One thing that I don’t miss about my life in the legislature was how many opponents of change use end of the world rhetoric when debating bills. How many times have I heard “people will die if this bill passes,” “this is just a racial attack,” or “democracy will end if this passes.”

Of course making such preposterous statements usually assured equally outrageous headlines from a media too prejudiced, or just too lazy to do the research into what a bill actually did. I suppose that headlines and clicks was always the intent of those parading to the microphone or rallying on the Capital steps, but seldom did such bloviating ever change a mind.

The hue and cry over SB 256, which would consolidate the clerks of court in Orleans Parish into one clerk’s office, and in so doing make Orleans like every other parish in Louisiana, is a perfect example. This week, Calvin Duncan, whose position as the clerk of criminal court would be eliminated should be bill pass, was prematurely sworn in amid such accusations…

Calvin Duncan, who beat incumbent Darren Lombard in the Orleans Parish Criminal Court clerk race in November, was sworn into office on Tuesday (April 21) on the steps of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

Duncan is set to assume office on May 4, unless the Louisiana Legislature and Republican Gov. Jeff Landry eliminate the position altogether. Senate Bill 256, which was introduced by Sen. John “Jay” Morris, R-Monroe, passed in the Senate on April 8 and is moving toward final passage in the House.

The bill, which consolidates the civil and criminal court clerks’ offices in Orleans Parish, eliminates the role of criminal clerk and puts the clerk of civil court in charge of the consolidated system. Should the bill pass as written, Civil District Court Clerk Chelsey Richard Napoleon would become the single Orleans court clerk. Landry has said that if it passes in the legislature, he intends to sign it.

On Tuesday, Duncan and his team used the swearing-in ceremony as a celebratory moment amidst uncertainty surrounding the future of the position.

“Take a deep breath and soak in this moment,” Emily Faye Ratner, the co-chair of Duncan’s transition team, told the crowd, adding that Duncan and his supporters had earned the moment.

Proponents of SB 256 have said that it aligns the Orleans Parish court systems with other parishes, saves money and makes the courts more efficient.

Duncan and many of his supporters have described the bill as a personal attack against him and an attempt to disenfranchise the voters of New Orleans.

In spite of the uncertainty, the mood in front of the courthouse at Duncan’s swearing in was festive.

The steps of the Criminal District Courthouse building were crowded with his supporters and elected public officials, including Mayor Helena Moreno and State Sen. Royce Duplessis. Duncan’s swearing-in was preceded by cheers of “no surrender, no retreat” and a speech by Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who’s served in the state legislature and on the New Orleans City Council.

There is danger to our system when in these cases a trusting public accepts a media that rarely tells the “rest of the story “. There is danger when emotional outbursts playing to fear or jealousy supplant debate on merit. But again in my experience, few intelligent legislators ever pay much attention to such drama, fewer still who are swayed by this nonsense.

The appeal to a willing media by politicians arguing with their feet in quicksand is a powerful attraction. So, I don’t expect practices that use propoganda to replace logic to go away.

No, I don’t miss it.