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Louisiana GOP Official: Cops not Called to Brennan’s Mob Scene Until About 9:30 PM
04/19/2010 by Walter Abbott

An official of the Louisiana GOP that attended the $10 thousand/person GOP fundraiser held at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans’ French Quarter has told Lincoln Parish News Online that New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers weren’t called to the restaurant until about 9:30 PM. Louisiana Federation of Republican Women’s (LFRW) representative to the GOP State Central Committee Valarie Hodges said that the mob of protesters had become unruly and were crowded up against the front door of the restaurant as she and her husband and another couple were leaving the event.

“Before that time, there was no security or police” at the restaurant despite the presence of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and at least one congressman. “The mob had been building for a couple of hours,” she added.

Eric Miller, a local photographer hired to take pictures at the fundraiser said that as he was leaving the premises, the protesters had crowded up to the front door and were hassling patrons trying to enter and leave. “There was a family with kids – maybe six or eight years old – trying to get in. The protesters were bombarding them with all sorts of four-letter words,” he said. “That was completely unnecessary. These folks were just tourists out on the town,” he added.

Some of Miller’s photos of the commotion can be seen here. Scenes of the mob and its activity have been well documented on The Hayride.

Later that night, Allee Bautsch and her date Joe Brown were brutally assaulted a block from the restaurant, on the sidewalk outside the Louisiana Supreme Court Building. The fundraiser and assault took place on Friday, April 9.

Another person who attended the event, who knew and has worked with Bautsch for GOP fund-raising, was disappointed that Gov. Jindal hasn’t been more forceful in standing up for his employee and demanding publicly that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

Hodges also noted her disappointment with the Jindal.

Today we contacted the Governor’s Press Office, but they had nothing to say about the incident after we told them of what had been said of them in our interviews.

We also contacted the NOPD and spoke to Gary Flot, but the only new information he gave us was that Sgt. Nick Gernin of the Eighth Police District was the only one assigned to the case. We asked to speak to Sgt. Gernin, but he had not come in to the office when we called.