April 2023

In February, Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s newest library board appointee, Marquise Watson, attended her first meeting. That month was particularly contentious, with, you may remember, Robert Judge projecting images from books he finds offensive onto the large screen at the front of the room, causing an uproar. Judge pulled this stunt in order to make his point about the necessity for a tiered card system, a policy which did end up passing. Not, however, without input from Ms. Watson, who suggested the new policy be optional for parents who want the extra restriction on their children’s cards, (opt-in) vs. a blanket restriction which would require every parent of an LPL patron under 18 to come into the library and specifically approve an  unrestricted card. Thankfully, her amendment passed.

Robert Judge didn’t like that. Michael Lunsford didn’t like that. 

As a result, Parish Councilman Josh Carlson decided to punish Mayor-President Guillory for his library board appointments and their nasty habit of voting out of line with the Lunsford/Carlson/Judge agenda by threatening to remove Guillory’s appointment.

When reporters started asking questions and it became clear that this was an act of retaliation, Carlson relented. In an effort to avoid the appearance of what he called a “power grab,” Carlson has deferred his original motion, which would have given himself a seat on the board of control in place of the Mayor-President. That’s so messy, after all, so inelegant. Why give himself an extra seat when he already has seven?

​We know this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this issue.