HOUSE BILL 470 by State Rep. Rodney Lyons (D-Harvey) was withdrawn from the 2021 legislative session before it ever got off the ground but the burning question is why the hell the bill was ever filed in the first place.
The bill would have done everything Repugnantcans would love regarding transparency and accountability.
The best example I can give in backing up that claim is to point to the difference between the administrations of Bobby Jindal and John Bel Edwards. Jindal’s appointees consistently dragged their feet in complying with my records requests – if they complied at all.
Of course, Attorney General Jeff Landry is the exception to the openness of the Edwards administration and his actions are a reflection of one of the provisions of HB470. He filed suit against a reporter for The Baton Rouge Advocate when she submitted a (legal) public records request.
She was seeking background information about a sexual harassment complaint against one of Landry’s top attorneys and Landry responded with what is known as a SLAPP lawsuit. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and it is becoming a popular tactic by public officials who prefer to resist opening their books. Landry lost that case as he should have.
I’ve had one filed against me (I won and was awarded attorney fees), a TOWN COUNCIL MEMBER in Welsh, a small town in Southwest Louisiana, had a SLAPP suit filed against him by fellow council members, the mayor and police chief (he won and was awarded court costs and attorney fees).
The judges of the 4th Judicial District (Ouachita and Morehouse parishes) sued the OUACHITA CITIZEN newspaper in 2016 when the publication requested public records and only weeks later, then-Louisiana Superintendent of Education JOHN WHITE followed suit (no pun intended) when he sued Louisiana citizens Mike Deshotels and Dr. James Finney over public records requests they made.
HB470 would not only encourage SLAP lawsuits which the LOUISIANA RECORD says would force the requester “to defend themselves in court, which would involve legal fees” and would make it “more difficult for citizens requesting public records to recoup attorney fees if they were sued for making such requests.”
THE PELICAN INSTITUTE said the bill would have encompassed all public records, not just body or dash cams and would make it more difficult for the awarding of attorney’s fees and court costs, currently the only incentive against compliance with records requests, which The Pelican Institute said was “the only enforcement mechanism available to the public” and would constitute a “roadblock to transparency.”
The Pelican Institute and Louisiana Record are far too polite on this issue. Here’s my take:
B.S.
I can’t believe a Democrat, an African American, would ever consider filing such a bill.
(I’m not trying to channel President Joe Biden who once told an African American that if he wasn’t for Biden, he wasn’t black. That was presumptions and an insult to any free-thinking man. I don’t like Trump – that’s no secret – but I know people who are good and decent who support Trump. I don’t understand it, but I have to respect their opinion.)
But with all the body cam footage aired on network and local TV news of white police officers beating, tasing and shooting blacks, it is incomprehensible for any African American Democrat to even suggest a bill making it easier to conceal such video footage from the public.
HB 470 would literally be a license to turn rogue police officers loose on defenseless blacks with impunity.
Certainly, there are good cops and there are dangerous blacks just as there is good and bad in any demographic group. I have a friend who is a former cop who told me that whenever he pulled anyone – anyone – over, it was to give them a warning. “Whether or not they got a ticket solely depended on their attitude,” he told me.
But the killing of Ronald Greene in Union Parish would have gone unpunished were it not for body cam footage. Even then, Louisiana State Police did nothing for 15 months, taking action only footage finally came to light – footage that troopers first denied even existed.
Greene should never have fled police, but that did not warrant what they did to him.
HB470 would have protected those troopers.
I called Rep. Lyons’ office but got no answer.
So, I emailed him to ask why he would play into the hands of Republicans who would deny that the Jan. 6 insurrection ever happened had there not been ample video to prove otherwise. Remember Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) who said the riot amount to no more than a Capitol tour?
I asked him why he would make it permissible for public officials to sue citizens making a request of public records.
I asked him what the reasoning was behind his bill that would restrict access to public records.
I received no response.
Perhaps I should have asked what he had to hide.
Louisiana Voice 
If you were a Christian or Catholic or pro life then you would understand how your good friends support Trump.
