Both WAFB and the Downtown Development District’s leader are sticking to their guns over what caused the quiet cancellation of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for IBM’s new downtown services center, after the TV station reported that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive order in support of religious legislation triggered the move.
Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer said Monday that the technology giant merely postponed the festivities, not canceled them, because the project is still not yet fully finished. But WAFB News Director Robb Hays tells Daily Report this morning that it stands behind its report, saying that Rhorer was among several people who told Andre Moreau, the reporter on the story, that said IBM delayed the ceremony because of the order.
“We stand by our report,” Hays says in an email.
But Rhorer tells Daily Report that he also stands by his comments, saying that Commercial Properties Realty Trust, which is developing the complex, told him the ceremony was delayed because the project was unfinished, not because of Jindal’s order.
A spokeswoman for Commercial Properties Realty Trust previously told Daily Report that the ceremony was never definite and that IBM wanted to show off a 7th-floor executive center that was not yet completed.
“I know what I said (to WAFB),” Rhorer says this morning. “If he (Moreau) has other sources, I’ve got nothing about it.”
IBM officials had publicly denounced the religious legislation, known as the “Marriage and Conscience Act.” The proposed bill was aimed at providing more protections for local businesses that oppose same-sex marriage. Critics of the bill said it could have opened up a legal foundation for discrimination. The bill quickly died in committee, but Jindal issued an executive order hours later effectively upholding the bill’s provisions.
Company vice president James Driesse wrote a letter to Jindal in April saying a pending religious freedom bill could create a hostile environment for the tech company’s employees. IBM officials could not be reached for comment by this morning’s deadline.
—Robert Stewart
