Belden Batiste, a candidate for the New Orleans City Council District D, said today that the City Council should not extend several multi-year no-bid legal contracts initially authorized by Mayor LaToya Cantrell more than five years ago. The Council’s Budget Audit Committee will review the proposed contract extensions as part of a long agenda at their meeting Wednesday, August 13 at 1:30 p.m.
Since LaToya Cantrell became mayor, the politically connected Sher Garner law firm has been awarded millions in contracts for everything from defending Cantrell against former NOPD Chief Warren Riley to traffic camera litigation. Very few of these contracts were publicly bid.
The two contracts on the August 13 agenda were initially awarded in 2019 and 2020 and have a proposed cumulative value of more than $800,000. “These two contracts are just a drop in the bucket to what Sher Garner has earned since Cantrell became mayor,” said Batiste.
In addition, Sher Garner was awarded a hefty contract to provide legal services for the relocation of residents in Gordon Plaza. That contract was controversial. About the same time, Sher Garner was representing Cantrell in a lawsuit she filed against the City Council.
In another instance, despite representing the city in many other contracts over multiple years, Sher Garner enrolled as counsel for Uber Technologies in their effort to avoid paying up to $35 million in code violations. “Because Sher Garner is so close to Cantrell, the City has allowed these code violations to remain unpaid,” he continued.
Batiste is also shining a bright light on Sher Garner’s hiring practices. “Sher Garner does not represent the diversity that is New Orleans. Every one of the almost two dozen attorneys listed on their website are White. How can Black and Brown lawyers and their families build generational wealth when the firm that gets most of the city’s legal business excludes them from high paying jobs,” asked Batiste.
“With the election less than 60 days away, I urge the City Council to postpone these and other self-serving contract extensions until the next mayor and council have an opportunity to review them,” Batiste concluded.
