BATON ROUGE, LA – A new recall effort is underway after residents expressed concern that the current mayor has failed to attract the level of federal and state investigative attention they had grown accustomed to under the previous administration.
Recall organizers say the absence of subpoenas, audits, and handing out city-parish contracts to basically anyone who showed up at the mayor’s victory party represents a troubling departure from city tradition they’ve grown accustomed to. For much of the last eight years under Sharon Weston Broome, Baton Rouge residents enjoyed a steady backdrop of federal civil rights inquiries, state-level financial scrutiny, staff resignations, and investigations that somehow never seemed to rise to the level of recall-worthy concern.
“Back then, there was always something going on,” said one supporter. “Investigations, probes, reviews, you knew the system was working.”
Supporters argue the current mayor inherited the consequences of those years, including damaged institutions, unresolved controversies, public officials on the take, and long-term administrative fallout, yet has inexplicably failed to generate a fresh investigation of his own.
Recall leaders clarified they are not upset about the prior investigations, which they described as “normal for democratic officials,” but are deeply troubled that none appear to be underway now, calling the lack of scrutiny suspicious, irresponsible, and a clear step backward for the city of Baton Rouge.
