Obviously we’re all for it, though to recall anybody in Louisiana is an uphill battle for the ages and there is zero reason for confidence that (1) the recall would actually result in her removal from office or (2) that if Cantrell were to be taken out as mayor of that city, the same population which elected her twice is capable of electing somebody better.

Still, the churn is worth it even if the butter is no good.

An official petition to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been filed in state offices in Baton Rouge.

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s office confirmed that the recall petition was filed on Friday (Aug. 26).

The petition was filed in Baton Rouge by Eileen Carter and Beldon “Noonie Man” Batiste, a former mayoral candidate.

According to a social media post from the mayor’s office on March 5, 2021, Carter held a position in her administration as a social media manager for the City of New Orleans.

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Recalling a candidate in the State of Louisiana comes with lofty requirements and efforts are often proven difficult. According to the Sec. of State’s website, 20 percent of legal voters need to sign the petition. 53,000 signatures need to come from the total of 266,714 registered voters of Orleans Parish.

The goal needs to be met within 180 days.

We’re told Eileen Carter is the sister of Karen Carter Peterson, the recently-resigned state senator and former chair of the Louisiana Democrat Party. “Noonie Man” Batiste almost literally runs for every office on the ballot and gets like 1 percent of the vote every time. Batiste did hit 5 percent in last fall’s mayoral election that Cantrell won with 65 percent.

So this isn’t a recall effort led by the political “in” crowd in New Orleans. But that’s all right – the “in” crowd in New Orleans is the reason that city is dead.

Cantrell wasn’t around for the recall. She was out of town on her 11th – yes, 11th – trip of the year. She was in Florida for the launch of the Artemis I moon rocket, which of course was scrubbed this morning.

Can these guys get 53,000 signatures? Maybe, though frankly, New Orleans is not a place where your average voter is known for a great deal of engagement. Elections, particularly local ones, are basically a joke there. Cantrell’s re-election saw an anemic 29 percent turnout in November last year, which was a product of the fact there were no serious candidates against her.

This will get interesting if J.P. Morrell and/or Helena Moreno, the two at-large city council representatives who next to Cantrell have more political stroke in New Orleans than anybody else, get behind the recall. One of the two is almost certainly going to be the next mayor and if the recall effort gets to the ballot and Cantrell loses, the City Council will then pick one of the two as interim mayor and they’ll get to be the incumbent in the 2025 elections.

But so far there’s no indication either will get involved in this effort.

So we’ll see.

But there is no reason to believe that regardless of the success or failure of the Cantrell recall, anything significant will change in New Orleans. You’d need a massive policy shift to get that, not just a more competent socialist. And that isn’t coming.