whomever Gov. John Bel Edwards faces in his next election. That will be the case irrespective of whether he does as many are now speculating and takes the politically-safer route of foregoing re-election as Governor in order to announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States early in 2019, or if he decides to take the far bigger political gamble of actually seeking re-election as Louisiana Governor in 2019.
Meanwhile, while Gov. Edwards and his LSBC appointees are busy keeping their Jack-booted heels firmly on hair braiders’ necks to stifle their economic liberties and opportunities, they are all set to hear from disgraced District Judge Trudy White at its upcoming meeting of December 4, 2017. White, as illustrated in the previous link, is referenced as an integral part of a “pretrial supervision scheme” wherein reference is also made to alleged RICO statute violations thereof (here’s a direct link to that litigation). Cleve Dunn, Sr., father of her 2014 campaign manager, is identified in that litigation, which was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, as the primary beneficiary of that “scheme.” White has also been profiled for overruling jury verdicts and, in the process, angering many black residents who were victims of violent acts, the perpetrators of which were tried in White’s courtroom. White also had to apologize to her colleagues for running the following convict-friendly campaign ad:
Judge Trudy White’s 2014 television campaign ad.
Sound Off Louisiana contacted the LSBC, and we were told White’s presentation, which is highlighted on the first page of the agenda above, will focus on permitting limited cosmetology services to be performed on prison inmates. We would assume that her request is for such services to be performed by unlicensed practitioners. If so, that would mean she wants prisoners to have more rights than Louisiana citizens, particularly those who would seek to practice hair braiding without burdensome licensing requirements which 23 other states have deemed unnecessary.
Meanwhile, also on December 4, 2017, as evidenced by page two of its agenda highlighted above, the LSBC apparently intends to sink its fangs into one hair braider whom they are presumed to have caught operating with no license.
Gov. Edwards, get ready for campaign attack ads showing how your already-abysmal score by small businesses plummeted during your tenure as Governor of Louisiana, assisted by the actions of your appointees to the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology.
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