Suit may make BC Marshal Whitman next victim

The Bossier City political establishment’s worst nightmare is back and, even if tangentially and somewhat accidentally, about to threaten another of its member’s political careers.

Last month, in Merriott v. Bossier City, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals thoroughly embarrassed former city councilors Republicans Jeff Free and David Montgomery and no party Jeff Darby, along with current City Attorney Charles Jacobs with a ruling handing an almost total victory to SOBO.live website operator Wes Merriott. He sued the city after what the panel described as a series of egregious abuses of power by the majority then on the City Council, goaded by Jacobs, in its violating Merriott’s free expression and due process constitutional rights.

Although a district court initially dismissed much of the case, the panel revived almost all of it with instructions that will make it all but impossible not to rule in his favor and potentially invoke damages against the city (the individual defendants will escape penalties on the basis of a technicality). The city failed to appeal by its deadline to do so this week, so the case will resume in Judge Terry Doughty’s Western District Court at some point in the future.

This means Merriott can continue to gather evidence about what went on during and behind the scenes concerning remarks he made to the Council in 2023 meetings, including the taking of depositions. The most significant will depose Montgomery, who appears to have provided the motive force for and organized efforts to deprive Merriott of his rights. But as part of that, plans are to depose also Republican City Marshal Jim Whitman, because part of the issue revolves around an alleged illegal meeting of Montgomery, Darby, Democrat former councilor Bubba Williams, and Republican current Councilor Vince Maggio for discussing how to thwart Merriott’s (and, as the Circuit panel noted, the entire public’s) rights.

That meeting came to light when the Bossier Watch political commentary team received recordings of it, reported on it, and then passed it along to other requestors. Allegedly, as the marshal’s office provides Council security, it was a deputy marshal who surreptitiously made the recording. Merriott may wish to gather evidence concerning an alleged hours-long interrogation Whitman conducted on a deputy he suspected.

Evidence so gathered could open Whitman up to a charge of violating whistleblower statutes, which likely will confirm that the meeting (because a quorum’s worth of councilors were there) was illegal and this would have been commonly known by Whitman. The recording itself possibly would be legal if at some point the recorder joined the conversation for whatever reason.

Whitman potentially flubbing his job, if that become known in the near future, would prove for his political aspirations highly inconvenient, as he is running for reelection this fall. Politically connected to Montgomery, Darby, Free, Williams, and Maggio – all but Maggio of whom lost their jobs in part due this to this incident with Montgomery, Free, and Williams forced into retirement and Darby losing reelection (with Maggio barely surviving) – and with his wife having been a member of the latest Charter Review Commission that served with those councilors’ blessing as nothing more than a cudgel to prevent a strict term limits imposition by voters onto the Charter (which was the subject of Merriott’s remarks that the Council attempted to censor), Whitman has drawn opposition from Republican Councilor Brian Hammons, who was one of two councilors who had resisted all along the reckless abusive path the then-Council majority insisted on following against Merriott.

Depositions become an open record at a trial, and it’s anybody’s guess what could show up in these. But if they do become public prior to the election Nov. 3, chances are that their contents will be less flattering than more flattering for Whitman, which will not help his chances for reelection. Merriott’s persistence contributed to ending the political careers of four councilors; adding another assist to that list may be forthcoming.