Voter's Guide, 2020 Fall Elections, Louisiana
Position
Name

Campaign Information

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Bio Information

Party Affiliation
Profession
Present Employer / position
Length of residence in Jurisdiction
List of educational institutions and degrees
Prior elected and appointed positions
Civic involvement and affiliations

Questions specific to the position

1. The United States is formally withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, effective Nov. 4, 2020. The formal withdrawal is reversible. Explain your reasons why you support or oppose the United States joining with other nations to reduce global emissions.
1. Would you support more federal funding to expand voter access and enhance election security?
2. In recent years, voters have expressed concern that their votes don't matter due to election security concerns, the possibility of foreign influence, and the role of large money in elections. What measures would you propose to address these issues?
3. What can the Federal government do to raise the basic economic health and even the playing field so all U.S. citizens have equal opportunities? What measures would you support to address the following goals (please provide examples of specific legislation or programs)? a. A living wage for all workers:

b. Paid sick leave for all workers:

c. Ensuring pay equity for all workers:

d. Providing access to quality child care and early childhood education:

e. Improving the quality of K-12 education for all children:

f. Providing affordable higher education:

g. Removing barriers to financing and housing:

h. Providing access to affordable healthcare for all:

4. What can be done at the Federal level to improve public safety and confidence in law enforcement? Would you support measures to address the following (please answer yes or no and provide examples of specific legislation): a. Reallocate resources and funds from policing/law enforcement to address social ills that plague many disinvested communities:

b. Reform qualified immunity:

c. Ban use of excess force (e.g., chokeholds, shoot to kill):

d. Establish a nationwide database of law enforcement officers found to have used excessive force:

e. Ban the providing of local police departments with military equipment:

