After serving 18 years as the president of the League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge, Jean Armstrong has informed members that she’ll be handing over the gavel to a new, as-yet-unnamed president at an event scheduled Monday. Meanwhile, members of LWVBR have organized a new nonprofit organization—Leaders With Vision—so they can continue to host forums focusing on issues outside of East Baton Rouge Parish. Leaders With Vision was formed at LWVBR’s annual meeting in December, Armstrong says in a letter to members, because the Louisiana League of Women Voters President Thetis Cusimano sent a letter to LWVBR in 2012 demanding that it restrict the topics of forums and meetings to issues concerning East Baton Rouge Parish. The state league wishes to host all candidate debates and forums for multiparish or statewide races and issues, Armstrong says. That means the LWVBR’s monthly Lunch with the League meetings will no longer include forums for such races and issues. Now, the Leaders With Vision group—which was formed as a independent nonprofit separate from LWVBR—will take on such forums and topics. It will sponsor nine “hot topic” luncheons throughout the year to discuss issues of interest “at all levels of government.” Armstrong is listed as president of the executive committee of the new group. More information about Leaders With Vision can be found here.
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication to clarify the that Leaders With Vision is not officially affiliated with the League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge.
