As usual on the judicial side,
there’s a good degree of somnambulism involved. Of the 21 judicial contests on
the ballot across the parish from Supreme Court down to city court, only three
had any competition (almost entirely incumbents skating through unopposed) and
two of the contested ones were open seats. But there’s one potential
barn-burner challenger vs. incumbent, where City Court Judge Sheva Sims drew a
challenge from former prosecutor Terrell Myles, both Democrats.
Sims made headlines last year
with a bizarre freeing, apparently over displeasure at city prosecutors, of
over a dozen defendants all prepared to plead guilty. This provoked, and
perhaps other events (such petitions are confidential) as well, a complaint to
the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, which has the authority to recommend
disciplining judges. While it has yet to forward a recommendation to the
Louisiana Supreme Court, which could impose any penalty, it seems enough
dissension about her short tenure on the bench has spawned a movement to
sanction her through the ballot box.
Shreveport City Council contests
have a certain eternal candidate/back to the future quality about them,
inviting bitterness in some cases. In District A, this likely will turn into a
proxy match between supporters and opponents of outgoing Democrat Mayor Cedric Glover. This seat is
held by his only ally on the issue of whether to retain financial advisor
Calvin Grigsby’s services, Democrat Rose Wilson McCulloch, who is being
challenged by, among others, former local National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People officer and several times past political candidate Willie Bradford. The Democrat
Bradford not only was critical of Glover’s failed efforts to keep Grigsby and
to avoid action to recoup monies paid to him, but Bradford also took issue with
Glover’s handling of the citing of the extension of the Louisiana Highway 3132.
Given the animus that Glover has stoked among some black Democrats, Bradford
has a decent chance of finally scoring an electoral win.
In District B, black businessman Lynn Cawthorne, running as a
Democrat for the second time for elective office after having been a delegate
to the 2004 Republican National Convention and then as one at the Democrats’
2012 version, is looking to upend white incumbent Democrat Jeff Everson. While Everson
seems to have been responsive to the majority-black district, Democrats worry
that mono-racial voting habits will emerge, and goodwill that Everson has built
up that will attract some black votes will get washed away by some whites
voting for Cawthorne that may believe him to be more conservative of the pair.
In District E, the term-limiting
of Ron Webb has created a
field of main competitors of Republican James Flurry, other party adherent Wanda
Wright, and Democrat Durwood Hendricks. District
demographics,
which are 56 percent white and 29 percent Republican, suggest any two could
make the runoff if Wright, who has been connected to organized labor and
leftist/“progressive” political activist groups and ran as a Democrat for
school board in 2002, can disproportionately attract white non-Republicans.
In District F, the battle likely
will come down to black Democrats former Councilman James Green and Caddo
Parish Commissioner Stephanie Lynch. Green held the seat after Joe Shyne was term
limited, only to have Shyne take it back the next term and once again faces
limits a term later. Lynch polarizes observers, some of whom see her as reform-minded,
others as a provocatuer and gadfly.
How well Republicans warm up to Lynch may be the difference in whether she can
win.
And District G seems set to enhance a family
dynasty.
Jerry Bowman, son of the late Joyce Bowman looks to fill his mother’s shoes,
with her having been term limited out of that seat in 2010, whereupon she
succeeded in election to the Caddo Parish Commission. Upon her death, his
brother Jerald Bowman took over there. Given the popularity of their mother and
his brother in the district, Jerry Bowman must be considered the frontrunner to
replace incumbent Sam Jenkins, who is chasing
the mayor’s office.
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