5. Do you support a system for undocumented immigrants already in the country to earn legal status and to have a path to citizenship? If so, what steps do you consider necessary?
1. What goals do you want to accomplish as a Public Service Commissioner?
2. Now that working from home and virtual classrooms have become normalized, in what ways would you expedite efficient, high speed access to the internet for all Louisiana residents, regardless of geographic location or neighborhood demographics?
3. What priority will you give renewable energy resources, such as energy efficiency programs and solar and wind installations, in the mix of energy supply for customers? Do you plan to promote any? Discuss with regard to residential and large commercial installations.
4. Should the Public Service Commission have a major role to play in requiring companies to ensure storm-hardened transmission lines?
1. Discuss your prior court experience with emphasis on criminal and civil law as a practicing attorney and as a District Court Judge.
2. Describe your appellate practice trial experience as an attorney, or as an appeals court judge.
3. In a June 8th letter, Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Johnson acknowledged "the part we each play in maintaining a system that leaves many of our fellow citizens, especially our African American citizens, feeling that they cannot breathe." Do you agree that the Louisiana criminal justice system disproportionately impacts African Americans? If so, what will you do as a Supreme Court Justice to lessen that impact?
4. It has come to public attention there is a lack of transparency when judges have been disciplined. What will you do to ensure transparency?
5. What are your views as a judicial candidate about streamlining procedures and preventing lawsuit abuse, while also ensuring access to the courts, particularly for lower income and indigent parties?
1. Describe your appellate practice trial experience as an attorney.
2. Describe your experience researching, analyzing and writing judicial opinions.
3. In a June 8th letter, Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Johnson acknowledged "the part we each play in maintaining a system that leaves many of our fellow citizens, especially our African American citizens, feeling that they cannot breathe." Do you agree that the Louisiana criminal justice system disproportionately impacts African Americans? In your role reviewing cases, what can you, as an Appeals Court Judge, do to address this situation?"
4. What are your views as a judicial candidate about streamlining procedures and preventing lawsuit abuse, while also ensuring access to the courts, particularly for lower income and indigent parties?
1. What are your thoughts about the current bail system? Are you open to releasing more defendants on their own recognizance? What changes do you think are most needed?
2. What changes would you make to improve the handling of domestic abuse cases?
3. What procedures will you implement to ensure compliance with current law regarding weapons confiscation for defendants in domestic abuse cases?
4. What are your thoughts about the best funding mechanism for the public defender's office?
5. Given the high incarceration rates, what are your plans about diversion / rehabilitation programs vs jail time?
1. Voters are interested in your qualifications for this position. Please describe, including the following: number of years as a practicing attorney; type of law practice; number of civil court trials you have handled and of those how many were jury trials and how many were judge trials? What is your record for settlements in civil cases?
2. How will you ensure safety and efficiency in your courtroom, in general and specifically due to the pandemic?
3. What ideas would you implement to improve access to justice for self-represented litigants?
4. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. Voters are interested in your qualifications for this position. Please describe, including the following: number of years as a practicing attorney; type of law practice; number of criminal court trials you have handled and of those how many were jury trials and how many were judge trials? What is your record for settlements in criminal cases?
2. How will you ensure safety and efficiency in your courtroom, in general and specifically due to the pandemic?
3. What are your thoughts about the current bail system? Are you open to releasing more defendants on their own recognizance? What changes do you think are most needed?
4. What domestic violence training have you had and what impact has it made on how you handle this type of case?
5. What are your thoughts about ensuring weapons confiscation for defendants in domestic abuse cases?
6. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. What professional experiences do you have that qualifies you to be a district court judge for the domestic section?
2. Why are you running for this specialized judgeship as compared to an open CDC judgeship?
3. What programs would you implement to enable compliance with court ordered financial support?
4. What resources will you engage outside of the court to improve outcomes for families that come before your court?
5. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. What is your experience as an attorney in Juvenile Court? If you have had no experience practicing in Juvenile Court, please discuss any other experience that would qualify you for this position.
2. What rehabilitation and support programs do you support and are there any other programs you would initiate?
3. What changes will you advocate for to ensure that juvenile detention facilities have adequate resources and are sufficiently staffed?
4. What alternative sentencing measures would you implement during the pandemic to ensure the safety of convicted juveniles?
5. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. What experience qualifies you for this position?
2. Will this position be a full-time role for you? If not, what other employment will you be engaged in?
3. What is your position about presiding over all cases brought before the court or delegating to your clerks?
4. Do you consider the staffing and resources available to the Traffic and Municipal Court to be adequate? If not, what are your recommendations that you will pursue to address your concerns?
5. What other revenue sources should be implemented to reduce the court's dependency on fines for its operations?
6. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. What are your qualifications and trial experiences for this position?
2. What changes would you consider making to the bond-setting process? How will you weigh a background of domestic violence in the bond-setting process? How will the ability to pay be incorporated into the bond-setting process?
3. How will you ensure safety and efficiency in your courtroom, in general and specifically due to the pandemic?
4. What are the advantages or disadvantages of utilizing appointed magistrate commissioners? What policies or procedures should be implemented for the role of magistrate commissioners?
5. How will you enforce the law on confiscating firearms in domestic violence cases?
6. Have you ever been censored or disciplined? If yes, please explain.
1. Describe your view about school board oversight of charter schools. What changes do you believe are needed to improve performance?
2. What is your vision and three top priorities for NOLA-PS for the next five years? What obstacles do you foresee and what steps will you implement to overcome them?
3. In the Accountability Framework, there is no indication of any input from faculty members. What are your thoughts about giving teachers more input to decide how their performance is judged?
4. What approaches will you implement to ensure that the needs of special education students are fully met?
5. Last year some students were unable to graduate because of improper management of graduation requirements by school administrators. Do you think these issues could happen again and, if so, what steps would you like to see implemented to prevent this?
1. How many years of trial experience do you have? How does that breakdown between civil and criminal court trials, and between jury and judge trials?
2. What factors would you consider in granting and setting bail amounts and in granting (non-bail) sign out bonds for defendants?
3. What are your beliefs regarding alternative sentences for non-violent offenders, juveniles, or people experiencing homelessness, mental illness, or drug addiction?
4. What is your philosophy on recusal, especially in situations in which lawyer-legislators, former associates, or law partners are to appear before you?
5. Have you ever been disciplined by the Judicial Commission or the bar association? If yes, please explain.
1. What do you think are the challenges of serving as a family court judge?
2. What criteria would you use to assess whether or not to admit evidence of battered women's syndrome or battered child's syndrome?
3. Have you ever been disciplined by the Judicial Commission or the LA Bar Association? If yes, please explain.
1. Should local taxing bodies have input on the ITEP program? Why or why not?
2. How should law-enforcement agencies be held accountable to the city and its residents?
3. How do you plan to address the discrepancies of public investment around the city, including economic investment, access to primary health care in north Baton Rouge, and urban blight?
4. How will you address parish-wide flooding?
1. Should local taxing bodies have input on the ITEP program? Why or why not?
2. How should law-enforcement agencies be held accountable to the city and its residents?
3. How do you plan to address the discrepancies of public investment around the city, including economic investment, access to primary health care in north Baton Rouge, and issues of blight?
4. How will you address parish-wide flooding?
5. What steps would you take to ensure adequate oversight of agencies with dedicated funding to prevent overspending of taxpayer dollars by those agencies?
1. What experience do you bring to this office?
2. What are your top three priorities as Justice of the Peace?
3. How will you execute the duties of the Justice of the Peace in an impartial manner?
4. Have you ever been disciplined by the Judicial Commission or the LA Bar Association? If yes, please explain.
1. What experience do you bring to this office?
2. What are your top three priorities as Constable?
3. How will you execute the duties of the Constable in an impartial manner?

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