NEW ORLEANS (AP) - No criminal charges will be filed over New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s use of a city-issued credit card when she served on the City Council, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said Wednesday. The decision puts to rest an issue that dogged Cantrell during her 2017 campaign and lingered through the first months of her administration.
Cantrell won New Orleans mayor’s race last fall with 60 percent of the vote in a runoff, despite questions about her credit card use raised by her opponent, former municipal Judge Desiree Charbonnet.
The Charbonnet campaign accused Cantrell of misusing her city credit card for personal and political expenses. It said her reimbursement to the city for $9,000 in expenses, prior to beginning her campaign for mayor, amounted to an admission of improper spending. Cantrell argued that the reimbursement showed she was eager to make sure public money wasn’t used for her personal spending.
An anonymous criminal complaint was filed against Cantrell in late October. Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, who had endorsed Charbonnet in the mayor’s race, forwarded the complaint to Landry’s office.
A recent state legislative auditor’s report said Cantrell’s use of the card wasn’t out of line with practices of her fellow council members. That report called for tighter oversight of the council’s credit card use.
Landry said in a news release Wednesday there will be no criminal charges. He urged city officials to strengthen ethics guidelines and laws to prevent such issues from arising again.
“We appreciate Mrs. Cantrell’s complete cooperation since these allegations were brought forward and especially since she took office as mayor,” Landry said.
He urged city officials to strengthen ethics guidelines and laws to prevent such issues from arising again.
“I am satisfied with the Attorney General’s decision, and glad to have this distraction completely put to rest,” Cantrell said in an emailed statement.
Cantrell, a former neighborhood activist who had served on the council since 2012, took office May 7, succeeding term-limited fellow Democrat Mitch Landrieu. She is the first woman to serve as New Orleans’ mayor.
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