While endorsing Edwards at news conference and implicitly slamming former client, attorney Jill Craft fails to mention another female client whom she asserts was told by Edwards’ office to, “Shut the f— up!”

Attorney Jill Craft, speaking at a press conference called by Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday, October 8, 2019.

Anyone not living in a cave is quite familiar with Gov. Edwards’ “Johnny Anderson problem.”  On Tuesday, October 8, 2019,  WBRZ (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge) investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto broadcast a succinct summation. It focused on a press conference by Juanita Washington, the alleged sexual harassment victim of Johnny Anderson.  Edwards hired Anderson for a key Cabinet position notwithstanding Anderson’s extensive past history of sexual harassment at Southern University.  Nakamoto’s feature also focused on a response press conference called by Gov. Edwards’ office.

We’d like to focus in on a 24-second video clip of the Edwards camp response press conference which we present at this time:


Attorney Jill Craft, identified as “defending the Governor” and “endorsing the Governor,” without mentioning former client Juanita Washington by name, implicitly slams her in referencing people, “who stand on a soap box when it’s convenient for them.”

We find it a tad ironic that Edwards would call upon Craft to defend him and make it known that she endorses him given that it is Craft who, in paragraph 17 of a petition CRAFT DRAFTED, accuses Gov. Edwards’ office of telling Cathy Derbonne, who asserts she was “constructively discharged” for reporting alleged illegal acts by Gov. Edwards, to “shut the f— up.”  It’s contained in paragraph 17 of the petition just linked, but let’s highlight it for everyone, shall we?

We note a few other observations about the petition linked above, to wit:

    • Derbonne claims Edwards made illegal appointments to the Louisiana State Police Commission because he didn’t follow the provisions of Louisiana’s Constitution requiring him to obtain recommendation letters from three specific colleges in Louisiana (see paragraph 12 of the Craft-drafted petition) and, instead, simply appointed whomever he wanted to appoint.
    • Derbonne claims illegal campaign contributions were made into Edwards’ campaign in 2015 and reported that fact to Gov. Edwards, after which Derbonne was “barred…..and ordered to cease any further opposition or reports” (see paragraphs 9 and 9a of the Craft-drafted petition).

We’d like to point out that, unlike Washington’s litigation which has been resolved, Derbonne’s litigation remains active (it’s on appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals).

Call us cynical, but it sure looks to us like it is Craft who likes to “step up on a soap box when it’s convenient for her,” even when her actions in doing so seem to defy the very claims she asserts entialing Gov. Edwards in litigation which she continues to serve as counsel for plaintiff!

We just wonder what Derbonne may think of this apparent cozy relationship Craft seems to enjoy with Gov. Edwards.  We can’t help but note the ultimate irony of Edwards calling upon Craft for his defense and for her to endorse him given what all Craft alleges in pleadings that he has done!

Common sense would dictate she’d be the last person from whom he would seek an endorsement, but perhaps the Anderson matter has Gov. Edwards and his camp a tad nervous and off its game, or else maybe they’re simply desperate for any defense of Edwards’ irresponsible action of hiring Anderson and costing taxpayers over $100,000 (approximately $34,000 of which, we might add, went to Craft)!

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State Sen. Regina Barrow characterizes “Did Gov. Edwards drop the ball on Johnny Anderson or has he been unfairly attacked?” as “loaded” as she, challenger Chambers defend Edwards’ actions.

State Sen. Regina Ashford Barrow (District 15)

 

 

Gary Chambers, candidate for Senate District 15

The meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) of Monday, October 7, 2019 was a battle of contenders to represent Louisiana State Senate District 15.  The candidates are incumbent State Sen. Regina Ashford Barrow, and challenger Gary Chambers, who is the publisher of the Rouge Collection.  Let’s take a look at some of the things the candidates had to say, shall we?


Sen. Barrow characterizes as “loaded” Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns’ question entailing whether Gov. Edwards “dropped the ball” entailing his hiring of Johnny Anderson or whether Truth in Politics’ attack ad featuring the victim and/or the RGA Right Direction PAC attack ad are unfair.  Chambers responds to the question after Barrow concludes her remarks.

Now, as is obvious by the video, both Barrow and Chambers staunchly defend Gov. Edwards and stress that Anderson has not been “convicted.”  Fair enough.  For the record, Johnny Anderson is black.  We wonder if Barrow and Chambers would so staunchly defend Edwards if they were aware of similar circumstances entailing Caucasian Stephen Holliday.

Here’s the deal:  Edwards’-then Secretary of Wildlife and Fisheries and former U. S. Congressman, Charlie Melancon, insisted upon the resignation of Holliday once he (Melancon) became aware of Holliday’s CONVICTION of domestic abuse for punching his 14-year-old daughter in the face with a closed fist.  What did Edwards do upon learning of the forced resignation?  He:  #1) instructed Melancon to exit stage left, and he #2) demanded the re-hiring of Holliday, who continues to be employed by Louisiana taxpayers to this very day.

Of course, both Barrow and Chambers could be excused for not knowing about Holliday’s incident because the mainstream media aren’t about to reveal it to them and, for whatever reason (perhaps saving it for the runoff?), neither have Edwards’ Republican opponents.  Nevertheless, Barrow and Chambers ought to find the contrasts of treatments of Anderson v. Holliday (and their opposite races) to be at least modestly curious!

