“The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.” ~ John Ruskin

 

In the 212-year history of Louisiana (LA), an election has never been overturned without evidence of voter fraud. However, the Mayor-President of Baton Rouge (D) and a Parish Councilman (D) are on the verge of nullifying the decision of 32,288 voters with support by state judges sympathetic to local officials. The incorporation of the city of St. George was approved on October 12, 2019 with the largest voter turnout (60%) in East Baton Rouge (EBR) Parish in a non-presidential election this century.

OVERVIEW:

Within days after the voter approved incorporation of St. George, the Mayor-President of Baton Rouge Sharon Weston Broome and Metro-Councilman Lamont Cole sued the organizers of the St. George incorporation, claiming its boundaries are “racist” and that its incorporation is “unreasonable.”

BACKGROUND & TIMELINE:

Ironically in 2013, then-Senator Sharon Broome advised the organizers if they wanted to have their own independent school district, they should incorporate first and create their own city. The St. George organizers followed all the LA Revised Statutes to incorporate, mimicking the process used by three other recent state-wide incorporations (St. Gabriel in 1994, Creole in 2002, and Central in 2005).

Listed below are the key milestone dates leading up to the voter-approved St. George incorporation and the legal challenges by two elected EBR parish officials (D), who do not reside in the boundaries of St. George, to nullify the decision of 32,288 electors that approved its incorporation.

• Mar 02, 2018: LA Secretary of State approved the petition to gather signatures to incorporate St. George.
• Oct 15, 2018: The largest petition in the history of LA was submitted to the EBR Parish Registrar of Voters (ROV) for validation of 17,500+ signatures.
• Feb 25, 2019: EBR Parish ROV validated > 25% of the eligible registered voters signed the petition (14,500 versus required 12,986)
• Mar 29, 2019: Governor John Bel Edwards (D) certified the petition signatures and called for a special election to be held on October 12, 2019.
• Oct 12, 2019: A near record turnout of 60% of the electors approved the St. George incorporation.
• Nov 05, 2019: Mayor Sharon Broome and Metro-Councilman Lamont Cole filed a lawsuit against the organizers to overturn the election and prohibit the incorporation.
• May 2-9, 2022: Trial challenging St. George incorporation held at 19th Judicial District Court (JDC).
• Jun 13, 2022: 19th JDC ruled against St. George incorporation as “unreasonable” with no legal definition.
• Dec 12, 2022: Two appeal briefs filed with LA First Circuit Court of Appeal challenging 19th JDC ruling.
• Mar 14, 2023: Oral arguments at the First Circuit Court of Appeal.
• Jul 14, 2023: First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled against St. George incorporation (3-0) citing petition deficiencies, even though three previous incorporations used the same petition process.
• Sep 7, 2023: Two writs filed with LA Supreme Court challenging the 19th JDC and First Circuit Court of Appeal rulings against St. George incorporation.
• Nov 15, 2023: LA Supreme Court voted 7-0 to grant briefs by organizers and St George residents challenging the rulings of the 19th JDC and First Circuit Court of Appeal.
• Jan 23, 2024: Oral arguments were heard by all seven (7) LA Supreme Court Justices regarding St. George incorporation.

ORAL ARGUMENTS BEFORE THE LA SUPREME COURT:

On January 23, 2024, the LA Supreme Court was filled to its capacity (70 seats) with city of St. George supporters. Attendees included St. George elected officials (Senator Rick Edmonds, Representative Emily Chenevert, Councilman Dwight Hudson), the incorporators (Chris Rials and Norman Browning), two primary benefactors (Eddie Rispone and Dan Heard), and the core team of St. George volunteers.

I will focus on three probative questions by Justices Crain and McCallum of City-Parish Attorney Brett Furr, whose replies were indicative of the attitude and deception presented to the LA Supreme Court.

Question 1 by Justice Crain:  “Don’t you find it patronizing to ask the court to overturn the incorporation of St. George that was approved by 54% of the electorate?

Attorney Brett Furr:  “It is the court’s responsibility to save the residents of St. George from themselves. They cannot provide the services promised in their petition.”

