Motion to Quash LLC investigated long standing campaign finance abuse in Jefferson Parish to create the scorecards for this election.
We created a comprehensive list of campaign contributions for the candidates. The campaign contributions were totaled on the time period from March 6, 2007- to March 6, 2022. The grand total was $3,631,929.
Loans, contractor contributions, and gaming interests were included in the totals.
Only four (22%) of the eighteen candidates scored A+ for anti-corruption, while five (28%) of the candidates scored F.
The total campaign contributions were based on the financial statements for the candidates on the Board of Ethics website.
Download the spreadsheet and click on the Grades tab to view the scorecard. Then, click on the name to view the candidate’s folder.
For consistency, the total scores were based on these three principles:
Campaign contributions issued (5 points)
Campaign contributions received (5 points)
Disclosures/conflicts of interest (5 points)
Only when they scored 15 for the whole package did they score 100 percent.
Campaigns are dynamic. We welcome your feedback. If you see a candidate’s position has changed, send us an email to info@motiontoquash.org with the new information.
Tracie Burke is Louisiana author of Motion to Quash. She can be reached at tracie@motiontoquash.org. Motion to Quash LLC promotes legislation that supports the American Anti-Corruption Act. Please Support journalism in the public interest by donating today. Click here to donate.
Integrity is a top issue facing Louisiana voters. Unfair business practices and long standing financial connections are breeding grounds for corruption. See how candidates score on integrity for the November 2021 Statewide/Multi-Parish Elections.
We based the candidate integrity scores on these three principles: Campaign Contributions Issued, Campaign Contributions Received, and Disclosures/Conflicts of Interest.
Click here to view the SCORECARD. You can download and print the complimentary spreadsheet. Click on the Grades Tab to view each Candidate’s folder.
METHODOLOGY
Candidates are graded on the number of critical issues for anti-corruption listed in the candidate scorecard, as divided into three overarching principles. We believe all of these issues are crucial for candidate integrity.
We assigned a total possible score of 5 for each principle. For the sake of consistency, we treat individual issues equally: calculating fewer of these critical issues gets candidates a higher score—and only when they score 15 for the whole package do they score 100 percent.
We compiled candidate information from their campaign websites, in interviews, or from public and private sources.
Campaigns are dynamic. We welcome your feedback—if you see a candidate’s position has changed, send us an email to info@motiontoquash.org with the new information.
Tracie Burke is Louisiana author of Motion to Quash. She can be reached at tracie@motiontoquash.org. Motion to Quash LLC promotes legislation that supports the American Anti-Corruption Act. Please Support journalism in the public interest by contributing today. Motion to Quash ISSN 2644-1594 is the copyrighted property of Motion to Quash LLC 2019 Click here to donate.
An institutional collapse of the legal profession in Jefferson Parish is unfolding before us and the proof is in the campaign finance abuse. Personality contests of which lawyer or law firm has more influence with judges in the 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish have created fertile ground for dangerous trial court decisions for women survivors of domestic violence.
The Motion to Quash LLC Blacklist of the 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish journeys through a labyrinth of injustice for women survivors of domestic violence. As a result of long standing financial ties of parties involved, a significant number of women are denied protective orders. Attorneys are hired to balance the scales of favoritism, not justice.
Jefferson Parish significantly decreased the number of cases with the Louisiana Protective Order Registry each year since 2017, even though there was a significant increase in domestic violence cases of women seeking relief. Despite grants awarded to the Louisiana Commision on Law Enforcement to ensure protection, Jefferson Parish continues to deny a high number of protective orders for women, even though they meet the requirements.
ABOUT OVW GRANT PROGRAMS
The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) currently administers 19 grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 and subsequent legislation. Four programs are “formula,” meaning the enacting legislation specifies how the funds are to be distributed. The remaining programs are “discretionary,” meaning OVW is responsible for creating program parameters, qualifications, eligibility, and deliverables in accordance with authorizing legislation. These grant programs are designed to develop the nation’s capacity to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable.
In 2018, the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women awarded Louisiana $2,871,778 in grants to explore the unique dynamics and key issues of domestic violence cases. The objective was to achieve effective adjudication of Domestic Violence Cases. The grants were awarded as follows:
Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
$90,931
OVW State Coal FY 18
Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement
$457,634
OVW SAS FY 2018
Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement
$2,323,213
OVW STOP FY 2018
Recommendations, Objectives, and Conditions
Longstanding financial ties between judges, attorneys, and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney have unbalanced the scales of justice for women survivors of domestic violence. These practices betray the public’s trust by ignoring the recommendations of the Department of Justice OVW to specifically address the unique dynamics of domestic violence cases and by failing to use its formula to protect women.
Therefore, Motion to Quash LLC is respectfully requesting that the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women audit the 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish, Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, and named Law Firms to examine their practices to determine that:
1. The 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish ignored the recommendations of the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women and to reurge its recommendations
2. The 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish ignored conditions designed to ensure programmatic success.
3. The 24th Judicial Court of Jefferson Parish and Jefferson Parish District Attorney did not meet the objectives of the Department of Justice OVW grant to provide effective adjudication for women survivors of domestic violence and to reurge those objectives.
The conditions of OVW awards are designed to ensure that recipients comply with the program’s statutory scope and programmatic requirements. Otherwise, women survivors of domestic violence would not be able to escape the Jefferson Parish labyrinth of injustice.
