NEW ORLEANS — On Thursday, two top-ranking city officials gave conflicting testimony at a hearing about a controversial flyer.
The flyers touted Mayor LaToya Cantrell's accomplishments. They were sent out in the mail to thousands of voters as the recall effort to remove Cantrell from office was winding down earlier this year. The legality of the mailer has come into question ever since.
For months now, the New Orleans City Council has been looking into if the flyer pushed the mayor's political agenda on the public dime.
Under oath on Thursday, Mayor Cantrell's Director of Communication, Gregory Joseph, said it did not.
“Our intention with this piece was to provide education and information for the people of the City of New Orleans," Joseph said to the council.
In a heated discussion between councilmembers and Joseph, he claimed that the mailers being sent out during the recall campaign was not intentional.
“You’re saying this is about the recall, I’m here to tell you that from my position as Director of Communications for our office, that I never ever ever ever considered the recall a threat to this office," Joseph said in response to Harris.
The council is also digging into a $30,000 payment made to Mercury, the firm hired to make the flyers.
According to documents the council subpoenaed, half of the payment was made in 2022 and the other half was paid in 2023. The procurement process requires that anything over $15,000 go through an RFP process.
“My primary concern is we have HVAC issues, we have equipment issues, we don’t have the ability to buy certain things, and yet when it came to the mailer, we had the ability to break that in half really easily," Cm. Joseph Giarrusso said.
Chief Procurement Officer, Julien Meyer, was also called on to testify. On Thursday, he said that he was contacted by Cantrell's office about hiring a consultant.
“I was just told it’s in the context of the recall," Meyer said when Harris asked him if anyone described the purpose of the consultant to him.
Giarrusso said that testimony, which contradicts Joseph's, raises concern.
“I don’t think we expected that evidence to come out today," Giarrusso said.
Joseph also testified that the city's attorney did not review the mailer before it went out, and that it was Mercury's job to make sure it was in compliance with state law.
The Deputy Director of Communication is set to testify before the council next, on September 5.