NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Latoya Cantrell's top aide has been suspended without pay by the city council, effective immediately. Tuesday, the council unanimously voted to remove Gregory Joseph after he was accused of spending $50,000 of taxpayer money to illegally send mailers to residents in response to the recall effort. The suspension lasts for the rest of the Mayor's term.
"This council must move forward with ensuring accountability because if not now, when," Council President JP Morrell said.
Tuesday, the council expected to hear from Joseph, but he nor his lawyer showed up, even after the council previously gave him a two-week extension.
"I think Mr. Joseph not showing up shows a lack of respect towards the council and toward the people of this city, especially after he showed up last week during the confirmation hearing for interim superintendent Kirkpatrick," Councilmember Freddie King said.
During Tuesday's special meeting, the council's lawyer, Adam Swensek, presented the council with a stack of evidence and charges against Joseph.
"The charges allege first Mr. Joseph oversaw an advertisement campaign intended to help the Mayor's recall campaign which violates state law. Second that he lied to you about it," Swensek said.
Swensek says the key in whether the mailer was illegal or not is the intention. Swensek says it's clear the content of the mailer was related to trying to keep the Mayor in office, as opposed to simply informing the public.
"We see at the bottom right 'strong leadership for a resilient city.' That’s an opinion not a fact. The back, 'Mayor Cantrell has led the way for progress for our city', again an opinion not a fact," Swensek said. "The speed of which this was procured is relevant to the intent behind the mailer. Why the rush? Why was it so important to create a purely educational mailer that we had to entirely disregard competitive selection processes, to circumvent the DBE rules to ignore local hires just to get a vendor in place so we can give folks an annual recap which we have never done before."
Plus, Swensek says, there were 11 more mailers that were supposed to go out. A project that would've totaled $600,000, but he says they were canceled once the recall failed.
Swensek adds the biggest issue is Joseph continuously lied about it.
"Even if the mailer is a small issue, the failure to tell the truth about it, that is a big problem. Truth matters, honesty matters, integrity matters. It matters in this building, and the task of finding the truth is not a waste of this council’s time. It’s not a waste of my tax dollars," Swensek said.
The Mayor has previously bashed the investigation, calling it unconstitutional and saying it's an attack on her and her office, but Morrell disagrees.
"If this were politically motivated, the council would not have exonerated Mayor Cantrell or CAO Montano," Morrell said.
In a statement released Tuesday, Cantrell reiterated her previous sentiments.
"I am extremely disappointed by the Council's vote today," Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement. "It is deplorable that, once again, the New Orleans City Council has used their power to publicly humiliate those making daily sacrifices to advance this city rather than using their power to actually legislate and move this city forward.
The council decided to suspend Joseph without pay versus terminating him to avoid the Mayor rehiring him in a different position. Morrell says Joseph can continue in his role as a volunteer without pay. We have reached out to the Mayor's office regarding their next steps in removing Joseph from office, but we have not heard back.