My Response: It was deceitful and preposterous for Brett Furr to assert the incorporators duped 86,000 residents, 52,000 voters, and 17,500+ petition signers who are highly successful business owners, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, and craftworkers. Somehow the incorporators duped the LA Legislature and the Governor to pass a Transition District Bill to fund and organize the city of St. George with a post-election victory. Brett Furr implied that Councilman Lamont Cole, who does NOT live inside the St. George boundaries, is the only elected official that had the foresight and compassion to save St. George residents from themselves. Further, somehow the incorporators duped 800 families and business owners to contribute more than $1.1 million in legal fees to defend the St. George incorporation, while not a single resident or landowner sued the incorporators. Brett Furr further implied the City-Parish is subsidizing the cost of services to St. George residents, and then in the next breath claimed the St. George incorporation would have a devastating impact on the city of Baton Rouge.

Question 2 by Justice McCallum: “You don’t think Baton Rouge can cut the budget enough to make up the difference from what they are losing from St. George …. though they won’t be supplying services to St. George?”

Attorney Brett Furr:  “ … if we make those cuts … we will have to quit taking care of the roads, we will have to quit cutting the grass … in Baton Rouge, not down there.”

Justice McCallum Response: “Listen to what you are saying … St. George is contributing a lot more financially to parish government than what it is getting in return in services.”

My Response: This is precisely the point the St. George incorporators have been making all along. We know that 80% of the $50 million in taxes collected in St. George are spent in other parts of EBR Parish, such as the Baton Rouge City Police, the Baton Rouge Fire Department that do not render services to St. George residents.

Question 3 by Justice Crain: “Didn’t Central incorporate in 2005, and did it harm the City-Parish?”

Attorney Brett Furr: “Nobody cared about the city of Central. It is a small community, and cannot be compared to the city of St. George.”

My Response: Brett Furr accurately stated the City-Parish did not care about the residents of Central. That is precisely the reason Central incorporated in 2005 over the opposition of the Area Chamber. Since their incorporation, city services have drastically improved without raising taxes. Central has a $9 million operating budget, maintains $60 million in budget reserves, with zero financial debt. Central is the 11th largest municipality of the 304 that exist in LA, and its population has grown by 11% between 2010 and 2022. Comparatively, the city of Baton Rouge has lost 8,000 residents (3.5%) between 2010 & 2022.

A large majority of St. George residents feel the same as Central residents, NOBODY CARES about us.

THE ST. GEORGE INCORPORATION SHOULD MATTER TO ALL LA RESIDENTS

This is the most important civil rights case before the LA Supreme Court in the 21st century. Never in our history has an election been nullified, as if it never happened.  Never has a Mayor and Metro-Councilman sued private citizens to nullify a lawful election. While the First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled Mayor Broome does not have standing, Councilman Lamont Cole, who does not live in the St. George boundaries, remains the only litigant against our incorporation. Never has a Councilman been allowed to act independent of the governing body they represent. Never have elected officials, funded by private special interest groups, been allowed to sue private citizens to overturn a lawful election. Never has a court substituted its will over the electorate claiming an election is “unreasonable” without an objective statutory definition.

For more than a decade the local media organizations have been against the incorporation of St. George. They have discretely supported the Mayor and Councilman’s lawsuit against the incorporation of St. George. Media executives were officers of Future PAC, the political fund raising arm of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, and approved the dispersement of $12,500 to the No City of St. George PAC.

The incorporators followed all requirements articulated in the LA Revised Statutes. The Secretary of State placed its stamp of approval on the incorporation petition before any signatures were collected. The incorporators submitted 17,500+ signatures, the largest petition drive in LA history, to the EBR Parish Registrar of Voters within the 270 day mandate. The EBR Parish Registrar of Voters validated 14,500+ elector signatures, significantly more than the requisite 12,986 signatures (25%). The legal team of Governor John Bel Edwards (D) certified that all Revised Statute requirements were met, and called for a special election on October 12, 2019. Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in negative campaigning against our incorporation, the St. George electors overwhelming approved its incorporation by 54% with a record non-presidential voter turnout of 60%.

Between the 1890’s and 1950’s, Jim Crow laws in LA and across the south were purposefully intended to intimidate and suppress voter participation. Thankfully, the 1965 Voting Rights Act delegitimized these discriminatory laws and practices. It is tragic that two elected EBR Parish officials (D) have embraced a subjective definition of “reasonableness” (i.e. devoid of any objective statutory definition) to nullify the lawful incorporation of St. George. LA should be mindful of its past, and enthusiastically embrace the long-held foundational principle that citizens have a constitutional right to govern themselves.

Finally, the nullification of our election victory to incorporate St. George should matter to all LA residents.  If it happens to us, it can happen to you.