Shreveport Councilman Alan Jackson Rejects Councilwoman Ursula Bowman's Allegations Of A Political Threat
Councilwoman Ursula Bowman of Shreveport joined Mikey & McCarty Wednesday morning on 710 KEEL and made some serious allegations against Councilman Alan Jackson accusing him of threatening what is essentially political blackmail by blocking all of her council actions, which wouldn’t just punish Bowman but also her district as well.
Jackson was invited to join AGR by Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone to answer the allegations against him. First, AGR replayed Bowman’s comments on Mike & McCarty.
Bowman told the KEEL morning show “Councilman Jackson. He told me that he would discuss issues with the three of us, but he had to stay there between us. He wasn't discussing with the other council members. Wow. And he directly told me that if I didn't agree with him, he said, they're going to need you to do a special vote on this. He said, just know we won't be voting with you on anything. And I said, you know what, Councilman Jackson? I said, that's the way y'all want to play games. I'm fine with it. I said, because the three of you will have more legislation than I'll ever have. And I thought we were friends opposed to colleagues, but when you show me who you are, I'm going to believe you. I came here to work for the city. Y'all came here to intimidate people that don't work well with me.“
As Parr introduced Jackson he noted, “There are two sides to every story. “
Councilman Jackson responded,
“I appreciate you playing the audio because this is my first time hearing. I didn't hear it earlier. I tried to catch up on some things on the way down here. So I saw the little quotes. But first and foremost, I want to apologize to the city of Shreveport because this is not what they signed up for. We should be focusing on bigger issues. But I'm here to address these issues because they need to be addressing all the, for us to move forward. So first and foremost, I do want to apologize to the Bowmans. My intention was never to affect their legacy or anything like that, even Councilman Flurry. And that wasn't the goal when this all kicked off. My job was simply to provide transparency. I wanted the public to know why possibly James Green made the mistake that he made. That's all I was trying to do.
Now, Councilwoman Bowman in her comments, what I to say is this, I only can speak for myself. I can't speak for anybody else. I can't speak for Councilwoman Taylor. I can't speak for James Green. I can't speak for any council person. I only can speak for myself. What I can tell you is that I'm not sure what conversation she's referring to or when that conversation happened, but just over the last couple of days, we've had meetings. We've had meetings together where we are planning on authoring legislations together. So in the upcoming weeks, it's going to be clear that we're going to continue to work together. Our politics are in line. We're both African-American Democrats, we're both are trying to move things for the city. And she has been adamant she's going to do what she feels like is right. “
Jackson claimed that he wasn’t present at the meeting where Bowman was reportedly told this. Avallone asked, “So were you present at any meeting where what she is alleging is that she was told basically she would be shut out of any support from you, from Councilman Green, from Councilman Taylor. Were you present at any meeting where that was said to her?”
He answered, “No. No, I was not. And I don't believe that to be true. I don't believe that's going to be the actions of Councilman Taylor. I don't believe that's going to be the actions of Councilman Green.” Avallone asked why she would say that then.
Jackson replied, “So a lot of things can be misinterpreted. I'm not saying that what she's saying is not true or not factual. As we said, off air perception is critical. I may say something and you may hear something completely different. That happens a lot. My wife gets on me all the time. So sometimes people hear something completely different or they interpret something truly as they are. So I'm here to set the record straight. Councilwoman Bowman, you still have my full support. Anything that you need for your district that I believe that's positive for your district, you have my support, but I'm going to expect the same from her. I'm going to still be coming to her and asking for her support on things that I feel like that are crucial. And she can tell you herself, we are already leading an initiative, me and her together for something that we feel like is going to benefit the entire city. “
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