NEW ORLEANS — A judge involved in lowering the signature threshold to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell, had herself signed the public recall petition, according to a report on Wednesday from our partners at The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.
Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Jennifer Medley had recently struck a deal between recall organizers and Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin to lower the number of names needed to recall Cantrell by 5,000 -- about 10%.
"We are just now being made aware of this allegation," John Tobler, a spokesperson for Ardoin's office, told the newspaper. "We do not have enough information to provide a comment at this time.
Attorney Marion Floyd, who works for Mayor Cantrell's legal team said he is still waiting on proof of Judge Medley's signature on a recall petition.
"If the story is indeed accurate and true, we find it very disturbing that there wasn't full disclosure, immediately, when the case was allotted to her section," Floyd said.
Legal experts have been debating whether Medley should have recused herself in this case.
Lafayette attorney Clare Roubion said she believes Judge Medley did not have any legal obligation under Louisiana law to recuse herself but should have disclosed her involvement.
"There's nothing on its face improper about her having signed the petition," Roubion said. "And having just signed the petition doesn't make her so invested or interested in the outcome that she couldn't be fair or impartial."
Medley appears to be the only the only elected official whose name has surfaced from about 10,000 pages of signature records that recall organizers handed over to NOLA.com.
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