Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle’s election to the Louisiana House of Representatives creates a vacancy on the council that her fellow members are tasked to fill. And although the tradition has been for the council to approve the departing member’s recommendation for the job, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says Marcelle’s choice—former Capital Area Transit System board chairman Isaiah Marshall—will seriously test the character of the council.
“Tradition becomes absurd when the horrible recommendation trumps common sense and threatens to damage the public’s trust in the council,” McCollister writes in his latest column.
CATS is possibly the worst run agency in our local government, says McCollister.
“And when Marshall was there it was even worse—and he resigned under a cloud and disdain from many,” McCollister writes. “Calls for his resignation came from Mayor Kip Holden, Mayor Pro Tem Chandler Loupe, Councilman Buddy Amoroso and Together Baton Rouge. Loupe called for his removal for ‘neglect of duty and/or misconduct in office.’”
Marshall chaired the board during the time when former CATS member Montrell McCaleb was revealed to be stealing money from the agency to pay personal bills, McCollister notes. As The Advocate reported at that time, “Marshall knew about McCaleb’s transgressions two months before police were notified and only after The Advocate reported the theft. Emails also showed the CATS attorney offered to draft notices for CATS to send to law enforcement, but Marshall instructed him not to do it.”
“Sounds like a cover-up to me by the chairman, the same person Marcelle wants to appoint to the Metro Council,” writes McCollister. “Marcelle wants to make a choice that is only good for her district politics, while asking Loupe, Amoroso and her other colleagues to make a vote that is bad for our community and the council’s reputation. This is a joke, right?”
McCollister says how the council handles the “ridiculous recommendation” by Marcelle to appoint Marshall “will speak volumes about how its members weigh political interests versus the public good and standards for serving.”
And noting that all of the council members are up for election next fall, McCollister says “the public is watching and will get the final vote next year.”
Read the full column, in which McCollister also remarks on the recent murder of 33-year-old Charles Barney, who was reportedly killed after confronting a suspected drug dealer in his Gardere neighborhood. McCollister also highlights the work of Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area in light of November’s national Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness month, and celebrates the birth of his second grandchild.
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