For the first woman mayor of America’s Third World and Proud of IT City, New Orleans’ own LaToya Cantrell has packed a whole lot of controversy into the last couple of years in office. It seems the powers inherent in “large and in charge” went to her head, and voters have noticed.

First elected in 2017, Mayor Cantrell, along with her husband, has rarely been out of the limelight for…well, jeez I hate to put it this way, but for typically New Orleanian reasons – perceptions, accusations, and intimations of graft and corruption.

Classic NOLA, no? Laissez les Bons Temps rouler!

Let me fill you in with a quick history of a couple of the mayor and her hubby’s doin’s to bring you up to speed.

Her husband, a lawyer named Jason Cantrell, has had his own issues.

A New Orleans assistant city attorney has been suspended after a marijuana joint allegedly fell out of his pocket while he was talking to a police officer in court Monday.

…The attorney was talking to a New Orleans police officer in magistrate court, where he was working on a private case, when a “marijuana cigarette flew out of his pocket,” New Orleans Police Officer Garry Flot told the station.

Mayoral spokesman Ryan Berni reportedly said Cantrell, a full-time city employee, was immediately suspended without pay.

According to the Uptown Messenger, Cantrell’s wife, LaToya, who is running for New Orleans City Council, issued a statement saying her husband had resigned and expressing her dismay over his “lack of judgment.”

The first rule of spousal campaigning: Don’t get caught with doobs flying when your wife is running for office, especially if you’re a city employee. But what sort of mindset does said city employee have to begin with for one to be in his pocket IN court to begin with?

Between them, there have been unpaid IRS tax liens going back to 2014 which, by January of 2020, toted up to some pretty significant cash.

As taxes begin to be filed for another year, the Internal Revenue Service is still trying to collect a hefty sum from New Orleans’ top-elected official.

Liens filed by the IRS show Mayor LaToya Cantrell and her husband, Jason, owe more than $95,000 in taxes. Federal tax liens have been placed on the couple for eight of the last nine tax years (2010-2015, 2017-2018).

…When Cantrell was running for mayor in 2017, The Lens first reported on another tax lien, filed in 2014 for $27,564.99 in unpaid taxes. The total accounts for unpaid income taxes from 2010, 2011 and 2012 tax years. Records show that lien has since been released.

“It’s a pattern,” Lynch said. “A pattern of not paying your taxes.”

Dillard University Public Policy Professor Dr. Robert Collins said there may be a concern over her financial management with the city.

“The concern is, if you’re not responsible in your personal taxes, you’re responsible for the city budget and taxes,” Collins said.

Well, there’s a mouthful, with the operative word being “responsible.” The mayor doesn’t seem to be doing her best when it comes to being the breathing embodiment of a “responsible” public servant. This year has been a barnburner for her as far as getting folks in the city riled up over her performance.

The first scandal that blew up this summer was when they found out she was living in a city-owned apartment in the French Quarter. “Well, my goodness,” you might think. “If she has to stay late on city business, why not?” Mostly “not” because her home is only 3 miles from that same apartment. Admittedly a schweet location, she really didn’t have any need to be there and people were a little peeved when they found out.

A new report from a watchdog group says that the New Orleans mayor is living in a city-owned apartment, and has been for months.

According to the report by the Metropolitan Crime Commission, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been living in the Upper Pontalba apartments for several months.

…According to the MCC, fair market rent for the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment she has been reported to live in would value $2,991 per month.

The report says independent sources confirmed Cantrell regularly entering and exiting the apartment, and even being picked up in a city-owned vehicle outside of the apartment.

There turned out to be a problem with a constant visitor, too.

The New Orleans Office of Inspector General has launched an investigation into Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s use of the city-owned Upper Pontalba Apartments, sources tell FOX 8.

A series of FOX 8 investigations found Mayor Cantrell spending hundreds of hours in the apartment, often for hours at a time during the workday.

…Public records reveal there were times when Mayor Cantrell missed meetings while at the apartment.

A source tells FOX 8 the Inspector General could also expand the investigation into who else is using the apartment. Along with Cantrell, the security video shows NOPD Officer Jeffrey Vappie spending hours inside the apartment while on the clock.

…Vappie is a member of Cantrell’s security detail but is the only member of her security team that went into the apartment during the video FOX 8 reviewed.

Cantrell was at the apartment on 35 of the 45 days we reviewed. Vappie spent time in the apartment on 27 of those days. He also spent hours inside the apartment when he wasn’t assigned to the mayor’s detail but was on the clock for the NOPD.

The city is not supposed to subsidize your love nest. Sorry.

