Well, he ain’t in Kansas anymore. And he ain’t in the boondocks at Southern University Shreveport. Or for that matter the far away kingdom of Grambling State University.
Alan D. Jackson put himself in the political arena by accepting the appointment of John Bel Edwards to fill on an interim basis the unexpired term of James Flurry as the council representative of District E.
To say that Jackson, either alone or with bad advice, has gotten off to a horrible start as the new kid on the council block is an understatement.
Jackson was not vetted by the council when they accepted applications to fill the empty District E seat, nor by voters in an election. And to top that off, he is a relatively unknown in District E and has limited local civic involvement.
A list of his missteps that are known by the press deadline of 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan 5, include the following:
1. Jackson’s voter registration address was not in District E until a few days before his appointment.
2. Jackson did not make any public comments after being sworn into office on Dec. 28 at a hastily called 12:15 p.m. ceremony that had little public notice.
3. Jackson did not make any public comments on his appointment at his first council meeting at 3 p.m. that same day.
4. Jackson may have committed an ethics violation in having the city council clerk’s office send out a notice of a “Meet Your City Councilman District E “ notice that looked like a campaign push card.
5. Jackson failed to reserve the Southern Hills Community Center for this meet-your-council event on Thursday, Jan 6, at 6 p.m.
6. The push card announcement of the event limited questions at that gathering to those sent by email prior to the event — so no live questions.
7. Jackson has failed to answer an email inquiring (1) if he will run for the District E seat this fall, and (2) if he must take PTO to fulfill his council duties during the workday from his job at Grambling. (A letter to Grambling President Gallot has inquired on the council work on the Grambling payroll.)
8. Jackson may also have an ethics violation in being paid by Grambling and the city of Shreveport if he actively does not take PTO to attend council meetings, etc. during the workday.
8. Jackson was appointed by Mayor Perkins and confirmed by the Shreveport City Council on Nov. 19 to the board of the Shreveport-Bossier Tourist and Convention Bureau. He has not indicated if he will retain this position, which may also be an ethics violation.
9. In a Shreveport Times article on Tuesday, Jan. 4, Jackson is reported to have said that he “only interacted with Mayor Adrian Perkins in passing.” This seems inconsistent with the nomination by Perkins of Jackson for the tourist bureau board.
10. The same Times article says Jackson has considered running for the school board since graduate school. This brings to bear the question of why accept a council position rather than run for the Caddo School Board this fall.
Like it or not, Jackson’s upcoming votes on the proposed across-the-board pay raise for all Shreveport employees and the council re-apportionment will have a profound impact on the city for years to come.
Already his appointment creating a 5-2 black-to-white majority council from the prior 4-3 black/white council has created negative comments from many citizens, both black and white, who believe this presents a very negative image to Shreveport and a bad omen for the city’s political and economic future.