Anderson resignation follows sexual harassment claims

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A key staffer to Gov. John Bel Edwards resigned from his position last week after the administration launched an investigation into sexual harassment claims.
Sources related to the investigation claimed potential litigation against the state and the executive branch employee could be forthcoming.
LaPolitics made a related public records request last Wednesday morning, Nov. 22, and by the afternoon Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Planning Johnny Anderson had resigned.
“We take these allegations very seriously,” Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Carbo said in a prepared statement. “Upon commencement of the investigative process within 24 hours of first learning of these allegations, Johnny Anderson resigned from the Governor’s Office. The investigation will continue, and we are unable to comment any further.”
Carbo added, “Gov. Edwards has zero tolerance for sexual harassment and it will not be tolerated in this administration.”
In 2007, according to reporting from WAFB-TV, Anderson was chairman of the Southern University Board of Supervisors and faced similar charges. He was “accused of sexual harassment of female employees at Southern University of Baton Rouge” and was “allegedly seeking sexual favors for promotions or job security,” late investigative journalist Paul Gates reported at the time.
Anderson eventually stepped down from that position with Southern’s board, but he told The Advocate last week that he was “exonerated” in the 2007 incident and is “innocent” of any wrongdoing in his former capacity as an executive branch employee.
Anderson is a former member of the Eunice Board of Aldermen.
Fall election aftermath still unfolding
Now that Louisiana’s November runoff elections are over, the candidates can face their ultimate fates as state officials publicly ponder what to do about a string of record-low turnouts.
The October primary ballot yielded votes from just 14 percent of the electorate, and the tally dropped to 12 percent for the runoffs conducted two weekends ago.
It’s certainly a quick turnaround for the victor at the top of the ballot, former state Rep. John Schroder, who will officially be sworn in as Louisiana’s next treasurer on Tuesday, Dec. 5, in Kenner.
The Secretary of State’s office will promulgate the elections results from the November runoffs the day prior, on Dec. 4.
In the meantime, at least one of the challenges to the unofficial results has been resolved. A New Orleans City Council election was dragged into a recount after Jay Banks bested Seth Bloom by 131 votes — and that recount, concluded on Monday, allowed Banks a second chance to claim a win and prepare for his own swearing-in ceremony.
As for turnout, the lack of interest may add support for Secretary of State Tom Schedler’s argument that election fatigue warrants a change to state law. Schedler wants to replace major special elections with temporary appointments.
“It costs the same to host the special treasurer’s election as it did the presidential election in 2016, when close to 70 percent of voters participated,” he said.
The topic is expected to possibly resurface during the 2018 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature.
New hall of fame inductees
Another class of politicos are preparing to be inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, the birthplace of three Bayou State governors.
The induction banquet, however, is not being held next year on home turf of Huey Long, Earl Long and Oscar K. Allen. Instead it is being hosted by the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, on March 10.
Next year’s induction class includes the late state Rep. Avery Alexander, current Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, former state Rep. Quentin Dastugue, columnist James Gill, former state Rep. Charlie Lancaster, former Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, the late Alton Ochsner Sr. and U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
The Braden family is also being presented with the “Political Family of Officeholders Award.”
Political History: The governor’s horse
November marks the 17th anniversary of the passing of Jimmie Davis, Louisiana’s singing governor.
Just the mention of his name brings to mind the sounds of “You Are My Sunshine,” but the late Louisiana governor was much more.
He was a horse-owner, for example, and the name of Davis’ horse was Sunshine.
Those who were around the Capitol building in Baton Rouge during his term remember Davis actually riding Sunshine up those limestone steps and into Memorial Hall.
Asked why, Davis would often respond, “He’d never seen the office before.”
He would also comically point out that reporters were fond of calling it the “first time both ends of the horse appeared in the governors office.”
In a 1982 interview with Gus Weill on Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Davis said he was in his office at the Capitol when reporters started asking questions about the horse, which was being kept nearby.
“I showed up there on the horse,” Davis recalled. “Rode him up the steps and right on into the office, among the press and everyone else. I put down the reins and started answering mail with the horse right there over my shoulder.”
At least one staffer from the executive branch was more worried about what the horse might leave, the late governor added.
“One fella come in there with a tub,” he said, “going around and hoping something wouldn’t happen, I guess, to embarrass me.”
Not everyone thought it was a humorous event, he concluded: “My wife heard that on the TV and saw it in the paper and said, ‘You made a mistake there.’ I said, ‘Well it won’t be the last one.’”
They Said It
“As you know, the state is broke.”
—State Sen. Dan Morrish, during a legislative committee meeting
“I have no idea. I just work here.”
—U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, on the judicial confirmation process, in The Advocate
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.