By James Gill | Nola.com | February 2, 2020 If we didn’t assume that judges are smarter and more honest than the general run of humanity, we wouldn’t let them boss us about. Sure, they can order a cop to enforce their will whether we respect them or not, but coercion cannot sustain their hegemony…
By The Advocate Staff | Featured on The Ouachita Citizen | February 2, 2020 In 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature pledged the state to attain the “gold standard” of ethics in government. And when it comes to filling out forms, particularly for financial disclosures by elected officials, in many ways it was. But…
By Nick Reimann | Nola.com | February 1, 2020 State District Judge Jeff Perilloux hasn’t heard a case in 21 months. But that hasn’t stopped the suspended judge in St. John the Baptist Parish from collecting his taxpayer-paid salary while he awaits trial on charges of sexual misconduct involving three of his daughter’s teenage friends. Records…
By Mike Perlstein | WWL Tv | January 30, 2020 NEW ORLEANS — A contentious eight-year legal battle between the Clerk of New Orleans Criminal Court and City Hall over funding has been resolved, with the clerk’s office getting the full $4.6 million annual budget allocation it requested. In previous years, the city argued that…
By Jamie Ostroff | KTBS | January 30, 2020 The Metropolitan Crime Commission, a non-profit watchdog group based in New Orleans, published a searchable database that allows the public to look up financial disclosure forms for any Louisiana judge. Elected officials in Louisiana are required to disclose where their money comes from, whether it’s from…
January 30, 2020 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA –United States Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced LARRY WILLIAMS (“LARRY WILLIAMS”), age 46, of New Orleans, LUCINDA THOMAS (“THOMAS”), age 63; MARY WADE (“WADE”), age 55; JUDY WILLIAMS (“JUDY WILLIAMS”), age 59; and DASHONTAE YOUNG (“YOUNG”), age 25; all of Houma, Louisiana, entered a plea of guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371,…
By WWL Newsroom | WWL Radio.com | February 28, 2020 The public now has a new way to find details about the salaries of Louisiana state judges. President of New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, Rafael Goyeneche, announced Today a new search engine on the Crime Commission’s website which lists the judicial financial disclosure statements of every state…
By Sula Kim | WDSU | January 28, 2020 The public now has online access to the personal financial disclosure statements of Louisiana judges. The Metropolitan Crime Commission has launched a new portal in an effort to keep judges accountable. Prior to this, there was no online access to the financial disclosures, and people would…
By Andrea Gallo | Nola.com | January 28, 2020 Every year, judges across Louisiana file financial disclosure forms meant to shine a light on how members of the judiciary earn their incomes. But most members of the public never see them. Though they are public documents, judges’ financial disclosure forms have only been available upon…
By Kiran Chawla | WAFB9 | January 28, 2020 For the first time, forms filed by Louisiana judges that show their income from the bench as well as any side businesses will be made publicly available through an online database. Previously, the forms were only accessible through public records requests filed with the Louisiana Supreme…