NEW ORLEANS — Three candidates for New Orleans City Council At-Large came together at the Time Picayune New Orleans Advocate offices Wednesday for a debate moderated by Gambit.
Moderator John Stanton got right into the elephant in the room: the absence of a fourth candidate, Councilman Jared Brossett.
Brossett was arrested Monday for DWI, his second in New Orleans in just a little over a year. Brossett dropped out of the debate but has said nothing publicly about the charges, nor his campaign.
A representative tells Eyewitness News he may release a statement Thursday.
Stanton asked candidates whether they believed Brossett should step down from the council and formally end his campaign. None would outright say whether he should give up his campaign, and Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who endorsed him before the incident, said she wants Brossett to make his own statement first.
“I’m going to be very clear, I stand by Councilman Brossett as a man. I think he’s going through a very difficult time right now, and I’m not going to sit here and make a statement – a blanket statement at this point,” she said.
But there was plenty to say on other topics. Councilmember Palmer and the two other candidates, Xavier University staff member Bart Everson and former state senator JP Morrell, took turns answering questions from a panel.
That panel included Gambit Politics Editor Clancy DuBos, WWL-TV’s Charisse Gibson, and Times-Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace. They challenged candidates on goals and policy, and everything from short term rentals to policing to affordable housing.
“The thing that’s come to the top for me has been boosting up our public transit system. I got in this race specifically because I’m concerned about climate change,” said Everson.
All three candidates agreed the New Orleans Police Department is not quite ready to operate without a consent decree, and all agreed that City Hall should not move to Treme. All three also agreed Entergy’s Hurricane Ida repair costs shouldn’t be passed to ratepayers.
“We have historically not gotten a good deal when we use Entergy as our bank to do infrastructure improvements. And I think that we need to have a willingness as a city council to go anywhere we have to get the lowest rate possible,” said J.P. Morrell.
On November 13th, New Orleans will choose which of these candidates, or Brossett, has the future in focus.