Though the East Baton Rouge Parish Attorney’s office has recused itself from a 2017 federal lawsuit filed against Metro Council member and Mayor Pro Temp Scott Wilson by activists in the Alton Sterling case, it’s not entirely clear the recusal was necessary, according to veteran attorneys with experience in the area of governmental ethics.
The suit centers on the activists’ allegations that Wilson violated their civil rights, when he had them removed from a May 2017 meeting, preventing them from speaking out on police brutality.
The PAO had been representing Wilson but backed out of the case earlier this month, citing a conflict of interest, after learning the plaintiffs intend to subpoena fellow council member Chandler Loupe to testify against Wilson.
The activists have suggested Loupe has incriminating evidence about Wilson that would help their case. It’s unclear what the evidence is or where they got it and Loupe declines to comment. But both council members now have private attorneys representing them.
Veteran attorney Mary Olive Pierson, who has represented the city-parish on numerous matters over the years, says that’s not how the plan of government reads.
“There is a big difference between representing an entity, like the Metro Council, and between representing the individuals associated with that entity, like the individual council members,” says Pierson. “The parish attorneys don’t seem to understand that.”
A casual read of the Baton Rouge Plan of Government would seem to suggest Pierson is right. The plan states that the parish attorney, who is appointed by the Metro Council for an indefinite term, “shall be the legal advisor of the Council, the Mayor-President, and all departments … He shall represent the Parish, the City and any district of which the Council is the governing body in all civil litigation.” At no point does the measure say anything about individual council members; it only refers to the Metro Council as a body.
Gray Sexton, another longtime attorney, who headed the Louisiana Board of Ethics for more four decades, does not disagree with Pierson. Though he says the law is murky and the parish attorney is in an awkward situation in the Wilson case.
“I’ve had considerable experience in this arena and governmental lawyers are facing conflicts of interest that have never been clearly resolved,” he says. “There’s just a big black hole as to whether a governmental lawyer is representing the interests of a public servant or a governmental body.”
Pierson believes the issue is a perfect example of why the PAO should be under the mayor’s office, not the Metro Council’s. She is urging council members working on a revision to the plan of government to keep that suggestion in mind to avoid future problems.
“ As long as the city-parish has 12 council members, who are in disagreement on practically every major issue and none of them understand representation of an entity versus the representation of the members of the entity, we will have conflict problems,” she says. “The parish attorney represents the city-parish and its citizens and its treasury, not the individual members of the council.”
