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.
Cantrell was forced to confess and hold up to her word, 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.
New Orleans’ chief administrative officer Gilbert Montano indicated that he would enforce the policy, prompting Mayor Cantrell to say she would reimburse the city.
“Based on the policy review, however, I will have to reimburse,” Cantrell said. “So I’m moving forward to do that.”
However, Cantrell failed to detail how she would actually do what she claims.
Cantrell has already 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.
This incident came shortly after Cantrell admitted to living in a city-owned apartment in the city’s French Quarter rent free.
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.
At a press conference on Thursday Cantrell said, “My travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not of luxury. 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.”
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.
However, council members did not buy these excuses and had threatened to dock her pay in the 2023 budget to recover the funds.
“I’m glad that we can put this behind us,” Council President Helena Moreno said. “We have so many bigger issues to deal with. Obviously with public safety. We’ve got the budget coming up and that’s really what we’d like to be focused on.”
The policy enforcement to make Cantrell reimburse the city for her first-class flights came after she had given an extremely prickly response to journalists on Thursday when questioned on the matter.
Meanwhile, the city’s Metropolitan Crime Commission sent a report to the city council last Thursday asking for an investigation into Cantrell’s use of the apartment in the city’s Upper Pontalba building on Jackson Square.
It is owned by the city and managed by the French Market Corp., a city-affiliated agency, has a market rate of $2,991 per month
A spokesperson for Cantrell and the city councilmember who sits on the FMC board have said that everything is legal according to the city’s terms with French Market Corp.
However, The MCC report included images of Cantrell going in and out of the apartment over several months as well as allegations from witnesses saying she has been staying overnight regularly at the apartment.
Moreno is asking for time to review the findings before agreeing to an investigation.
Another American negro carpetbagger! Get taxpayer money back from her ass. Dock her pay, she’s a thief!
Another lying deceitful typical Democrat, their all scum bags!