Judge who OK'd lowering bar on Cantrell recall signed the petition, didn't disclose it

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As organizers of a campaign to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell fought last month to reduce the number of signatures they needed, the judge presiding over the case did not disclose that she herself had signed the public recall petition.

Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Jennifer Medley, who last week endorsed an unusual deal between recall organizers and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s office to trim the recall threshold by 5,000 names, added her signature to the petition on Dec. 19, recall campaign records show.

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Even before then, she gave recall organizers a series of favorable rulings. She rejected efforts by election officials to have the case tossed before testimony was heard. When recall leader Eileen Carter took the stand, Medley refused to allow election officials to question Carter on the number of signatures the organizers had collected.

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Advocates and experts in judicial ethics agreed that Medley should have revealed her support for Cantrell’s ouster, but were divided on whether she violated any ethical rules or should have recused herself from the legal challenge.

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