It should come as no surprise that the Louisiana Public Service Commission removed District 3 Commissioner Davante Lewis from his position as Vice Chairman on February 19 and replaced him with District 1 Commissioner Eric Skrmetta. In a move some consider immature, Lewis, a Democrat, referred to Governor Jeff Landry as “an *a* hole” on X (formerly Twitter) which obviously offended Louisiana’s Republican governor and his supporters. In retaliation, the three Republican PSC members voted in a block to replace Lewis with one of their own.
Lewis was blindsided. He must have thought there would be no pushback when responding to a post Landry made about a former official in President Joe Biden’s administration who is transgender. In fact, Lewis probably had not personally experienced the level of hardball Republican politicians play when criticized. Now he knows. Lewis could have taken a cue from LSU law professor Ken Levy who was suspended recently for using vulgar language to criticize Landry and President Donald Trump. Levy’s suspension was lifted but not without a fight.
Lewis was elected by the voters in District 2 – the vast majority who reside in metro New Orleans – to serve their needs, not his own. Lewis had campaigned hard to be elected vice chair. But his power on the PSC has been diminished which in turn hurts the good men and women who selected him as their leader to hold the utility companies accountable.
It should also be mentioned that Lewis does not maintain an office in metro New Orleans. Rather his personal staff are housed in Baton Rouge, making it much harder to talk with him or them in person.
Lewis and other elected officials should realize that the rules of politics have changed. While free speech is still fundamental to the American way of life, the consequences from criticizing the governor – much less President Trump – have increased exponentially.