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Oh, please explain how trump is either Christian or pro-life? He, of course, claims to be pro-life because it appeals to his base of so-called Christians, but are you aware that he contributed money to pro-choice causes and candidates? Did you know that? Huh? Did you?
I normally wouldn’t bother responding to asinine responses like yours, but I’m a little sick of the so-called “Christians” who would turn their backs on those in need or defy state policy to not gather in large numbers because of the pandemic. That policy, despite what my own minister said, had absolutely nothing to do with religious freedom or freedom to worship. It was all about trying to save lives, but certain “Christians” insisted on making it something it wasn’t.
And don’t you dare suggest that I’m not a Christian. You don’t know me, you don’t know my heart. You’re making an assumption based on nothing but your blind loyalty to a con man who even as I write this, is sucking money from people who can’t afford it – much like so many televangelists who profess Christianity but are nothing but con men themselves. I happen to believe in the parable of the Woman at the Well while many “Christians” who I know would shun people like her and blacks and homeless and addicts and gays. Have you ever given money to a homeless person on a street corner? I have. Have you ever fed a homeless person? I have. Have you ever worked in a homeless shelter? I have. Have you ever asked a homeless person about his/her circumstances? I have. Have you ever attempted to help an abused child? I have. But, you say I’m not a Christian.
Oh, wait. I’m sorry. The Catholic Church protected priests and bishops who abused children. But wait. Not all priests and bishops are molesters, are they? and it would be patently unfair to lump them all together. Just as it would be unfair to lump all Democrats, all Republicans, all blacks, all Latinos, all gays, or all anything together. But you can make an instant assumption about me. Got it.
It is befuddling and infuriating that anyone could be so brainwashed that they would put trump and pro life in the same sentence. Based on international averages, trump’s active campaign against use of common sense COVID-19 preventive measures caused 300,000 to 450,000 preventable deaths in the USA. That is the opposite of pro life by any reasonable definition.
Yes, I believe Trump even gave money to Hillary Clinton, the poster child of everything that is wrong with politicians and abuse of power And as for Uncle Joe, the “devout” Catholic who openly supports abortion, well, that simply proves that there is bit of hypocrisy among politicians. I believe what politicians actually accomplish is more important.
What did your dear past leader accomplish, pray tell? Did he abolish or reduce abortions? He paid $750 in federal income taxes for 2016, which is less than most people’s yearly health insurance deductible.
Gotta chime in. I am a cradle Catholic. I am wary of those who say or tell me that they are “Christian” because if you have to tell me, then you’re missing the point. I should know by your deeds and actions. I am also a woman who believes that what another woman does with her body and her life is not my decision to make. I don’t want my religion in my government or my government in my religion. And I still cannot understand why anyone would support the former guy because he is everything that Christ teaches us not to be. So, Mr. Summers, I disagree with you on every single word you typed.
I concur with Cagey.
That was one of many shockingly horrible bills filed this session.
As for the racial matter, sorry but there are many blacks in the south and especially the legislature who are nominally Democrat but still very patriarchal, old fashioned, and basically pro-authoritarian, so it’s not surprising if one of them filed the bill. I remember conservatives in the leg had no trouble finding a black female legislator to introduce the incredibly restrictive abortion bill a couple or so years ago.
With friends like this…
H&GA 5/5/21 Sheriff Joe Lopinto testified for the bill. Motion to defer failed 6-8 but withdrawn when laid out for hearing on the floor 5/12/21. Courtesy request from his local sheriff?
TN, I just looked at the process that bill went through. It’s strange that the bill was reported with amendments by a vote of 14-0. After a vote to defer was defeated 6-8. I would have thought that it would have been reported with amendments by a vote of 8-6. Maybe amendments changed some minds. Or maybe it was one of those “just send it to the floor” moments.
Concur with CageyM. I wonder why “religious” folks do not read the FIRST AMENDMENT? There is a reason it is the FIRST AMENDMENT. It gives us the freedom to worship without Government establishment of conflicting religions. I actually had a young preacher question the “religion” of my parents. I should have slugged the SOB, and I thought about it. Still think about it, but try to not to become “them.” thanks ron thompson