Pelican State News

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) urged New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell to be transparent in her search for the next chief of the New Orleans Police Department in a speech on the Senate floor on July 12. Kennedy asked Mayor Cantrell to host a press conference so the people of New Orleans can review the semi-finalists who remain under consideration for the position.

Key comments from Kennedy’s remarks include:

“New Orleans is special. It’s special to the world, special to America, special to me. I used to live there. . . . But my city, Madam President, has hit a rough patch. Crime is strangling a free people nowhere more than in the city of New Orleans . . . Last year, New Orleans was the murder capital of the world.”

 . . . 

“But we're not just taking it lying down, Madam President. We are right now looking for a new police chief. And we need a good one. We need a tried and tested police chief who has experience in a big city. And we're in the process of picking a police chief.”

. . .

“Our new police chief has to be confirmed by our city council. But more importantly than our city council—as important as our city council is—our new police chief has to have the confidence of the people of Louisiana and the good people of New Orleans.

“Our mayor, as is her right, has decided to handle the selection of a new police chief herself. She has appointed an outside third-party group to quarterback the selection of a new police chief. That outside third-party group says it has done a nationwide search. It had 33 applicants for police chief, apparently. We don't know this for a fact. Most of them were not interviewed. Six were.

“And that's all we know. That's all we know. It’s one of the most important, maybe the most important, selections in municipal government in the last decade in New Orleans, and our mayor has shared nothing else with us. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.”

. . .

“So, Madam President, I say to my mayor of New Orleans, with all the respect I can muster: Please, Mayor. Please, Mayor. Please, with sugar on top, call a press conference. Tell us who has applied. Tell us who didn't make the cut. Tell us why they didn't make the cut. Tell us the criteria that you and your team used, without an interview, to eliminate them. Tell us who the six remaining semi-finalists are. Give us their names.

“Let us hear from them.  Give us time to look at their record. Give us time to ask fair, but tough, questions. Let us make this decision together because we're all going to have to live with it.

“Please, Mayor. Please reconsider your position. Let's do this together.”

Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.

Original source can be found here