Posted on 03/09/2006 6:43:22 PM PST by LdSentinal
NEW ORLEANS -- The clerk of New Orleans' criminal courts _ one of two dozen people running for mayor _ completed a three-day jail sentence for contempt of court Thursday, but her troubles are far from over.
Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater, the state's top election official, is pushing for the clerk, Kimberly Williamson Butler, to resign. Failing that, he's looking for a way to make sure she does not oversee the April 22 election in New Orleans, which is usually the responsibility of the court clerk.
"This will be the most-watched election in the history of America," Ater said, noting that the next mayor will lead the city's hurricane recovery. "We need to make sure there are no problems _ it goes off on time, every vote is counted and there are no problems."
Ater said he has asked Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti to look at options including asking for a federal monitor for the election. Foti said he isn't sure that'll be necessary.
"We're certainly concerned with the clerk's office and what's been going on lately," Foti said. "But the person to best do that would be the secretary of state with the cooperation of the registrar of voters and the clerk."
Butler was jailed because she defied a court order to transfer authority for the cleanup of the court's hurricane-flooded property room to an outside judge, former clerk Ed Lombard, who was appointed to take on that task by the state Supreme Court.
In the bizarre lead-in to her imprisonment, Butler had dropped out of sight for several days after a warrant was issued for her arrest. The warrant was canceled last week after she agreed to appear in court. On Friday, she came out of hiding and signed up for the mayor's race. On Monday, chief New Orleans Judge Calvin Johnson and other judges castigated her at a hearing on the hurricane cleanup and ordered her jailed for three days.
Leaving jail Thursday, Butler compared herself to several civil rights heroes while vowing to press on as both clerk and a candidate for the city's post-Katrina mayor.
"I served my time," said Butler. "I can rank myself among many heroes: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and Nelson Mandela."
As Clerk of Court, Butler is responsible for seeing that polling places are set up and manned and that voting machines are delivered and collected.
In a 2004 citywide election, with Butler as clerk, voting machines were delivered several hours late in 90 precincts.
The Secretary of State's office sent people to help Butler during the presidential election later that year.
"I served my time," said Butler. "I can rank myself among many heroes: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and Nelson Mandela."
What a pantload.
It really MUST be sumthin in the water down there. They're all friggin NUTS!
Some things just never change.
On many issues I wish we had GOP leaders willing to tell the courts to sod off.
While completely not related to this story the courts are not a superior branch of government they are coequal.
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