Without his church member Tabitha Taylor by his side, Shreveport Council President James Green looked and acted like a lost puppy dog at the Shreveport City Council meeting on Tuesday.
The key agenda item was a frequently delayed ordinance to delete the surety bond requirement for the city's controversial recycling contract.
City Attorney Ron Lattier tried to save his BFF's minister with what was probably a perjured comment.
Lattier said there was an important, yet confidential, reason to justify another delay on Green's ordinance to remove the surety bond requirement for the city's recycling contract.
Lattier and Taylor are an item, a couple, a romantic duo. Their relationship has caused some stress with city officials consulting Lattier for legal opinions on political issues.
Taylor is a member of Green's church, and she usually totes the water for him on key votes at the council meeting. Reportedly, Lattier regularly attends church with Taylor; the threesome are often seen together dining.
Taylor was ill and missed the meeting.
Her misfortune played big time in the defeat of the amendment.
Council member LeVette Taylor had previously expressed her support for the surety bond requirement. She also was absent. It was expected that she would vote against the amendment.
Council member Jerry Bowman Jr. was at the meeting, but not at the horseshoe for an interesting series of votes. It’s an open guess how Bowman would have voted, especially after his wife announced that morning she would seek his council seat this year. (Jerry is termed out.)
Initially, Green made a motion to continue consideration of his ordinance amendment.
He and council member Alan Jackson voted to continue the agenda item while council members Grayson Boucher and John Nickelson voted against a continuance.
The tie 2-2 vote defeated the effort to continue this controversial matter.
When the question was called on the ordinance amendment, it was defeated on a 3-1 vote. Boucher, Nickelson and Jackson voted against the amendment. Green voted for it.
Jackson's votes were somewhat unusual. He voted to continue the agenda item but then voted to defeat it.
Many times this year, Jackson has appeared to be a lost goose on the council, with little understanding of the agenda, much less the realities of items to be voted upon. After the meeting, some wondered out loud if Jackson realized what he was actually voting upon.
Jackson has usually followed the lead of Taylor, and perhaps her absence led to a mistaken vote by him. Who knows, maybe Jackson's recently announced election campaign for the District E council seat determined his vote.
Green's insistence on removing the surety bond is unexplainable logically.
But then, skin color and church membership are generally the overriding considerations for Green's votes on key issues.
Thankfully, the requirement of a surety bond for the recycling contract was maintained.