Speaking of mainstream media, let’s see what these candidates think of Dr. Omar Dantzler’s claim that “racism” is behind the mainstream media’s efforts to quash his campaign’s existence.


Barrow and Chambers respond to Dantzler’s claims of the mainstream media attempting to quash his campaign’s existence.

Now, unbelievably, Chambers states that he is “unfamiliar” with Dantzler’s candidacy and that the fact he is not familiar demonstrates the bias in the mainstream media.  Perhaps had Chambers known of Dantzler’s candidacy, he may not have declared, “black voters have one choice on election day, John Bel Edwards.”  Here is an excerpt from Chambers’ article:

I am not the type of person to give blind loyalty. Too often in the black community we believe if we challenge someone that we don’t support them, when that simply is not true. I endorsed Governor Edwards in 2015 and I’m doing so again today. This election is too important to yield power over to Trump supporting conservatives who will implement failed policies that we’ve seen before.

We can’t speak for Dr. Dantzler, but we have to believe he would feel endorsing Edwards over him constitutes “blind loyalty.”

Nevertheless, taking Chambers’ claim of unfamiliarity regarding Dantzler at face value (and there’s no reason to suggest he did have any familiarity with Dantzler’s candidacy), we note two points that are readily apparent:

#1) the media efforts Dr. Dantzler alleges have been in place to quash his candidacy must be working if someone with the notoriety of Gary Chambers is “unfamiliar” with his candidacy, and

#2) even given the media suppression Dantzler alleges is taking place, Chambers likely needs to broaden his research on who all is running for Governor!

Perhaps subscribing to our blog may assist as he would have received this post educating him on Dantzler’s candidacy and his platforms on many issues.  We are willing to bet they are strikingly similar to positions that Chambers would take were he running for Governor.

Now, we’re going to break today’s forum into two segments, and the second will be published on Wednesday.  For now, however, let’s wrap up this first segment with the candidates’ responses on what they intend to do if the proposed City of St. George measure passes on Saturday:


Barrow and Chambers provide their answers on what they intend to do if the St. George initiative passes on Saturday.

Now, supporters of Chambers asked us to provide the segment of last week’s Fields/Smith forum where moderator Delia Taylor went to announce the speakers for today’s forum and could easily cite challenger Gary Chambers but struggled mightily to recall the “other candidate in the race.”  We’re certainly happy to oblige by instructing any such folk who may be interested in seeing that to merely advance to the 47:29 mark of this video.

We’ll get segment two of Barrow v. Chambers published on Wednesday, October 9, 2019.

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Community organizer Belinda Parker Brown refers to media and opponents’ treatment of Omar Dantzler’s gubernatorial candidacy as “sophisticated bondage.”

Belinda Parker Brown, a Slidell-based community organizer, lambasted the mainstream media’s treatment of the gubernatorial candidacy of Dr. Oscar “Omar” Dantzler, referring to it as “sophisticated bondage.”  She did so at a rally entailing further reform of Louisiana’s criminal justice system held at the steps of the Louisiana state Capitol on Saturday, October 5, 2019.

Sound Off Louisiana subscribers will recall our extensive interview with Dr. Oscar “Omar” Dantzler entailing his candidacy to become the next Governor of Louisiana.  During that interview, Dantzler stressed efforts to quash his campaign by the mainstream media and the other candidates.  In the early portion of that video just linked, we indicated we’d have future guests to elaborate on Dantzler’s observation.  Today, we provide that added reinforcement as we were graciously invited by Dr. Dantzler to a rally on the steps of the Louisiana Capitol for an event organized by Slidell-based community organizer Belinda Parker Brown.

Sound Off Louisiana was founded for the very purpose of permitting individuals to express their sentiments on any aspect of Louisiana government, and Ms. Brown gathered a large contingency of individuals who have plenty to say about Louisiana’s criminal justice system.  Let’s take a look at the fascinating videos which we believe are some of the best videos we’ve ever captured in the history of Sound Off Louisiana:


Brown lambasts Dantzler’s treatment by the mainstream media during this campaign for Governor of Louisiana.


Brown delivers a true “fire and brimstone sermonette,” after which she is praised by Youth Pastor Cory Ricks of New Orleans’ third ward.


David Frank, who has formed One Voice Now to maximize social media’s ability (as well as PBS stations across the nation) to advocate for specific causes entailing governmental operations, addresses the attendees at the rally.


Youth pastor and rapper Cory Ricks addresses the crowd and includes a rap song for its listening pleasure!


A small group of speakers addresses the audience to include Alex Carter (pictured above), who gave an impassioned testimony of his father dying from injuries sustained in prison after having been severely beaten for having a child with the sheriff’s daughter.

It was our honor and privilege to videotape segments of this rally for publication.  We will note that, just as Ms. Brown and Dr. Dantzler observed for the campaign, we saw not the first representative of the mainstream media there to cover this gathering.  Perhaps they feared that, by airing the concerns expressed here, Gov. Edwards’ re-election efforts may be hindered.

If so (and we can think of no other explanation), then we have indeed reached a truly sad state of affairs if people’s voices expressing perfectly legitimate concerns about any aspect of Louisiana government are quashed for fear that the expression of those concerns and sentiments may impede any elected official’s re-election efforts!

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