Next blow-up hit along around the same time this fall. As if it weren’t enough that Cantrell was living large in the city – she was also traveling large on the city. When the city council got the bills for her world-wide travel on “city business” this past summer, the gumbo hit the fan.

LaToya Cantrell, the controversial Democratic mayor of New Orleans, has said she will repay the city for $30,000 she claimed in city cash for first class flights after living rent-free in a government apartment just three miles from her house.

The mayor was forced to pay for the flights after a city attorney was brought in who determined that Cantrell, as a city employee, was obliged by policy to seek the cheapest fares or reimburse the city for deluxe expenses.

Cantrell spent around $10,000 on her own flat bed seat and blew a similar amount on a first-class return to France earlier this year – while her aides traveled in coach.

At first, she dug in and wasn’t going to pay for any of it, and her excuse was a thing of victimhood beauty.

…Cantrell had previously caused outrage when she spent taxpayer money on first class air travel to France and Switzerland and excused it by saying economy class was ‘unsafe’ for black women, adding she had done nothing illegal.

…At first she repeatedly refused to repay the cost of a luxury American Airlines flight from Washington Dulles Airport to Switzerland for herself in July, despite a city ban on luxury air travel.

‘My travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not of luxury,’ Cantrell, who reportedly earns approximately $188K annually, said last Thursday at a press conference.

‘As all women know, our health and safety are often disregarded and we are left to navigate alone.

‘As the mother of a young child whom I live for, I am going to protect myself by any reasonable means in order to ensure I am there to see her grow into the strong woman I am raising her to be.

‘Anyone who wants to question how I protect myself just doesn’t understand the world black women walk in.’

It’s hard to get more shameless than that. I mean, that waters your eyes. But this fall’s capers aren’t ended just yet – the mayor is also in hot water for payments to a person she’s called her “image consultant.”

$175,000 later, it’s been a good gig for that girl.

…Cantrell’s stylist – who she has paid $175,000 since 2017 – is also facing a possible criminal probe over the thousands she’s spent on clothes for the lawmaker.

…Cantrell was also facing questions about $175,000 in payments made since 2017 from Cantrell’s campaign to her ‘image consultant’, Tanya Haynes, and her business, Jolie Image Consulting.

The payments to Haynes have generally increased over time, reaching $6,000 per month in 2021, the records obtained by 4WWL show.

Two stores where Haynes shopped – Ballin’s Boutique, where she often bought clothes for the mayor, and BC Kitchen and Bath, where Haynes recently ordered a new $17,000 kitchen – have been subpoenaed.

Cantrell has also just forced out the New Orleans Police Superintendent, just short of enough time to retire. I wonder why?

BREAKING @wwltv: New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson to retire after 24 years, short of full 25-year benefits. Leaving now gives Mayor LaToya Cantrell the chance to appoint replacement without City Council approval. https://t.co/op7nmnyfxc

— David Hammer (@davidhammerWWL) December 6, 2022

She gets to appoint his replacement. It’s all very peculiar.

In the meantime, while her honor has been globetrotting and love nesting, how’s the city doing?

New Orleans has seen 248 homicides this year, long surpassing the number of slayings in 2021 becoming murder capital as Mayor #LaToyaCantrell's parties hard taking lavish trips #NewOrleans #MurderCapital #Lawlessness #Crime #LawEnforcement https://t.co/0fmgbSLPEz

— The CotoBuzz Journal (@CotoBlogzz) December 15, 2022

Oh.

As of Monday, the New Orleans Police Department has investigated 248 murders this year, a police spokesperson told Fox News Digital. In 2021, the city had 218 killings, the most since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

The city has a population of nearly 377,000 residents, according to 2021 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, making its murder rate one of the highest per capita in the nation. In September, the city became the so-called murder capital of the country as it saw a 140% increase in homicides.

And they have had it up to HERE with her.

…Carter said her group has about one-third of the 53,000-plus signatures needed from registered voters to get the recall question on a ballot. The deadline to submit the petition is Feb. 22, 2023. Carter said she is aiming for 70,000 signatures to make up for any that may be deemed invalid by registrar officials.

She hesitated to reveal the latest number of signatures received on the recall petition because of fear of sabotage by Cantrell supporters. Cantrell’s team previously dismissed the recall effort as a Republican-backed measure in an attempt to “undermine and discredit the first Black woman mayor of New Orleans.”

It’s hardly an attempt to “discredit” the “first Black woman mayor” when she’s been acting just like – or worse – than any of the other male mayors, whatever hue they were.

Time for voters to end the party, no?

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