Democrat members of the State Senate & Government Affairs Committee blocked legislation that would have protected New Orleans’ four historical monuments on the chopping block in a 4-5 vote today.

Sens. Karen Carter Petersen (D-New Orleans), Wesley Bishop (D-New Orleans), Troy Carter (D-New Orleans), J.P. Morrell (D-New Orleans) and Gregory Tarver (D-Shreveport) all voted against State Sen. Beth Mizell’s (R-Franklinton) bill that would have rescinded New Orleans’ proposal to remove monuments such as Lee Circle.

Even though a crowd-full of supporters of the legislation were the only testimonies given during the committee meeting, the five Democrats voted down Mizell’s proposal from moving to a full State Senate vote.

The bill was designed to protect monuments after an embroiled fight to save four historical monuments in New Orleans ultimately failed and Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the New Orleans City Council signed off on the plan.

Oddly enough, the legislation should have never truly been placed in the Democrat-controlled Senate & Government Committee anyway.

As the Hayride reported, the bill was originally referred by Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego) to its correct committee for a hearing, the State Senate Education Committee, which deals directly with the “Preservation of historic landmarks and objects.”

But, for an odd reason, after Alario already referred the legislation to the Education Committee, where it would have likely flown through and been immediately put up for a vote in the full State Senate, it appears that Alario and State Senate Secretary Glenn Koepp re-referred the bill to the Governmental Affairs Committee.

The committee is chaired by none other than Karen Carter Peterson, one of the most liberal democrats in the State Senate who also heads the Louisiana Democratic Party.