NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Mitch Landrieu made the following remarks after the Louisiana Supreme Court today stayed a house arrest order by Civil District Judge Kern Reese while the City appeals a contempt of court judgment issued by Judge Reese:
“I want to thank the Louisiana Supreme Court for its ruling. I have to say that I never imagined in my wildest dreams when I became your mayor that I could lose my freedom for doing my job and fighting hard to protect the taxpayers of the city.
“I thought Judge Reese’s ruling was wrong, and that is why we appealed that ruling. And, I am thankful we have been vindicated by the Supreme Court on that issue.
“It’s very unfortunate that it’s come to this. I have done everything in my power to keep this from happening. But, I was left with no choice.
“I have offered five plans to settle this dispute [regarding the $168M firefighters’ union’s pension fund claim]. We hired one of the best mediators in the country that we have been working with day in and day out.
“We went to Baton Rouge to make changes in the pensions law. We brought in experts from across the country and worked with the business community to help figure this out.
“But, all of those suggestions have been rejected. I want to solve this problem, but the firefighters’ union has rejected every reasonable plan we have put on the table.
“That’s why I’m looking forward to receiving a reasonable counter proposal from them. It cannot decimate the city’s budget. And it’s gotta help fix the broken pension system so that we can protect the pension benefits for the firefighters that are with us today.
“I ran for this office so that I could solve big problems for the city that I love so much. I want to resolve these issues so that all of the people in the city can have the services that they need and that the firefighters that are working with us have the security of pensions in the future so that we can keep moving this city forward.
“Thank you so much.”
