Shreveport Council Votes 4-3 To Investigate Historic 'Paygate' Scandal
In what has quickly spiraled into the largest scandal to rock Northwestern Louisiana in at least a century, the Shreveport City Council voted Tuesday to investigate the unauthorized pay raises issued to the City Council Clerk’s office. The 4-3 vote was decisive after Councilwoman Ursula Bowman reportedly began digging into the issue that many thought was resolved with a mea culpa press conference by Chairman James Green.
According to KSLA, District C Councilman Jim Taliaferro brought forward the motion as previously reported by AGR calling for the investigation. He told the council,
“It’s not a matter of clearing up anything,” he said. “It’s a matter of showing the public that we’re willing to take on the policies and the procedures that we currently implement. And say if there is a policy failure, give us an opportunity to actually make that good.”
Councilman Alan Jackson pushed back on the notion just as he did appearing on AGR last week saying “I believe personally it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars. I feel like those moneys could be used in another area. But I do welcome the investigation to bring transparency back into the city”
Chairman James Green continued to profess that he didn’t believe that giving the raises was outside of procedure at the time he did so saying, “I gave a raise because I assumed I had the authority to do it. So, with me, mine was not a charter violation, because it’s gray.”
Council members Grayson Boucher, Ursula Bowman, Gary Brooks, and Jim Taliaferro voted to launch an investigation while Green, Jackson, and Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor voted against it.
However, new revelations brought by Councilwoman Ursula Bowman, former Chair Jerry Bowman, Jr., and 710 KEEL hosts Erin McCarty and Mike Martindale have unleashed a proverbial whirlwind. According to our colleague John Settle of SettleTalk and The Inquisitor. Despite Green’s repeated statements that prior Chairs had acted similarly and increased employee pay without a council vote, McCarty was able to disprove this “With a minimum of time, she discovered that the pay raises directed by Bowman and Flurry had been approved by the council,” Settle wrote.
Furthermore, Green has been adamant that none of the council clerk employees requested the pay raises, however, the Bowmans told McCarty and Martindale Wednesday that one clerk staffer asked for a pay raise followed by two others who “chimed in.”
Finally, the two told the KEEL hosts, that during a teleconference with Councilman Jackson, he advised Ursula that should she vote for the investigation, he, Green and Taylor would oppose any further council actions from her, for her district, essentially threatening political blackmail and the punishment of her district for the investigation. Ursula Bowman also alleged that Green’s mention of black racism at Tuesday’s meeting was a move to bully her.
The investigation will now move forward per the Council’s resolution. It remains unknown if City Attorney Marcus Edwards who according to documents revealed to AGR recommended the investigation will carry it out, or if he will seek to hire independent outside counsel to conduct the probe as he is now authorized to do.
Should the investigation reveal a crime has been committed, then it would need to rise to the level of a felony in order to trigger Section 3.03 of the City Charter which allows,
“Should any elective officer of the city be officially charged by appropriate governmental authority with having committed a crime which is a felony, the city council may by majority vote of all council members not so charged suspend the elective officer so charged, and during such suspension the suspended elective officer shall receive his regular salary but shall perform no duty or function of his office. Should any elective officer of the city be found to have committed a felony by a court of competent jurisdiction, his office shall be deemed vacant once the said judgment of the court becomes final.”
If a crime is uncovered that doesn’t amount to a felony, then a recall election would be required to expel any council members, however, a majority vote could vacate the Chair and appoint a new one to lead the council.