Mayor suffers technical knockout, doesn’t seem fair

Using the boxing analogy, the current Mayor of Shreveport suffered a technical knockout in his quest for re-election. In boxing parlance, a technical knockout is still a knockout, and to the victor goes the spoils. District Judge Brady O’Callaghan was the referee, and for now, he has given the mayor a ten count, which sent political shock waves through the city.

And no, it doesn’t seem right, but the law is the law, and there is precedent for the ruling, because of a similar case in West Monroe, where a candidate was disqualified for the same mistake. That verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeals, and this verdict seems likely to be upheld also. The mayor can’t blame anyone but himself, and it continues the political amateur hour that this administration has exhibited from day one.

The law states that a person claiming a homestead shall register to vote in the precinct in which that residence is located, i.e. downtown Shreveport. Louisiana law also provides that the filing of a false and/or inaccurate certification on a Notice of Candidacy disqualifies the candidate from the election that the candidacy has been filed.

So, at this point, a sitting mayor, who has served for four years, and who is a resident of the city, and voted in the city, albeit in the wrong district, is being disqualified from re-election. There are many citizens, including this writer, who believe that the verdict should have been left up to the voters. It just doesn’t seem right or fair, and begs the question, how did this happen, and who is advising this mayor?

He may have been re-elected, but there are certainly those who believe that he would have ultimately been voted out of office. The law is the law, and he clearly broke the law, but is the law too punitive, and should it be looked at in the future? It just seems that making the candidate pay a fine would be the more fair and appropriate form of punishment for what is clearly an election technicality.

From the day this young and inexperienced mayor literally walked off the street into the office, he has shown that he was not ready for prime time. It also shows that experience, maturity, and good judgement are important components for being a good leader. He was too green from the beginning, and he continues to show that every day he is in office.

Yes, the mayor has a sparkling resume, and is a sharp young man. He is a Harvard Law School graduate and a West Point graduate, but his sparkling resume has not translated into effective leadership for Shreveport. He appears to be tone deaf, continuing to make obvious political missteps that he should not still be making after four years in office. 

Over the past four years, he has made a number of political missteps that have not set him up well for re-election. Those missteps started before he even entered office with the insurance debacle, along with the proposal for a garbage fee that was deemed too high by the citizenry.  His ill-advised run for Senator outraged a lot of the same people who voted for him. It was the last straw for a lot of those people, and literally made his re-election doubtful.

The mayor made a mistake, but to disqualify him over that mistake seems like a bridge too far. The mayor is a smart guy. He is well-educated, and there is no excuse for what he did. It is disappointing, but he should have the opportunity to defend his record. The citizens of Shreveport are looking for competence in office, and this mayor continues to show his lack of focus and seriousness in the job.

The point is that if you are a novice at anything, you should always have people with institutional knowledge around you. That institutional knowledge keeps you from making mistakes that you might not have otherwise made. Knowing what you know and what you don’t know is the definition of wisdom. This mayor has not been a wise leader because of his inability to listen to and learn from those who have tried to steer him in the right direction.

In the final analysis, the mayor has only himself to blame. He was not disqualified because of his opponents. He was not disqualified because someone had a personal vendetta against him, as he keeps saying. He was not disqualified for any of those reasons. He was disqualified because he did not do his due diligence with respect to the residency requirements for mayor, and now he is on the outside looking in.

And no, it doesn’t seem right or even fair, but the law is the law, and he broke the law. He has been knocked out of the race on a technicality, and a technical knockout is still a knockout. The referee, Judge Brady O’Callaghan has given him a ten count, and the fight is likely over. And that’s the way I see it. smithpren@aol.com