Judge Refuses to Halt New Orleans Council Subpoena in 'Smart Cities' Probe, Clearing Way for Contempt Votes

Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Sidney Cates on Wednesday refused a request by Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration to block part of a City Council investigation into allegations of contract-fixing tied to the abandoned "smart cities" project.

The administration had filed suit the previous week seeking to throw out a subpoena the council issued last month to Chief of Staff Clifton Davis. So far, the council has subpoenaed documents from five administration officials. Council members said last week that three of them missed the deadline to respond: Davis, Director of Strategic Initiatives Josh Cox and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Arthur Walton.

Shortly after the ruling, the council said it would take up contempt of council charges against Davis and Walton at its Thursday meeting. A council official told The Lens that the body was still working out whether Cox had complied with his subpoena. Council President Helena Moreno said in a press release that the public "deserves a full accounting of any potential wrongdoing."

The council had announced the prior week that it planned to vote on motions to charge all three officials with the misdemeanor of contempt of council and to urge local prosecutors to pursue them. Davis, acting in his official capacity, sued the next day. A different judge then granted a temporary restraining order pending Wednesday's full hearing. Cates' decision ends that order, which leaves Davis again in violation of the subpoena.

Attorney James Garner, who represents Davis in his official capacity and so speaks for the administration, said he would ask the court to temporarily stay the ruling and reinstate the restraining order while the city appeals. The council's attorney, Adam Swensek, said the council would oppose that. "I suspect this is not over," Cates said. Unless a stay is granted before Thursday, the ruling should let the council proceed against both officials.

Cantrell spokesman Gregory Joseph called the ruling "regrettable" but said the administration respects it, adding that the office would keep cooperating with the Office of Inspector General's inquiry and work with the council on its demands.

The administration did win one point. Cates rejected a council motion to disqualify the private law firm representing the city, Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert. The council had argued the administration skipped legal requirements for hiring outside counsel and should be represented by the City Attorney's Office. Cates found too little legal merit in that argument and let Garner stay on. Moreno and council member JP Morrell had sharply criticized the use of public money to sue the council.

The central claim in the city's lawsuit is that the council's inquiry would interfere with the inspector general's separate investigation. Cates said the problem was that the claim is contradicted by a letter from the OIG. City Attorney Donesia Turner had asked Inspector General Ed Michel whether the council could run a parallel inquiry. Michel replied that the OIG had found no grounds to expect interference and would make no recommendations to the council. "Turner makes an inquiry as the chief legal officer of the city, and the inspector general, as well as the city attorney, say no problem," Cates said.

Garner pointed instead to a past letter from then-Inspector General Derry Harper, who asked the council to drop its public inquiry into the 2019 Hard Rock Hotel collapse. He argued that earlier reasoning was better because "it wasn't political," and that the current council was trying to turn its probe into a "political spectacle." Cates asked whether that involved a different inspector general, city attorney and council. Swensek said there were "legitimate concerns" about the project, adding: "Accountability is not always an attack. And seeking transparency isn't necessarily a witch hunt."

The council's inquiry grew out of questions Moreno first raised in late 2021 about the project and a competing bidder's protest alleging the selection was rigged. It also followed the discovery that a mayoral utilities official co-founded an internet company with another city employee, and that the company had worked with firms that won the bid. The OIG, which must keep its investigations confidential until any report is released, has also seized electronics from several officials involved. The council's probe, by contrast, unfolds publicly.